Should I restart?

[Thresher's Reef]

Hello all,

Before I start, I must state that I am still fresh to this hobby and have made mistakes, but I am trying to do better every day. My tank has been up and running for almost 6 months now. In the beginning, I immediately made mistakes (even though I researched for months before buying my tank). I added corals before the cycling was fully complete and then, once I thought the cycle was complete, I decided to add copepods and phyto for them to feed on. Unfortunately, when getting my supply of copepods and phyto from Aquashella Daytona, there was a miscommunication and I was told to pour the entire 16 oz bottle of phyto all at once....which I found out was not correct once I re-contacted the supplier after getting home and my whole tank turning green. I assumed the pods could not consume all of the phyto fast enough so a good majority died off causing an ammonia spike as my ammonia shot up after this happened. I did a 75% WC and followed with another 25% WC the following week to get ammonia down. For the next couple of months afterwards, I dealt with constant ammonia wanting to show up again, so I added more nitrifying bacteria in hopes I could increase the population to convert ammonia faster. I did this THREE times in 3 months and still ammonia would show up somehow. No dead corals at the time, no dead inverts, nothing that I knew should be causing ammonia in the tank as I am still without fish as of today.

This has all gone down until this past week. Last week on Thursday, I tested and had a 0.12 reading for Ammonia, 0.04 for Phosphates, and 60.3 for Nitrates which I knew was high. Well two days later right before me and the Mrs. were going to go out with friends, I decided to test again and still had Ammonia=0.12, Phosphate=0.04, and Nitrate=0. I hadn't done a WC in those two days and made no changes, but what is going on??? I am dealing with green algae and I believe I am starting to see some Cyano growing on my rock now.

All of this leads me to my question because I am trying to figure out if it is worth it at this point. Should I just restart this tank knowing not to make the mistakes I have already? Or is there a way to salvage this tank that I want to succeed so badly? I will include the equipment list below and, if needed, pics when I get home later. Fair warning though, I do not have a filter so the pics will most likely be very blue haha. Thanks ahead of time for any help or advice that can be given! You truly don't understand how much this noob appreciates it!
Setup:
Tank: Innovative Marine 25 Gallon Lagoon
Left Filtration Compartment: IM Filtration Caddy holding filter floss and Seachem Matrix
2nd Left Compartment: InTank Refugium Caddy (currently empty and not in use)
Middle Filtration area: Sicce Return Pump w/ IM Helio 100W heating element
2nd Right Compartment: IM Helio Thermostat Sensor
Right Filtration Compartment: InTank Filtration Caddy running filter floss
Tunze Osmolator 3155 Auto Top Off
Crystal ATO 5 Gallon Reservoir
EcoTech Marine MP10
AI Hydra 32 HD Reef Light

Livestock (Inverts and corals so far): 2 Cerith snails, 2 Trochus or Astrea snails (I still struggle to tell the difference in their shells), 3 blue legged hermits, 4 Naussaurius snails

Corals: 4 x Zoanthids, 1 x Rainbow Hammer, 1 x Frogspawn


Unfortunately with what is going on with the Ammonia and algae growth, my Zoanthids are not looking so good. They barely come out any more. My Frogspawn and Hammer seem to be holding in there, but I want everything healthy again. Please help!

Thanks again in advance!

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

Do a huge water change. But please use chemi-pure to get instant results.

 

[Thresher's Reef]

Do a huge water change. But please use chemi-pure to get instant results.

Would Chemi-Pure Blue work? That was what I was going to try but did not know if it would do any good.

