Adding tangs tomorrow...how can I increase oxygen?

Miami Reef

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Hey guys! I’m adding a few tangs to my tank in a few days. I turned up my lights to 8 hours a day because I want algae to start growing and producing oxygen.

I’ve been dosing vodka and I’m sure my oxygen levels are low because of it. There’s no bloom, but I’m assuming.

I know Naso tangs really like oxygen. Should I add some cheato to my display tank in an acclimation box? As I said, there’s no algae growing in the tank.

Are Naso tangs hard to keep? What would cause Naso tangs to consistently die?

I got a Naso in my last build and I ended up having an extreme algae bloom because of rock changes, so I stopped feeding nori and the Naso died within 2 days. I sense a strong correlation with eating fish to living fish. All fish that died on me didn’t eat.

What are some other reasons a Naso will perish?

FYI: No quarantine. I have a 600 gallon rated UV for my 300 gallon tank...and I’m running 5 micron filter socks. This is an experiment to see how effective UV and socks work in combination for parasites control. The 5 micron will effectively strain all ich that passes the overflow...and the uv in the display tank has a high flow rate for my tank size, but low contact time.

I’m thinking of buying LRS food for the bacteria and probiotics in it.

So...is it worth getting the chaeto? I have a protein skimmer, surface agitation, and UV sterilizer which takes water from DT and throws it back into the other side of the tank, which causes more agitation and air.

Nitrates currently at 50ppm.
 

Fish Think Pink

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Hey guys! I’m adding a few tangs to my tank in a few days. I turned up my lights to 8 hours a day because I want algae to start growing and producing oxygen.

I’ve been dosing vodka and I’m sure my oxygen levels are low because of it. There’s no bloom, but I’m assuming.

I know Naso tangs really like oxygen. Should I add some cheato to my display tank in an acclimation box? As I said, there’s no algae growing in the tank.

Are Naso tangs hard to keep? What would cause Naso tangs to consistently die?

I got a Naso in my last build and I ended up having an extreme algae bloom because of rock changes, so I stopped feeding nori and the Naso died within 2 days. I sense a strong correlation with eating fish to living fish. All fish that died on me didn’t eat.

What are some other reasons a Naso will perish?

FYI: No quarantine. I have a 600 gallon rated UV for my 300 gallon tank...and I’m running 5 micron filter socks.

I’m thinking of buying LRS food for the bacteria and probiotics in it.

So...is it worth getting the chaeto? I have a protein skimmer, surface agitation, and UV sterilizer which takes water from DT and throws it back into the other side of the tank.

Nitrates at 50ppm.
+1 vote for macroalgae in refugium (acclimation box if you must or +1 sump since 300gallon tank)

Sorry for your past losses, but tang not eating for two days unlikely to have died from starvation - instead suspect something else was happening during "rock changes" that also had side effect fish not eating. Myriad of reasons

WOW - a lot seems to be in motion right now in your current tank, so perhaps this is not yet a good time to introduce any fish until tank is stable for couple weeks or more. You say dosing vodka as nitrates at 50ppm, but wondering how frequent your water change schedule, where the waste is accumulating, if skimmer(s) sized right for 300g tank, if there are dirty tubes to/from pumps & devices back to tank, more... Also wondering about the rest of your parameters with high nitrates...

All fish need oxygen and food. Quality food is not going to help treat something or substitute for medications (IF needed), but a happy fish is less likely to have stress caused problem

Instead of chaeto, perhaps consider Red Ogo as it does double duty as excess exporter and then also becomes snack for herbivore like tang - full cycle feeding - fish poo feeds macroalgae, macroalgae grows, macroalgae feeds fish My tangs love red ogo, sea lettuce not so much (and grew slow) but grew to like it over time & chaeto too tough (most dragon tongue also too tough except new growth... but grew slow)

If you aren't QTing, then have you considered online ordering from fish store that pre-medicates hospital tank (HT) style (better than QT observation, which can turn into HT):
 
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Miami Reef

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+1 vote for macroalgae in refugium (acclimation box if you must or +1 sump since 300gallon tank)

Sorry for your past losses, but tang not eating for two days unlikely to have died from starvation - instead suspect something else was happening during "rock changes" that also had side effect fish not eating. Myriad of reasons

WOW - a lot seems to be in motion right now in your current tank, so perhaps this is not yet a good time to introduce any fish until tank is stable for couple weeks or more. You say dosing vodka as nitrates at 50ppm, but wondering how frequent your water change schedule, where the waste is accumulating, if skimmer(s) sized right for 300g tank, if there are dirty tubes to/from pumps & devices back to tank, more... Also wondering about the rest of your parameters with high nitrates...

