What's happening to my tank?

[Jackmot]

Hey!
So, I started a new tank 3 months ago and evereything's been growing really good (of course that I've had my share of all kinds of problems). My Pulsing Xenia is 3 times bigger than when I bought it, my Mushrooms are doing great and my GSP is also bigger and whith a beautiful green color. Until last week...
Last week I tooked a day trip and my overflow system failed so I had to remotely turn off the return pump which led to having less water in the DT and that caused my wave pumps to blow bubbles everywhere for 10 hours. Obviusly all my corals were very stressed so I made a water change, reconnected everything and things started to look up but things hasen't really improved in the last few days and there are some things that I'm not understanding:
1. My corals seem to open a lot more during the night and at the start of the day they are completly retracted (I haven't changed any light schedule and my Ph ranges from 8.0 to 8.3).
2. Since the incident my Xenia hasen't returned to it's beautiful pinky color, instead its greyish with almost all of it's polyp "hairs" are retracted.
3. I found a small tube-like structure in my GSP (which I already removed) and in my glass with a worm inside. Any idea for an ID on this guy?

Tomorrow I'm picking up a new tank with a propper external overflow so this never happens again (I've been working on the tank for a few weeks, I'm very excited haha). Do you guys have any recomendation for transfering the livestock to the bigger tank? (I'm going from 14 liters to 30 liters)

DT: 14lt
Sump: 25lt (approx)
1 Prime 16HD
1 chinese chaeto light

Pulsing Xenia
Green Star Polyps
Mushroom corals
1 Mexican Turbo snail
Chaeto in the refugium

0 Ammonia (API test)
0 nitrite (API test)
0 nitrate (API test) (I do realize this is a problem, I'm still trying to get this one up. Any ideas for doing it?)
8.0-8.3 Ph (API test)
7.5 dKh (Salifert test) (I've been trying to get this one up to)
420 Calcium (Salifert test)

THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!

PS: I'm leaving some before and after photos

 

[attiland]

Hey!
So, I started a new tank 3 months ago and evereything's been growing really good (of course that I've had my share of all kinds of problems). My Pulsing Xenia is 3 times bigger than when I bought it, my Mushrooms are doing great and my GSP is also bigger and whith a beautiful green color. Until last week...
Last week I tooked a day trip and my overflow system failed so I had to remotely turn off the return pump which led to having less water in the DT and that caused my wave pumps to blow bubbles everywhere for 10 hours. Obviusly all my corals were very stressed so I made a water change, reconnected everything and things started to look up but things hasen't really improved in the last few days and there are some things that I'm not understanding:
1. My corals seem to open a lot more during the night and at the start of the day they are completly retracted (I haven't changed any light schedule and my Ph ranges from 8.0 to 8.3).
2. Since the incident my Xenia hasen't returned to it's beautiful pinky color, instead its greyish with almost all of it's polyp "hairs" are retracted.
3. I found a small tube-like structure in my GSP (which I already removed) and in my glass with a worm inside. Any idea for an ID on this guy?

Tomorrow I'm picking up a new tank with a propper external overflow so this never happens again (I've been working on the tank for a few weeks, I'm very excited haha). Do you guys have any recomendation for transfering the livestock to the bigger tank? (I'm going from 14 liters to 30 liters)

DT: 14lt
Sump: 25lt (approx)
1 Prime 16HD
1 chinese chaeto light

Pulsing Xenia
Green Star Polyps
Mushroom corals
1 Mexican Turbo snail
Chaeto in the refugium

0 Ammonia (API test)
0 nitrite (API test)
0 nitrate (API test) (I do realize this is a problem, I'm still trying to get this one up. Any ideas for doing it?)
8.0-8.3 Ph (API test)
7.5 dKh (Salifert test) (I've been trying to get this one up to)
420 Calcium (Salifert test)

THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!!

