Anyone see an anemone look like this?

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I would aim for stability . Just try keep your tank within .5 swing .

Definitely lower the amount of magnesium you are dosing - seems a waste to dose so much if your corals aren’t using it

Definitely lower my magnesium? Why. You just bragged that you like your high magnesium. And the previous replies told me to raise my magnesium to 1400... why would I lower it when Im only at 1270

And I don't know what my flow is at any given area of the tank, but the power heads do 20-60% throughout the day. At the top where the wave fans are it's high flow, just water up there. Where the rocks are I would assume it's classified as medium flow. I really don't know how anyone figures out what is medium or low flow. And how to juggle different corals flow needs , with a wave fan that can only be in 1 spot... idk the video link I showed previous response can help show what I mean?? Here is a screenshot of the numbers of my 2 powerheads. Should I increase the power to 100%? For more hours too? No gradual increase and decrease?

Screenshot_20200321-145747.png IMG_20200321_1500131.jpg IMG_20200321_1500032.jpg
 
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All good. I'm sensitive to things like that because we've been stigmatized as a community for contributing to reef destruction, which is true, but in a completely disproportionate way compared to localized pollution and other factors. So we try to be stewards of the environment here!



That's fantastic and will give you some insight. Post back with the results.



Perfect, that ATO will take care of you. Be sure to unplug it when you change the water out so it doesn't add RODI as you're siphoning out water. It's easy right! You can get inspiration on mixing stations and other ways to make your water changes easier here on R2R. Can be as simple as getting a couple BRUTE trashcans and adding pumps.



To be honest, doesn't really matter about gizmos and flow modes. It's about the quantity and gentleness (ie not blasting the corals directly). Looks like your tank could use more flow but it's hard to tell. Flow is incredibly important for reefs as it brings nutrients to corals and takes waste away. Let's start by addressing the other issues since they don't cost money and then we can come back to flow but I have a hunch you'll need to invest in a few more powerheads to make sure you have enough flow in the tank. For example I didn't see much movement in the anemones in the video which makes me think there's not enough.



Oh yeah, a 1.022 -> 1.026 swing in salinity is no good. You want your tank at 1.026 constantly, and every water change should be at 1.026 unless you need to adjust the current salinity (should be a rare thing). That's not only what the anemones want, but all the corals and other critters in there that are accustomed to living on a reef in the wild.



I would recommend taking those covers off your overflow (depending on how you did it). Those teeth are there to help skim the surface before water gets to the sump and if you have a nasty algae outbreak or an anemone gets stuck there, the teeth get plugged up, stop draining (worst case), and then the water from the sump gets pumped to the tank without anything going back to the sump -- no good, could overflow or burn out your pump worst cases.



You can rent one from Bulk Reef Supply. $70/week (rent the mq-510). They are very expensive to buy, not worth it IMO. They are dead easy to use and you'll feel like a legit scientist using it.

You mentioned you have a 4' deep tank. Looks awesome, but super hard to light effectively. I think I saw 4 Kessils over it. Good lights, but not enough to get all the way to the bottom. I'd suggest researching what kind of light certain corals need and then adjusting your lights to meet that criteria. In general, maybe you could achieve 250-350 PAR at the top, 150-200 towards the middle, and around 75 at the bottom area (you'll likely have very little at the actual bottom of the tank). This would allow you to have many types of corals.

I have no idea what your numbers will actually be, you'll have to test with the meter and adjust the lights and retest. It's easy and so worth your time! If you can't get high enough numbers you'll have to invest in more lights, if your numbers are too high, it's just a matter of turning them down.



Watched your video. Dude, you have a gorgeous tank and a lot of us on here wish we had your tank! About the coral and anemone losses: I'm rather certain it has to do with animals bothering your corals (esp those clownfish the buggers) and lighting issues, aside from the parameter stability. Did the maintenance guy have you buy all that equipment? Sounds pretty scammy to me, though they will help you out with a tank that big. It's just more to learn about but don't worry info for all of that is available I'd suggest asking here on R2R or Googling.

The one anemone that's looking really bad -- looks like that maroon beat the crap out of it. They do that and I'd suggest selling or returning your maroon clowns to the fish store until your anemones get HUGE and then they can come back!