All fish need oxygen and food. Quality food is not going to help treat something or substitute for medications (IF needed), but a happy fish is less likely to have stress caused problem

Instead of chaeto, perhaps consider Red Ogo as it does double duty as excess exporter and then also becomes snack for herbivore like tang - full cycle feeding - fish poo feeds macroalgae, macroalgae grows, macroalgae feeds fish My tangs love red ogo, sea lettuce not so much (and grew slow) but grew to like it over time & chaeto too tough (most dragon tongue also too tough except new growth... but grew slow)

If you aren't QTing, then have you considered online ordering from fish store that pre-medicates hospital tank (HT) style (better than QT observation, which can turn into HT):

Thank you for the thorough reply. The nitrates came from the rocks.

what parameters do you need from me?
Ammonia <0.15
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 50
Phosphates 0.05
Salinity 1.027
PH 8.2
Temperature 78.8

I did a water change 2 weeks ago. I get sea water delivered. No dirty tubes. The nitrates happened because I bleached my old live rocks before aquascaping them. I added bottle bacteria and live sand. The nitrates came from the decaying organics, but the nitrates are on a decline.

I currently have 8 fish in the tank.
 

Rmckoy

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I don’t know where this extra oxygen for naso tangs came from but have been reading it a lot lately .

a typical reef tank with other fish and corals Ian the sufficient for naso tangs ?

skimmers , sump and surface agitation wouldn’t provide enough oxygen ?
 
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Miami Reef

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I did something good. First: not going to go with macro because tank is too big for a tiny piece to make any impact.

My oxygen level should be fine...but just in case...my temp before was 79F. I turned it to 76 and opened the top drawers of the tank. Also increased flow to have more surface agitation.

I should be perfect with oxygen now. I also increased skimmer production because it wasn’t flowing to the cup before.
 

Fish Think Pink

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Thank you for the thorough reply. The nitrates came from the rocks.

what parameters do you need from me?
Ammonia <0.15
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 50
Phosphates 0.05
Salinity 1.027
PH 8.2
Temperature 78.8

I did a water change 2 weeks ago. I get sea water delivered. No dirty tubes. The nitrates happened because I bleached my old live rocks before aquascaping them. I added bottle bacteria and live sand. The nitrates came from the decaying organics, but the nitrates are on a decline.

I currently have 8 fish in the tank.
Given the extra info, I'm feeling less concerned about your upcoming tangs.

You'll likely never grow enough microalgae to feed tangs, and we see regular postings from people with tang problems that seem tied to feeding. Really vote grow some macroalgae in your acclimation box to feed tangs. I feed mine 2x daily with thawed cubes or LRS Reef Frenzy or Herbivore Frenzy then daily also have 2 magnetic clips for nori or macroalgae. Try to give them variety - nori comes green, red and even purple. With nori, my other fish like to rip it off for fun, so I've gotten good at folding for maximum staying power on clip! Clip it at the thickest fold inner corner (I wet nori, clip, pinch clip tight with fingers, too). Somewhere on R2R is my fold's inspiration, but the other fish are so good at tearing that I give only about 2"x4" on clip folded down to about 1"x1" size, (think they folded 4x8" larger pieces down to that size, the extra folds help control tearing BUT if they get the whole thing off, that is food so it must be found and removed) BUT will replace the empty nori 2x daily (red ogo I can leave up until tangs eat it as the other fish don't find it fun to rip off for sport - Olympic Nori Rippers!)

If your really concerned about oxygen for Naso, drop an airstone into tank. They have some that make great decorative accents. Right now I'm using an airstone in a CPR box just to help a coral try to revive after being stung by another coral (may be lost cause for my stung coral - equate it to snake bite that dissolves our human tissues from inside). Everything can benefit from more oxygen.

Glad nitrates have a root cause and on decline... Glad your other parameters are in line. I'd want to do more water changes to get that number down faster, but on its own its not terrible for FOWLR. Vodka is good approach for it.

