How to save this Acan? Please Help.

[I<3Reefer]

The water changes are CAUSING your imbalance. Water changes are creating the problem, the problem IS the water changes.

You need to change the way you're thinking about things, as the main point everyone is trying to hammer home is being ignored.

Well technically you’re the only one who suggested 0 water changes, so I’m not sure what you mean by “everyone is trying to hammer home”.

I hope you don’t think I’m trying to be a jerk? I’d be irresponsible for not questioning everything, being wary of definitive answers until enough data from different sources backs up said data is the only way to go about this with confidence.

I feel like you’re getting flustered by me not listening to you without question, I’m not being thick I’m being thorough.

 

[I<3Reefer]

Algae on glass is a GOOD thing. You should have algae build up every single day. If you don't have that, your tank is not running properly.

Ok, follow up question, how do I get rid of it then? Many of my corals are right up against the glass, do I move them every time I wipe the glass?

 

[Jacked Reefer]

Ok, follow up question, how do I get rid of it then? Many of my corals are right up against the glass, do I move them every time I wipe the glass?

You should remove the corals from touching the glass. Use a good scraper or scrubber and you’ll be fine.

 

[Rakie]

Well technically you’re the only one who suggested 0 water changes, so I’m not sure what you mean by “everyone is trying to hammer home”.

I'm just super straight forward. I often see people missing the point due to everyone being too soft spoken. This has, in my experience, caused significantly more problems.

Only two people DIDN'T say water changes are the problem though. Rather than trying to slow you down, I'm trying to show you that 0 water changes are going to solve your problem. Because you have such a high buildup of elements even the smallest water change is only going to add to the problem.

Basically, your water chemistry is becoming so imbalanced that doing any ore water changes will only exacerbate the issue. You need to stop doing them so that your tank can level out.

You probably made the tank to clean for the acan or LPS in general with the water changes. <snip>.

50% water changes every 4 days is probably your problem they like higher nutrients in the water column, I would do 10% every 3 or 4 weeks with regular IO salt mix.. <snip>

So you plan to strip the tank of nutrients by changing water ..... then re-pollute the tank with coral food? I don't see the sound logic here.

You asked... so take the advice already given. Sit down and relax. Stop fiddling with it. 10% water changes once a week or once every 2 weeks... and leave it alone.

They weren't blunt. So you didn't notice the heart of the issue. So I'm here being blunt, so you DO notice!

1) Stop doing any and all water changes. Not a gallon, not 5%, not an ounce. 0% water changes for a LONG time.
2) Get a different method for nutrient export. Water changes are going to kill your whole tank.
3) Nutrients are GOOD. You want them.

Go over my previous post on alternate methods for removing nutrients -- I'm trying to stress that nutrients are good, but I'm getting the impression you will want to lower them anyways.. So I'm pushing you in the right direction to solve your problem in a way that won't make everything worse.

I would heavily encourage you to get a small HOB filter, and fill it with Seachem Matrix, Siporax, or Maxspect bio balls. And to dose some bacteria to populate the new rockwork.

You need to change your actions and reactions. what you're currently doing is not working.

Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

 

[I<3Reefer]

I'm just super straight forward. I often see people missing the point due to everyone being too soft spoken. This has, in my experience, caused significantly more problems.

Only two people DIDN'T say water changes are the problem though. Rather than trying to slow you down, I'm trying to show you that 0 water changes are going to solve your problem. Because you have such a high buildup of elements even the smallest water change is only going to add to the problem.

Basically, your water chemistry is becoming so imbalanced that doing any ore water changes will only exacerbate the issue. You need to stop doing them so that your tank can level out.











They weren't blunt. So you didn't notice the heart of the issue. So I'm here being blunt, so you DO notice!

1) Stop doing any and all water changes. Not a gallon, not 5%, not an ounce. 0% water changes for a LONG time.
2) Get a different method for nutrient export. Water changes are going to kill your whole tank.
3) Nutrients are GOOD. You want them.

Go over my previous post on alternate methods for removing nutrients -- I'm trying to stress that nutrients are good, but I'm getting the impression you will want to lower them anyways.. So I'm pushing you in the right direction to solve your problem in a way that won't make everything worse.

I would heavily encourage you to get a small HOB filter, and fill it with Seachem Matrix, Siporax, or Maxspect bio balls. And to dose some bacteria to populate the new rockwork.

You need to change your actions and reactions. what you're currently doing is not working.
.”

I could get a small job filter. Trying not to dump too much money in to the 5 gallon as I plan on upgrading to a larger tank this spring, but a hob filter is totally reasonable.

Question: when you say “dose bacteria to populate the new rock work” I don’t have any new rock rock in there, but I could definitely dose bacteria regardless if you’re suggesting that’s likely lacking. Any specific brand or is seachem stability good?

Also I don’t find the obvious quote about insanity helpful. These are NEW problems, what did Einstein say about something that worked perfectly for 11 months and then had issues on months 12-14? Not so cut and dry, which is why I’m asking questions.

