No idea what i am doing .... help required

[czoolander]

So my tank is just under 2 years old it will be 2 years this november. So i guess my nitrates and phosphates got a bit high recently and i have always struggled testing water because of my color blindness ( even my wife who sees color has difficulty figuring out the readings ) so i have been slowly adding hannah digital readers and they are a big help.

So a few weeks back i got GHA in my tank . I tested my phosphates were at .15 and nitrates were at 20 with who knows how much nutrients in the GHA as well. My skimmer was not operating fully because i was dosing chemiclean 4 weeks before this for cyanobacteria and now my skimmer is finally back online . I have been dosing NOPOX for the last 8 days with the following results
Aug 30 Nitrate 20 Phosphate 0.15
Sept 3 Nitrate 12 Phosphate 0.03
Sept 6 Nitrate 10 Phosphate 0.04
Sept 7 Nitrate 7 Phosphate 0.05

Now i am guessing on my nitrates because like i said the test results are difficult to read for me however the phosphate is used with a hannah checker.

My question is should i continue to does NOPOX ? If anything else what should i be doing ? and why would my phosphate drop so much the first few days and now it is slowly rising up again ? what would cause this?

 

[Gedxin]

What sort of CUC do you have?

 

[Not an IT guy]

Chemi and nopox are petty harsh additives not saying you’re dosing wrong or what you’re doing is wrong just stating facts. As gedxin stated what CUC do you have? They can control GHA pretty well.

 

[czoolander]

What sort of CUC do you have?

I have a mix of hermit crabs . 5-6 Trochus snails 6-12 cerith snails and 5 nassarius snails . I am thinking of adding some Mexican turbos but I am worried about them flipping? not sure how long before they die upside down ?

 

[czoolander]

Chemi and nopox are petty harsh additives not saying you’re dosing wrong or what you’re doing is wrong just stating facts. As gedxin stated what CUC do you have? They can control GHA pretty well.

Yeah I hear you on that I always under dose recommended amounts to be on the safer side. I have 139 gallons water in my system and always dose for 125 gallons .

I do want to add some Mexican turbo snails but I am worried about them flipping and dying . any idea how long they can live flipped ? I have a bunch of cerith and trouchus which are supposed to both be self flipping but I find myself always flipping them anyway I really don't see how they are considered " self flipping" I have yet to see that happen.

My rabbitfish and Tomini tang don't touch hair algae when I am watching the tank which is kinda brutal I thought rabbitfish were lawnmowers

 

[Gedxin]

For a 139 gallon tank, ~20 CUC (Nassarius don't count for algae) is not nearly enough. I have 20 in my 22g tank and could probably use a few more to be honest. Mexican turbos aren't too expensive, buy a few and see how they do. Possibly get a whole package from reefcleaners.

 

[czoolander]

For a 139 gallon tank, ~20 CUC (Nassarius don't count for algae) is not nearly enough. I have 20 in my 22g tank and could probably use a few more to be honest. Mexican turbos aren't too expensive, buy a few and see how they do. Possibly get a whole package from reefcleaners.

Awesome thanks ! I will bolster my CUC on my next trip to the LFS .

 

[anthonygf]

Mexican turbos get big and I see they flip themselves over on their own. I made several purchases from reefcleaners.com, I nave around 300 assorted snails in my 75. At night most of the small ones will cover the glass and as the lights ramp up the go back into hiding. I just made another purchase of
Qty Product Name
60 Zig Zag Periwinkles
5 Cortez Cerith
40 Dwarf Cerith
5 Florida Cerith
4 Marginella Snail
4 Nerite Snail
5 Ninja Star Snail
5 Trochus radiatus
2 Turban Snails
6 Virgin Nerites
All for around $65 and free shipping.

 

[czoolander]

Mexican turbos get big and I see they flip themselves over on their own. I made several purchases from reefcleaners.com, I nave around 300 assorted snails in my 75. At night most of the small ones will cover the glass and as the lights ramp up the go back into hiding. I just made another purchase of
Qty Product Name
60 Zig Zag Periwinkles
5 Cortez Cerith
40 Dwarf Cerith
5 Florida Cerith
4 Marginella Snail
4 Nerite Snail
5 Ninja Star Snail
5 Trochus radiatus
2 Turban Snails
6 Virgin Nerites
All for around $65 and free shipping.

Wow that is a lot of snails in I am assuming a 75 gallon? So my 20ish snails in a 109 gallon just is not cutting it haha. I will have to get some more snails and crabs for sure . I will check out this website to see if they are able to ship to my location within a day or two I am pretty remote

 

[anthonygf]

Wow that is a lot of snails in I am assuming a 75 gallon? So my 20ish snails in a 109 gallon just is not cutting it haha. I will have to get some more snails and crabs for sure . I will check out this website to see if they are able to ship to my location within a day or two I am pretty remote

I don't have crabs anymore after they destroyed my branching Monti. I have one Red mithrax crab left and he is okay for now.

 

[Murphs_reef]

I have around 50 / 60 of a good mix of Cerith, Turbos, Trochus and Astraea in my 90gallon and it's not nearly enough tbh. I keep meaning to get more.

 

[anthonygf]

Wow that is a lot of snails in I am assuming a 75 gallon? So my 20ish snails in a 109 gallon just is not cutting it haha. I will have to get some more snails and crabs for sure . I will check out this website to see if they are able to ship to my location within a day or two I am pretty remote

I just sent them an email to check on that for you.

 

[anthonygf]

Wow that is a lot of snails in I am assuming a 75 gallon? So my 20ish snails in a 109 gallon just is not cutting it haha. I will have to get some more snails and crabs for sure . I will check out this website to see if they are able to ship to my location within a day or two I am pretty remote

A tank your size maybe 500, the zigzag perwinkles are only .15 cents each. Some of the ceriths I think around .17 cents.

 

[anthonygf]

If your crabs get hungry from lack of food they will eat your snails.

 

[czoolander]

If your crabs get hungry from lack of food they will eat your snails.

Yeah that is always the danger with crabs. I think there should be lots for them to eat between the fish waste, detritus and algae . fingers crossed .

I will definitely be putting in an order for a bumped up CUC as it seems mine is way undersized for my tank

Thx

 

[czoolander]

I just sent them an email to check on that for you.

How long can CUC survive in a bag shipping? because if its shipping out of the states I might be 2-4 days shipping even on a direct unless its shipped on a plane then probably still 1-3 days

 

[anthonygf]

How long can CUC survive in a bag shipping? because if its shipping out of the states I might be 2-4 days shipping even on a direct unless its shipped on a plane then probably still 1-3 days

I don't know, but when I upgraded my 46 last year left the sand in the tank and some of the critters. I gave the tank to a friend next door, still had sand and a little water in it. When he cleaned out the tank 5 days later he gave me a half cup of critters still alive, and in my new tank they went.

 

[anthonygf]

Wow that is a lot of snails in I am assuming a 75 gallon? So my 20ish snails in a 109 gallon just is not cutting it haha. I will have to get some more snails and crabs for sure . I will check out this website to see if they are able to ship to my location within a day or two I am pretty remote

Sorry czoolander, they do not ship to Canada, too much hassle with customs.

 

[Gedxin]

Solution: Buy out your LFS entire CUC collection!

 

[anthonygf]

Solution: Buy out your LFS entire CUC collection!

He will never get what I have gotten for $65. Maybe they can special order some for him which may be cheaper.