And lastly I think you are definitely lacking in flow (without being able to be there in person to see); let's take care of the other stuff first though.

Oh, and ditch the fish store. They aren't giving you good advice from what I gather, and they are just trying to sell you stuff. Torches probably aren't going to randomly do better than other euphyllia that are dying in your tank, for example.

You have a lot of research ahead of you but you got this. That's an awesome tank, the rocks look great, you are successfully keeping some corals alive, now it's time to tune this thing up so it's a full blown reef tank. Welcome to the addiction, once you get a taste of success you will be coming back for more ;)

Ditch the fish store and buy from where? I'm tired of buying online, so started going to aquatic warehouse in San Diego, or oceans tropical fish in mission Viejo, ca

Yes I pull the alarm cord on the tunze water controller so the rodi water doesn't dispense into the refugium.

The flow was low by midnight when I filmed, but during day and until midnight it's 40-60% flow.... But middle of night it's basically 5%. That's ok right? Or is the flow supposed to be higher all the time?

The maxima clam has been on the sand for 4 months so it would have died if it didn't have enough light penetrating 49 inches through the water? Also those blobs are on the sand too.....

Just now took a 30 second vid showing the beat up anemone today! Now there are 3 clowns in it, including the maroon clown. I try to shoo them away so the anemone can rest, but they come right back. Dosed 1ML more of magnesium right away last night after testing at 1270 magnesium, and increasing dosing to 10ML from 9ML a day going forward, so I assume I'm closing in at 1400 ML now, and I swapped out about 7-8 gallons and put in extra salt water that hydrometer said was way over 1.03 so now my water is testing at 1.0265 or so according to hydrometer. So could boosting my magnesium and salinity as soon as you told me, got this anemone looking good within hours!?


That's the video and here's a picture

The anemone was massive when I bought it and literally looks 10% of its size when it looked dead last night with a hole in it, but now it's 20% of what it was 2 weeks ago when I bought it.

I've never had clowns go in any of my anemones until now. I only had nemos who never wanted an anemone. I would just keep trying to buy 1 anemone a month and when it was gone I'd buy another... only now, suddenly 2 nemos have figured out the anemone, and the red maroon used to be mean but now he's sharing it. I wouldn't want to get rid of him!

I have never tried 5-20% blue light for 6-8 hours and whiter light for a few hours, but I'll try that for awhile. Before, it was always set on blue when they turned on but went whiter and whiter within a few hours and and was max intense white by midnight. You don't think my 4 kessil blast through the depths of the water even if I do 100% intensity? And do you agree to do more blue than white for color? Wouldn't adding even more lights really limit me from adding any corals to the upper half of the rocks? Everything but at the bottom would get fried?

How do I add more power heads. I have 2, and they are on one end of the glass, the cords won't reach to the other end, and that would just look ugly if I had black plastic on the other ends of my glass, and cords visible the length of glass. I did my best to hide the 2 power heads with branches and rock... can't imagine how I could hide more power heads or their cords that would go the entire length of the glass

Here is also the schedule for my lighting intensity, then color, and flow. Both heads basically doing the same flow power. And mostly pulse, but some hours constant. Should I increase % to 100 ??? And all 24 hours at that power? I've just been doing 60% max for 6 hours it declines back down to 5% by the time I filmed that video you saw with low flow by then. So no gradual increase and decrease and just go way more power, for more hours a day? Because I could increase them both to 100% but assumed fish won't like being blasted away from their paths.

IMG_20200321_1420428.jpg Screenshot_20200321-145747.png IMG_20200321_1500131.jpg IMG_20200321_1500032.jpg IMG_20200321_1459527.jpg IMG_20200321_1459436.jpg
 
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I was under the belief having an aquarium meant I could put anemones in the aquarium. How can they just die. So it's normal to buy anemones and 100% likely they will just die within weeks? I'd be happy and fine spending $1000 on anemones and even half die no prob, but I've never seen 1 anemone live more than a few months... just my maxi carpet anemones stay put and are reliable. And my condy anemone.

