HELP!!! Talk me off the ledge!

[iluvnybor]

Thanks for reading

I have been on the hobby for about 10 years now and have NEVER been successful. Currently I have a biocube 14 or 16. I have 1 clown fish on there a few pieces of live rock, 2 BTS's very small and have not been happy for a few months, and a candy cane. The candy cane (and algae) is the only thing that I can get to grow!! The tank has been setup for over a year now. I use 0tds rodi water. I use tropic marin classic salt and have been doing 5 gallon water changes every week like clockwork for the past 4 weeks and install a new filter in the tank. Everything on the biocube is stock. The only thing I added is a powerhead. I feed my fish about once a week because I am trying to eliminate the the extra nutrition in the tank. I have the lights on for about 9 hours a day with a timer. I do not do water testing because I read that if you are doing weekly water changes that was not necessary. I am also not sure if my test kits are still even good they might be old.

Anyways I am getting red slime in the tank on the rocks and it floats on the surface along with hair type algae. About a month ago I took out the rocks that had the slime and algae out and cleaned them hoping that would take care of the issues but it has not. My BTA's are not happy at all I have not seen them blow up in months.
I am getting ready to throw in the towel here. I want so bad to have a beautiful reef tank but am also sick of failing all the time.
Any suggestions???????

Andy

 

[andrewey]

Hey Andy! Welcome to Reef2Reef! If you really want to save your tank, we can absolutely help! The biggest catch is that your tank has been like this for a while. That means two things. It won't be fixed overnight and more importantly, you wouldn't want to fix it overnight (as we wouldn't want to shock any of your animals ). So long as you understand that, we can go stepwise into each problem you have and try and solve them one by one. It might take a bit of time, but you should see a gradual positive trend with each week being better than the last. Some of your animals such as your anemone might take a bit of time to come around, but we're going to try and put them in the best position to succeed!

Before we start troubleshooting, would you happen to have a picture of your tank? I don't want to inundate you with too many questions off the bat and seeing your tank might help to answer some of them.

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[ichthyogeek]

^^What Andrew said plus some more.

Soooo....if you're not testing, it's less about doing regular water changes, and more about doing regular water changes AND more water changes when something doesn't look/feel right. Have you considered doing larger water changes (7.5-10 gallons)?

Regarding tank age, it took my 55 about two+ years to mature past the ugly stage. It's...really hard to just see it like that, but you can make it!

 

[Sleeping Giant]

What they said

 

[vetteguy53081]

Are you using RO water and what is your phos level ?

 

[MERKEY]

Hey there and welcome!

+2 to the above haha

Now might be a good time to start testing some parameters and not rely on weekly water changes.

Do you have any kits that test phosphate and nitrate?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

What types of filters are you using?
Salinity?
Any clean up crew?

 

[ParkerK]

Thanks for reading

I have been on the hobby for about 10 years now and have NEVER been successful. Currently I have a biocube 14 or 16. I have 1 clown fish on there a few pieces of live rock, 2 BTS's very small and have not been happy for a few months, and a candy cane. The candy cane (and algae) is the only thing that I can get to grow!! The tank has been setup for over a year now. I use 0tds rodi water. I use tropic marin classic salt and have been doing 5 gallon water changes every week like clockwork for the past 4 weeks and install a new filter in the tank. Everything on the biocube is stock. The only thing I added is a powerhead. I feed my fish about once a week because I am trying to eliminate the the extra nutrition in the tank. I have the lights on for about 9 hours a day with a timer. I do not do water testing because I read that if you are doing weekly water changes that was not necessary. I am also not sure if my test kits are still even good they might be old.

Anyways I am getting red slime in the tank on the rocks and it floats on the surface along with hair type algae. About a month ago I took out the rocks that had the slime and algae out and cleaned them hoping that would take care of the issues but it has not. My BTA's are not happy at all I have not seen them blow up in months.
I am getting ready to throw in the towel here. I want so bad to have a beautiful reef tank but am also sick of failing all the time.
Any suggestions???????

Andy

Try adding some copepods and isopods they will sit on the glass and get rid of most kinds of algae’s. Those little inverts cleaned my sand of all the ugly algae and the glass! I also have the Biocube but the 32. Just took the hood off and it’s rimless. I added a Red Sea 50 light and a Icecap K1 nano skimmer. The skimmer is probably too big for the 16 but corallife makes a skimmer for the 16 gal tank. I recommend maybe changing light cycles or just the light in general! I had so much algae in the beginning and a good friend said only keep your lights on for 10 hours a day or less to help reduce algae and once you get it under control you can increase light times. I hope this helps!! Let’s see pictures of the tank! Also, I don’t think water changes is going to do much about the algae...

 

[Rick.45cal]

Hi Andy, sounds like you’ve been struggling and that’s never fun. Look on your test kit boxes there will be an expiration date somewhere on them. If they are passed their expiration date chances are they may not be accurate. If they aren’t any good and you need new ones salifert, red sea, hanna and nyos makes some good test kits. Some are better than others from a users standpoint and you only have to ask and we can give you our opinions regarding our choices and why we like them.

Just FYI, whoever told you not testing your water because you were doing weekly waterchanges wasn’t doing you any favors. It’s important to test for Salinity, Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphate, and Nitrate. It’s also a good idea to keep track of your results so you can see trends over time and can learn when your corals are happy or why they might not be happy. It’s also important to test your newly mixed saltwater for Salinity, Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium to make sure it is similar to your tanks current parameters to prevent making any drastic changes that your corals and invertebrates may not like. Testing your new saltwater before doing a water change prevents accidents like mixing up a batch that has super high alkalinity and adding to your system causing and alkalinity spike (which stony corals in particular do not like), or there’s always the chance that your salt mix has too low of an alkalinity and you create a sudden drop in the system‘s alkalinity (another scenario that stony corals don‘t like and often die from).

