CCOMBS FIRST REEF!

[ccombs]

During this snowstorm in my tank I did every test I had. Everything looked fine except Alk.

The API kit has a titration test for Alk and 1 drop=1dkh. When I had tested several days prior, it was suppose to go from blue to a vibrant yellow. at 8 drops it was blue, and instantly on the 9th it went bright yellow.

I thought it would be the same thing this time around.

After 10 drops the vial was still blue, at 11 it got a tinge of a different color, but it took 20 drops to get to the same yellow that is was previously at 9. I was freaking out at this point just waiting for the tank to be killed off.

However the water cleared, everything was fine for a few days.

 

[ccombs]

I noticed that a Cardinal fish had been swimming very close to the substrate. I figured that the new flow patterns with the gyre were just making him swim a tad different.

After a few days of swimming close to the ground, one night I saw that he was just being tumbled around the tank. I turned the lights on and the cardinal seemed to wake up and swam normally. I did a bit of research and thought that the gyre was just making him float around kinda weird while resting. I didn't think much of it and knew the next morning would tell me the truth.

Unfortunately I lost that cardinal the next morning. By 8am the CUC had already gone to work and gotten through about half of him. I used the net to knock the crabs back a little and retrieved him.

In all of these fish deaths there have been no visible signs on the exterior like you would in ich or something. The only thing that has been strange is the labored breathing in a few of them, and then the lethargic behavior.

 

[ccombs]

One last story and we will be up to date.

The day after the cardinal death I was disappointed to find my cleaner shrimp sucked up in my gyre. As I started to retrieve him, the cleaner shrimp popped out from behind the rock! I had mistaken his exoskeleton for him getting sucked in!

I knew it looked like the exoskeleton, I just thought he had been dead for several hours and didn't look good.

Good news is that he is fully alive and well! No dead shrimp lol

------------

Here is my current issue. Whenever I start to lay off the dosing of NoPox, my nitrates rise rapidly. I am wanting to find the underlying cause and not just use NoPox as a bandaid. I started a fairly extensive thread in the emergency forum and have a game plan. When I get home tomorrow here is my checklist.

-No new livestock until underlying issue is resolved
-Installing refugium with chaeto. The parts arrived at my house, I just need to implement when algae arrives
-Remove GFO
-Open Window for Fresh Oxygen (maybe pollutant in home)

As you may have noticed my rock has no coralline and is sterile looking which is obviously odd for a 6 month old tank. We have discussed potential cause and effects in the emergency thread that may lead to some false readings on my tests so I am going to explore other routes.

If you guys have any advice please see the emergency thread, I do not want this one to get bogged down and hijacked with this issue. Here is my tank as we stand (taken before other cardinal died)

 

[Crustaceon]

In my honest opinion, there’s little reason to dose api 8.2 if you don’t have coral and having a ph of 7.8 is fine. It’s low on the spectrum but it’s ok, especially if your tank is just fish right now and if you wanted to bring it up a little, a safer way would be to generate more flow at the water’s surface for improved gas exchange. Don’t treat the symptom, correct the cause of the problem. As for NoPox, it’s not going to do much if anything to reduce nitrates unless a protein skimmer is on hand to finish the process. What happens with that stuff is it acts as bacteria food which causes a bloom in the tank. This can consume a lot of oxygen in the tank and replace it with carbon dioxide, reducing ph and could be the reason why your fish are lethargic and dying. Another problem with dosing carbon sources like NoPox is if you don’t remove that extra bacteria floating around the tank, it will die and release those consumed nitrates and phosphates back into the tank. A protein skimmer is able to capture and export that extra bacteria while at the same time oxygenating your tank too, which in most cases is a great way to keep tank ph in a safe range.

 

[ccombs]

In my honest opinion, there’s little reason to dose api 8.2 if you don’t have coral and having a ph of 7.8 is fine. It’s low on the spectrum but it’s ok, especially if your tank is just fish right now and if you wanted to bring it up a little, a safer way would be to generate more flow at the water’s surface for improved gas exchange. Don’t treat the symptom, correct the cause of the problem. As for NoPox, it’s not going to do much if anything to reduce nitrates unless a protein skimmer is on hand to finish the process. What happens with that stuff is it acts as bacteria food which causes a bloom in the tank. This can consume a lot of oxygen in the tank and replace it with carbon dioxide, reducing ph and could be the reason why your fish are lethargic and dying. Another problem with dosing carbon sources like NoPox is if you don’t remove that extra bacteria floating around the tank, it will die and release those consumed nitrates and phosphates back into the tank. A protein skimmer is able to capture and export that extra bacteria while at the same time oxygenating your tank too, which in most cases is a great way to keep tank ph in a safe range.

