Test results are in and its not looking good! Any advice?

[Ralph Ritoch]

Here are my test results...

PH 8.4
Ammonia 0.75ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Tank is 39 gallons. It has 2 15W fluorescent lights, a filter with about 20 bio-balls, white and green filters, 2 bags of ceramic filter rings, and a UV sterilizer. The tank was seeded with livesand that has now been removed and water changes are 10% per week (not yet done for, but due tomorrow). Tank has small bioload, 2 corals, 2 clownfish, and 2 blue starfish, about 10kg of liverock. Temperature averages about 30C. The tank also has a slight yellow color, likely tannins.

 

[Turnage]

How old is the tank?

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

How old is the tank?

This has been a salt water tank for 22 days. It was freshwater for over a year beforehand. It has had 100% water change since being fresh water but the filter was only recently cleaned since the change.

 

[Idaho Mojo]

Bacteria in freshwater is different than bacteria in saltwater. You are going through a normal die off and cycle.
I'm hoping you've removed the substrate and/or rocks you were using in the freshwater setup as most of them will leach unwanted elements into the water.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

Bacteria in freshwater is different than bacteria in saltwater. You are going through a normal die off and cycle.
I'm hoping you've removed the substrate and/or rocks you were using in the freshwater setup as most of them will leach unwanted elements into the water.

I kept the substrate, which was cleaned glass rocks. Unlikely they are any risk and they are mostly buried under the sand. There was some dead coral that I kept in the tank but for the most part the entire contents of the tank were changed. I'm hoping the torch coral take over the dead coral which is why I've been keeping it in the tank.

The PH level is what I'm concerned about since that is really at the edge. What can I do about that?

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

Here are the players, rock, filter, and tank. Note the sand is beach sand.

 

[Rilo]

For anyone that'd like to see the OP's original thread and how the tank progress has been going; https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/torch-coral-darkened-after-feeding.632168/page-2#post-6301411

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

The experts in this forum have insisted for weeks that this tank is doomed and should have never lasted this long. This tank will need to survive another 6 months without a protein skimmer or sump because until the house is renovated, the floor can't handle any more weight. I was hoping that a combination of water changes or chemical treatments could resolve this. I was going to invest in better lighting but since this tank is doomed I don't see much of a point to it. Nothing has yet died in this tank but one of the torches looks pretty close to dying. The entire colony was dying before I received it. Its doing better now than it was when I introduced them to this tank. If this high PH level is a good thing for the tank than there isn't anything I could do even if I wanted to. I'll just wait for it to die, if it doesn't die than it'll get an upgrade with led, 300 gallon tank 125 gallon sump, etc, but right now the floor would collapse if I even tried.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

For anyone that'd like to see the OP's original thread and how the tank progress has been going; https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/torch-coral-darkened-after-feeding.632168/page-2#post-6301411

I'm not denying anything you have said. I'm simply accepting defeat.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

I'm going to add some Prime to the system and do a 10% water change. If this survives another month I'll add led lighting. Anyone know how I could add activated carbon to this system? The RO filter I have doesn't work well without about 20-30 PSI so I don't see how I could add activated carbon to this system.

 

[Hemmdog]

Beach sand ?!

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

Beach sand ?!

I live in the Philippines, the live sand I collected myself but the sand I bought from the fish store I'm fairly sure came from a beach. I was told this could cause high silica in the tank but a quick google on silica and it isn't all bad for the tank. I have no other options since there is no other sand for sale here. Its either live sand filled with detritus, or beach sand.

