Please help. About to give up.

[Formulator]

Do you think anything will die?

I can’t tell you that my friend. Like others said, you might have a low oxygen issue or an ammonia issue. Oxygen is easy to correct. Get the flow going and the top of the water rippling good. Test for ammonia. If higher than 0.1, get to the LFS first thing in the morning and get some ammonia binder (ammo lock or Prime) and do a good water change. Continue with high flow as this will keep your pH up and help keep the ammonia in a less toxic ionic state.

 

[cdemoss01]

I can’t tell you that my friend. Like others said, you might have a low oxygen issue or an ammonia issue. Oxygen is easy to correct. Get the flow going and the top of the water rippling good. Test for ammonia. If higher than 0.1, get to the LFS first thing in the morning and get some ammonia binder (ammo lock or Prime) and do a good water change. Continue with high flow as this will keep your pH up and help keep the ammonia in a less toxic ionic state.

Update going to my lfs today. Starry blenny died

 

[Formulator]

Update going to my lfs today. Starry blenny died

Sorry for your loss

 

[Naekuh]

Im sorry here is my prognosis.

Your tank is honestly too low tech for the amount of effort your putting in.
Low tech tanks, require a LOT of work, unless you ditch the corals, and lower the light intensity way down.

But Low tech tanks, require constant testing, and also require your dosing to be exact and point on, its very time constrainging, and you said you were 14 right? I just don't think you have that dedication set up yet, especially since you'll be driving age and meeting with girls age soon.

For example, i do not think i could juggle the first time GF/school friends + Low Tech Reef + School Work. And your important high school years are also coming soon.

From what i see, your tank will take MASSIVE amounts of work.
Is this work your able to do, and keep up with constantly?
If i was in your shoes, i could not do this. My High school social life, and that whole experience is something many of us keep longing and looking back to as we got older, and its not something you should have to sacrifice for this hobby.

Again this is my personal suggestion.

When i say low tech, if its not a Nano, where you can do weekly water changes, 7/10 cases i have seen all went down in the gutter.

Every EQ you add to your tank, makes it that much easier to succeed with minimal amounts of effort and work, but again, its very costly, but like all things in life time = money. Want to save time, you need to spend the money.

Since that isn't there, and soon you'll have even more of a shortage, as regrefullly i have to say this, my recommendation is shutting the tank down until after you finished SAT's if you intend to go to uni/college, and enjoy your teenage years, because they will never come back, and most of would probably give up almost everything we had to go back to those years again.

 

[Formulator]

Im sorry here is my prognosis.

Your tank is honestly too low tech for the amount of effort your putting in.
Low tech tanks, require a LOT of work, unless you ditch the corals, and lower the light intensity way down.

But Low tech tanks, require constant testing, and also require your dosing to be exact and point on, its very time constrainging, and you said you were 14 right? I just don't think you have that dedication set up yet, especially since you'll be driving age and meeting with girls age soon.

For example, i do not think i could juggle the first time GF/school friends + Low Tech Reef + School Work. And your important high school years are also coming soon.

From what i see, your tank will take MASSIVE amounts of work.
Is this work your able to do, and keep up with constantly?
If i was in your shoes, i could not do this. My High school social life, and that whole experience is something many of us keep longing and looking back to as we got older, and its not something you should have to sacrifice for this hobby.

Again this is my personal suggestion.

When i say low tech, if its not a Nano, where you can do weekly water changes, 7/10 cases i have seen all went down in the gutter.

Every EQ you add to your tank, makes it that much easier to succeed with minimal amounts of effort and work, but again, its very costly, but like all things in life time = money. Want to save time, you need to spend the money.

Since that isn't there, and soon you'll have even more of a shortage, as regrefullly i have to say this, my recommendation is shutting the tank down until after you finished SAT's if you intend to go to uni/college, and enjoy your teenage years, because they will never come back, and most of would probably give up almost everything we had to go back to those years again.

I get the point, but to play devils advocate, I think this is a very healthy hobby for a teenager, and a lot more productive than some of the other things teenagers get into in high school. Surely competitive high school athletes or musicians spend just as much time working out and practicing as he would need to spend on weekly water changes and daily testing. Though I think I remember seeing another post where he mentioned playing football, so that could be difficult. Who knows, maybe he is a future marine biologist! And a nice tank could be cool to show off to some girl who grew up watching finding nemo!