Thanks for the input.

I have corals in the tank, hence why I want to raise it. I purchased the gyre to take care of flow in the rest of the tank since the return pumps were just pounding the surface to improve oxygen exchange.

NoPox has been working great with my Tunze 9001, reduced from 160ppm to 20ppm as of tonight.

The fish were lethargic way before NoPox was ever in the picture.

 

[ccombs]

HUGE step forward today. If you remember reading about my DIY light solution, you know that I tried to outsmart the system. Well, turns out I did not fully understand adequate lighting. My plan is to add (2) Kessil 160we lights in Tuna Blue. Since lighting is quite pricy, I purchased one for half of my tank just to see how it would perform, and wow this thing is epic. I thought about trying to cheap out with something different, but I decided to get something I can grow in to as I get larger tanks eventually.

Here is a picture with just one Kessil. Note my old light is still on and it looks like the other half of my tank is in darkness. The Kessil is at the lowest power I could dial in at the very top. (I haven't purchased the controller yet)

This crappy photo doesn't even do the light justice. I will clean up wiring a bit later today.

I also purchased an InTank media basket for my sump and added some chaeto. I think I could have purchased some more, but we will see how this grows.

Finally, my TDS meter arrived and I have some test results to share.

Tap Water: 120ppm
Tap Water + API Water Conditioner (Originally Used Before RODI): 160ppm
RODI Water (4 Stage Aquatic Life): 0ppm

 

[ccombs]

Also! The shimmer that these provide as an LED is insane.

 

[ccombs]

I did not discuss it in this thread, but in my nitrate emergency thread. My clownish has a white spot that appeared to be ich. Today I checked and the spot has really lightened up. I was under the impression that ich just fell off?

I will keep you all updated. I am really looking forward to the part of reefing where it is enjoyable, not stressful. lol

 

[Crustaceon]

Thanks for the input.

I have corals in the tank, hence why I want to raise it. I purchased the gyre to take care of flow in the rest of the tank since the return pumps were just pounding the surface to improve oxygen exchange.

NoPox has been working great with my Tunze 9001, reduced from 160ppm to 20ppm as of tonight.

The fish were lethargic way before NoPox was ever in the picture.

I apologize for not clarifying my comment enough. I noticed you added xenia and green star polyp which ARE corals, lol but what I meant when I mentioned “corals” were “LPS or SPS” corals which have a noticeable calcium skeleton and a much higher demand for alkalinity and calcium. Technically it’s my bad for leaving out the appropriate titles. What you added are considered “softies” and will need very little buffering and calcium. As with any dosing, it’s recommended to test your parameters, wait three days, retest and see how much each parameter dropped. Simply doing your normal water changes with a reef salt would most likely take care of that demand and probably in a safer manner. For the lethargy, insanely high nitrates start to become toxic to fish and while NoPox is great to get those numbers down, any form of carbon dosing can very easily cause a bacterial bloom and starve the tank of oxygen and in extreme cases, a bubble stone is needed to prevent this from happening. It seems like you’ve got a great handle on this but just be sure to regularly test not just nitrates, but phosphates when dosing stuff like NoPox. If the bacteria grown by it manages to remove all of the phosphates from the water, it will stop consuming nitrates altogether and those nitrate levels will very quickly increase again and phosphates can be raised. Always remember that there really is no “cure-all” in this hobby, including NoPox and even though products like these work as advertised and come with dosing directions, these nutrient reductions are within a certain range which are typically tanks with excessive nutrient levels, so it’s good to remain vigilant, test regularly and act appropriately depending on those test results. Also, if the alkalinity is within a range, symptoms like low PH are caused by other issues such as a lack of aeration (I kinda doubt it in your case, due to running a protein skimmer and having some surface agitation) or simply having too many windows closed in the same room as the tank (common in colder areas). Before adding anything to the tank and affecting stability, try to take a look around your setup first and see if there’s something that might be influencing your tank and causing a symptom. We tend to put all of our focus on our aquariums for obvious reasons when that pesky algae outbreak might be due to a window that allows direct sunlight to hit a tank panel. That being said, it’s hard to go wrong with having plenty of flow within a tank, including as another means to bring oxygen to your tank’s inhabitants and to flush the crud out from under your rockwork. I’m jealous of your gyre purchase. That’s a nice pump and I’ve been mulling over getting the 3k for my 100g.

