AM I an idiot or what?

[diverdan6996]

Have a feeling someone going to say...whoa nelly, slow down! Have a 55g, w/seaclone100, fluval 306, 200watt heater, a pair of hydor koralia 1050's on wavemaker and coralife PC lunar controlled by coralife power center. 90lbs LR, 3.5" SB-1/2 oolite(bottom) & 1/2 aragamax special blend & seeded w/ cup from LFS...started 12/28/12. 12/30-added 6 red leg hermits, 12/31-royal gramma, 1/1/13-yellow watchman W/pistol shrimp, tailspot blenny, 4 emarald crabs, 6 dwarf blue leg hermits, 2 electric blue hermits.& 1 scarlet reef crab, 1/6-green zoas, leather toadstool & cabbage, ophyllia, yellow polyps, kenya tree, feather duster, ocellaris clown w/ LTA, 1/7-2 cerith snails, 4 nerite snails & royal gramma, 1/11-another feather duster, 1/13-6 nerile snails, blue hippo & yellow tang...2 days noticed ich & back to LFS for 2 wks for remedy and 2 days later see white spots on glass, did some checking & realized I now have copepods running amok, 1/15-9 head hammer coral...params Sal-1.023-1.0245, PH=8.3, Ni & Na=0, Ammo=0 & would push .25 for day when fish were added...otherwise no spike whatsoever. on 1/21-1 feather left tube on 1/24 at nite-original feather ran away from home, I'm concerned???? since 1/17-other params Ca=320-340, KH=9-10, PO=0, and 1/25-Mg=900...I realize Ca & Mg low, but everything seems to be going well and everybody appears happy. Until the feathers confused me and has me wondering, am I a bad landlord?!? :headwalls:

 

[rich850]

re

re

you should probably not be adding near that amount of animals in a short amount of time and i guess maybe i am the tang police but really 2 tangs in a 55g tank thats getting loaded up definitely slow down

 

[jamesbaur13]

yes

 

[Mr.Saltz]

Wow you are packing them in aren't you? I agree with rich850. Patience will take you far in reefing. And in about 3-5 years if everything goes well and nothing dies you will need a bigger tank or rehome b/c that hippo will be growing and they don't like to be cramped. Featherdusters can be hard to keep sometimes, so don't feel too bad.

 

[ImNotLion]

Feathers like a nice mature tank, if your water quality gets bad they will start to "fall apart" so to speak. But if you can keep them it's a good indication you have good water. Good luck

 

[grcforce327]

AM I an idiot?

yes

This! ^^^^^^^^^ Raise your salinity!

 

[kissman]

yea wow way to much way to fast. Tangs need a 6ft tank. You need to allow your bioload to adjust between adding fish. You are going to have a lot of issuse with a tank that over stocked. How long has the tank been up? The Fluval 306 will become a NO3 and PO4 factory if not cleaned weekly. I would remove it not need with a good skimmer.

 

[Stolireef]

You're not an idiot but have made some pretty serious mistakes. 1) Way too much livestock way too fast. (don't want to pile on but that one's pretty obvious. 2) Some of your equipment is suspect. Seaclone is garbage, can the cannister filter, lighting is probably on the weak side. 3) Need to slowly raise your salinity to about 1.025-026. This is not really critical but it's easy to fix and maintain at th right level. 4) Your tank may have cycled but it's not nearly stable, especially if you are getting an ammo reading after adding a fish.

With the foregoing in mind, go to the top of this forum and read ALL of the stickies and listen to the advice they provide. While not 'gospel', they provide an excellent guide to starting and maintaining a successful tank.

 

[Stolireef]

Also, if you want to keep any kind of stony corals, you will want to get your CA to around 400+ and your Mg to around 1300+.

Finally, copepods are a very good thing in a reef tank. Great food for fish and great scavengers.

 

[Bpb]

Not an idiot, just falling victim to some classic blunders.