I have 4 kessil 360 I have no idea what to put the lighting at. Was told some corals were being bleached so dropped the intensity to 70 or 80%... got color at 50-70% for months but decided to try more blue so doing 15% color for 8 hours or so, with wind up and wind downs for an hour each. 10 hour total. Just 1-2 hours of 80% intensity and white color

Again, how can an anemone look fine 24 hours ago and now the middle is a MASSIVE hole.

Should I just rip it off the glass and take it out so it doesn't contaminate my tank? Is it even possible for it to survive? Nobody seems shocked at how it looks.

Attached are parameters from last 3 times.
I was told my anemones don't look happy on March 13. Funny I pay $200 a maintenance visit , never a solution, just observations....

Any guidance or advice would be so appreciated. Been a year and have yet to see success with anemones.... Or wall hammers.... And some corals keep dying after being fine for 3 months.

IMG_20200320_2115446.jpg IMG_20200320_2115369.jpg IMG_20200320_2116091.jpg IMG_20200320_2117520.jpg
I have had bubble tips for the hole 4 years my tanks been up and running they do live
 

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Yes I pull the alarm cord on the tunze water controller so the rodi water doesn't dispense into the refugium.

The flow was low by midnight when I filmed, but during day and until midnight it's 40-60% flow.... But middle of night it's basically 5%. That's ok right? Or is the flow supposed to be higher all the time?

The maxima clam has been on the sand for 4 months so it would have died if it didn't have enough light penetrating 49 inches through the water? Also those blobs are on the sand too.....

Just now took a 30 second vid showing the beat up anemone today! Now there are 3 clowns in it, including the maroon clown. I try to shoo them away so the anemone can rest, but they come right back. Dosed 1ML more of magnesium right away last night after testing at 1270 magnesium, and increasing dosing to 10ML from 9ML a day going forward, so I assume I'm closing in at 1400 ML now, and I swapped out about 7-8 gallons and put in extra salt water that hydrometer said was way over 1.03 so now my water is testing at 1.0265 or so according to hydrometer. So could boosting my magnesium and salinity as soon as you told me, got this anemone looking good within hours!?


That's the video and here's a picture

The anemone was massive when I bought it and literally looks 10% of its size when it looked dead last night with a hole in it, but now it's 20% of what it was 2 weeks ago when I bought it.

I've never had clowns go in any of my anemones until now. I only had nemos who never wanted an anemone. I would just keep trying to buy 1 anemone a month and when it was gone I'd buy another... only now, suddenly 2 nemos have figured out the anemone, and the red maroon used to be mean but now he's sharing it. I wouldn't want to get rid of him!

I have never tried 5-20% blue light for 6-8 hours and whiter light for a few hours, but I'll try that for awhile. Before, it was always set on blue when they turned on but went whiter and whiter within a few hours and and was max intense white by midnight. You don't think my 4 kessil blast through the depths of the water even if I do 100% intensity? And do you agree to do more blue than white for color? Wouldn't adding even more lights really limit me from adding any corals to the upper half of the rocks? Everything but at the bottom would get fried?

How do I add more power heads. I have 2, and they are on one end of the glass, the cords won't reach to the other end, and that would just look ugly if I had black plastic on the other ends of my glass, and cords visible the length of glass. I did my best to hide the 2 power heads with branches and rock... can't imagine how I could hide more power heads or their cords that would go the entire length of the glass

IMG_20200321_1420428.jpg

I'd suggest keeping the flow the same all day and night. Waves on a reef don't turn off at night so we should keep ours the same.

You'll have to engineer a solution for the flow. But let's get after that later and make sure the first two things are addressed.

Rent this once in stock:

Do you have a refractometer or hydrometer? If it doesn't look like the product linked here, I'd suggest using this product (refractometer) as it is usually way more accurate. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/refractometer-for-reading-salinity-with-calibration-fluid.html

Maroon clownfish are mean. Really best to keep either a pair of clownfish in a tank or a ton of them, but odd numbers or somewhere in between will result in death at some point.

