I have a 90 gallon, it's been running at my house since September. I bought it from a guy already set up, we tore it down and moved it. We reused the sand, yeah I know not good. So the fish and corals are doing ok so there's that but my water remains incorrect so my tests say. My ammonia from red sea says 0.8, nitrite 0.2, nitrate 50 or more. Alk 7.7 calcium high. Phosphates 2 according to salifert. I have a reef octopus protein skimmer, a varios pump. 2 filter socks. A small bag of carbon and a small bag of phosguard, a biomedia plate. Iv added(not all at the same time) prime, stability, pods and phytoplankton. I feed frozen once sometimes twice a day. I do ref roids once to twice a week. I do 15 gallon water changes every two weeks and it helps but doesn't touch the issue. I'm probably over feeding other then that I dont know what to do besides ignore it if everything's alive and well. Its consistantly bad. My salinity is right on point always at 1.026 with instant ocean reef Crystal's and I use rodi water and top off with the same.
My waters all over the place, help!
- Thread starter Chaley88
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Oh and for livestock I have: 1 foxface, 1 coral beauty ,1 blenny, 2 goby, 2 clowns, 1 blood shrimp, 1 yellow tang, 4 cromi, 1 fire fish, 1 damsel, 1 basslet, 1 dottyback, 1 pompom crab, 1 porcelain crab, 1 yellow sea cucumber, 3 ninja star snails, 1 large turbo snail a bunch of other snails and hermits, 1 sand sifter and a conch, 1 urchin. 1 brittle star. 1 pistol shrimp, maybe a peppermint shrimp if nothing ate it. I think my tank is too small for the foxface who is 4-6 inches.
EmdeReef
2500 Club Member
The only concern in your scenario would be ammonia but since you have added prime, your Red Sea test is likely giving a false positive.
The presence of nitrites if not a testing error would indicate a mini cycle so perhaps doing water changes and adding some bacteria may make sense.
You shouldn’t have to add prime once the tank is cycled.
The presence of nitrites if not a testing error would indicate a mini cycle so perhaps doing water changes and adding some bacteria may make sense.
You shouldn’t have to add prime once the tank is cycled.
I added prime after the water change and test. I did a water change two days ago, tested this morning. Prime doesn't seem to touch it, iv added biospira a while back too, if its cycling, it's been doing it for almost 3 months now.
I use the api reef and the red sea to check ph,ammonia nitrite and nitrate cause the api is hard to read and not super accurate but less time waiting. I use salifert for calcium,all, phosphates and magnesium.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Your chemistry doesn't seem to be a mess, you just need a little more help with nutrient removal. I feel a refugium is a wonderful solution for this but there are other methods, too. You could run a chaeto reactor or turf algae scrubber if you are space limited. There are also chemical options, but I prefer those less.
I appreciate your concern on this! It's refreshing as I cringe when I see some fish in tiny tanks. In this case, I feel your Foxface is fine. A 6" Foxface will do much better in a 90g system than a 3" Hippo Tang will. Swimming habits can have more of an impact on proper tank sizing than the size of the fish.
I would love a refugium but I barely have room for the biomedia Nd the heater on the sump. I wanted macro but unless I can put it in the display or something like that I just dont have the space. The foxface loves to pump into stuff and blow bubbles at the top of the tank, just seems bored
. I'm not getting anymore fish or inverts cause I know iv reached capacity. I'm still on the hunt for corals though. Half the fish and corals came with the tank. I didnt just start adding willy Billy with bad water, but its confusing cause everything seems to be doing how-to even well.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
An algae turf scrubber might be a good solution. Not cheap, but Santa Monica makes some nice compact ones. Their HOG line sticks to the wall of your tank or sump so it has a very small footprint. Their Surf2 line floats in the sump or on the tank.
https://www.marinedepot.com/Santa_Monica_Filtration-6Y-vd.html?Category=FIFRAS
Brew12
Electrical Gru
An algae turf scrubber creates an optimal algae growing system in as small a space as possible. The Santa Monica scrubbers use an air pump to create flow and provide a constant CO2 level. They have LED's designed for growing algae very close to the growing surface. This provides the nutrient removal of a refugium in a small footprint. You can build a DIY version for much cheaper, but these are nice off the shelf options. You just remove the algae you have grown every 2 or 3 weeks to make room for new algae to grow.
An algae turf scrubber creates an optimal algae growing system in as small a space as possible. The Santa Monica scrubbers use an air pump to create flow and provide a constant CO2 level. They have LED's designed for growing algae very close to the growing surface. This provides the nutrient removal of a refugium in a small footprint. You can build a DIY version for much cheaper, but these are nice off the shelf options. You just remove the algae you have grown every 2 or 3 weeks to make room for new algae to grow.
So I just buy some macro to put in it? Or it catches whatevers in my tank like a skimmer?
Brew12
Electrical Gru
It just catches whatever. No need to add anything. I would also point out that there are other styles and manufacturers. This was just the first one that came to mind.
You may also have room for a chaeto reactor. It works in a similar concept with the lights being very close to the algae. In this case, you pump water through a container that is wrapped with lights. You start these with a small amount of chaeto (macro algae) and pull out from it as needed to make room. Very easy to make DIY versions of this.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/mbr127-microalgae-reactor-skimz.html
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