Thinking about selling the tank

[paintballer768]

Well, its about that time Im really fed up with this tank. A couple months ago, it just sorta went down hill. Some zoos didnt look good, so I kept them in the tank, expecting them to just get over whatever the problem was in a few days and then bounce back. With exams and homework and all, the tank got neglected and said zoos began to decay and produce ammonia. The domino effect set in and it really did a number on the live stock.

Now I have my duncans, large acan colony (which has lost all green tint to it, turning it into a large purple rock that never opens), my clam, and my fish.

I did a small tank overhaul, kind of. Took out ALL dead/dying corals and scrubed much of the rock, just with a toothbrush in a bucket of tank water. I expected to be battling ammonia for a bit, but its been 2 months and Im really getting sick of putting money constantly into the tank for water/salt and cleaning it nonstop, for the return to be an algae filled tank with hardly any corals.

Like I said, its been 2 months battling ammonia readings and Im at my witts end, ready to take it down tomorrow if I could sell it. I was not overfeeding, I did nothing wrong that I could come up with. Did lots of small water changes during the ammonia fighting, running carbon constantly and changing it.

What the $%#^ could be preventing this tank for getting back on track? I think its the poor design of the aquapod honestly. I dont see the filter doing anything at all beneficial.

Are there any ideas you can come up with that would be preventing the tank from stabilizing? Any suggestions are really appreciated.

 

[jmuzzey]

Do you have any pictures of your tank? And what types of algae are you dealing with?

There are many things that oculd be wrong, so it is hard to say. If this is a nano tank, things ca south south quickly in a small tank. But here is my opinion......you are always going to have daily maintanence on any tank, along with constant purchasing of salt, carbon, filter materials, etc.. It is just part of the hobby. I can definitely understand your frustration though. How long was the tank set up and establiushed before you added corals?How long was everything stable before you had probelms? How often and how much do you do on water changes? How much and how often do you change your carbon? What type of carbon are you using? What type of salt? What are your parameters for everything? Are you running a skimmer? if not, how do you export nutrients?

I do not know your experience, but water chemistry is something that I think everyone should learn. It will definitely help out with correcting any problems with the water itself. One large alkalinity swing can wreak havoc on a tank, no matter the size, and swings can happen much faster in a smaller system than in a large one. But in a smaller system, they can be easier to correct.

If you really want to get everything stable, maybe you could have someone hold your livestock while you get things straightened out. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby, and if you start adding things and doing all sorts of things to try to get levels where you want them, you are actually creating swings that make your tank unstable and the livestock suffers. I recently had my alkalinity fall and my magnesium fall low, dangerously low, but in order to get them back to where they should be, Iwill have to slowly bring the levels up with small daily dosings over a two and half week period. I am dealing with around 240 gallons.

Just take a deep breath, relax, and start out with the basics. Do all your tests for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, specific gravity, temperature, and then post all those. It will give everyone a starting point.

 

[Spiderwoman]

Dang PB! Is that the nano of yours? I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with the levels. All I can say is large water changes.

 

[paintballer768]

Do you have any pictures of your tank? And what types of algae are you dealing with?

There are many things that oculd be wrong, so it is hard to say. If this is a nano tank, things ca south south quickly in a small tank. But here is my opinion......you are always going to have daily maintanence on any tank, along with constant purchasing of salt, carbon, filter materials, etc.. It is just part of the hobby. I can definitely understand your frustration though. How long was the tank set up and establiushed before you added corals?How long was everything stable before you had probelms? How often and how much do you do on water changes? How much and how often do you change your carbon? What type of carbon are you using? What type of salt? What are your parameters for everything? Are you running a skimmer? if not, how do you export nutrients?

I do not know your experience, but water chemistry is something that I think everyone should learn. It will definitely help out with correcting any problems with the water itself. One large alkalinity swing can wreak havoc on a tank, no matter the size, and swings can happen much faster in a smaller system than in a large one. But in a smaller system, they can be easier to correct.

If you really want to get everything stable, maybe you could have someone hold your livestock while you get things straightened out. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby, and if you start adding things and doing all sorts of things to try to get levels where you want them, you are actually creating swings that make your tank unstable and the livestock suffers. I recently had my alkalinity fall and my magnesium fall low, dangerously low, but in order to get them back to where they should be, Iwill have to slowly bring the levels up with small daily dosings over a two and half week period. I am dealing with around 240 gallons.

Just take a deep breath, relax, and start out with the basics. Do all your tests for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, specific gravity, temperature, and then post all those. It will give everyone a starting point.