Canister filter will cause more problems than fixing. Your live rock is just as good at bio filtration and alot easier to keep clean of debris

Too much livestock. Just ditch the tangs. There are plenty of colorful fish you can have that wont be miserable in a 4 foot tank

Raise your calcium and magnesium. Make sure you numbers are accurate too with good tests (not Lfs test strip)

Just slow down and research every piece of gear you have. You don't HAVE to have prefab led fixtures galore and multiple mp40's and a bubble king skimmer to have a successful tank. But you could use an upgrade on a couple things. Just read more and actually TAKE the advice you read. Slow and steady wins the race

With that amount of livestock and the newness of your tank, you can expect illness and cyano outbreaks galore in no time. Most people will put rock in their tank and "ghost feed" it with no livestock for a couple months before even adding cleanup crew. This is just to establish the microfauna in the tank to be able to process the bigger critters. You were overstocked with some things that need a year mature tank within a month of setup. I'd try to rehome some stuff and upgrade some hardware like lights and skimmer. Or...cross your fingers and hope for the best.

 

[Bobbofin]

That's a lot of fish & corals to add in a month. Your tank must be in shock. When I started my reef tank I used the European method. I put sand and live rock in it, didn't turn on any lights, do water changes, skimmed wet for two months. Then did massive water changes, added lights and a few few green chromis. I monitored it for 5-6 weeks and started adding a couple fish or corals monthly and took it very slow. I now have a mature reef display because I thought through the process. I haven't added any frags for 1-1/2 years and everything to growing out nicely. If you take your time you'll have better success then just loading your tank once it cycles. If you're watching the show "Tanked" stop it, they're idiots! You can't load a new tank like that.

 

[diverdan6996]

understood, my buddy said same! corals are looking good though, some even expanding. one problem need to raise calc quick, see hermit shells starting to deteriorate. Anybody recomend a good fix soon...iodine or I suspect calc cause coraline not looking as plentiful in multiplying!!

 

[Chris Roberts]

LMAO LFS :eek2:

 

[Stolireef]

understood, my buddy said same! corals are looking good though, some even expanding. one problem need to raise calc quick, see hermit shells starting to deteriorate. Anybody recomend a good fix soon...iodine or I suspect calc cause coraline not looking as plentiful in multiplying!!

Diver:

I'm not sure you're hearing us. You can't supplement your way to a good healthy tank at this point. Your bioload is too heavy and while some things may survive (and even thrive), most will do very poorly. Rehome your livestock, wait several weeks (at least a month but probably six weeks) and then start stocking very slowly. Supplements like iodine, strontium, etc. can be helpful but only once your tank is very stable. You're nowhere near that point. You will hear this over and over again but the most important part of keeping a reef is patience.

 

[Stolireef]

BTW. Hermits don't generate their own shell. They take over other animals' shells.

 

[diverdan6996]

okay stoli, what I mean is I've read shell will deteriorate due to lack of calcium?!? am I correct?

 

[Stolireef]

Nope. Not correct. Shell is either picked up abandoned or taken from a snail or other shell generating animal. I don't have all the answers on things like iodine, but unless someone with more knowledge corrects me, calcium levels will not impact a hermits shell. I would imagine that very low PH might but that doesn't appear to be among your problems.

 

[BAGGERZ13]

I thought high ammonia levels will cause the shells on inverts to deteriorates.

 

[Dapg8gt]

Holy cow bro.. Prob every noob mistake possible lol.. Take the advice above and SLOW DOWN.. Unless you like wasting money .. Def spend a few days in the stickies to get the basics down. You can't supplement stability. Nothing but time and nitrifying bacteria can do that.

You made common newbie mistakes but if you want to be successful you need to educate yourself on the basics of reefing.. Or you will just be another full setup for sale,why are my fish dying, why do I have so much algae thread..

 

[fishy888]

First off do not be discouraged. We all have made some or even all of these mistakes when starting out. Having said that I would ditch the tangs first and foremost. 55 gallons is just not large enough for them. I have one scopas tang and that is in a 120. My other fish are two maroon clowns, a blue devil damsel, a juvenile yellowtail damsel and 7 green chromises. I have had this build running for almost a year however, and have a good CUC and plenty of LR (a pound per gallon is the minimum). I have coralline growing. It takes time to end up with a good quality display. Coral wise I have barely begun. While you are waiting for the tank to mature look closely at your LR especially at night. You would be amazed at some of what you see. Reearch the creature you find. Read about the nitrogen cycle, reef chemistry, how corals grow and what they need. You can do an amazing amount with a 55 gallon tank but you need to take your time as everyone has said.