The changes you made could have helped the anemone, too early to tell at this stage. The ocean, and coral reefs, are a scientific frontier. There's not a lot of explanation for what we do in this hobby we just try our best to mimic natural coral reef environments -- sometimes there isn't an easily identifiable correlation between input and output for our tanks. All I'm saying here is don't settle -- do the other things I've mentioned and get your tank perfectly in line and watch the results come in.

For the lights, no way to know until you rent that PAR meter. 4' tanks are tough to light, and unless you have the narrow beam Kessil's, it's likely you won't get enough light to the bottom with that setup, but again only one way to find out. But yes, there are tradeoffs you'll make with lighting.

Don't change the lighting too frequently (or at all) once you get your PAR (intensity) situation figured out. Corals are sensitive creatures and need time to adjust to the changes we make in our tanks. Changing the lights frequently can bleach them out or kill them, even if it's changing color alone. Any change in intensity or spectrum requires a big adjustment from the coral.

The Kessil's are great lights and you can run them at the spectrum that pleases your eye -- but you have to pick that and stick with it; changing it daily/weekly/monthly will negatively affect your corals.
 
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I'd suggest keeping the flow the same all day and night. Waves on a reef don't turn off at night so we should keep ours the same.

You'll have to engineer a solution for the flow. But let's get after that later and make sure the first two things are addressed.

Rent this once in stock:

Do you have a refractometer or hydrometer? If it doesn't look like the product linked here, I'd suggest using this product (refractometer) as it is usually way more accurate. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/refractometer-for-reading-salinity-with-calibration-fluid.html

Maroon clownfish are mean. Really best to keep either a pair of clownfish in a tank or a ton of them, but odd numbers or somewhere in between will result in death at some point.

The changes you made could have helped the anemone, too early to tell at this stage. The ocean, and coral reefs, are a scientific frontier. There's not a lot of explanation for what we do in this hobby we just try our best to mimic natural coral reef environments -- sometimes there isn't an easily identifiable correlation between input and output for our tanks. All I'm saying here is don't settle -- do the other things I've mentioned and get your tank perfectly in line and watch the results come in.

For the lights, no way to know until you rent that PAR meter. 4' tanks are tough to light, and unless you have the narrow beam Kessil's, it's likely you won't get enough light to the bottom with that setup, but again only one way to find out. But yes, there are tradeoffs you'll make with lighting.

Don't change the lighting too frequently (or at all) once you get your PAR (intensity) situation figured out. Corals are sensitive creatures and need time to adjust to the changes we make in our tanks. Changing the lights frequently can bleach them out or kill them, even if it's changing color alone. Any change in intensity or spectrum requires a big adjustment from the coral.

The Kessil's are great lights and you can run them at the spectrum that pleases your eye -- but you have to pick that and stick with it; changing it daily/weekly/monthly will negatively affect your corals.

Thanks for the compliments on the aquarium I really regret not doing 500 gallon or more. I really wish it was longer for the fish to swim back and forth. I really regret only being 300 gallon.

I will rent the par meter. I can't believe neither maintenance person I had since last March have ever suggested one or did it for me.

I will increase the flow of my 2 power heads to 80-90% ... but keeping that 24 hours a day??? Don't oceans get really calm some hours of the day, stormy and wavy other hours? So I assumed when the lights go off, and it's sleep time, I'll make the water calm for them. No? Just leave the power heads 80%+ 24/7!? Well that definitely would change something in my aquarium, since ive only ran the powered about 8-12 hours at varying 20-60% level and then down to 10% when lights go off and it's pitch black in living room too.

I am going to see what 8+ hours of blue and 2 hours of white, at 90% intensity does! Never tried this, it was always mostly white.

And my magnesium and salinity are good now so we will see. Yes, I mentioned I have a hydrometer and it shows 1.0265 after I removed 8 then dumped 8 new gallons of 1.03++ salt in last night per your advice to raise from 1.024 to 1.026

Will update next with test results from triton lab and the par meter .....looking forward to adding any supplements they say I'm deficient in and seeing what the par meter says.

i hear ya about clowns!!!!


