Please help me understand where I may be going wrong.

[jvnmoore]

Hello everyone new reefer here,
I will start off by saying I’m going to try to give as much information as possible so I can grasp what I may be doing wrong

I currently have a 40L AIO system that is not doing well at all. I have tested and all tests come up good nitrates, nitrites, ammonia all at zero. Phosphates are running around .03
My tank is about 3-4 months old at this point I’ve kinda lost track of how long I’ve had is through all the maintenance I’ve been doing. I’m running two media baskets in the rear chamber with a sponge on top floss in the middle and carbon and seagel on the bottom in the second compartment is where I have my ceramic media along with matrix in a media bag.

For some reason the tank is looking extremely fuzzy. It looks like sand but it’s not? I just finished cleaning up after a cyano outbreak and all of this fuzz was underneath the cyano

On top of all of this the fish that I picked up from my LFS brought velvet into the tank.. all of this has happened within the last 2 weeks. I started dosing with polyp lab medic as I don’t have a proper QT tank that I can transfer the fish into. I already lost one fish and the other two are on there way out unfortunately.

I don’t know where to turn the other forums I have been asking questions on are saying it’s lighting or flow but then others are saying it’s nutrients and overfeeding..?

I alternate between half a cube of mysis and new life spectrum each day is it really overfeeding?

I’ve attached as many pictures as I can to give an idea of my setup but please if there’s anyone that can help me understand what I may be doing wrong..

I’m just trying to give my tank the best chance at thriving and looking nice I fell in love with the hobby the moment I added my first fish but now it seems like everything I do is just killing my tank.

Thank you to anyone that may be able to help!












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[SurfTrack]

Hey -- that tang is definitely looking rough. Other's on here will probably give better advice about that than me.

I'm wondering what else you can tell us about your setup. What kind of water do you use? Did you properly cycle it? At what point did you add the fish?

 

[SurfTrack]

Also...When did you last test? How often do you test? And what test kits are you using?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What fish do you have? What is your filtration system like? What do you have for water movement? What is your maintenance schedule like?

 

[Fish Fan]

I’m sorry you’re having some issues here. What are you using for testing? If your nitrate is really zero, that’s not good, you don’t want zero nitrate. Likewise, your 0.03 ppm phosphate is so borderline low that considering test kit margin of error may effectively be zero. Running zero nitrate and or phosphate is thought by many here to invite dinoflagellete algae. Start by manually removing as much as you can, upping flow, and double checking your parameters and sharing that info here.

Additionally, true marine velvet is actually quite rare, and usually kills all fish in a very short period of time. It doesn’t usually present like a film as seen in freshwater Velvet, which is caused by a different organism. You may have Ich or something else.

Can you post some very clear pics of the fish in distress? I think that would be more pressing than the damage issues.

 

[ColorMeGone]

If it was my tank I would take all the floss, sponges, media and carbon out. You really don't need them and to me it slows your tank/rocks from maturing which is your filtration. I have a 8.3 tank and it runs nothing in the AIO. I believe your is around 10Gal.

 

[mcarroll]

I currently have a 40L AIO system that is not doing well at all. I have tested and all tests come up good nitrates, nitrites, ammonia all at zero. Phosphates are running around .03
My tank is about 3-4 months old at this point

Your tank is going through "the uglies" – this is expected, not a problem per se. A little more cleanup crew might be all you need.

Try not to do water changes or anything else that will lower nutrients while your levels are so low....even consider removing some filtration, at least for the time being. If this is going to be a reef tank, you eventually (sooner than later) want target levels more like ≥ 0.10 ppm PO4 and ≥ 5 ppm NO3.

On top of all of this the fish that I picked up from my LFS brought velvet into the tank.. all of this has happened within the last 2 weeks. I started dosing with polyp lab medic as I don’t have a proper QT tank that I can transfer the fish into. I already lost one fish and the other two are on there way out unfortunately.

This is a bummer for sure.

How sure are you it's velvet, what are all the signs you have?

What is polyplab medic?

Do you have UV or micron filtration? Check out Ruby Reef's in-tank treatments.

 

[jvnmoore]

Hey -- that tang is definitely looking rough. Other's on here will probably give better advice about that than me.

I'm wondering what else you can tell us about your setup. What kind of water do you use? Did you properly cycle it? At what point did you add the fish?

I use RO/Salt from my LFS.
It was a fish in method cycle using turbo start and the beneficial bacteria from api weekly water changes at the beginning to keep ammonia low while it balanced out.

 

[jvnmoore]

Also...When did you last test? How often do you test? And what test kits are you using?

I test every week, using the api master reef and salt water test kits

 

[jvnmoore]

What fish do you have? What is your filtration system like? What do you have for water movement? What is your maintenance schedule like?

I had two clowns and a juvenile scopas tang.
I’m running media shelves for filtration with sponge, floss, and carbon. I have a single wave maker along with the return pump. (The return pump is rated at 300-450gph) so I figured with the single wave maker that would be enough
Because of the cyano I was changing water weekly, Floss every 3 days and cleaning sponges every week in tank water.

 

[jvnmoore]

If it was my tank I would take all the floss, sponges, media and carbon out. You really don't need them and to me it slows your tank/rocks from maturing which is your filtration. I have a 8.3 tank and it runs nothing in the AIO. I believe your is around 10Gal.

Never thought about running the tank this way. What does your testing and maintenance look like in this case?

 

[Uncle99]

Phosphate at 0.03ppm is too low and starving out the system.

I’d bump that by dose to .1ppm and nitrates between 5-10ppm.

A weekly splash of live phyto and one time PODS add will ensure everything is being fed, especially those things which are vital, but unseen.

Keep Alk pinned at all times.