 

[ccombs]

I apologize for not clarifying my comment enough. I noticed you added xenia and green star polyp which ARE corals, lol but what I meant when I mentioned “corals” were “LPS or SPS” corals which have a noticeable calcium skeleton and a much higher demand for alkalinity and calcium. Technically it’s my bad for leaving out the appropriate titles. What you added are considered “softies” and will need very little buffering and calcium. As with any dosing, it’s recommended to test your parameters, wait three days, retest and see how much each parameter dropped. Simply doing your normal water changes with a reef salt would most likely take care of that demand and probably in a safer manner. Typically, if the alkalinity is within a range, issues like low PH are usually due to another issue such as a lack of aeration (I kinda doubt it in your case, due to running a protein skimmer and having some surface agitation) or simply having too many windows closed in the same room as the tank (common in colder areas). That being said, it’s hard to go wrong with having plenty of flow within a tank, including as another means to bring oxygen to your tank’s inhabitants and to flush the crud out from under your rockwork. I’m jealous of your gyre purchase. That’s a nice pump and I’ve been mulling over getting the 3k for my 100g.

Got it, thank you for the clarification. You just meant big boy corals lol.

I know that at this moment the NoPox is simply a bandaid, and eventually I would like to not use it. Once I see how the new changes to the tank (lighting, chaeto, etc.) all work together, I will then make a decision on how to proceed with the dosing. I hope to start lowering the dose at the end of the week and be off of it soon.

 

[Crustaceon]

Got it, thank you for the clarification. You just meant big boy corals lol.

I know that at this moment the NoPox is simply a bandaid, and eventually I would like to not use it. Once I see how the new changes to the tank (lighting, chaeto, etc.) all work together, I will then make a decision on how to proceed with the dosing. I hope to start lowering the dose at the end of the week and be off of it soon.

I’ve seen some amazing softie tanks that put sps tanks to shame. It all comes down to personal taste and setting it up to be what YOU want. There are way too many haters in all manner of hobbies including this one. I’ll never be that and encourage everyone who views a 40 gallon breeder with a single t5ho bulb and softies to be as cool as a 1000 gallon sps tank lit with 4k in radions. We’re all keeping water. You’re doing great man. Just keep testing and stay on it.

 

[ccombs]

I’ve seen some amazing softie tanks that put sps tanks to shame. It all comes down to personal taste and setting it up to be what YOU want. There are way too many haters in all manner of hobbies including this one. I’ll never be that and encourage everyone who views a 40 gallon breeder with a single t5ho bulb and softies to be as cool as a 1000 gallon sps tank lit with 4k in radions. We’re all keeping water. You’re doing great man. Just keep testing and stay on it.

I love softies for sure. I know some might think they are the lesser of the corals, but I just love the movement to them. It is actually what most of my corals will be when it is all said and done.

 

[Crustaceon]

My first tank was a softie tank. It was a far more diverse system than what I have now in my sps tank and i’m trying to find ways to bring back all of those little points of interest aside from “that one has blue tips but that one has green tips”...

 

[ccombs]

Update:

1) Green algae is starting to grow on rocks, after only having Kessil 160we for a few days. How bright is too bright? I think my GSP (or whats left of it) might not like how bright it is, but I can't have it any lower (Intensity Wise). Should I raise my light? (Height Wise)

2) API Test tubes are TRASH! Gave them a soak in white distilled vinegar to be sure they were not contaminated and all of the markings that show how much they should be filled came right off......

 

[ccombs]

Today I just noticed something new, there are these little white specs all over my glass. At first I thought they were micro bubbles, but upon closer inspection they are moving around like some really small pods, except they are too tiny to see any identifying marks like feet, etc.

 

[ccombs]

Well...

Bad news today. Multiple fish have signs of parasites and I am not sure why I have been unsuccessful so far. Tomorrow I am grabbing an emergency QT Tank for the 3 fish that are left and doing 6 weeks in there. After the first 4 weeks of copper I will move my CUC into the QT tank as a temporary home.

After the tank is clear I will be completely emptying my tank. Buying new sand and bleaching my rocks. I will do a full clean of all equipment and re-cycle my tank for 4 weeks doing a ghost feeding method.

This is quite frustrating but I think it will be best for my tank long term.

I know I had my gameplan that I was following, but this parasite issue has changed the game completely.