I had bought a pair of them, and algaebarn says they were fine together for 8 months before selling them. They were fine together for 2 weeks in my aquarium and then the bigger one relentlessly started bullying the smaller one to death. Would not let it be anywhere except the bottom corner. It died. So now just 1 of them, and the red maroon, and 2 pairs of nemos but one pair is more orange one pair is more black... the remaining clown from algaebarn bullies the nemos but not aggressively just pushes them around but the nemos just have no care in the world swimming upside down at the top most of the time... and this ***** has been eying the red maroon and has made attempts to attack , maybe fighting over the big anemone which isn't so big now, the red maroon holds his ground. If anyone is mean, it's the clown from algaebarn. The red maroon just wants to be left alone. So far they have co existed. Before the algaebarn clown killed his partner I felt lucky to have 2 pairs of nemos, a maroon clown and this pair from algaebarn..... It's been 6 months with the 4 nemos, and 3 months with the remaining algaebarn clown and the red maroon clown. I do want to add some designer clowns, I'll add 4-6 more so it's a bunch and they can't fight for control.... I hope that's enough.

Oh, does anyone have an Australian elegance that has lasted ??? Last Maintenance guy said they are hard to keep, as are wall hammers.
 
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I'm in so cal too, so if you are ever near Oceanside maybe we can have aquarium collaborations or trade frags etc if my stuff ever starts growing and needs to be cut!
If I ever need hardware installs or repairs I will need to pay someone because I don't want to deal with it so maybe you could handle it. I've taken the plunge and am doing testing and water changes myself now after Trenton Smith / crystal dynamic aquarium screwed me over for a year, and then Patrick Maynard is not any better. Charging me 150-200 , or 300 a visit (if water change) and they never had solutions to why my anemones were unhappy, never suggested a par meter, never stopped my wall hammers from dying... and Trenton Smith did a lot worse by installing my chiller underneath my aquarium making it a hotbox and heating my water to 83 degrees every day, and a lot more issues including flaking on maintenance half of the time never showing up.

You can text 838-888-8885 if you are ever around!
 
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I only suggested lowering your magnesium because you are actively dosing it - you are paying money to buy magnesium to dose into your tank .

I wasn’t bragging about my high magnesium but was merely pointing out that I don’t think magnesium levels have that much of an effect on the anemone whether it’s in range or slightly high

Here is a decent video that I think defines the flow pretty well.

Anemones don’t like to be blasted constantly , they like low to moderate flow (depending on type)



I don’t have an apex so I don’t understand the graph , maybe someone can chime in ,
But I have two power heads , one turns on for 2 minutes the other turns off . So each anemone has 2 minutes of direct current and 2 minutes of indirect (I did not place them this way this is just where they both chose to move )


Definitely lower my magnesium? Why. You just bragged that you like your high magnesium. And the previous replies told me to raise my magnesium to 1400... why would I lower it when Im only at 1270

And I don't know what my flow is at any given area of the tank, but the power heads do 20-60% throughout the day. At the top where the wave fans are it's high flow, just water up there. Where the rocks are I would assume it's classified as medium flow. I really don't know how anyone figures out what is medium or low flow. And how to juggle different corals flow needs , with a wave fan that can only be in 1 spot... idk the video link I showed previous response can help show what I mean?? Here is a screenshot of the numbers of my 2 powerheads. Should I increase the power to 100%? For more hours too? No gradual increase and decrease?

Screenshot_20200321-145747.png IMG_20200321_1500131.jpg IMG_20200321_1500032.jpg
 
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I'd suggest keeping the flow the same all day and night. Waves on a reef don't turn off at night so we should keep ours the same.

You'll have to engineer a solution for the flow. But let's get after that later and make sure the first two things are addressed.

Rent this once in stock:

Do you have a refractometer or hydrometer? If it doesn't look like the product linked here, I'd suggest using this product (refractometer) as it is usually way more accurate. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/refractometer-for-reading-salinity-with-calibration-fluid.html

Maroon clownfish are mean. Really best to keep either a pair of clownfish in a tank or a ton of them, but odd numbers or somewhere in between will result in death at some point.