As things feed, they reproduce. Over time, they outcompete the more undesirable stuff and rocks clean up, sand stays white.

 

[jvnmoore]

I’m sorry you’re having some issues here. What are you using for testing? If your nitrate is really zero, that’s not good, you don’t want zero nitrate. Likewise, your 0.03 ppm phosphate is so borderline low that considering test kit margin of error may effectively be zero. Running zero nitrate and or phosphate is thought by many here to invite dinoflagellete algae. Start by manually removing as much as you can, upping flow, and double checking your parameters and sharing that info here.

Additionally, true marine velvet is actually quite rare, and usually kills all fish in a very short period of time. It doesn’t usually present like a film as seen in freshwater Velvet, which is caused by a different organism. You may have Ich or something else.

Can you post some very clear pics of the fish in distress? I think that would be more pressing than the damage issues.

Tested the tank today ammonia and nitrite at 0 Nitrate at 10ppm and phosphates are looking like there still around 0.03

Here’s a picture of my clown

 

[Fish Fan]

Tested the tank today ammonia and nitrite at 0 Nitrate at 10ppm and phosphates are looking like there still around 0.03

Here’s a picture of my clown

I'm not one of Reef2Reef's Fish Medic guys, but this fish seems to be in some distress, and to me this is more pressing than the algae, which I understand can be frustrating.

If you would like help with your fish issues, you can tag in the R2R Fish Medic guys by typing (#)fishmedic without the parenthesis

 

[ColorMeGone]

Never thought about running the tank this way. What does your testing and maintenance look like in this case?

I test every Sat. and will do so this morning but this is how I run my tank. Mind you this tank is established but still I have never ran anything other than floss for a few hours if needed to clear the water after say taking out the return pump and cleaning it. Then there will be junk floating aroung in the water after I turn it back on. I net out most of the muck and run the floss for a bit.
I also do not have any fish in my tank. I have 3 crabs that I feed daily bits of Nori or fish pellets and my Acans get Mysis shrimp a few time a week or a bit of Benereef/Roids. I also dose 1.5ml of Fuel twice a week manually.

3 cups a day WC.
I test KH using Salifert kit
N03 with Nyos kit
P04 with Nyos kit
KH averages 8
N03 averages 10-11
P04 averages .09-.15 max
At this time I dose daily 3 ML Ammonium Bicarbonate for N03 (adjust doser as needed)
and 4ml of Baking soda fo KH. (adjust doser as needed)
At this time I no longer dose Sodium Phosphate for P04 since it has been stable for months now.
Reefin Ain't Easy..... Lol

 

[twentyleagues]

API doesn't have the resolution to see .03 phosphate it starts at .25. Are you actually seeing color change in the api test? if so its .25+ and thats a lot of phosphate. I am not trying to be mean I am trying to get to the bottom of this. It looks like you have some algae and if you actually had cyano its usually from nutrients being available not unavailable, and usually starts at places detritus sits from lack of flow. I am not an API hater I have used their test kits since the late 90s. I do know some of their resolutions are a bit off for our uses and some of their reagents are thick and or need excessive agitation to get the correct results especially the second part of the nitrate test. I think your test are not right. I think you have higher nutrients than you think. Its unfortunate you are having a hard time hopefully we can help you make it easier.

 

[CHSUB]

I had two clowns and a juvenile scopas tang.

You don’t need to worry about algae or nutrients….you first need to understand fish. If I’m reading correctly a 10 gallon tank with apparent disease and over stocking is more pressing.

 

[ScottJ]

I had two clowns and a juvenile scopas tang.
I’m running media shelves for filtration with sponge, floss, and carbon. I have a single wave maker along with the return pump. (The return pump is rated at 300-450gph) so I figured with the single wave maker that would be enough
Because of the cyano I was changing water weekly, Floss every 3 days and cleaning sponges every week in tank water.

Sorry for your troubles. As Fish Fan and CHSUB said, I would address the fish problem before any algae issue. Is the clown the only fish left? If so be very careful about any new additions. Make sure that fish is recovered and enough time has past so the infecting organism has died out. In other words, research what made the fish sick and how to get rid if it.

You have a 40 liter (10.5 Gallons) AIO tank, right? Just so you know, any Tang is not a suitable fit for that size. (The Tang you have/had can grow to a foot in size) Honestly, I think that tank is too small for a pair of Clowns. A single Clown, maybe if that's the only fish. Others may disagree with me on that, and that's ok.

Bottom line is, research each fish you want to put in any tank before you buy it. There is a wealth of information on this forum alone, let alone the Googles.

If your local fish store sold you the Tang saying it would be fine, PLEASE don't take their advice in the future. Either that person was not knowledgeable about the fishes requirements, or they just wanted was a sale. Unfortunately some LFS's do not have the best interest of the animals in mind, or the most knowledgeable staff.

 

[CHSUB]

Here is what I would do…return the tang. Removal all the rock and sand to a bucket with water and flow and treat the tank with copper for 30 days. After if clowns live, clean and return rock and sand.

Any advice about nutrients or algae is fruitless….

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Is your tank a 40 gallon Long, or 40 Litres?

I don't think you started the hobby the best way. Fish-in cycles are very unnecessary and stressful to the fish, and can leave them with long term damage. There is bottled bacteria for that. No tangs in your size tank, a stressed tang get ichs very easily, even in a 40 gallon its very risky. If the tank is 40 liters then you are seriously over-stocked.

Sponges are detritus traps. LFS water is not the best since who knows how or if they maintain their equipment. The only API test I trust is nitrate, the others are not accurate enough, there's a reason its much cheaper than other test kits.

This is a great article that explains the basics

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean, but it is nowhere near simple. This task is going to take patience, a...

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