New to reef tanks and need some advice

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

Hey pretty new to the hobby and i purchased some coral after a month of letting my tank cycle. In the tank i have 2 clown fish, 1 melanarus wrasse, a cleaner shrimp and 4 different snails all in a 15 gallon nano tank. In terms of coral i have mostly zoas, hammers and a frogspawn. On one of the hammers i noticed some kind of pest growing on its stem, i successfully picked them off but after putting it back in the tank it seems to be on the decline, it wasnt looking too happy to begin with but now its getting worse. I also purchased a cristata but it has yet to open up in the last 2 days.

These r the water parameters
Salinity - 1.025
Amm .25 !
Nitrite - 1 !
Nitrate 0 !
Mg - 1440 !
Alk - 12.6 !
Cal - 490 !
If it has a ! That means im aware those numbers are not ideal for a reef tank which they are all messed up lol my question is would a water change fix most of my problems and how does one go about lowering the mag alk and cal levels?

Also im dosing a small amout of water conditioner to try to lower the ammonia and nitrite levels

I know its a lot so thank u in advance for any advice

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

Also temp is 78-80

Diet Coke · Jul 31, 2020

Reefneeb said:
Hey pretty new to the hobby and i purchased some coral after a month of letting my tank cycle. In the tank i have 2 clown fish, 1 melanarus wrasse, a cleaner shrimp and 4 different snails all in a 15 gallon nano tank. In terms of coral i have mostly zoas, hammers and a frogspawn. On one of the hammers i noticed some kind of pest growing on its stem, i successfully picked them off but after putting it back in the tank it seems to be on the decline, it wasnt looking too happy to begin with but now its getting worse. I also purchased a cristata but it has yet to open up in the last 2 days.

These r the water parameters
Salinity - 1.025
Amm .25 !
Nitrite - 1 !
Nitrate 0 !
Mg - 1440 !
Alk - 12.6 !
Cal - 490 !
If it has a ! That means im aware those numbers are not ideal for a reef tank which they are all fuked lol my question is would a water change fix most of my problems and how does one go about lowering the mag alk and cal levels?

Also im dosing a small amout of water conditioner to try to lower the ammonia and nitrite levels

I know its a lot so thank u in advance for any advice

I’m no expert but with ammonia in the water I would think your tank is not cycled yet and conditioner will not help but bacteria will

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

So something like microbacter from brightwell aquatics would help?

Dw79 · Jul 31, 2020

I agree with Diet Coke's reply. Once fully cycled, your ammonia and nitrite should both be at zero

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

Thanks! Ill be testing the ammonia and nitrite levels every other day or so to see when it hits 0

Ippyroy · Jul 31, 2020

What test kits are you using? What salt mix are you using? Are you dosing anything?

Flippers4pups · Jul 31, 2020

What test kits are you using? If API for ammonia, it's likely a false positive. Well known for this.

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

I am using the api test kit and the red sea kit for alk and others

LesPoissons · Jul 31, 2020

Do you have a local fish store that would maybe take your corals plus or minus your fish for a while while you sort out your tank because with the ammonia levels and everything else all out of whack it’s not very likely they will last. Your tank needs to cycle. Also did you turn on the white lights for the picture or do you only have white lights on the tank?
you want your ammonia And nitrites at 0, nitrates 5-10, phos 0.03, ca maybe 400, alk around 8-9 and you want those values to be stable. API is okay(ish) for nitrates. id get a salifert or something better for ammonia. Hanna is the best/most reliable one for phos in my opinion. Your salt mix gab probably be instant ocean or something similar for the values you want.

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

Unfortunately i dont have a place to babysit my fish and coral. I will definitely pick up a salifert ammonia tester and as far as light its mostly white light with blue light and i have both running for about 6 hours then i turn off the whites and leave the blues running for about 4 hours. Should i not be running the white lights during cycling?

Flippers4pups · Jul 31, 2020

@Reefneeb, your numbers look like your tank may not be cycled. 12+ is high for dkh.

Ammonia is most likely a error due to the API ammonia kit. They just can't read very well at low range. This is very well known in the hobby.

As @Ippyroy asked, what salt mix are you using? Are you dosing anything? Could be why your dkh is so high.

Do you have a Phosphate test kit? Need to know what your P04 is.

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

And everything seems to be happy besides the hammer which i probably put through hell trying to remove the pest and a cristata that i just added

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

Im using red sea salt mix and no i dont have a phosphate tester atm

Ippyroy · Jul 31, 2020

The API is notorious for false ammonia readings. I think most of these numbers are false due to user error. Can you check with an LFS?

Ippyroy · Jul 31, 2020

Which red sea? Blue or purple bucket?

Reefneeb · Jul 31, 2020

Ippyroy said:
Which red sea? Blue or purple bucket?

Purple

Randomwhiteguy89 · Jul 31, 2020

That’s probably why your alk and mag are so high your using a salt mix with higher amounts in it your tank isn’t established enough/stocked enough to consume what your giving it my recommendation would be to switch to the blue bucket for some time and don’t add any new corals or fish to your tank until your getting 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia

Ippyroy · Jul 31, 2020

That's your problem. The purple has elevated levels. You need to switch salts. You can use the remaining salt after you have added more corals and your tank is more established. Doing normal water changes with a salt mix that has lower levels will help lower the levels in your tank.