The changes you made could have helped the anemone, too early to tell at this stage. The ocean, and coral reefs, are a scientific frontier. There's not a lot of explanation for what we do in this hobby we just try our best to mimic natural coral reef environments -- sometimes there isn't an easily identifiable correlation between input and output for our tanks. All I'm saying here is don't settle -- do the other things I've mentioned and get your tank perfectly in line and watch the results come in.

For the lights, no way to know until you rent that PAR meter. 4' tanks are tough to light, and unless you have the narrow beam Kessil's, it's likely you won't get enough light to the bottom with that setup, but again only one way to find out. But yes, there are tradeoffs you'll make with lighting.

Don't change the lighting too frequently (or at all) once you get your PAR (intensity) situation figured out. Corals are sensitive creatures and need time to adjust to the changes we make in our tanks. Changing the lights frequently can bleach them out or kill them, even if it's changing color alone. Any change in intensity or spectrum requires a big adjustment from the coral.

The Kessil's are great lights and you can run them at the spectrum that pleases your eye -- but you have to pick that and stick with it; changing it daily/weekly/monthly will negatively affect your corals.

The anemone looks bad again. So raising magnesium towards 1400 and specific gravity towards 1.026 didn't do a quick fix

And the very reason that prompted me to post was this coral that was fine for 3 months, now showing more skeleton and since the first day I posted, now it's worse. So I moved the coral. Could the flow be bouncing off the glass and killing that side of it?

I put the power head at 90% last night and it looked like a storm in my tank, especially feeding time, even the fish get pushed around by the current. I don't think that is what is meant by high flow? Is there no guidance from the power heads what to set the % to? I don't even know what brand they are.

None of my parameters are off enough to kill coral, right!? I hate this!!!! Just a money pit with no upside for a tank that was manufactured too deep and defective

And what is this anemones problem! My parameters are not off! And it's a year old tank

IMG_20200322_1450430.jpg IMG_20200322_1450244.jpg IMG_20200322_1454327.jpg IMG_20200322_1454378.jpg IMG_20200322_1450116.jpg IMG_20200322_1503409.jpg IMG_20200322_1503478.jpg
 
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I only suggested lowering your magnesium because you are actively dosing it - you are paying money to buy magnesium to dose into your tank .

I wasn’t bragging about my high magnesium but was merely pointing out that I don’t think magnesium levels have that much of an effect on the anemone whether it’s in range or slightly high

Here is a decent video that I think defines the flow pretty well.

Anemones don’t like to be blasted constantly , they like low to moderate flow (depending on type)



I don’t have an apex so I don’t understand the graph , maybe someone can chime in ,
But I have two power heads , one turns on for 2 minutes the other turns off . So each anemone has 2 minutes of direct current and 2 minutes of indirect (I did not place them this way this is just where they both chose to move )


Thank you for the info, and vid. I will try to figure out my flow!
 
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Anyone want to tell me to remove this anemone that looks like its rotting?

So much for raising magnesium and salinity to solve the problem

It's right next to powerhead and up high with the intense kessil leds so it can move if flow or lighting was a problem

The ****** aquarium experience continues. Hopefully the sample I sent to triton will shed some light

IMG_20200323_1653337.jpg IMG_20200323_1653265.jpg
 
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Hey people.
I don't know why no one could look at the anemone on the glass, with nothing but a ring and hollow center seeing right through, and say it's dying, get rid of it before it's mush.

When all it took was a couple days since, it seems pretty obvious for anyone here replying to people. I would think anyone replying has experience and knows what they are talking about, or why chime in? How could no one say this was dead? I put it on the rock to let it rest, wasn't even stuck to the glass just slid right off, and was just stressing me out seeing it stretched and ripped and thin, and 2 days later it's just this mush:


Not cool people. Guess I got to learn myself. Trying to get free advice here doesn't work out lol nothing is free.

I get triton lab results in a few days so I'll know then what to add or not.
 
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Got my test results from Triton, shocked at my Phosphates. It seems if I can figure out my phosphates problem, my aquarium problems will end.


