New here and into this lovely hobby.

sahilchaddha · Nov 3, 2019

Hey Guys,

I started into this hobby few months back. I have 25G (96L) nano Salt Water Tank and its a Fish Only Tank. Since i am on strict budget i had few questions. Hope you guys can help me out.

Tank Inhabitants :

2 Clown Fish
2 Green Chromis
1 Yellow Tang
1 Blue Regal Tang
1 Turbo Snail
1 Bicolor Blenny

Temperature :

I am currently residing in Malaysia and temps are pretty high here.
My tank average temperature is around 28-32 celsius (82.5-89.6 F), I know temps are high but my inhabitants seems to be happy and have adjusted to these temps.

I will have to save for 6 months to be able to buy a chiller. They are pretty costly here.

Lighting :

I have basic lighting which came with the tank. I am pretty sure its not made for corals. It has white + blue Leds in it.

Chemistry :

Ammonia : 0 ppm (Thanks to big Skimmer)
Nitrate : 0 ppm
Salinity : 33 ppt
Carbonate Hardness : 7dkh
PH : 8-8.2

Water Change in every 2 weeks.

Feeding :

I feed all my tank inhabitants 20-30 pellets & 15-20 pellets of seaweed twice a day. All inhabitants seems to be actively eating.

Questions :

Since i am new here, please do point out any concerns or anything that i may be doing wrong.

1. My KH (Carbonate Hardness) keeps to be declining very fast. After water change, my KH is around 8dkh. But eventually it decreases to 6-7 dkh. I dose 10ml kh buffer twice in a week, but it doesnt seems to be increasing. What can i do ?

2. Is there any Corals or Macro-Algae that does not need much lighting and can survive in those temps ? I would definitely love to have something planted in my display tank.

Here is a preview to my tank :

Note : Those are fake corals in the tank.

Kriti · Nov 3, 2019

sahilchaddha said:
Hey Guys,

I started into this hobby few months back. I have 25G (96L) nano Salt Water Tank and its a Fish Only Tank. Since i am on strict budget i had few questions. Hope you guys can help me out.

Tank Inhabitants :

2 Clown Fish
2 Green Chromis
1 Yellow Tang
1 Blue Regal Tang
1 Turbo Snail
1 Bicolor Blenny

Temperature :

I am currently residing in Malaysia and temps are pretty high here.
My tank average temperature is around 28-32 celsius (82.5-89.6 F), I know temps are high but my inhabitants seems to be happy and have adjusted to these temps.

I will have to save for 6 months to be able to buy a chiller. They are pretty costly here.

Lighting :

I have basic lighting which came with the tank. I am pretty sure its not made for corals. It has white + blue Leds in it.

Chemistry :

Ammonia : 0 ppm (Thanks to big Skimmer)
Nitrate : 0 ppm
Salinity : 33 ppt
Carbonate Hardness : 7dkh
PH : 8-8.2

Water Change in every 2 weeks.

Feeding :

I feed all my tank inhabitants 20-30 pellets & 15-20 pellets of seaweed twice a day. All inhabitants seems to be actively eating.

Questions :

Since i am new here, please do point out any concerns or anything that i may be doing wrong.

1. My KH (Carbonate Hardness) keeps to be declining very fast. After water change, my KH is around 8dkh. But eventually it decreases to 6-7 dkh. I dose 10ml kh buffer twice in a week, but it doesnt seems to be increasing. What can i do ?

2. Is there any Corals or Macro-Algae that does not need much lighting and can survive in those temps ? I would definitely love to have something planted in my display tank.

Here is a preview to my tank :

Note : Those are fake corals in the tank.

Your tank temp is too high. Suggest you to buy chiller by next year

WV Reefer · Nov 3, 2019

sahilchaddha said:
Hey Guys,

I started into this hobby few months back. I have 25G (96L) nano Salt Water Tank and its a Fish Only Tank. Since i am on strict budget i had few questions. Hope you guys can help me out.

Tank Inhabitants :

2 Clown Fish
2 Green Chromis
1 Yellow Tang
1 Blue Regal Tang
1 Turbo Snail
1 Bicolor Blenny

Temperature :

I am currently residing in Malaysia and temps are pretty high here.
My tank average temperature is around 28-32 celsius (82.5-89.6 F), I know temps are high but my inhabitants seems to be happy and have adjusted to these temps.