 

[ccombs]

As stated before, I had a gameplan that was actually showing signs of progress with my water chemistry issues. This all went down the toilet when I found that I had Uronema and possibly some other parasites. I have 2 QT tanks being set up as we speak (taking a break while some water mixes). One is for my inverts, the other is for my fish who are going to see an 8 week QT and go through several rounds of medications. In the mean time I have begun to break down my tank, throw away sand, and I am preparing to bleach my rocks. All of my other equipment is getting a mild bleach cleaning, followed by an RODI water cleaning, followed by a white distilled vinegar cleaning, then a final rinse in RODI. Here are some pictures of the tank going down. QT tank pics to come. My QT plan has changed slightly since last night.

 

[ccombs]

Fish are all settling in to their QT tanks, I need to pick up some PVC for them still, but it is their home for the next few months. I hate it for them, but it is long term what needs to happen. Here are some pictures from the cleanup.

Everything is getting a bleach soak for the night, I will pick up tomorrow with thorough cleaning and scrubbing. I added power heads to the rock buckets.

Here are the hospital tanks. I made up and printed off schedules so my wife and I can stay on track with meds and water changes. Especially since the different stages of meds have different dosing and WC requirements.

Fish are in a 20 gallon and inverts are in a 6 gallon. QT tanks are running a little warmer than the DT to encourage parasites to cycle off host faster (if there are other parasites besides Uronema).

Last thing that is odd... I found a piece of glass in the sump, but even after close inspection, I cannot find where it came from........

 

[ccombs]

Unfortunately lost the cleaner shrimp last night. I figured the fish/inverts could handle one night without PVC (hiding spots). Well, turns out the cleaner decided to molt again. The crabs took advantage of this and it seems like they ate him while molting. This morning they were all over him and he seemed to be trying to get out, but it was too little too late. I removed the crabs to see if he could recover, and it doesn't seem like he is. I will give him a little more time in the tank but I am pretty sure he is dead, he is kind of twitching.

I have been reading up on Uronema, and some state that it appears in Clowns with their instability while swimming, and this goes directly back to what I experienced several weeks ago. Right now the clown is still holding on, but I do have to hold him and put food right into his mouth. He eats it, but it still swimming all weird. I hope he pulls through.

My original plan was to not dose copper and metro simultaneously, as it is not recommended per the bottle, but I found many that disagree on R2R. I decided to dose at the same time because I think there might be multiple parasites as the other fish show signs of different illnesses. Since a parasite can kill a fish quickly, I am dosing both in hopes that it puts both parasites at bay so the fish live long enough to make it through my whole QT.

I switched to a new brand of salt (caribsea) and it mixes so much faster! These daily water changes are quite a chore, I went to home depot and got 8 buckets to manage the rock bleaching, sand washing, water changes, etc. and not cross contaminate. I would be a lot better off if I had about 2 or 3 more small mixing power heads lol.

I am putting in quite a large order with BRS since now is the time to make some changes to my system. I am excited to share them with you when the time comes. I guess I have to keep you in suspense somehow!!

 

[ccombs]

Today has been a long one.

All equipment has sat in bleach, been sponged with bleach, then rinsed and sponged with white distilled vinegar. Right now all gear is sitting in WDV.

Tank was completely bleached, then rinsed in WDV and dried by hand. I am going to let it dry over night.

Tomorrow I will rinse all gear and let it sit in a bucket with RODI and SeaChem Prime.

Tomorrow I will also be filling up the tank with just normal tap, putting some pumps in there, and let it circulate with a dose of Prime for a few days. After that I will empty and fully dry again.

Rocks will be done with their 48 hour bleach tomorrow night and I will let them sit in tap water and Prime for another 48. My tap water TDS is fairly low per the the country (160 TDS) so I am not too worried. I can only make this RODI so fast lol.

After 48 hours in the Prime soak, I will put the rocks in my oven at 500 degrees for 2 hours.

During this time I will be washing and prepping my sand and getting ready to begin the tank cycle!

My clownfish (first fish ever purchased) is not doing so hot with the Uronema. He has fought it off once so I am hoping he can pull through again. Every few days I am doing a short freshwater dip to keep his gills clear of any buildup. I have been through weeks of not thinking he will make it through the night, so I am hoping he can make it through this week to finish the metro treatment.

This is a really tough time in my short lived reefing career, but I am learning a lot and I hope I can share with others later on and become a better reefer through the process.