PS: I'm leaving some before and after photos

Let me do a little bit of guessing for you. Guessing because of missing info.
alk low you want to up it a bit at least in long term
Nitrate 0 can be your main problem. You want to get that up to 10-15ppm especially wit softies.
you don’t mention phosphate but that needs to be above 0.03
Magnesium is not mentioned but you should able to test for it

once you have Ron out of the API test buy a decent test kit -you won’t regret it.

your tank is a bit young for some corals an will have loads of swings in parameters which corals won’t like. Focus on stabiliseing the 5 mentioned parameters and you will be ok

 

[Jackmot]

Let me do a little bit of guessing for you. Guessing because of missing info.
alk low you want to up it a bit at least in long term
Nitrate 0 can be your main problem. You want to get that up to 10-15ppm especially wit softies.
you don’t mention phosphate but that needs to be above 0.03
Magnesium is not mentioned but you should able to test for it

once you have Ron out of the API test buy a decent test kit -you won’t regret it.

your tank is a bit young for some corals an will have loads of swings in parameters which corals won’t like. Focus on stabiliseing the 5 mentioned parameters and you will be ok

I bought the API tests because of the money TBH but I'm slowly buying more and more Salifert haha.
What I had planned was that tomorrow I was going to buy the phosphate test from Salifert in a LFS that has GREAT prices (at least 40% less than other LFS) and a Mexican Turbo in order to start raising my Nitrate in a more natural way. I was also thinking on trimming a bit more the Chaeto.

Also, what Kh would you aim for? I was thinking of 9 dKh.

What do you think about this? Anything else that I should do?

 

[GeoSquid]

The incident you described probably wouldn't have any long term affects on the corals. Softie's can get pizzed and close up for anywhere from a few days to a week+. The bubbles won't hurt anything. I have two surge tanks that blow tons of bubbles every couple minutes. Look at what Jackmot said about parameters, and your tank is very new. You'll most likely have more ups and downs in the coming months until your tank matures.

No idea about the worm. I wouldn't worry about it though.

 

[Little c big D]

Are there fish?

 

[Jackmot]

The incident you described probably wouldn't have any long term affects on the corals. Softie's can get pizzed and close up for anywhere from a few days to a week+. The bubbles won't hurt anything. I have two surge tanks that blow tons of bubbles every couple minutes. Look at what Jackmot said about parameters, and your tank is very new. You'll most likely have more ups and downs in the coming months until your tank matures.

No idea about the worm. I wouldn't worry about it though.

Thanks!! Still wondering about the worm just to satisfy my curiosity hahaha

Are there fish?

There is no fish for the moment but I'm pretty sure I'll put a clown or a fire goby when I get the new tank in order to start raising my nitrates haha

When should I be worried?
If I don't get those nitrates up what would happened?
Any other parameter you would change?
Would you perform a water change ASAP?

 

[GeoSquid]

Yes, get a couple fish in there. I've been keeping reef tanks for 15 years and fish tanks since the 1970's and I've never tested nitrates or phosphates ever. I only keep softies and some LPS but I don't know why people test for those...unless your just curious about what the readings are. I can tell if my nitrates/phos are up due to how much algae I have. If you test for nitrates, it will probably be low because the algae is consuming it. I also use macro algae and ATS as filtration. Best thing is just go slow. Nothing happens fast in a reef tank. If it does, its bad.

 

[Jackmot]

Yes, get a couple fish in there. I've been keeping reef tanks for 15 years and fish tanks since the 1970's and I've never tested nitrates or phosphates ever. I only keep softies and some LPS but I don't know why people test for those...unless your just curious about what the readings are. I can tell if my nitrates/phos are up due to how much algae I have. If you test for nitrates, it will probably be low because the algae is consuming it. I also use macro algae and ATS as filtration. Best thing is just go slow. Nothing happens fast in a reef tank. If it does, its bad.

That last statement is absolutely true!!
As soon as I start the new tank I'll add some fish there
Do you have any recommendations for the upgrade? It's a bare bottom tank and I'll be changing only the display tank so all my filtration (sump) will remain unaffected.
Should I expect a mini cycle?

 

[Jackmot]

Also, do you think that it would help with something if I turn off my skimmer?

 

[attiland]

I bought the API tests because of the money TBH but I'm slowly buying more and more Salifert haha.
What I had planned was that tomorrow I was going to buy the phosphate test from Salifert in a LFS that has GREAT prices (at least 40% less than other LFS) and a Mexican Turbo in order to start raising my Nitrate in a more natural way. I was also thinking on trimming a bit more the Chaeto.

Also, what Kh would you aim for? I was thinking of 9 dKh.

What do you think about this? Anything else that I should do?