 

[Garf]

Hello all,

Before I start, I must state that I am still fresh to this hobby and have made mistakes, but I am trying to do better every day. My tank has been up and running for almost 6 months now. In the beginning, I immediately made mistakes (even though I researched for months before buying my tank). I added corals before the cycling was fully complete and then, once I thought the cycle was complete, I decided to add copepods and phyto for them to feed on. Unfortunately, when getting my supply of copepods and phyto from Aquashella Daytona, there was a miscommunication and I was told to pour the entire 16 oz bottle of phyto all at once....which I found out was not correct once I re-contacted the supplier after getting home and my whole tank turning green. I assumed the pods could not consume all of the phyto fast enough so a good majority died off causing an ammonia spike as my ammonia shot up after this happened. I did a 75% WC and followed with another 25% WC the following week to get ammonia down. For the next couple of months afterwards, I dealt with constant ammonia wanting to show up again, so I added more nitrifying bacteria in hopes I could increase the population to convert ammonia faster. I did this THREE times in 3 months and still ammonia would show up somehow. No dead corals at the time, no dead inverts, nothing that I knew should be causing ammonia in the tank as I am still without fish as of today.

This has all gone down until this past week. Last week on Thursday, I tested and had a 0.12 reading for Ammonia, 0.04 for Phosphates, and 60.3 for Nitrates which I knew was high. Well two days later right before me and the Mrs. were going to go out with friends, I decided to test again and still had Ammonia=0.12, Phosphate=0.04, and Nitrate=0. I hadn't done a WC in those two days and made no changes, but what is going on??? I am dealing with green algae and I believe I am starting to see some Cyano growing on my rock now.

All of this leads me to my question because I am trying to figure out if it is worth it at this point. Should I just restart this tank knowing not to make the mistakes I have already? Or is there a way to salvage this tank that I want to succeed so badly? I will include the equipment list below and, if needed, pics when I get home later. Fair warning though, I do not have a filter so the pics will most likely be very blue haha. Thanks ahead of time for any help or advice that can be given! You truly don't understand how much this noob appreciates it!
Setup:
Tank: Innovative Marine 25 Gallon Lagoon
Left Filtration Compartment: IM Filtration Caddy holding filter floss and Seachem Matrix
2nd Left Compartment: InTank Refugium Caddy (currently empty and not in use)
Middle Filtration area: Sicce Return Pump w/ IM Helio 100W heating element
2nd Right Compartment: IM Helio Thermostat Sensor
Right Filtration Compartment: InTank Filtration Caddy running filter floss
Tunze Osmolator 3155 Auto Top Off
Crystal ATO 5 Gallon Reservoir
EcoTech Marine MP10
AI Hydra 32 HD Reef Light

Livestock (Inverts and corals so far): 2 Cerith snails, 2 Trochus or Astrea snails (I still struggle to tell the difference in their shells), 3 blue legged hermits, 4 Naussaurius snails

Corals: 4 x Zoanthids, 1 x Rainbow Hammer, 1 x Frogspawn


Unfortunately with what is going on with the Ammonia and algae growth, my Zoanthids are not looking so good. They barely come out any more. My Frogspawn and Hammer seem to be holding in there, but I want everything healthy again. Please help!

Thanks again in advance!

Assuming you're using the Hanna total ammonia checker, a reading of 0.12 is ok, and somewhat normal.

 

[JTP424]

Do a big water change as suggested, then do small water changes daily for a while. Grab a bigger CUC.
Check out what Reefcleaners recommends https://www.reefcleaners.org/store/rimless-snail-only-crew-25-gallon-1-detail

 

[Lavey29]

Pods didn't cause the ammonia spike. It was the overdose of phytoplankton and your minimal filtration set up. You don't need to start over. Weekly water changes are key to nano tanks. Add chemipure blue and your tank will re establish. Get a couple fish in there in the coming weeks.

 

[Dom]

Do a huge water change. But please use chemi-pure to get instant results.

I do not believe there are instant results in this hobby... unless they are bad results.

Not to mention that Chemipure is for Cyanobacteria treatment. Did the OP say anything about Cyano? I may have missed it...

 

[Lavey29]

I do not believe there are instant results in this hobby... unless they are bad results.

Not to mention that Chemipure is for Cyanobacteria treatment. Did the OP say anything about Cyano? I may have missed it...

You're confusing chemipure with chemiclean.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

phyto or pods won't make or break a tank, and won't add ammonia. I culture my own phyto, and have needed to make room in my fridge and I've added a litre at a time into my tanks. The phyto is not the problem.

