I think I should start over

[leptang]

Here's some pictures. My phone doesn't take very good pics when the light starts ramping down.
I don't know all the parameters.. I'm on a budget so I've been saving a little at a time to get each one. But the alk is 8, pH is 8.2, temp is 79/80, nitrates are at somewhere between 5 and 10ppm, and phosphate is .05. I stopped using the phosban reactor like you all suggested.


Unfortunately I do find the crabs causing all sorts of mischief.

Looking at some of the pictures it looks as you got some cyano red/purple in color, a good thing with means biodiversity what you want.
Just dont stress your self out to much, doing water changes will help keeping the water parameters right for now. But you should start doing research on the link i sent above, do planning and get test kits when you can afford it. Then get addives when you got the know how to do so.

 

[leptang]

When I first started with my freshwater planted tanks I thought that was a lot to take in.. now that I got into reefing stuff, it feels like a full time job. Every night .I come home at 1130 pm. Stir the sand. Scold a few hermit crabs for doing something mischievous. Sometimes I top off or empty the skimmer cup. Replace carbon.. and then I wake up in the morning worried I forgot something.. I'm just lost. I don't really fully understand how to maintain alk, calcium and magnesium and all that stuff.. is it in the salt? Do I need to put additives in when they're low? I have seachem fusion one and two .I've never used them. Just sitting on a shelf

I just kind of got into planted freshwater here is my little nano tank thats been going for about a year

 

[pdiehm]

I hate my sand. If I don't stir it up and make my maroons mad while at it, algae just takes over. Would a bare bottom tank be a good option?

This is just my opinion. I think barebottom is one less variable to deal with. If your flow is right, the detritus settles in one spot. You remove it and voila.

If you want to remove the sand, remove 10% monthly. I like the look of sand, but in an sps tank like I want, it won’t work

 

[NS Mike D]

i would start with 2 part solutions to maintain Alk and Ca. But your water changes and few coral, you may not need to yet. This is how you do it. You measure for alk and Ca (and mg, but lets start with these two first.). You write down your measurements and date them. Test before your water changes and you can the know much Alk and Ca your corals consumed during the period which can be converted into a daily consumption rate. You can use a reef calculator (I think there is a sticky linking them) to determine how much alk and ca (part 1 and part 2) to dose to match the consumption rate. The calculators are product specific.

You want a few weeks of data to have a decent base.

After you do a water change, retest to see if you need to dose to bring the numbers up to your target. The calculators will do this and will recommend if you need to spread it out over time to prevent to quick a rise in alk or ca


kalkwasser (lime) is good. but requires, imo, better understanding to dose. I have kalkwasser on hand but prefer to dose a capful of each every morning to keep my tank stable.


the key is to minimize the swings so that's why you should start with a daily dosing amount as determined above. I'll see if I can locate the reef calculator sticky and come back and edit his to add the link

edit: here you go

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-chemistry-calculators.172972/

 

[Mike1995]

I just kind of got into planted freshwater here is my little nano tank thats been going for about a year

Nice!

Here's one of mine! It's an over grown mess ATM .

 

[Mike1995]

i would start with 2 part solutions to maintain Alk and Ca. But your water changes and few coral, you may not need to yet. This is how you do it. You measure for alk and Ca (and mg, but lets start with these two first.). You write down your measurements and date them. Test before your water changes and you can the know much Alk and Ca your corals consumed during the period which can be converted into a daily consumption rate. You can use a reef calculator (I think there is a sticky linking them) to determine how much alk and ca (part 1 and part 2) to dose to match the consumption rate. The calculators are product specific.

You want a few weeks of data to have a decent base.

After you do a water change, retest to see if you need to dose to bring the numbers up to your target. The calculators will do this and will recommend if you need to spread it out over time to prevent to quick a rise in alk or ca


kalkwasser (lime) is good. but requires, imo, better understanding to dose. I have kalkwasser on hand but prefer to dose a capful of each every morning to keep my tank stable.


the key is to minimize the swings so that's why you should start with a daily dosing amount as determined above. I'll see if I can locate the reef calculator sticky and come back and edit his to add the link

edit: here you go

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-chemistry-calculators.172972/

Awesome thank you! I have the seachem fusion part one and two. One is prodominantly calcium. And has a few other trace elements in smaller amounts. The fusion two is alk. Are these okay to start with? I haven't used them yet because I didn't know what I was doing lol

 

[NS Mike D]

Awesome thank you! I have the seachem fusion part one and two. One is prodominantly calcium. And has a few other trace elements in smaller amounts. The fusion two is alk. Are these okay to start with? I haven't used them yet because I didn't know what I was doing lol

that's what I am using

 

[leptang]

Nice!

Here's one of mine! It's an over grown mess ATM .

Vary nice!

 

[leptang]

Awesome thank you! I have the seachem fusion part one and two. One is prodominantly calcium. And has a few other trace elements in smaller amounts. The fusion two is alk. Are these okay to start with? I haven't used them yet because I didn't know what I was doing lol

Definitely test the tank water before and after dosing. two parts dosing is easy to get the ion balance off if one or the other is dosed two much. But in the future after adding more coral and coral start taking up more alk/cal when dosing two parts gets to expensive and drive the pH to high when dosing. i would consider going to limewater with a ATO, far cheaper and it always adds alk/cal in the correct ratio.

