What's happening to my tank?
- Thread starter Jackmot
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Got it! Thanks!!
I already did a 27ml solution as stated by the Aquaforest calculator but I've been hesitant to add it because of the many changes happening at the same time in the tank Right now, should I add it anyways?
Yup, the display tank is 14 liters (JUST FINISHED A NEW ONE OF 30 LITERS!!, so excited haha) and the sump is of 25 liters approx
elorablue
Valuable Member
Okeydoke. Here it is. A lot of people like to make things very complicated.
In my opinion with a 14L or even your new 30L you don’t need a skimmer, you don’t need a refugium and you don’t need to dose anything. All you need to do is a weekly 10-15% water change and do all your maintenance consistently and regularly. Your nitrates are zero because you have no fish or bio load and whatever nitrates and phosphate you do have is being stripped away by your fuge and skimmer.
considering the type of coral you’re keeping your Alk, calcium and magnesium will be replenished by your water change. A small drop in alk , even 1 dhl over a week will not harm anything in your tank. Calcium and magnesium will take care of themselves.
good light good flow and regular maintenance are all you need to do.
even when you switch over to the 30L ( still a very small tank) I wouldn’t put the fuge or skimmer online until your tank tells you that it needs them.
seriously, keep it simple.
In my opinion with a 14L or even your new 30L you don’t need a skimmer, you don’t need a refugium and you don’t need to dose anything. All you need to do is a weekly 10-15% water change and do all your maintenance consistently and regularly. Your nitrates are zero because you have no fish or bio load and whatever nitrates and phosphate you do have is being stripped away by your fuge and skimmer.
considering the type of coral you’re keeping your Alk, calcium and magnesium will be replenished by your water change. A small drop in alk , even 1 dhl over a week will not harm anything in your tank. Calcium and magnesium will take care of themselves.
good light good flow and regular maintenance are all you need to do.
even when you switch over to the 30L ( still a very small tank) I wouldn’t put the fuge or skimmer online until your tank tells you that it needs them.
seriously, keep it simple.
attiland
2500 Club Member
You can always dilute the solution to your needs
This is very true. I have missed the size of the tank.Okeydoke. Here it is. A lot of people like to make things very complicated.
In my opinion with a 14L or even your new 30L you don’t need a skimmer, you don’t need a refugium and you don’t need to dose anything. All you need to do is a weekly 10-15% water change and do all your maintenance consistently and regularly. Your nitrates are zero because you have no fish or bio load and whatever nitrates and phosphate you do have is being stripped away by your fuge and skimmer.
considering the type of coral you’re keeping your Alk, calcium and magnesium will be replenished by your water change. A small drop in alk , even 1 dhl over a week will not harm anything in your tank. Calcium and magnesium will take care of themselves.
good light good flow and regular maintenance are all you need to do.
even when you switch over to the 30L ( still a very small tank) I wouldn’t put the fuge or skimmer online until your tank tells you that it needs them.
seriously, keep it simple.
Before this problem I used to make my water changes BI-weekly but I never thought I would be able to keep my water "too clean". I've already removed approx half of my Chaeto and probably will remove more today when I get home. I also already removed my skimmer cup (but did not turned off the skimmer for aeration purposes).Okeydoke. Here it is. A lot of people like to make things very complicated.
In my opinion with a 14L or even your new 30L you don’t need a skimmer, you don’t need a refugium and you don’t need to dose anything. All you need to do is a weekly 10-15% water change and do all your maintenance consistently and regularly. Your nitrates are zero because you have no fish or bio load and whatever nitrates and phosphate you do have is being stripped away by your fuge and skimmer.
considering the type of coral you’re keeping your Alk, calcium and magnesium will be replenished by your water change. A small drop in alk , even 1 dhl over a week will not harm anything in your tank. Calcium and magnesium will take care of themselves.
good light good flow and regular maintenance are all you need to do.
even when you switch over to the 30L ( still a very small tank) I wouldn’t put the fuge or skimmer online until your tank tells you that it needs them.
seriously, keep it simple.