Once you have some current parameters we can start addressing what you need to change and how you should work towards those goals.

Welcome to Reef2Reef we can and will get you on the right track so you can be proud of your tank and enjoy it, instead of loathing and dreading it. As others have said, it will take time, and patience on your part but we can help you fix it.

 

[Cell]

The simplest place to start would be to start testing and report back with the results. Also, a full tank shot is always helpful to get an idea of what you are dealing with and perhaps identify any other issues you may be overlooking.

 

[iluvnybor]

Hey Andy! Welcome to Reef2Reef! If you really want to save your tank, we can absolutely help! The biggest catch is that your tank has been like this for a while. That means two things. It won't be fixed overnight and more importantly, you wouldn't want to fix it overnight (as we wouldn't want to shock any of your animals ). So long as you understand that, we can go stepwise into each problem you have and try and solve them one by one. It might take a bit of time, but you should see a gradual positive trend with each week being better than the last. Some of your animals such as your anemone might take a bit of time to come around, but we're going to try and put them in the best position to succeed!

Before we start troubleshooting, would you happen to have a picture of your tank? I don't want to inundate you with too many questions off the bat and seeing your tank might help to answer some of them.

Cheers,
Andrew

Thanks for all the replies. I am going to check my test kit and see when it expires. It does test for pretty much all the major things. I really want to be successful in this hobby worse than you can imagine so thanks for all the help.!!

 

[ParkerK]

Thanks for all the replies. I am going to check my test kit and see when it expires. It does test for pretty much all the major things. I really want to be successful in this hobby worse than you can imagine so thanks for all the help.!!

Don’t leave your magnet scrubber in the tank!!!! Saltwater degrades it super fast and before you know it you will be having to buy a new one!!

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun....
agree all above 1st off,rodi? salinity? would be my 1st q's..following..we can fix this

 

[andrewey]

Thanks for all the replies. I am going to check my test kit and see when it expires. It does test for pretty much all the major things. I really want to be successful in this hobby worse than you can imagine so thanks for all the help.!!

Fantastic! Thanks!

You're tank actually looks pretty good- there are a few areas for improvement, but ultimately it really shouldn't take too long to troubleshoot it and get you where you want to go Just so you know, here's the game plan. I'm going to start with water, as that's the most critical parameter in the tank and it doubles as your main form of nutrient export. Next, we'll move to your lighting and flow, followed by nutrient import. Then comes some of the problematic organisms and their treatment strategies, and finally, last is your anemones and coral.

Also, with all of these questions, please understand some might seem really obvious and in no way am I trying to insult your intelligence or your 10 year experience in the hobby. I just want to make sure we are systematic and don't take anything for granted. This way we don't miss something obvious- I've seen tanks fail to thrive because of something simple like a bad thermometer, a refractometer that was out of calibration, an alkalinity calculation error, etc.

Let's start with the basics. Water changes. You said you have been doing 5 gallon water changes every week for the last 4 weeks. Before this time, what was your water change frequency and volume like?
When you mix up your water, are you matching the tank's temperature/salinity?
What are you using to measure you salinity (e.g. hydrometer, refractometer, salinity probe)?
When was the last time your salinity measurement device was verified/calibrated?
How long are you mixing you water before adding it to the tank?
Beyond fish food and changing salt water, are you putting anything else in the tank on a regular basis (e.g. chemicals/additives, coral food, medications, etc.)?
What is the source of our water for top off and water changes (e.g. RODI, tap water, distilled water at the supermarket, etc.)?
If RODI, do you have a TDS meter or when was the last time the filters were changed? When was the last time the DI resin or RO membrane was changed?

By the way, with regards to the magnetic scrubber comment above, to each their own I always leave mine in my tank. My mag float large is going on 10 years without issue and my tunze care is going on 4. However, they raise a good point to check your magnets regularly in case the housing cracks/degrades and your magnet is rusting into the water. I had that happen with a 6 month old magfloat nano, so it's always a good idea to inspect anything that contains metal as part of your regular tank maintenance every so often

 

[Fishbird]

I just wanted to say that I think it's a really good sign that your candy cane is growing! It looks like you have a lot of coralline growth on the glass too, another sign that your tank can support corals!

I know there are many mixed opinions on when one should add BTAs to a tank but I think it's safe to say they're not universally considered an easy animal or an animal for a young tank.

Is your ultimate goal for the tank to have it be a nem tank? Or are you thinking about adding more corals?

I agree that the algae needs to get taken care of and I don't think I have enough experience to help you there but I really don't think your tank is a lost cause if you're willing to be patient when it comes to getting it into shape

 

[Katrina71]

The tank actually looks good. Move your powerhead to the left top middle. It is actually fighting your filter there.

 

[iluvnybor]

Thanks for all the replies!!! I will get on my computer tomorrow and answer the questions. One thing I wanted to mention that I do have a kessil 360 tuna blue light with the controller that I was toying around with installing on this tank and making it rimless but am scared it might be too much. I could dial it down? I was going to make this a rimless tank if I can get it to look better. As far as mixing the water i make about 20 gallons or rodi water at a time and mix the salt in. I let that mix with a pump for a few days before i use it. I test the water with one of the cheap testers and also a refractometer and they are always really close before I started doing regular water changes I rarely did them. Maybe every other month or so. I got so frustrated that it looked like crap all the time and lazy too!

You wont offend me with any of your questions. I have done this hobby for 10 years but I really dont know too much as you can see I dont know what I am doing. I will check my test kits tomorrow and see if they are any good. If not I will order some from brs

Thanks everyone!!!

 

[Floppyfish]

How’s the tank doing today?