 

[pdiehm]

There's been a lot of good advice. I still suggest taking 1 thing and ironing that out, that way, you know the problem isn't related to that particular thing (whether it be weekly water changes, sock changes, etc). Then move onto something else, whether it be removing a bit of the sand with each change over the course of a few months.

Me, personally, I would get my maintenance down pat. Example, in my Biocube, I change 5g watter weekly. Change my filter pad, twice a week. take a turkey baster to my sand every day or every other day. I know i need to test, but I havent tested that tank in about a year (I don't advise this). If something goes bad, I know it's not my maintenance, and I'll test.

That's how I would tackle this, and this comes from experience of starting over, now a 2nd time. I've been in your shoes. You see everyone's gorgeous tanks and you go, why can't I get mine to look like that? It's defeating. It's frustrating.

I always feel better about doing maintenance on tanks after a Penn State win.

 

[Victoria M]

There's been a lot of good advice. I still suggest taking 1 thing and ironing that out, that way, you know the problem isn't related to that particular thing (whether it be weekly water changes, sock changes, etc). Then move onto something else, whether it be removing a bit of the sand with each change over the course of a few months.

Me, personally, I would get my maintenance down pat. Example, in my Biocube, I change 5g watter weekly. Change my filter pad, twice a week. take a turkey baster to my sand every day or every other day. I know i need to test, but I havent tested that tank in about a year (I don't advise this). If something goes bad, I know it's not my maintenance, and I'll test.

That's how I would tackle this, and this comes from experience of starting over, now a 2nd time. I've been in your shoes. You see everyone's gorgeous tanks and you go, why can't I get mine to look like that? It's defeating. It's frustrating.

I always feel better about doing maintenance on tanks after a Penn State win.

this is excellent advise

 

[Mike1995]

There's been a lot of good advice. I still suggest taking 1 thing and ironing that out, that way, you know the problem isn't related to that particular thing (whether it be weekly water changes, sock changes, etc). Then move onto something else, whether it be removing a bit of the sand with each change over the course of a few months.

Me, personally, I would get my maintenance down pat. Example, in my Biocube, I change 5g watter weekly. Change my filter pad, twice a week. take a turkey baster to my sand every day or every other day. I know i need to test, but I havent tested that tank in about a year (I don't advise this). If something goes bad, I know it's not my maintenance, and I'll test.

That's how I would tackle this, and this comes from experience of starting over, now a 2nd time. I've been in your shoes. You see everyone's gorgeous tanks and you go, why can't I get mine to look like that? It's defeating. It's frustrating.

I always feel better about doing maintenance on tanks after a Penn State win.

Yeah.. I do look at other people's tanks and get frustrated.. I'll probably have to start writing down a lot of this stuff.
Penn State needs to figure out how to not let games get so close. They either win by a few or lose by a few. Especially the Ohio State game Iol..

 

[pdiehm]

I would get an aquarium tracker. Aquarimate is nice, Reef Trace is nice. Difference is Aquarimate is $10/ year, Reef Trace is a one time fee of 3.99

 

[Mycota]

I would get an aquarium tracker. Aquarimate is nice, Reef Trace is nice. Difference is Aquarimate is $10/ year, Reef Trace is a one time fee of 3.99

+1 to this. I use one called "aquarium note." Its free and has the best features out of any I've used. Great for tracking parameter changes with graphs. Keep track of when you did waterchanges, added livestock, etc. It can even track your expenses (this feature made me realize how much $ i dump into my tank ). I also track growth with pictures in this app. Its pretty great. There is a paid version too but ive never felt it was necessary to purchase.

 

[pdiehm]

Note is no longer available

 

[Matt Carden]

Note is no longer available

I just downloaded it a couple hours ago!

 

[Mike1995]

So, i adjusted my lighting, and its on a timer. The dinos seem to be withering away. Theres almost none on the glass and only on two rocks. Ive been sifting the sand and keeping up on filter socks and the skimmer.
But my nitrates and phosphates have both risen. Should i do something to lower them?
Some of my zoas heads just never open. The majority do and look awesome. Haven't moved them. Is there a reason they wont open?

 

[Blue_line_reefer]

I'm about ready to throw in the towel. Water changes are just making things worse by the day. I really don't understand how to do this saltwater thing.
I have no clue if I have too much flow. My zoas are just not looking the best. I have 4. 3 look alright. The other looks terrible. None of the heads open except maybe one. My lighting seems fine for them. My hermits crawl all over them too. Maybe am I getting too worried?
My cuc is extremely active so I guess that's a positive..

Don't give up!!!! I would slow down the water changes for your tank too if you're doing a lot. Slow down on feeding.

BUT!! I recommend using this product, Dr.Tims Waste Away

 

[pdiehm]

So, i adjusted my lighting, and its on a timer. The dinos seem to be withering away. Theres almost none on the glass and only on two rocks. Ive been sifting the sand and keeping up on filter socks and the skimmer.
But my nitrates and phosphates have both risen. Should i do something to lower them?
Some of my zoas heads just never open. The majority do and look awesome. Haven't moved them. Is there a reason they wont open?

Good!!! The rise in nitrate and phosphate means the algae isn’t taking it up as fast!

So that’s good. You can do a nice size water change 30-50% to ease things.

The zoas will be fine. They are ticked and will get over it.

 

[Mike1995]

Alright thank you!
I got all the rest of the salifert test things (calcium, mag, and alk). Should i use them?