I first got the chaeto and the skimmer because the tank was asking me for them but it looks like it got out of hand hahaha.
That is very true hahaha
In order to increase my nitrates I already added 2 more Turbos yesterday (making a total of 3 turbos) and when my parameters are stable enough I'm gonna change the livestock to the new bigger tank.
For the moment I wont run the skimmer what the heck the pump (But the skimmer will be on for aeration purposes) and I'll cut off the photoperiod for the Chaeto until things start to get back to normal. Also, I won't be chasing my dKh right now
Any thing else You guys think I should do or SHOULDN'T DO??
Should I also add Pro-Coral Phyton (spiruline algae)?
elorablue
Valuable Member
If you insist on keeping your fuge going cut down the light cycle. Removing the chaeto just lets it grow more and you’re back where you started. How long do you have the light on now?
Why do you think you need the spirulina?
I see you have no sand and not much rock is that right?
How did you start your tank? Ammonia and bottled bacteria?
My guess, without knowing these details, is your tank is starving for nutrients and biodiversity.
Why do you think you need the spirulina?
I see you have no sand and not much rock is that right?
How did you start your tank? Ammonia and bottled bacteria?
My guess, without knowing these details, is your tank is starving for nutrients and biodiversity.
Right now I have an 12 hour cycle, I'll probavly cut it to 6 hours.
I've been told that some coral foods help a lot to raise the nitrate, that's why I was thinking of adding the Spirulina
That's right, It's a bare bottom tank but I do have approx 6kg of rock in the sump
I started it with the shrimp method with Dry rock and with some bottled bacteria (ehich I only added once)
I'm guessing the same thing. Time for me to start adding more live stockother than corals there right?
I was thinking of getting some fish AFTER the tank change, would it be ok if I do it BEFORE?Ya dude, get yourself some fish. Best of luck
edit. Oh and copepods and phytoplankton are your bestest buddies.
Sorprisingly enough I have a great ammount of Copepods and other micro life. A few months ago I actually had to open a thread because of a HUGE bloom of copepods hahaha. I guess the only bad thing about not having that much Chaeto now will be my decrease in pod population
elorablue
Valuable Member
Yes, wait until the new tank to add a fish or two.
did you add the copepods? The pods don’t need the chaeto, they’ll live happily in your display which is where you want them to be anyway.
did you add the copepods? The pods don’t need the chaeto, they’ll live happily in your display which is where you want them to be anyway.
Will do
That's the even better part!! I didn't add ANY pods, the all came as hitchhikers in the Chaeto (along with some nuisances...).
If you're interested here's the thread about the pod bloom https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/huge-bloom-of-copepods.834049/#post-9005667
So, partially good news today: The GSP opened a bit all day long!
The pulsing Xenia is still VERY stressed and yesterday the lights went out for a few moments which didn't helped me at all...
The Nitrates and Phosphate's are now BARELY detectable. Phosphates are still not 0.03 but it's not 0 and the Nitrates are not 5ppm but they are not 0ppm either haha.
I'll add some photos tomorrow
The pulsing Xenia is still VERY stressed and yesterday the lights went out for a few moments which didn't helped me at all...
The Nitrates and Phosphate's are now BARELY detectable. Phosphates are still not 0.03 but it's not 0 and the Nitrates are not 5ppm but they are not 0ppm either haha.
I'll add some photos tomorrow
RedSeaReefer1
Community Member
Aaaannnddd this is why nano’s in this hobby shouldn’t be a thing…problems, problems, problems. Fish deaths, coral deaths, invert deaths. List goes on. Almost always with noobs also.
attiland
2500 Club Member
Not helping.
I agree that LFS shouldn't sell reef tanks as many of them do. My very first reef tank was sold to me as "the simplest tank you will care for" and my live stock didn't last a month
After that I started to discover all this amazing websites and forums and stuff and since then I've been more successful (thanks to you guys!)
However, our goal of us all is to keep the livestock as happy as can be so if you have any other good info about the topic of this thread I'll be very thankful to hear it
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