Scared my tank is going to crash

[Barry_Cuda]

I am sorry to hear that. My goal is to have as many reefers enjoy their tanks without the heartache. I have been there before not for the reason you stated but, I have had to tear tanks down and it is not a pleasant feeling.

Yes, it was a frustrating feeling. I finally just reached the point where I wasn't enjoying the tank and no longer felt like fighting it. Everything was super ugly, snot everywhere in the tank, and I couldn't keep any sort of grazing critter alive.

 

[Mr.Hyde]

Yes, it was a frustrating feeling. I finally just reached the point where I wasn't enjoying the tank and no longer felt like fighting it. Everything was super ugly, snot everywhere in the tank, and I couldn't keep any sort of grazing critter alive.

Well if you ever decided to start a new tank (which I hope you do) I would advise you take your time and explore R2R articles and data bases. You have access to an information tool that can make reefing much easier and enjoyable and takes the guesswork out of the equation. Also there are scientific articles you can find by calling local colleges that specialize in marine biology. Along with books and magazine publications with a wealth of information.

If you need help let me know or better yet one of the moderators know and we try to point you in the right direction.

Happy reefing,
Mr. Hyde

 

[Barry_Cuda]

Well if you ever decided to start a new tank (which I hope you do) I would advise you take your time and explore R2R articles and data bases. You have access to an information tool that can make reefing much easier and enjoyable and takes the guesswork out of the equation. Also there are scientific articles you can find by calling local colleges that specialize in marine biology. Along with books and magazine publications with a wealth of information.

If you need help let me know or better yet one of the moderators know and we try to point you in the right direction.

Happy reefing,
Mr. Hyde

Thanks. I'm planning to order a Biocube 32 LED about the middle of next month when I get my yearly bonus. Focus will be on LPS and maybe some softies, with a few fish. I love SPS but I don't think my reefing skills are up to that task at this point. I'm trying to read everything I can find here on R2R and absorb as much information as I can before I order anything, so that I can make this go as smoothly as possible.

 

[Art2249]

Nice tank and stand! Sorry you're having problems. I believe you're moving a little too fast and you need to slow down.
Your first priority should be to get your own test kits, when keeping coral you really need to know your parameters.
I suggest you quarantine any new fish you would like to add to your tank. You can get cheap dollar a gallon tanks at petco or another chain.
Check out the threads on quarantine on the forums here, great info. You should read over all the valuable information there, it will save you loads of trouble in the future.
I run radions on my tank also on the sps ab+ coral lab program. You should turn down the intensity on your lighting to about 50%, 100 % intensity is too much for any corals with those lights. And shorten your lighting time, Mine come on at 10 am and off at 8pm, sps, lps and zoas and everything is happy.
I would start out with fish only and add them slowly so your biological filter can keep up. Also you may have some kind of hitcjhiker in there, I think I read that one of your fish was missing half his body? If so you'll probably have to get out a flashlight and be checking after lights out.
Take your time and have fun! This is a great hobby and if you go slow and read the information available on this forum you will learn a lot and be more successful!
And yes location for the tank will cause an algae problem if it's getting direct sunlight. You can get black out curtains to help with that.

Very good advice. Slow down, do some research and be patient. This hobby will benefit from more people. You're lucky, most of this information was not available 25 years ago!

 

[JMF2324]

I think that you need a lot more flow in that tank than what you have now. I have a 75g gallon with 3 times the flow you have in there, it will also help with the algae problem.

 

[vetteguy53081]

WORST SPOT IS AT OR NEAR WINDOWS. YOU WILL GET uv SPECTRUMS AND THERMAL HEAT FROM EVEN INDIRECT SUNLIGHT AND THERMAL COLD IN WINTER.
Towels will be filters but still allowing light to leak in. Best is black construction paper at wall mart which is 97 cents and 20" X 30". Really blocks the light.

Relocation to a neutral wall away from windows will be your remedy. Also direct low flow at your tank bottom to keep circulation at bedding making it hard for adhesion of the gray scaling/mulm that is forming.

