Help !

[AdrianGo06]

I started my 10g water box this past December everything seems fine I have a good amount of corals in the tank( that I got before it got bad ) mostly zoas but I also have two mushrooms , one torch, and two hammers and I have four fish. Two clowns , one goby, one fire fish .The tank started off fine and all parameters are fine I do frequent testing but when I started it I took advice from my brother saying feed twice a week ( big mistake I heard ) so my nitrates were not going anywhere. But now that I did a water change and now feeding every day for my guys the tank took a dive and nitrites stated building up but no algae over grow or cloudy water . nitrates stayed at 0 somehow I’ve been feeding every day for about three weeks now and corals seem fine my mushroom actually split my touch is doing great and my hammers are doing great despite the level of nitrates being almost non existent. My local store gave me a bottle of bacteria to start dosing through out the week after I did my water change this past Sunday everything seems fine but my zoas are closing up and not doing their thing . Any advice on how to get my nitrates up safely and prevent these nitrites , any advice please feel free to share I’ll take all the knowledge I can get !

 

[rayadog]

What is your filter like? Hang on back? Sump? In tank? In any case 0 nitrates is hard to believe in such a small tank. You shouldn’t really care about nitrite if your tank is already cycled. I wonder if, in going from feeding twice a week to every day, you’re gingerly feeding your fish and not actually feeding them enough. I would have no idea though whether that’s the case, just speculating.

It almost seems like your tank may still be establishing a sufficient biological filter for the bioload of the tank. While adding bottled bacteria can help sometimes, my personal opinion/experience is that if you keep dosing, it’s designed to keep nutrients ultra low with that method of application.

But in any case, how/what tests are you using? What food are you using? Just some more details would help before recommending dosing.

 

[AdrianGo06]

What is your filter like? Hang on back? Sump? In tank? In any case 0 nitrates is hard to believe in such a small tank. You shouldn’t really care about nitrite if your tank is already cycled. I wonder if, in going from feeding twice a week to every day, you’re gingerly feeding your fish and not actually feeding them enough. I would have no idea though whether that’s the case, just speculating.

It almost seems like your tank may still be establishing a sufficient biological filter for the bioload of the tank. While adding bottled bacteria can help sometimes, my personal opinion/experience is that if you keep dosing, it’s designed to keep nutrients ultra low with that method of application.

But in any case, how/what tests are you using? What food are you using? Just some more details would help before recommending dosing.

I get an all around parameter test at my local store and I feed reef frenzy frozen bag .

 

[Fish Fan]

If it's helpful, please see my reply to your other thread here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/beginner-need-advice.1152874/post-14258100

Good luck!

 

[Skippy The Meh]

What is your phosphate at?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

4 fish in a 10 gallon? With 4 fish in that tank there are undoubtedly nutrients in the water. Thats a severly overstocked tank and I don't think there will be a happy ending for those fish. It sounds like you are using a cheap test strip, I would suggest to get a quality tester, salifert or hanna brands are the best IMO.

 

[AdrianGo06]

4 fish in a 10 gallon? With 4 fish in that tank there are undoubtedly nutrients in the water. Thats a severly overstocked tank and I don't think there will be a happy ending for those fish. It sounds like you are using a cheap test strip, I would suggest to get a quality tester, salifert or hanna brands are the best IMO.

I now have the two clowns and one goby in the tank got rid of the 4th as I realized it might be too much.

 

[AdrianGo06]

What is your phosphate at?

The nitrates read zero because the test shoots 0 if it’s below 5

 

[Skippy The Meh]

What is your phosphate at?

The nitrates read zero because the test shoots 0 if it’s below 5

You may try to bring Phos down a bit. Under .12 above .04 is where my zoas tend to like it. I do find zoas to be a bit finicky at first too. Whoever labeled them as a beginner coral is crazy lol