With nitrates of 60, the tank is cycled 100%. You are confusing yourself to test ammonia and nitrite, no need to test that. Nitrate of 60 means that ammonia is being converted, our test kits are good enough to pick up trace amounts of ammonia. You are feeding your clean up crew, so always some ammonia in the water, but don't worry about it, because its being converted.

Can you show a tank pic?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Would Chemi-Pure Blue work? That was what I was going to try but did not know if it would do any good.

Chemipure blue excellent for phos control and keeping level in check
Also try daily water changes at 2-3 gallons daily for 2 weeks

 

[Garf]

With phos @ 0.04 and nitrate @ zero, what's all the advice about massive waterchanges going to achieve?

 

[Lavey29]

phyto or pods won't make or break a tank, and won't add ammonia. I culture my own phyto, and have needed to make room in my fridge and I've added a litre at a time into my tanks. The phyto is not the problem.

With nitrates of 60, the tank is cycled 100%. You are confusing yourself to test ammonia and nitrite, no need to test that. Nitrate of 60 means that ammonia is being converted, our test kits are good enough to pick up trace amounts of ammonia. You are feeding your clean up crew, so always some ammonia in the water, but don't worry about it, because its being converted.

Can you show a tank pic?

Completely agree but I think the massive overdose of phytoplankton spiked his ammonia and the 60 nitrates are the end result which as you indicate means the tank is cycling properly.

 

[Dom]

You're confusing chemipure with chemiclean.

I know the difference. I just read “chemipure” as “chemiclean”

 

[Lavey29]

With phos @ 0.04 and nitrate @ zero, what's all the advice about massive waterchanges going to achieve?

I think initially he was concerned about ammonia levels so did large water changes which is appropriate. His 60 nitrates then went down to 0 after the water changes. Should be back to normal weekly water changes now.

 

[Thresher's Reef]

I think initially he was concerned about ammonia levels so did large water changes which is appropriate. His 60 nitrates then went down to 0 after the water changes. Should be back to normal weekly water changes now.

I was concerned about the ammonia and did a 75 % water change. I checked again a couple of nights ago and had 43 nitrate after doing a 5 gallon water change Saturday. So it replenished the nitrates im guessing?

 

[Thresher's Reef]

Chemipure blue excellent for phos control and keeping level in check
Also try daily water changes at 2-3 gallons daily for 2 weeks

Thanks I'll try that!

 

[Thresher's Reef]

phyto or pods won't make or break a tank, and won't add ammonia. I culture my own phyto, and have needed to make room in my fridge and I've added a litre at a time into my tanks. The phyto is not the problem.

With nitrates of 60, the tank is cycled 100%. You are confusing yourself to test ammonia and nitrite, no need to test that. Nitrate of 60 means that ammonia is being converted, our test kits are good enough to pick up trace amounts of ammonia. You are feeding your clean up crew, so always some ammonia in the water, but don't worry about it, because its being converted.

Can you show a tank pic?

I can post one once I get home from work, thanks! The ammonia did stay constant over three or four days at 0.12 so what you said about the test kits makes sense. I am using Hana checkers so...

 

[Thresher's Reef]

Pods didn't cause the ammonia spike. It was the overdose of phytoplankton and your minimal filtration set up. You don't need to start over. Weekly water changes are key to nano tanks. Add chemipure blue and your tank will re establish. Get a couple fish in there in the coming weeks.

Thanks! I have wanted a pair of clowns for so long, but I want to make sure they are getting the best home they can first.

 

[Thresher's Reef]

Do a big water change as suggested, then do small water changes daily for a while. Grab a bigger CUC.
Check out what Reefcleaners recommends https://www.reefcleaners.org/store/rimless-snail-only-crew-25-gallon-1-detail

Thanks! I will check out Reefcleaners, I tried before the holidays and I believe they were backed up or something to do with the weather. I couldn't make an order at the time.

 

[Thresher's Reef]

Assuming you're using the Hanna total ammonia checker, a reading of 0.12 is ok, and somewhat normal.

I am using Hana