Already was correcting the magnesium so 2 other issues:

Your Lithium levels are slightly elevated.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in your search for the source of error, we have listed them the most common lithium sources (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Contaminated salts / contaminated magnesium salts
3. Artificial Rock/ Reef ceramics
4. Food
If you are dosing additional lithium on top of regular doses then stop.
Your Phosphorus / phosphate levels are too high.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in your search for the source of error, we have listed the most common reasons (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Overfeeding, especially with dry food or not washed-frozen foods
2. No Phosphate in the system
3. Too much vegetable food
4. Too little flow, "Gammel corners" in the aquarium
5. Weak filtration / skimming
6. use of supplements to increase nutrients
Renew or increase PO4 media, feed less, wash frozen food, avoid dried foods (flakes or pellets)


To anyone that understands Triton language:

PHOSPHATE
Your Phosphorus / phosphate levels are too high.

2. No Phosphate in the system
3. Too much vegetable food

How high is it? Really bad? Maintenance guy I fired 2 weeks ago said it was 0.25ppm. What is my PPM now for phosphate? How does 0.255pm from my maintenance guy testing , to 133 ug/l vs 6 ug/l set point for phosporus
133 µg/l6 µg/l
and

0.40698 mg/l0.01836 mg/l
for phosphates?


How can phosphate level be too high, but also no phosphate in system? And is the seaweed sheets for the Tangs "too much vegetable food"? Sometimes I put a big piece in and it comes apart and floats around and disintegrates and I thought it was harmless.....I did have my powerheads running low % but increased recently so flow will be higher. And I did cover 90% of the teeth on overflow box to raise water level to the canopy level, manufacturer made defect. I hope filtration is not a problem. My skimmer is good.

I also have a media with phosphate balls bouncing around in it and it hasn't been changed out in awhile.
 
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homer1475

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Hey people.
I don't know why no one could look at the anemone on the glass, with nothing but a ring and hollow center seeing right through, and say it's dying, get rid of it before it's mush.

It was still attached to the glass, which means it's still alive. We tend to try and save animals and not just throw them away like trash. Thats why we tried to help save the animal, and not just have you toss a live animal in the trash until it was fully dead.


Not cool people. Guess I got to learn myself. Trying to get free advice here doesn't work out lol nothing is free.

The advice that was given was based on the information YOU provided to us. If you don't have a clue on what to ask, then we can't help you.

I think you might want to start at the beginning, like really beginning. You have alot going on in that tank that is not right(like 4 clown to start with, which that maroon will be the only one left shortly).

lets start with this thread:

Then skip over to this thread:


We'll skip the cycling threads as your tank is fully cycled and already running.

Unfortunately there is only one way your going to turn this tank around, and it's not us spoon feeding you information, or you just paying someone to take care of it. No one your paying gives a rats patooty about your tank or its inhabitants. They only care about your money and replacing dead animals which costs you more money too. The only way going forward to turn this tank around is if you start at the beginning and do your own research.
 

homer1475

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I would think anyone replying has experience and knows what they are talking about, or why chime in? How could no one say this was dead?

Your new here and replying. Do you know what your talking about? Not everyone on the internet, or even these forums knows what their talking about. People chime in because this is an open forum, meaning it's open to anyone regardless of experience, and they are open to post in any thread they wish regardless of their experience.


Sorry for being so harsh, but your last post really rubs me the wrong way and I have to point it out that your coming off like a ***** in a place where all we want to do is help you help your animals.
 
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ds38

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Unfortunately there is only one way your going to turn this tank around, and it's not us spoon feeding you information, or you just paying someone to take care of it. No one your paying gives a rats patooty about your tank or its inhabitants. They only care about your money and replacing dead animals which costs you more money too. The only way going forward to turn this tank around is if you start at the beginning and do your own research.

No problem homer1475, I was being an butt with my last reply. Was mad at the rotting, smelling anemone.

Anyways, about turning my tank around, I got lab results back from Triton:


There is only 1 massive glaring issue that I would guess is responsible for the unhappy anemones and corals and its

"Your Phosphorus / phosphate levels are too high."