 

[Matthew Morrison]

****UPDATE****
**I purchased lots of test kits, salifert, Hanna, and Red Sea.**
**I painted the back of the tank black with rustoleum black gloss.**
**I added a brs dual media reactor with GFO in first container and brs carbon in the second. (Previously had carbon in filter socks)**
**My parameters before painting back black andbefore installing brs dual reactor GFO and Carbon are as follows**

*Temp: 78 degrees
*Salinity: 1.024
*Dkh: (Hanna 1st test=9.7)
-(Hanna 2nd test=9.6)
*Dkh: (Salifert 1st test=8.7)
-(Salifert 2nd test=8.3)
*Calcium (Salifert 400ppm)
*Magnesium (Salifert 1320ppm)
*Ammonia (Salifert 0.0-0.1ppm
*Nitrite (Salifert 0.0ppm)
*Nitrate (Nyos 0.0-0.1ppm)
*Phosporus (Hanna ULR 200ppb/0.613ppm)
(That’s the highest reading available on that kit)

*Actions taken after tests*

*Ended a 3 day lights out*

*Turned on radion xr15 gen 4 pro to schedule of 11am-8pm ABPlus 15%max intensity*

*Painted back of tank black and achieved complete block of all light from entering tank from the back*

*Installed Brs dual Gfo/Carbon reactor and used Brs calculator to determine how much GFo and Carbon to use for my system total water volume calculated to be 183 with tank and sump combined. 1.25 cup Gfo concentrate and 1.5 cup carbon.

*plan is to add 5-10% intensity a week until I reach 50%-60%intenisty (Your thoughts)?

*retest parameters in 1 week

Pictures below of test kits and tank after blackout paint and last picture is new coral I got today from WWC live sale a week ago.

 

[Matthew Morrison]

Wwc live sale arrived today

 

[Matthew Morrison]

*i also lowered the time of my Kessil H380 Chaeto light above refugium from 12hrs to currently 6hrs a day*

 

[Matthew Morrison]

I took Hanna phosphate Ulr 20 hours after installation of Gfo for first time and it dropped to 8ppb/0.024
Yesterday it was 200ppb/0.613

 

[ScottB]

That is good work Matthew. Way to follow through on the advice provided. There was a lot provided, but IMO you're moving correctly. Only thing I would reiterate from above is GOING SLOW and tracking the data from your tests. Try to limit the number of changes happening simultaneously. It makes diagnosing what is happening exponentially harder. I can personally promise you will never run out of things to tinker with in this hobby; just space them out so you can confirm what is doing what and by how much.

Po4 at.024ppm is a good spot but it is hard to tell from current pics how your bloom is going. Often our tests for nutrients (nitrate & PO4) will show low to nothing when it is actually present in the tank but bound up in nuisance algae, etc. But the sand looks much better than the first pics for sure! If you see PO4 creeping up again, it is probably time to change out the GFO.

A couple more questions:
What is your current fish load now? And has it changed significantly?
Maybe I missed it above, but what is your water change philosophy?
Are you blasting / vacuuming out the dino stuff?
Think you have chaeto going.. is it growing/dying or same?

Lastly: that WWC Sale was a blast, wasn't it? Looks like you got some good stuff there. I was late to buy the shipping package so mine comes this Tuesday. Cannot wait. As somebody said before I'd hold off on the acros until you are well past the current uglies and the tank has slowly found that balance of nutrient vs bacteria. But now you have all the tools & measures you need to slowly and safely make adjustments to achieve stability!

 

[Matthew Morrison]

I can see the Algae whatever it was dying off. My phosphorus/phosphate was so high and so low in one day and the only thing changed is adding Gfo and blacking our the back. My fish load is 2 clown 1 yellow tang 1 blue powder tang 1 goby 1 mandarin dragonet, 1 firefish, 2 blue chromosome, 2 blood shrimp, 1 emerald crab and 1 urchin. What changed resently was adding 3 radion xr15s and blasting them at 100% channels and intensity for 4 hours a day and ramp up and ramp down for total of 12