Hello all,
I have a 20g tank with a HOB tidal 35 with activated carbon and bio media. Been up for 5 months now. 2 clowns, 1 Melanurus wrasse, lawnmower blenny, shrimp goby.
I need some advice on what could be going on with my tank and how I can control nutrients. Background everything was fine a couple weeks ago and I kind of added twice the recommended amount of API AlgaeFix cause of some hair algae/algae so I’ve been doing large water changes to remove it. Below will have what I have done and my parameters.
I think something has died I’m my tank or if it’s the algae die off that’s raising my nutrients because I can’t find anything that’s dead. I am having some coral die off though. Pulsating Xenia all melted away and I took it out before doing a large 13 g water change. I still have an acro that is basically dead or dying. My purple stylo is starting to lose its tissue after the 13g water change. All of my zoas haven’t been open for about a week or longer after adding the API AlgaeFix they closed up and like 5-10% of the polyps are wanting to open up.
I have been messing with the sand bed to try and find any dead clean up crew so I’m wondering if this is raising my nutrients.
Also, I found out that I wasn’t mixing my salt correctly, coral pro salt, and once I actually mixed it correctly I did a 5 gallon water change which killed my acros assuming from the alk spike and the api AlgaeFix.
11/16
Alk 8.3
Nitrate .1 ppm
Phosphate .009 ppm
11/19
added API AlgaeFix
11/21
Alk 8
Phosphate .049
Nitrate 7ppm
Mag 1200
5 gallon water change(correctly mixed salt)
11/24
S
Nitrate 5.6 ppm
didn’t test anything else cause I was being stupid
11/25
Salinity 1.025
Phosphate .055 ppm
Mag 1200
Nitrate 7.6 ppm
Alk 9.9
5 gallon water change
11/27
Salinity 1.025
Nitrate 6.7 ppm
11/28
13 gallon water change
Alk 10.9
Phosphate .009 ppm
Nitrate 3.1ppm
Calcium 370 ppm
Mag 1200 ppm
Salinity 1.025 ppm
Ph 8.4
11/29
Alk 10.9
Phosphate .098 ppm
Nitrate 5.3 ppm
Salinity 1.025 ppm
Calcium 390 ppm
Mag 1230 ppm
Should I continue to do 5 gallon every 2 days. To stay on top of the raising nutrients. Could algae die off cause a raise in phosphate that quick? Nitrate and phosphate tested with Hannah checkers and the rest with Salifert.
Added some pics of the tank
Thanks for the help.
I have a 20g tank with a HOB tidal 35 with activated carbon and bio media. Been up for 5 months now. 2 clowns, 1 Melanurus wrasse, lawnmower blenny, shrimp goby.
I need some advice on what could be going on with my tank and how I can control nutrients. Background everything was fine a couple weeks ago and I kind of added twice the recommended amount of API AlgaeFix cause of some hair algae/algae so I’ve been doing large water changes to remove it. Below will have what I have done and my parameters.
I think something has died I’m my tank or if it’s the algae die off that’s raising my nutrients because I can’t find anything that’s dead. I am having some coral die off though. Pulsating Xenia all melted away and I took it out before doing a large 13 g water change. I still have an acro that is basically dead or dying. My purple stylo is starting to lose its tissue after the 13g water change. All of my zoas haven’t been open for about a week or longer after adding the API AlgaeFix they closed up and like 5-10% of the polyps are wanting to open up.
I have been messing with the sand bed to try and find any dead clean up crew so I’m wondering if this is raising my nutrients.
Also, I found out that I wasn’t mixing my salt correctly, coral pro salt, and once I actually mixed it correctly I did a 5 gallon water change which killed my acros assuming from the alk spike and the api AlgaeFix.
11/16
Alk 8.3
Nitrate .1 ppm
Phosphate .009 ppm
11/19
added API AlgaeFix
11/21
Alk 8
Phosphate .049
Nitrate 7ppm
Mag 1200
5 gallon water change(correctly mixed salt)
11/24
S
Nitrate 5.6 ppm
didn’t test anything else cause I was being stupid
11/25
Salinity 1.025
Phosphate .055 ppm
Mag 1200
Nitrate 7.6 ppm
Alk 9.9
5 gallon water change
11/27
Salinity 1.025
Nitrate 6.7 ppm
11/28
13 gallon water change
Alk 10.9
Phosphate .009 ppm
Nitrate 3.1ppm
Calcium 370 ppm
Mag 1200 ppm
Salinity 1.025 ppm
Ph 8.4
11/29
Alk 10.9
Phosphate .098 ppm
Nitrate 5.3 ppm
Salinity 1.025 ppm
Calcium 390 ppm
Mag 1230 ppm
Should I continue to do 5 gallon every 2 days. To stay on top of the raising nutrients. Could algae die off cause a raise in phosphate that quick? Nitrate and phosphate tested with Hannah checkers and the rest with Salifert.
Added some pics of the tank
Thanks for the help.