Answer me questions! plz LR/ clown

[i2go]

Hey,
I have a 12g nano cube, and i still have problems with brown and specs of green algae on the glass. THe tank has been running for about 9 months. There is usually a lot if i let it go for about 4 days. I have purple algae...all over rocks. My filtration is one little sponge that i clear out, no over flow. My first chamber is just LR. My second chamber is these rings..forgot what they are called, and carbon. My third chamber is the pump that comes with the tank and a heater. Are there any clean crew or anything out there that i can use? Or a different set up about my filtration. I do 20% water changes weekly. Its getting so bad..that i wanted to just start over a tank...now that i know better. How to start and stuff.

Also, I had a problem with a clown that i got from someone that was local...It had ich or got it and...died I waited about 5 weeks for another clown to try it out...I got a cleaner shrimp and another clown, the cleaner shrimp lived..but the clown died with some ich on it. I now waited 4 months to think about another fish. What do u guys think i should do...im clueless

And, looking for LR with some purple on it, I'm near mission viejo. Also if anyone has frags... ill always be interested.

Thanks, excuse me on mis typing...rusty from summer.

:mixed:

 

[mikedege]

what are you using for top off? RO/DI??? what is your salinity, and what do you use to check it(refractormeter???? or swingarm) what kind of cleanup crew do you have? what is your average temperature? also, you may want to remove the ceramic rings, they can become a nitrate factory. I would suggest removing them slowly, like over a 2week period. Also, how often do you clean your sponge? do you clean it in RO/DI or tap? How old is your carbon? you may want to repace it with chemi-clean. Do you have enuf flow?(have you upgraded your stock pump? etc etc etc... but these are good things to start with. And be patient and dont add any more livestock, until your confident they will live....


good luck, Mike

 

[PotysGSXR]

If you ARE thinking of adding fish, make sure you QT them. I've had horrible luck with clowns and ich as well. If your clown is coming from an LFS, you can almost bet that it's going to come down with ich. Quarantine it and do a hyposalinity treatment for about 2 months.This will make sure your fish will not have ich.

 

[818]

My clowns never get ich, just brook

 

[salt e]

just lost a clown from Brook, MHLLE, tail rott, body fungas, starvation ...and who know what else... only difference is the clown i lost was in a system for 4 years+... Mike shot you some very good advise.... and PotysGSXR 's with the QT would be a safe bet as well to ensure a safe introduction.... i bet that if you check your salt...its too high...salt and temp both... when i first started i lost 2 Percs because i was topping off my 60gal. with Sea Water (LFS Bought)... when i lost a few fish before i knew any better, i finally looked into the reasons since my nitri/ate's were 0 and all my readings were on the marker... i bought a refractormeter... salt levels were off the scale (1.034) i was slowly poisioning everything in the tank...but some how...EVERY INVERT SURVIVED... as well as my Sting Ray... talk about a miracle. apparently cleaners and coral bandits can withstand high salt levels for short periods of time...how the ray survived i have no clue. but during this whole process...i lost 2 clowns, 3 damsels, 1 four line / red sea wrasse (beautiful fish)

above is one of the many stupid things i have went through reguarding reefing, pray your not going through them too ...

 

[noschmo]

Topping off a tank for evap with seawater? Interesting approach. Salt-e

 

[salt e]

lmao....:lol: dont start with me noschmo... hahaha... i know, i know, this is all under the direction of a LFS i once trusted...im sure they knew the outcome and just wanted me to come back for more live stock... keep in mind, this was all before i knew any beter... i saw my dad doing this when i was younger, but little did i know, that was FRESH WATER...LMAO... please, lets never talk about this again... im gonna post a thread to find out what other crazy/dumb things other ppl have done...lets see who will admit and who wont

 

[818]

Salte-e, inverts thrive in higher SG. While for fish its harder to process the salts in their body at the level. Thats why they died.

The fact that you bought sea water doesnt matter.

Blown63chevy has been topping off his tank from water at UCSB for years, as some others, and his system was/is 7+years old.

 

[i2go]

Im sorry but i dont understand what top off means >< My salinity is 1.021 .... MY clean up crew is 4 hermits, 2 turbo, and 2 na(something snails) Naturus or something. My thermometer says its at 85, doesnt feel that hot. I just put the sponge in there...i took it out b4 , but i put it back, i change it every 2 weeks or so mabye less and clean it with tap. My carbon...i change it every 4 weeks. Instead of the rings, is chemi pure good? or do u like chemi clean? I might upgrade my pump in the back, but i also have a rio 50. I also have this...like dust like stuff on the ground ontop of sand and in my chamabers..the color is grey. Ill post my PH..calcium..etc later. I just get it checked at a LFS, or is it worth investing in a home test kit?
Thanks for helping

 

[i2go]

Umm oh ya...is QT considered as a tank? or is it like chemicals and stuff to help the fish? I have frags atm so...chemicals for reef safe. Srry salt e about your fish but thats cool you have a sting ray And what does topping off mean? <---newb

 

[Gerad]

it is the H2O that you put in to replace evaperated H2O. A QT tank is a quorantine tank. a completly different system then you main display tank. good idea becaurs you can use things to help with ick like hyposelinity or copper based treatments. i would not add anything to the tank that you can't test for.

 

[mikedege]

Topping off, is the water you add to make up for the daily evaporation. In your tank, probably on 1 cup a day or so. (btw, use RO/DI, not saltwater. because water evaporates, and salt doesnt)

My salinity is 1.021

What are you using to check this? btw, 1.021 is too low. s/b at (in my opinion) 1.023-1.027, checked with refractometer(google it)

is chemi pure good

I like it better that regular carbon. (and, no, chemi clean is for cyano)

is it worth investing in a home test kit?

yes, yes, yes, I reccommend saifert.


btw, i would still remove the ceramic rings, slowly...

good luck, Mike

 

[i2go]

I use REd sea hydrometer, ok, so just put in some sea salt bought at a LFS. Also...Aptasia theres a lot ( just said that if that was a clue or something) And what about this dust that i have on top of my sand..its a grey color.

The QT so i would just set up it...and let it roam in there if it looks stessed or something. I know its for treating it, but when i first get the fish and nothins wrong with it..leave it in the tank.