No pictures of the tank how they are right now. The algae is cyanobacteria (both green and red strands of it, if it matters) and some type of long green algae. It is not hair algae, just simply one that will only grow on my coralline-covered back wall, and tends to grow back within a day or so of being ripped off.

Im going to try to answer your questions best I can, I have to scroll up and back down to read and answer so sorry if I miss one.

The tank has been set up for a year this past october. It cycled for about a month and a half, then I ghost fed, etc etc. Added corals about 4 months after I felt it was stable enough. Its been stable ever since it started, but its been roughly two months now of starting to fight me. I did weekly 5 gallon changes (theres 30 lbs of rock in the tank plus sand, so figure something like max 20 gallons of actual water volume in the tank). The past 2 months, Ive done weekly 10 gallon changes. My water is always from the same source, my LFS.

The carbon is SeaChem SeaGel. Its a mix of their phosguard product and GAC I believe. I have it in a bag in the back chambers, replacing it monthly. I dont use salt, I get the saltwater from the LFS. It tests out to be good water, with all the right parameters. Right now, the tank reads Ammonia/trite is 0. Nitrate is 10 ppm. Calcium is 450. Alkalinity is 9 dkh. I run the Biocube Protein Skimmer, and it does produce a nice amount of gunk every day.

 

[paintballer768]

Dang PB! Is that the nano of yours? I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems with the levels. All I can say is large water changes.

Yea I have been doing the large changes. I seriously think its the lack of water flow in the actual filtration areas of the tank. That pump in the back is so weak, and I hardly can tell if theres any movement in the back. The grated side, which is the intake for the filter, has no suction at all.

 

[laskopyre]

I used chemiclean and it wiped out the cyano I had. I tried everything to get rid of it (daily water changes, phosphate removers, vacuuming it up everyday, leaving the lights off for a week, etc...), and I was at my wits end. It had no impact on my fish or coral. After that was done, I got some mexican cerith snails, and they seem to be taking care of any algae I have and will eat cyano.

 

[slipondajimmy]

I know on my 24g nano I had poor water flow. Now I am still fighting a big of a green hair problem but the added flow has helped. I have a maxi-jet 400 and a Koralia 2 to move the water around

Not sure that helps you in any way but figured I would chime in

 

[MarvinsReef]

Hi Jeff... sorry to hear about the troubles bro... just take it easy and don't let it bother you too much... I know it's hard but sometimes that's what we have to do... if you have to, maybe you can find a friend to hold your very priced corals that you can't go without.. then, just start over... keep the LR though so it won't be too long of a cycle... when I moved my tank in 06, my tank went through a mini cycle for about 2 months.. lost a few nice pieces but good thing I had back ups from friend's tanks... when I downgraded from the 32g to the 28g, the tank went to another mini cycle for about 2 months also... I'm just now getting everything back into shape... more frequent water changes is how I battled the cycles.. starting new has always been pretty exciting to me as long as you stay patient... there's always something to learn on this hobby... as long as you're willing to persist, I think you'll be okay... anyway, sorry for the rambling but I hoped it gave you a little bit of resolve to continue the battle... good luck and keep us posted...

 

[ahayes13]

i currently have cyano too! it is a pain in the butt! i have treated 3x's with the chemiclean stuff and it keeps coming back..... maybe i need to try those mexican snails..

 

[ahayes13]

not really related but i had the tank up for a long time with no cyano. then all of a sudden i started getting it.... anyone know where it comes from?

 

[paintballer768]

not really related but i had the tank up for a long time with no cyano. then all of a sudden i started getting it.... anyone know where it comes from?

Broadly stated, excess nutrients. The chemical you used to treat it was enough to prevent the cyano from showing, but the fact that it came back shows the fuel was still there.

As for the tank, Im leaning more towards taking it down for a while and maybe coming back to the hobby later. I would have to sell the corals online, but right now's weather might not be a good time (way too cold).

 

[paintballer768]

Yea I decided Im going to take it down. Im going to make a sale thread soon, fish, corals, and rock all for sale, but the tank and light will be put aside just in case I decide to re-enter the hobby.

 

[nivram]

You mentioned you are battling ammonia issues? Where do you get your water from? Reason I ask,someone on RC in the Palm Beach area mentioned the same thing and it had to do w/ Palm Beach having Chloramine in their water supply. He had to get a different cartridge for his RO/Di system to deal with this.

 

[Henry C]

Cyano comes from phosphates in the tank(so i've been told). I had it in my 90 gal for a long time. I did big water changes, vacuumed the substrate used chemiclean(which I will NEVER use again).
I finally added some phosguard and 2 korilla #3's to increase flow in the tank and it went away. I have beeen cyano-free for about 4 months now. That's my expereince with Cyano bacteria.