 

[Matthew Russell]

This hobby is about patience. Any kind of success comes at a slow steady pace. The first step in a reef tank is letting it sit for a few months as the beneficial bacteria grows. I would vacuum out the sand and rock you have in there and replace it with some live sand. The next step is creating an aquascape if you haven’t already. Remove any coral or fish you have in ten tank and return them to the fish store for credit. It’s the humane thing to do. Otherwise you’re slowly torturing your livestock to death. You can seed the tank with a product like “doctor Tims one and only” or a raw shrimp although I’ve never used the shrimp method. Once you’ve done this the tank will go through ammonia & nitrite spikes and will be uninhabitable for life. Once your ammonia and Nitrate are back to zero you can add one fish. Going forward you will need to keep and eye on your temperature, alkalinity, and salinity at a minimum. These test should be performed daily as any imbalance could result in issues. This engagement will get you in tune with the tank and it is a necessary aspect of the hobby no matter what anyone tells you. My LFS was more interested in selling me elixirs not training me to keep these pets. No bs testing is the hobby. You have to keep the water chemistry stable if you want to succeed.
There are several videos on this process. I recommend the BRS 52 weeks of reefing.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

I should also point out that even if I did order a protein skimmer now it would be at least a month before I received it, so if there is no way to keep this tank alive without one, this tank is dead.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

This hobby is about patience. Any kind of success comes at a slow steady pace. The first step in a reef tank is letting it sit for a few months as the beneficial bacteria grows. I would vacuum out the sand and rock you have in there and replace it with some live sand. The next step is creating an aquascape if you haven’t already. Remove any coral or fish you have in ten tank and return them to the fish store for credit. It’s the humane thing to do. Otherwise you’re slowly torturing your livestock to death. You can seed the tank with a product like “doctor Tims one and only” or a raw shrimp although I’ve never used the shrimp method. Once you’ve done this the tank will go through ammonia & nitrite spikes and will be uninhabitable for life. Once your ammonia and Nitrate are back to zero you can add one fish. Going forward you will need to keep and eye on your temperature, alkalinity, and salinity at a minimum. These test should be performed daily as any imbalance could result in issues. This engagement will get you in tune with the tank and it is a necessary aspect of the hobby no matter what anyone tells you. My LFS was more interested in selling me elixirs not training me to keep these pets. No crap testing is the hobby. You have to keep the water chemistry stable if you want to succeed.
There are several videos on this process. I recommend the BRS 52 weeks of reefing.

These corals were dying in the fish store which is why they gave one of them to me for free. There is no other fish store that carries salt water fish in this area that I know of and I actually bought ALL of their remaining stock. Successfully keeping this tank alive is at about 1% chance right now.

 

[Matthew Russell]

These corals were dying in the fish store which is why they gave one of them to me for free. There is no other fish store that carries salt water fish in this area that I know of and I actually bought ALL of their remaining stock. Successfully keeping this tank alive is at about 1% chance right now.

Good luck

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

Good luck

Luck seems to be the only reason this tank is still alive. I tried live sand but it was filled with detritus so it was suggested that I remove it.

 

[Ralph Ritoch]

The good news is I just had about 30 gallons of live water (ocean water) delivered. I'm going to test that to see what I have been adding to my tank.

 

[Matthew Russell]

The good news is I just had about 30 gallons of live water (ocean water) delivered. I'm going to test that to see what I have been adding to my tank.

Siphon the detritus out of the sand when you do the water change. That should help a lot. I siphon the sand almost every week. Don’t let detritus build up in the sand. It has no good purpose contrary to what some people say.

 

[Hemmdog]

Idk if you want my honest opinion I think the only way you can turn this around is to seriously listen to the advise people gave you on the other thread, the info people gave you was right. Get your salinity up to 1.025, trust your hydrometer since you don’t have a refractometer, drop your temp to 78F, remove all filtration stuff, clean it, put in fresh filter floss, don’t put the green one in, make sure the salinity stays steady at 1.025, no fluctuations at all. Stop using prime or any chemical, let it do it’s thing. You also need a major light upgrade. What you said about the ocean water having all the elements in correct proportion also isn’t factual unfortunately, most people that use ocean water have to add alk, cal, mag, and usually raise the salinity slightly. Unless your collecting water from thriving reefs elements will not be correct in most cases. If your salinity is that low from your collections you can already predict this to be true.