... sea water delivered... hoping clean source. NY Paul B scares me with his stretch of 'clean' beach where he gets saltwater he drives back to his home... seems so old school (but he is OLD and been doing it that way since before we were alive... lol). Last month helped a couple of Asia-based R2R members living on ocean that had tank wipeouts that turned out tied to their saltwater collection right near their home; someone may have dumped something in Ocean but still looked nice and had always worked for them up to then... At least they could restock livestock much cheaper there than it costs here in US dollars.

Post #3 is how I do saltwater - I like having control on making my own saltwater:
 
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Miami Reef

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Given the extra info, I'm feeling less concerned about your upcoming tangs.

You'll likely never grow enough microalgae to feed tangs, and we see regular postings from people with tang problems that seem tied to feeding. Really vote grow some macroalgae in your acclimation box to feed tangs. I feed mine 2x daily with thawed cubes or LRS Reef Frenzy or Herbivore Frenzy then daily also have 2 magnetic clips for nori or macroalgae. Try to give them variety - nori comes green, red and even purple. With nori, my other fish like to rip it off for fun, so I've gotten good at folding for maximum staying power on clip! Clip it at the thickest fold inner corner (I wet nori, clip, pinch clip tight with fingers, too). Somewhere on R2R is my fold's inspiration, but the other fish are so good at tearing that I give only about 2"x4" on clip, (think they folded 2-4x larger pieces) BUT will replace the empty nori 2x daily (red ogo I can leave up until tangs eat it as the other fish don't find it fun to rip off for sport - Olympic Nori Rippers!)

If your really concerned about oxygen for Naso, drop an airstone into tank. They have some that make great decorative accents. Right now I'm using an airstone in a CPR box just to help a coral try to revive after being stung by another coral (may be lost cause for my stung coral - equate it to snake bite that dissolves our human tissues from inside). Everything can benefit from more oxygen.

Glad nitrates have a root cause and on decline... Glad your other parameters are in line. I'd want to do more water changes to get that number down faster, but on its own its not terrible for FOWLR. Vodka is good approach for it.

... sea water delivered... hoping clean source. NY Paul B scares me with his stretch of 'clean' beach where he gets saltwater he drives back to his home... seems so old school (but he is OLD and been doing it that way since before we were alive... lol). Last month helped a couple of Asia-based R2R members living on ocean that had tank wipeouts that turned out tied to their saltwater collection right near their home; someone may have dumped something in Ocean but still looked nice and had always worked for them up to then... At least they could restock livestock much cheaper there than it costs in US dollars.

Post #3 is how I do saltwater - I like having control on making my own saltwater:
Thank you!
 

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Over It Mood GIF
 
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Miami Reef

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It's a joke.... saying to get your dog to blow bubbles in your tank
Ohhhh. Ok! I got scared! I thought it meant that I was annoying you and you wanted to drown yourself because of me. I’m just paranoid because of that 20 long questions Noah guy. I don’t want to be annoying like him.

Whoops! I don’t have a dog...will a cat work? I’m sure the cat would try to grab himself a snack while on the O2 job.
 

ZoWhat

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Ohhhh. Ok! I got scared! I thought it meant that I was annoying you and you wanted to drown yourself because of me. I’m just paranoid because of that 20 long questions Noah guy. I don’t want to be annoying like him.

Whoops! I don’t have a dog...will a cat work? I’m sure the cat would try to grab himself a snack while on the O2 job.
We're all here to learn. Never be shy.
 

Lost in the Sauce

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Ohhhh. Ok! I got scared! I thought it meant that I was annoying you and you wanted to drown yourself because of me. I’m just paranoid because of that 20 long questions Noah guy. I don’t want to be annoying like him.

Whoops! I don’t have a dog...will a cat work? I’m sure the cat would try to grab himself a snack while on the O2 job.
Yes, dipping your cats head in the water will work great ;)
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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here's a legit question

link any thread you've seen where unquarantined group tangs added did not die of disease in eight months


not saying that as a joke lol its to show how hard the example is to find

if you can find one then its a reasonable plan above.

we can find lots of threads with added tangs that's not the key, one where they updated to month 8 and the tangs are still there...that's the tricky part. the retention not the add

I know of a clownfish one for that group type addition and they did make eight months but tangs, that's special.
 
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Miami Reef

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I’ll be the first. Nobody has tried running an oversized sterilizer with 5 micron socks.

The only way we can learn new methods is by testing hypotheses. If I fail...at least I learned. And if I succeed...maybe it’ll be groundbreaking.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Noah no, you are aware that’s far past your experience level hang back on that
 
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