ElementAnalysisSetpointDeviationWarning lamp
P133 µg/l6 µg/l127.00
PO40.40698 mg/l0.01836 mg/l0.389
Either Triton is a load of crap, or the left over Reef Master Test Kits that the fired maintenance guy left is a load of crap, because his last test showed 0.25 ppm and I just followed the instructions too and did my first ever Phosphate test and it too shows 0.25pm if not 0ppm, so not sure what 0.25ppm converts to in ug/l or mg/l but definitely not 20X the setpoint, judging by this color chart. (see attached pic)

Someone enlighten me if Reef Master Test Kits are pathetic, and if there is a better test I should be doing so it can match up with what Triton Labs shows!

And how can I lower my phosphates! I have done a 25 gallon water change myself a few days ago, since sending a sample to Triton!

I only feed twice a day, 1-2 inches of frozen mysis shrimp / rods food, and 1-2 cubes of the red pe calunus for the corals, and sometimes a cyclops cube with the feedings too. I have 300 gallon tank and alot of fish! The harlequin sweetlips alone eats a lot of the food!

I have a Phosphate reducer container near the skimmer, it's bouncing balls around, hasn't been changed in 3-4 weeks last time maintenance guy did it. Don't know what I'm doing with that....

I don't wash frozen food off, I guess that contributes minimal phosphates reading posts about it?

Anything else I should try?

IMG_20200328_0244286.jpg
 

homer1475

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All API test kits are junk. They are not reliable, and measure no where down far enough to what we tend to keep parameter in.

I personally use Salifert for Calcium and Magnesium, Red Sea Pro for nitrates, Hanna for Alkalinity, and Hanna ULR Phosphorous for phosphates(this will closely match what Triton came up with).

Your triton results look fine. Yes PO4(phosphates) are slightly elevated, and Lithium is of no concern.
 
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I think you might want to start at the beginning, like really beginning. You have alot going on in that tank that is not right(like 4 clown to start with, which that maroon will be the only one left shortly).

The maroon clown is being bullied by the Biota Blue Stripe Anenomefish


The maroon maybe is playing games with it, but it seems to stay in the top corner and does laps around the tank just to tick off the Blue Strip Anenomefish maybe, but the blue strip is the mean guy, hes also pushing around the 4 small nemos. It is getting stressful watching the blue stripe clown keep chasing the maroon into the top corner, never actually attacking it because the maroon clown makes quick darting moves , but the blue stripe seems to want to kill him. the nemos he just lazily pushes out of his area once in a while, which is everywhere except the top of the water

It was 8 nemos originally, but has been 4 nemos for 5+ months now
Maroon clown has also been in tank 4 months, and is not the mean one, and doesn't mind the nemos nearby, and even shared the anenome with the nemos before the anenome died.

I must have a unique maroon, because he is chill and just wants to be left alone.

It's the Blue Stripe clown that killed his partner (bought a pair) and now bullies the rest of the clowns.
 

homer1475

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both are mean, its a clarki clown the one your calling a blue stripe. The maroon will eventually kill all the other clowns, They are the meanest clowns around, just do some research on them and you'll see. It might take a while, but when the maroon gets bigger, it's lights out for the others.
 
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ds38

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All API test kits are junk. They are not reliable, and measure no where down far enough to what we tend to keep parameter in.

I personally use Salifert for Calcium and Magnesium, Red Sea Pro for nitrates, Hanna for Alkalinity, and Hanna ULR Phosphorous for phosphates(this will closely match what Triton came up with).

Your triton results look fine. Yes PO4(phosphates) are slightly elevated, and Lithium is of no concern.

Thanks for the quick analysis.

I do have 3 pleco cave rocks



Like that. The results suggest "3. Artificial Rock/ Reef ceramics" but the plyco says its clay and safe. Have been wondering for 6 months if it would show something bad on a lab result. But I guess not.....

So phosphorous at 133 ug/l and PO4 at 0.40698 mg/l isn't too bad? It's not killing coral?
Do you think its just from feeding a little too much? Or what else

I will buy Hanna ULR Phosphorous for phosphates & Salifert for Calcium and Magnesium, Red Sea Pro for nitrates, Hanna for Alkalinity. Thanks for those recommendations.
 

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yes .40 is high, we typically try to keep phosphates in the .03 range.

Could be from overfeeding, but could laso be coming from being bound up in your rocks. What was used for rocks? Dry dead rock, or live wet rock?
 

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