Have a problem.

jbcincy44

New member
So I am newer to the saltwater. Ive had a 46 gallon up and running for about 6 months. I have a ac70 with carbon and a octopus 1000 hob skimmer. I have a coral beauty angel, purple firefish, 1 clownfish now, and a six line wrasse. Also 5 red reef hermit crab and a cleaner shrimp. I have two small polyp corals, a frogspawn and a xenia. I know I probably dont do everything right. I have a couple questions. I do filter all my water with BRS rodi unit. I change my water probably about every 2 to 2.5 weeks. And I change about 25% of the water. I need to do it more. But Im learning the hard way with the placement of my aquarium its a pain to do it. Im gonna eventually move it to a bigger tank. Is it bad to only do it that often and that much? My tank gets what looks like diatoms to me on small places here and there lately. Or just light algae on rock and on parts of the glass. So when I change the water I thoroughly clean it. I vacuum the surface of the sand and small collection spots. I clean the skimmer and filter inside and out (the sponges and carbon get crud in them the stinks pretty bad) But I use just regular hot tap water to rinse and clean them. Can that mess with my few corals that I have. Because after water changes they seem to look completely dead for a few days it seems like and then come back to life. My frogspawn basically looks white. And after I change my water in my tank. It smells pretty bad for about half a day. And today I lost my first fish. A clown fish. I need some advice. Im gonna try and transfer what I got to I think a 125 ASAP. Bigger tank and better location to make it easier to maintain. I appreciate the help.
 
Sorry, basically all I am asking, is what its a better way doing things, and what do you think would be making my corals look dead for a few days. Just out of what I said is there anything that is definitely bad to do.....I hope that clears it up a little.
 
well I tested the basics earlier. nitrite 0, nitrate 0 and my ammonia is about .25. Its always been about .25 - .5. can't seem to get that to zero.
 
i have been wondering if i should try something like that. When my water hasnt been changed recently everything has seemed fine though. Corals are growing and fish are eating aggressively but I may need to give something like that a try. But I just dont get why my corals really shrivel up after water changes for a few days.
 
From what I think I read I think you are asking is there a better way to go about the cleaning maintenance of your tank. Being that you said you are using a ro/di i would suggest that you rinse you sponges and filters in ro/do instead of running hot tap water. think about what you are trying to remove with the ro/di if you rinse the sponge with tap water all you are doing is putting it back in. You say that the task are hard now with the 46G do you really think its going to be any easier with a larger tank? as far as the schedule you are on i would say that 25% every 2 weeks is fair, some people go with more or less. i usually go about 25% change for the month on a 40b but it really depends on what you feed and the parameters of you water.
 
well the only reason I say the task is hard with my 46 gallon because it is on a dresser that is 5 feet high. meaning the top of the tank is about 7 feet off the ground. and its near a corner. It looks good. But I dont know if the look is worth the hassle for the spot its in. so its just hard getting to the bottom of the tank and getting the hob filter and skimmer off. I just want a ground level tank is all and if I am doing that I my as well go bigger. I may just need to do smaller water changes to avoid the shock my tank seems to have to these 25% changes every 2 to 3 weeks.
 
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