As per the parameters you should sim for is wildly debated but I use the read sea calculator to find my targets. Works for me

MyRecipe App Test

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

www.redseafish.com

Thanks!! Still wondering about the worm just to satisfy my curiosity hahaha

There is no fish for the moment but I'm pretty sure I'll put a clown or a fire goby when I get the new tank in order to start raising my nitrates haha

When should I be worried?
If I don't get those nitrates up what would happened?
Any other parameter you would change?
Would you perform a water change ASAP?

You should be worried if there is no nitrates and phosphates in your tank. Aim 0.03-0.1ppm phosphates as minimum and 5-15ppm nitrates as minimum.
add fish in there by feeding them you will get more than you want and than you can start to think of how to remove the access amount.
softies and LPS like higher end and SPS usually like lower levels of nitrates and phosphates but not 0!

 

[Jackmot]

As per the parameters you should sim for is wildly debated but I use the read sea calculator to find my targets. Works for me

MyRecipe App Test

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

www.redseafish.com

You should be worried if there is no nitrates and phosphates in your tank. Aim 0.03-0.1ppm phosphates as minimum and 5-15ppm nitrates as minimum.
add fish in there by feeding them you will get more than you want and than you can start to think of how to remove the access amount.
softies and LPS like higher end and SPS usually like lower levels of nitrates and phosphates but not 0!

Thanks for the Red Sea link!

I just bought today the Salifert PHOSPHATE test kit and I'll update you as soon as I get home
I also bought two more small turbos to help with the process and yesterday I trimmed my Chaeto and removed my Skimmer recolection cup but kept the skimmer running for aeration.
Anything else I should do??
Once again, thanks for the help!

 

[Jackmot]

As feared: My phosphate is 0
Good thing I bought 2 turbo snails. I'll be triming some more my chaeto. Any other method you recommend to raise these?

 

[attiland]

As feared: My phosphate is 0
Good thing I bought 2 turbo snails. I'll be triming some more my chaeto. Any other method you recommend to raise these?

I use KH2PO4 you can buy it on eBay but there are ready mixed solutions too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fertilizer-phosphorus-KH2PO4-macro-macronutrients-plant-food-aquarium-Bio-Line-/274379846926?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Also reef roids are high in phosphate too so you can feed your tank and it wil raise phosphate levels.

 

[Jackmot]

I use KH2PO4 you can buy it on eBay but there are ready mixed solutions too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fertilizer-phosphorus-KH2PO4-macro-macronutrients-plant-food-aquarium-Bio-Line-/274379846926?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Also reef roids are high in phosphate too so you can feed your tank and it wil raise phosphate levels.

Looks like the Ebay page you jest doesn't exist but I'll start to do some research on the product, thankss
I don't have Reef-Roads but I do have Tropic Marine Coral Pro Phyton, would that do the trick??

 

[attiland]

Looks like the Ebay page you jest doesn't exist but I'll start to do some research on the product, thankss
I don't have Reef-Roads but I do have Tropic Marine Coral Pro Phyton, would that do the trick??

Sorry that is a listing ended already
Try this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

I don’t have experience with Marine Coral Pro Phyton

 

[Jackmot]

Sorry that is a listing ended already
Try this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

I don’t have experience with Marine Coral Pro Phyton

Pretty interesting stuff, thanks!!
I'll probably add the pro coral phyton tomorrow, I've got nothing to lose right? Haha

 

[Jackmot]

The GSP has been completely closed up for the last 2 days
My other problem is the alkalinity. Is it ok to dose the required amount of Aquaforest KH Buffer into the ATO water?

 

[attiland]

The GSP has been completely closed up for the last 2 days
My other problem is the alkalinity. Is it ok to dose the required amount of Aquaforest KH Buffer into the ATO water?

Increase over a week. Go slow with alk or magnesium

 

[Jackmot]

That is what I'm trying to accomplish by dosing the KH Buffer on the ATO water, do you think is a good idea?

 

[attiland]

That is what I'm trying to accomplish by dosing the KH Buffer on the ATO water, do you think is a good idea?

No. Don’t mess with ATO water. If dosing manual create a solution easier to decide to several portions.
You want to go up about 1dkh so make a 100ml solution for that change and add in 2*10ml daily. 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.
wait a fedays after the last one and test again. It should be close to what you want.
If all ok test ever other day and keep records to understand daily consumption.
if you see drop in a week more than 0.5 start to think about doser.
always test at the same time!