 

[Naekuh]

There is like this meme i think where the dad is like teach kids how to reef, keeps them buying corals and not drugs.

LOL...

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I think more flow would really improve the health of your tank. Nothing is really moving, some area's are stagnant. Algae loves low flow.

There is a little surface agitation but it could be increased much more.

 

[cdemoss01]

I get the point, but to play devils advocate, I think this is a very healthy hobby for a teenager, and a lot more productive than some of the other things teenagers get into in high school. Surely competitive high school athletes or musicians spend just as much time working out and practicing as he would need to spend on weekly water changes and daily testing. Though I think I remember seeing another post where he mentioned playing football, so that could be difficult. Who knows, maybe he is a future marine biologist! And a nice tank could be cool to show off to some girl who grew up watching finding nemo!

Just got done at lfs bought 15 gallons of water. Nitrates are at 50. Phos is a little high. Ammonia normal and so is everything else. All fish are normal

 

[cdemoss01]

Personally I think more flow would really improve the health of your tank. Nothing is really moving, some area's are stagnant. Algae loves low flow.

There is a little surface agitation but it could be increased much

Guessing you saw the video?

 

[Formulator]

Just got done at lfs bought 15 gallons of water. Nitrates are at 50. Phos is a little high. Ammonia normal and so is everything else. All fish are normal

Can we talk about why you are buying saltwater? You said you have an RODI system. Buy a bucket of salt and stop buying water!

 

[cdemoss01]

Can we talk about why you are buying saltwater? You said you have an RODI system. Buy a bucket of salt and stop buying water!

I was never taught how to mix salt...

 

[cdemoss01]

Personally I think more flow would really improve the health of your tank. Nothing is really moving, some area's are stagnant. Algae loves low flow.

There is a little surface agitation but it could be increased much more.

How do I fix dead spots? And also to were it does not effect how fish swim I've had clownfish struggle on current before

 

[Formulator]

I was never taught how to mix salt...

Not much to teach. The bag or bucket of salt mix will tell you how many cups of salt to mix with each gallon of water. Get a large container and mix the salt with RODI water. Stick a powerhead in there to mix overnight. Done. For your tank, something like this should be big enough to mix salt in. Tell your parents you need an ice bucket for a keg. LOL, but seriously they will know exactly what you need.

 

[Formulator]

How do I fix dead spots? And also to were it does not effect how fish swim I've had clownfish struggle on current before

Fish can handle it. The clownfish will find a happy place. Don’t worry about them. Most of us have many times more flow than you have currently and we all keep fish.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

its super easy to mix your own saltwater! do you have any kind of refractometer? a way to test salinity? and the way to fix dead spots is a powerhead/wavemaker. do you have anything like that?

 

[Naekuh]

Youtube on how to mix your own salt..

u don't need that 26 dollar bucket either... a home depot / lowes 5 gal bucket is more then enough.

I recommend you get at least 2... one for you to mix your salt water in overnight, and the other to use for old tank water.

 

[Jimbo327]

Just want to say it's pretty awesome that you are 14 and getting your hands wet with your own reef tank. Just try to learn the basics well, and try to join a reef club in your area if available. There will be many eager reefers that will help a kid because we were all that kid when we started.

Mixing saltwater to the right salinity, and do weekly small water changes. Keep learning and it'll be a great foundation.

 

[Formulator]

Youtube on how to mix your own salt..

u don't need that 26 dollar bucket either... a home depot / lowes 5 gal bucket is more then enough.

I recommend you get at least 2... one for you to mix your salt water in overnight, and the other to use for old tank water.

I thought he had a 65 gallon tank. Ideally he would be able to make more than 5 gallons at a time…

 

[Tamberav]

That sandbed is probably harboring so much debris. I probably would just go bare bottom and suck out debris every week that becomes visible in bare bottom tanks... even into a fine filter sock and replace the water if you can't to a water change every week.

Carbon would help remove the meds.

 

[Naekuh]

I thought he had a 65 gallon tank. Ideally he would be able to make more than 5 gallons at a time…

good point.. i had my head stuck in nano... lol.

I still think possibly a weekly 5-10g water change would probably flip his tank around in about 2-3 months.
But if he is buying the salt water... its going to be costly.

Im still voting he shuts down for a bit, and enjoy his teenage life, then come back later once he has some more disposable income.

But again, if i remember my college life, i was so poor, and i blame all the alcohol and fraternity parties for it.