Everything is dying... except for the Green hair algae????

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks Vetteguy and vpierce.

I cut my light back to just 6 hours of white light. I had it set for 10 hours.

I didn't realize that .15 was that high! I am using API and Red Sea Reef test kits. I checked on the turbo snails that I added yesterday, (picked them up and tapped on the inside of their shell) and they are still alive. They just closed up.

I am going to do a water change now. I just have to wait for the water to run through the RODI filter. I have always used RODI water for this tank. I have about 30 gallons ready right now, just hoping to gather about 15 gallons more before I start the water change. Might have to wait until tomorrow to do the water change since it's already almost 10:00 and I need to get up at 5:30.

I added some carbon to the baffles in between the first and second chambers of my sump. I have them in bags, and I can pull them to swap them out when needed. I just cleaned out the sponges in the last baffle of my sump, and the filter sock on Sat, so I'm letting them sit for a few more days.

I did add some Fritzyme 9 Nitrifying bacteria after I added the sump, and I also added the pink coralline algae in a bottle (which said that it included some nitrogen fixing bacteria) when I added the clownfish and snails. I just ordered some Microbacter7 so hopefully that will help get the ammonia back under control.

Thanks everyone.

I have no regards for liquid coralline which rarely works and raises calcium levels in some instances.
I am more for te red sea results than that Of Api which is notorious for false reading especially ammonia. Water change will be helpful and monitor ammonia for 5 days to assure its stable and not rising and falling each day

 

[Lavey29]

Thanks Vetteguy and vpierce.

I cut my light back to just 6 hours of white light. I had it set for 10 hours.

I didn't realize that .15 was that high! I am using API and Red Sea Reef test kits. I checked on the turbo snails that I added yesterday, (picked them up and tapped on the inside of their shell) and they are still alive. They just closed up.

I am going to do a water change now. I just have to wait for the water to run through the RODI filter. I have always used RODI water for this tank. I have about 30 gallons ready right now, just hoping to gather about 15 gallons more before I start the water change. Might have to wait until tomorrow to do the water change since it's already almost 10:00 and I need to get up at 5:30.

I added some carbon to the baffles in between the first and second chambers of my sump. I have them in bags, and I can pull them to swap them out when needed. I just cleaned out the sponges in the last baffle of my sump, and the filter sock on Sat, so I'm letting them sit for a few more days.

I did add some Fritzyme 9 Nitrifying bacteria after I added the sump, and I also added the pink coralline algae in a bottle (which said that it included some nitrogen fixing bacteria) when I added the clownfish and snails. I just ordered some Microbacter7 so hopefully that will help get the ammonia back under control.

Thanks everyone.

You don't want any white light now that is what feeds algae. Blue and uv only for 6 hours or if no coral then you don't need light at all thus allowing your tank to develop biodiversity and microfauna before lights and coral are added.

 

[vpierce3]

+1 on no white lights for now. And no red or green either.

 

[Stblindtiger]

Run that fuge 24/7. Turn off your display lights for a week.

I turned off the lights in the display tank last night, and set the lights on in the refugium for 24 hrs. I also did a 50% water change today, and added a few capfuls of microbacter7 as well.

I think all the snails I added originally are dead. I don’t see any of them moving. One of the turbo snails that I added this past weekend may still be alive, but the other one is dead. When I pick it up and tap on the shell the one closes, the other one stays open. I can see the one that closed when I tapped on it, pop up and down every once in a while when I place it back down. Hopefully, with the carbon I added yesterday, along with the water change and microbacter7 additions I did today I can save at least one Turbosnail.

Should I remove all the “confirmed” dead snails so they don’t contribute to the ammonia going up again? (I’m going to leave them in tonight, maybe some of them will start to move again tomorrow) Or if they are dead, should I just leave them in there so the tank can handle a bigger load?

I’m going to run some tests on the water myself tomorrow and then also send a mail in sample to get the water tested in a lab tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[killer2001]

How are you aerating the water? Is there surface agitation?

 

[Seansea]

Just leave em. Fuel for your fuge. Sounds like you are on right track

 

[Stblindtiger]

How are you aerating the water? Is there surface agitation?

There is surface agitation in the display tank from 2 wave makers aimed up towards the surface. The display tank also drains down into the sump, and there is a protein skimmer in the sump.