My confusion wasn’t from their posts being “soft” they were technically telling me different things (10% vs 0% IS different) i understood they were essentially saying leave it alone. I was attempting to gauge just to what extent. I understand you’re saying to the extreme. I will use your advice and I’ll watch my tank very closely.

I appreciate your help greatly, don’t get me wrong, but your approach is what made me wary to listen. On various forums I’ve read through the years on other subjects (non aquarium) it’s generally the most aggressive and definitive posters that are the most wrong. I don’t believe that is the case with you, I believe you’ve given me some vital and useful information, but it’s smart of me to be cautious.

 

[Starblenny]

Was yours a pico reef too? Similar size (5gallon)? It's currently 9 days since my last water change and the acan is looking GREAT (well.. too much algae but the coral looks happy). Tonight I'm going to test my elements and based off that I will likely do a small 10-20% water change. I'm also going to sell off my clown fish, and just keep my blenny and cuc in my tank. I think my bioload is likely the largest contributor to my imbalance. I'm hoping with my smaller bioload, less wc (25% wc every 7-10 days) will balance everything out.

~14gal. I'm running fishless (I keep buying new coral frags so that keeps resetting my fishless time for ick) but I feed my tank fairly heavy (2X a day) using LRS Nano Frenzy or Nutramar Ova. I run a skimmer and that's about it. I haven't done a WC since Thanksgiving (too busy due to Holidays). GF mentioned that some of my LPS looks better than ever.

I was originally planning doing one soon but after reading this post last week, reflecting on my experiences, and putting the puzzle pieces together, I'll just avoid doing WC unless otherwise.

And if you have a 5gal tank, no need to test elements except for alk. Mg, and Ca... and that's only if you have a heavy growth of coraline algae or have heavy SPS growth.

How often do you feed + what other corals do you have? What do you feed to the tank? How old is your tank?

 

[I<3Reefer]

~14gal. I'm running fishless (I keep buying new coral frags so that keeps resetting my fishless time for ick) but I feed my tank fairly heavy (2X a day) using LRS Nano Frenzy or Nutramar Ova. I run a skimmer and that's about it. I haven't done a WC since Thanksgiving (too busy due to Holidays). GF mentioned that some of my LPS looks better than ever.

I was originally planning doing one soon but after reading this post last week, reflecting on my experiences, and putting the puzzle pieces together, I'll just avoid doing WC unless otherwise.

And if you have a 5gal tank, no need to test elements except for alk. Mg, and Ca... and that's only if you have a heavy growth of coraline algae or have heavy SPS growth.

How often do you feed + what other corals do you have? What do you feed to the tank? How old is your tank?

My tank is 14 months old
I feed my tank every other day about 1/5th of one of those hikari brine shrimp cubes + about a dozen of the smallest size new spectrum pellets. I focus the feeding on coral polyps twice a week. I currently have red monti, toadstool, duncan, favite, favia, pocilipora, another acan, jack-o-lantern lepto, blue eyed lepto, and a candy cane colony. Everything looks pretty happy, but just to test the "no water change thing" I waited 9 days, then I did a 15-20% change... my Acan looked ticked off again, so Rakie is definitely right, especially with already weakened corals, water changes upset them further.

 

[O'l Salty]

So my Acan had been doing rough, then it came back and seemed fine, now it's doing terrible again and I think I've been doing "too many" water changes since I was trying to cut down on nitrates, and since I was using reef crystal salt I think my elements became too high, but part of me thinks it's a lighting issue as well. I've had such a hard time dialing in this PrimeHD since i got it a couple months ago. For a while I thought my light was too much... But now I'm thinking the opposite.

I recently elevated the lighting levels and I noticed a couple things, my green star polyp which had all but receded, is looking better than it has in a while since I've "upped" the light.

My OTHER acan colony is at the highest point in the tank, next to a favite, in some of my most direct light, and they look PERFECT, growing very well.

So this morning I moved the bleaching acan closer to the healthy acan,hoping not enough light is my problem.

As of Sunday my levels were as follows (I know many elements are high due to 50% water changes every 4 days with reef crystals, I will now be cutting that with instan ocean)

Salinity 1.025
mag 1700ppm
Calcium 480ppm
Alkalinity 10.5dkh (or as my lfs tested nearly 300ppm)
Nitrates under about 10ppm
PH was 7.8 but I tested before the lights came on in the AM. I think it rests closer to 8-8.1 in mid day.

Please help, my current remedy increased light for the acan and cutting reef crystal water with regular salt, and doing water changes once every 6-7 days instead of 4-5. One additional piece of info, on my 5 gallon tank I have a plastic top which I believe dilutes the light, it's covered in salt and glue lol, and is barely clear anymore... I'm wondering if this is a major issue? I tried removing it and lost a clownfish

I have found AI Primes to be a challenge to set up because there is no baseline and you're kind of guessing. That being said I haven't found much difference in the numerous settings I've tried. My Acans respond very well to direct feeding with reef roids. I do a 15% water change once per month.