Need a little help Reef Friends

[JW19966]

Hi there!

I hope you’re all keeping safe and well. Okay so I need a little help and advice (sorry for the long post in advance). I’m new to the reefing world and I’m starting to lose my enthusiasm for it as my aquarium isn’t doing so great. Just to be aware I’m in the U.K. which might make a difference when it comes to advice. So I currently have a 57 Litre Fluval flex which has been up and running for about 8 months now and things jut look a little lifeless. Corals go between looking good and growing to dropping a little and looking sorry for themselves. There is red algae growing a little on the rocks and sand. I’m doing a 15% water change each week which seems to help a little then it goes back to looking a bit ugly within a week. I’ll post below come details of the tanks. Any tips about tank upgrades would be super helpful, please be kind! Thanks everyone.

Fluval Flex 57 U.K. Litres
Lighting Fluval Nano LED Reef 20W
1 blenny & 1 Goby, 3 sexy shrimp, 3 hermit crabs, 1 bumble bee snail (low clean up crew due to no fish shops being opened)
Coral - I have and would like to keep to basics (Mushroom Coral, Zoas, Xenia) Maybe a Monti in the future.
Salt used is Red Sea coral pro salt
PH 8.2. Salinity 1.025. Just to let you know that I’m using filtered water and in the process of setting up a full Ro-Di unit. I have the filter foam block (same type that comes with the aquarium) which holds carbon and biological filtration. I also have some Marine pure gems in the filter as well.

Any equipment upgrades welcome (especially the light!) but please nothing too expensive! I want to try and keep costs as low as possible. Let me know if you need any further info. Thanks for your help

 

[MelReefer]

I’m bumping you back up to the top. Don’t lose interest, find something you really want to do and work to get there. When I was feeling bored I told myself that I was going to be able to keep acros within a year. Half a year later I had some frags and was feeling very excited

 

[JW19966]

I’m bumping you back up to the top. Don’t lose interest, find something you really want to do and work to get there. When I was feeling bored I told myself that I was going to be able to keep acros within a year. Half a year later I had some frags and was feeling very excited

Thanks for the reply! I really want it looking good but I don’t know if it’s looking a bit sad due to the equipment or something else. I’m sure there’s lots of experience here so all the help is appreciate

 

[El_Guapo13]

What are your water parameters like? Do you just have the basic lights the tank came with (if it came with lights and/or a lid), or do you have somehing else? Can you post pics of the tank?

 

[JW19966]

What are your water parameters like? Do you just have the basic lights the tank came with (if it came with lights and/or a lid), or do you have somehing else? Can you post pics of the tank?

Hi there!
So I’ve just done a few water tests but annoyingly I could only do three just now as that all the test tubes I got with my Red Sea test kit. PH 8.2, Salinity 1.025, Ammonia 0.2 and Alkalinity is 8.5dKH. Let me know if you need more results, this test was after one week without a water change.
in term of lighting I removed the default lighting at it was for fresh water. I now have an open top with the Fluval Marine Nano LED.
As you can see from the photo I do have some Algae issues This photo was taken before all the glass was cleaned, the bits where the rock is close to the glass are normally clean.
Do you have any advice as to how to get things clean looking and help the corals? Thanks!

 

[El_Guapo13]

Ammonia at any level is pretty bad. So maybe the fact you have a detectable ammonia level is what is causing the corals to be stressed.

If you could get other tests done, especially for Phosphate, Nitrate, and Nitrite, that would be great.

Also, yeah, definitely need more CUC. Especially since Bumblebee Snails are actually predatory snails. They eat small pests such as baby bristleworms, vermited snails, and other super small snails and worms. So if anything, that snail you have is not eating the algae, but esting any leftover food from feeding the fish. and the three hermits are not going to be able to make a dent all by themselves.

I am not even sure I would consider the sexy shrimp as part of the CUC, more like really funny and interesting invertebrates.

 

[Guy714]

You mentioned that you’re still using filtered water. I would suggest that you should replace it with RODI water as soon as you can. What’s the TDS level in your filtered water?

 

[Auquanut]

If your corals perk up after a water change, I would start there. Maybe try a few larger water changes and invest in NO3 and PO4 test kits to see where your levels are. Also, get that RO/DI unit as soon as possible. I wouldn't think you have an ammonia issue after 8 months unless you overfeed quite a bit. How long has it been since you changed your lights?

 

[dwair]

You mentioned that you’re still using filtered water. I would suggest that you should replace it with RODI water as soon as you can. What’s the TDS level in your filtered water?

Agreed with this, and from what it sounds like your corals are going from good to mediocre/bad, gotta remember stability is key. Not sure how often you are testing, but it might be worth testing everyday and watching for any changes. Figure out the parameters for when your coral are doing good and try to keep them there, if they drop, figure out why, what did you change etc. Something I myself only recently started doing was to keep a log of everything I do to the tank. Every test result, feeding, water change, etc. Yes its boring to do, but it gives you a great reference if your paramaters all of a sudden change, then you can just look at your log to see if you did something different and then you'll know~!

 

[JW19966]

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much for the helpful messages! From what I’m picking up there’s a few things for me to do.... Boost the clean up crew, get the Ro-Di unit up and running (waiting on an adapter coming in the post) ASAP then get a fair sized water change done, start doing daily tests and try do buy different types tests.
In terms of the question about my lights being changed, they haven’t. I thought that the LED’s that I got would last a tad longer than 6-8 months, I am always looking for a wee upgrade if needs be

About feeding, this is somthing I struggle with, I have flakes and frozen so the two fish do get a good mix but it’s hard to only put in the smallest amount. I’ll try to watch though!

Water change and tests have been done, will put the parameters down below. I have a bottle of reef microbe lift coral active booster that I might dose a little more of if you all think it’s worth it?
Salinity: 1.024
PH: 8.3
Amonia: 0.1
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: almost at 0 on the test kit but definitely not as high as the next number up which was 2.
Alk: 7.5 dKH

Thanks very much!