I have charcoal bags in the baffles from the 1st chamber of the sump (containing the inlet from the display tank emptying into a filter sock, and the protein skimmer) leading to the second chamber. In the second chamber there are small pieces of base rock, ceramic bio media rings, chaeto, and two heaters. In the baffles from the second chamber to the third chamber of the sump I have some black foam mesh to keep the chaeto and other debris out of the last chamber where the return pump is. My ATO also has a sensor in the third chamber and also fills up into this chamber when needed. The charcoal bags, and foam in the baffles may stop the microbubbles from appearing in the display tank, but they won't take the oxygen out of the water correct?

Do you think I need to add an aeration stone? If I do need to add the aeration stone, should I add that into the third chamber of the sump, or into the display tank? If I do need to add one, I would rather add it to the sump since the whole purpose of the sump is so that I don't have all these cords/tubes in the display tank...

Thanks again!

 

[Tamberav]

PO4 of 0.15 is not a danger to fish or snails.

My Po4 is maxed out on my low range test kit as 0.61 so mine is much higher. I have many 'sensative' fish and plenty of snails... I also have many soft corals, some LPS, and a bubble tip.

There is ZERO chance the po4 is killing your fish.

Algae issues is not surprising since it looks like you used dry rock and this is a typical result towards the end of a cycle.

 

[Stblindtiger]

PO4 of 0.15 is not a danger to fish or snails.

My Po4 is maxed out on my low range test kit as 0.61 so mine is much higher. I have many 'sensative' fish and plenty of snails... I also have many soft corals, some LPS, and a bubble tip.

There is ZERO chance the po4 is killing your fish.

Algae issues is not surprising since it looks like you used dry rock and this is a typical result towards the end of a cycle.

The .15 was my Ammonia level. The PO4 was around .68.

 

[Tamberav]

The .15 was my Ammonia level. The PO4 was around .68.

ah my bad.. I have no idea how you still have 0.15 ammonia 8 weeks in. Biospira brand of bacteria works really well to cycle a tank quickly. I am not sure if you said which brand of bacteria you used?

 

[Stblindtiger]

ah my bad.. I have no idea how you still have 0.15 ammonia 8 weeks in. Biospira brand of bacteria works really well to cycle a tank quickly. I am not sure if you said which brand of bacteria you used?

This is what I think happened.... My Clownfish weren't eating when I first added them, which contributed to me overfeeding them at the start and adding all these nutrients to the tank that eventually raised my ammonia levels. I didn't do a water change in time because I didn't recognize that .15 was a high level of Ammonia. Since I was overfeeding them at the start, I cut back on the feeding to only one time per day. So I went from overfeeding, to most likely underfeeding them, all while the ammonia levels were too high and everything died.

 

[Aqua Man]

On 2.23 I added 250 ml of Seachem Phosguard to try and bring my phosphates down since they were around

Isn’t this lanthanum chloride? How did you add this? Hopefully by a slow drip into the skimmer or low micron filter sock.

 

[Stblindtiger]

Isn’t this lanthanum chloride? How did you add this? Hopefully by a slow drip into the skimmer or low micron filter sock.

Sounds like I messed that up too!

I added it to my filter sock where the water drains into the sump. I took it out last weekend, when everything started dying. Only had it in for a few days.

 

[Stblindtiger]

I just took some new water parameters after a 50% water change and these were my results:

Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78
PH: 8.01

Red Sea Reef Tests:
PO4 - .68 what the heck
Kh - 2.8/7.8
Calcium - 320
MG - 1400
Nitrate/NO3 - 4

API Tests:
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0.1
Nitrate/NO3- 2

I lowered the temp a bit, and now have my Ammonia at a good level. The Nitrates are as low as I have ever had them, but my Phosphates are still high?

I'm not going to use Phosguard again that's for sure, but should I worry about the Phosphates? How do I get them to go down?

I'm going to monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate for the next few days. Hopefully, they will stay steady and I can try to add another fish or two next week?

 

[Seansea]

The phosphates will come down when the fuge takes hold and the algae in there and all the other stuff like sponges and what not will start suckin it up.

Phosphates dont kill fish just a little rough on corals and will feed algae blooms. Id say you are good to go with a fish or 2 in the next week.