I will have to save for 6 months to be able to buy a chiller. They are pretty costly here.

Lighting :

I have basic lighting which came with the tank. I am pretty sure its not made for corals. It has white + blue Leds in it.

Chemistry :

Ammonia : 0 ppm (Thanks to big Skimmer)
Nitrate : 0 ppm
Salinity : 33 ppt
Carbonate Hardness : 7dkh
PH : 8-8.2

Water Change in every 2 weeks.

Feeding :

I feed all my tank inhabitants 20-30 pellets & 15-20 pellets of seaweed twice a day. All inhabitants seems to be actively eating.

Questions :

Since i am new here, please do point out any concerns or anything that i may be doing wrong.

1. My KH (Carbonate Hardness) keeps to be declining very fast. After water change, my KH is around 8dkh. But eventually it decreases to 6-7 dkh. I dose 10ml kh buffer twice in a week, but it doesnt seems to be increasing. What can i do ?

2. Is there any Corals or Macro-Algae that does not need much lighting and can survive in those temps ? I would definitely love to have something planted in my display tank.

Here is a preview to my tank :

Note : Those are fake corals in the tank.

welcome to REEF2REEF!

your tank looks nice and clear so you must be off to a good start.

Kriti · Nov 3, 2019

Your tank temp is too high. Suggest you to buy chiller by next year

Billdogg · Nov 3, 2019

You can lower tank temp easily by placing a fan so that it blows across the surface of the water. Both of your tangs are going to rapidly outgrow your tank (They never should have been put in a tank that size IMO). Feeding as much as you do I'm surprised that NO3 is zero. I would think it would be much higher unless you are doing many large frequent water changes.

jm.02

Auquanut · Nov 3, 2019

Welcome to R2R! Your tank looks great.

I agree with @Billdogg that you can reduce the temp in your tank by placing a fan over the surface. I would do that soon. 89 degrees seems dangerously high in my opinion.

Your stocking list sounds fine except for the tangs. Unfortunately, they will quickly outgrow the tank and add a massive bioload. I personally would return them soon.

I can't really explain the drop in alkalinity. It seems like water changes alone should keep you alk stable. Maybe go to a weekly water change schedule.

There are quite a few ornamental macro algae's that should do well in higher temps, but with the tangs in the tank they probably wouldn't last long. I would hold off on any corals until you get your Alk stabilized.

Hope this helps. Glad to have you with us.

MrWheelock · Nov 3, 2019

Welcome to R2R. As others mentioned a fan is a great way to reduce temps. As far a alkalinity you will have to constantly dose to keep those numbers stable.

TK_KW · Nov 3, 2019

Welcome to R2R

Reefnman2 · Nov 3, 2019

Welcome to R2R!

sahilchaddha · May 13, 2020

Thanks everyone, Just for update :

1. Added a Hailea Chiller to keep the temperature at 25C.

2. Before Tang Police gives me a ticket, I returned my Yellow Tang & Royal Blue Tang to LFS. Sorry about that.

3. Added bunch of Softy Corals, all doing pretty well. The KH Unstability was due to faulty salifert kH Test Kit. My new Test Kit seems more accurate.

4. Also added few beginner LPS like candy cane, torch, hammer all died. I think it was due to my kh swings due to faulty test kit.

5. Also added Kessil 160 & running them at 60%

My kh is now stable at 8.
Calcium at 440.

After research I found out that my alkalinity & calcium should be getting lower, but my tests signify that all parameters are at the same level. Hence I don't dose anything to tank and softies have been doing & growing pretty well. My Brain coral is going like crazy as well.

But due to my own paranoia of parameters, I started doing daily 2L Water Change using Jebao Dose pump. To use as nutrient export (its aio tank) & also for kh & calcium.

I also run 2 bags of AquaForest Carbon & 1 Bag of Rowaphos. Change them bi-weekly.

Billdogg · May 14, 2020

If the majority of your corals are softies, you probably won't have to dose anything other than (maybe) iodine, but test before you dose anything! If you are doing 2L/day water change, you should be good for the foreseeable future.

godd luck and PICTURES PLEASE!