HELP URGENT --- NOOB Killing Corels

R

Reefsleeper

New member
Evening All ,

At last i registered been reading the posts for months ..... Firstly great forum and some very helpful people.... WOULD BE GREATFULL IF YOU COULD extend some of that wisdom my way......

90 Gallon reef tank 8 weeks old ..... fully cycled and then waited another week "¦. have the Purple algae starting to spread....
135G rated skimmer..... working perfectly
refurgium ..... lots of cheato growing like crazy.
3 x 800GPH Power heads ---- 600GPH main Pump...

Livestock : foxface,Blenny, 3 x small tangs, 2 x small tomato clown, neon gobi very small ..... Added the livestock two weeks ago and split them oe week the tangs and Neon and last Friday the foxface and blenny.

1) Just got home left my light OFF (2 x t5 off one blue one White)and all my xenia has died .... SHOULD BE ... Ok since every one says it's a problem later on but if I'm killing them i would hate to kill my toadstools .... but something must be wrong .......

2) Test :...... GRRRRRR I know i know .... LFS said i should add the bottle you see in the picture to bring down the nitrates ..... added perfect quantity for the tank ..... cant get the PH it's not on the chart see picture .... Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, PH (unknown) , Nitrate has dropped to 5-10PPM ....


3) Problems i have ...... RODI being installed this week .... Thursday ..... Trying to wait for RODI before i do water change ......


4) I am about to order the EVO quad 3W LED 48 " or should i get 8 x T5 unit ..... about the same price ..... ???



SALINITY - HAVE A REFROCTOMETER IN THE MAIL - THIS WEEK I SHOULD HAVE IT
TEST_2.jpg


TESTS - PH unknown ...... See bottle i added according to LFS .....
TESTS.jpg


xenia DEAD .....
XENIA.jpg



Only thing i did was add a new dead coral boiled it as the posts say and put it in a bucked with salt mix.... 2hours you can see it in the picture its Pure white ? Must be the this product ... ? should be cycled through ... it's been 24 Hours ....
 
Best thing to bring your nitrate down when you don't have an established tank is water change. That bottle like prime is only in emergency relief it binds detoxify nitrate to a non toxic form should not be use as a permanent solution. Killer was your nitrate, IMO it's a bit early to start adding corals until you know how stable your tank is.
 
Hi,
The ammonia test tube doesn't look to me to be 0. If the color is coming across accurately, it looks to be .25 or .50. A definite killer to your fish, and corals.

If it is 0, it would be a clear yellow with NO greenish look. If it isn't, then I don't think nitrate is your problem. You said you added all those fish within a two week period. I think your tank may be cycling again because you added the fish in too short a time.

If your ammonia level is up, you need to do a large water change without waiting for the RODI system, and you'll need to be doing them often until your filter capacity catches up with the large bio load.
 
Did u cycle with RO/DI? U have way too much going on in a short time. IMO. Should have spaced things a little further apart. Adding fish wait, wait, wait. Gather proper equipment, lighting, RO, ETC. Tune equipment in, learn what your tank can and can't do. Then, added coral maybe 6 months later if system is stable. But, we are here now. The contributing factor to coral death is too little light. How many watts are the lights? What have u used for water change. Chemical treatment should be the last stop for correcting trouble in your tank. Are u skimming dry or wet?
 
NOt RO/DI Tap water conditioned ,.... :( .... Skimming wet did a 5Gollon wet skim water change yesterday..... and everyday i do a 2gallon wetskim water change,... Lights are T5's x 2 total 106W one blue one White ... also the coral i have is like 4 to 5 inches deap. My issue is i listined to the LFS .... they said waite a week ... between adding fish.... water change has been tapwater .... but only one big changed 5 gallons and about 3 gallons per day ...
 
Reefsleeper said:
NOt RO/DI Tap water conditioned ,.... :( .... Skimming wet did a 5Gollon wet skim water change yesterday..... and everyday i do a 2gallon wetskim water change,... Lights are T5's x 2 total 106W one blue one White ... also the coral i have is like 4 to 5 inches deap. My issue is i listined to the LFS .... they said waite a week ... between adding fish.... water change has been tapwater .... but only one big changed 5 gallons and about 3 gallons per day ...
Click to expand...

I would ditch the tapwater regardless what your adding to it. Until you get your RODI set up use distilled from Walmart.
 
+1, try to at least use distilled water. The issue with tap is not only the chlorine, which can easily be removed by a conditioner, but all the heavy metals that are undetectable by test kits. Once you get your RO/DI unit and you see the color the filters change after only a few uses, you'll totally understand. In fact, you'll probably never drink tap water again after what your RO/DI shows you.

Anyways, is this just xenia thats dying on you? In my tanks xenia will thrive for a month, and then all of a sudden melt out of no where and be gone in a few hours. For some reason I can't keep it, but all of my other corals (like my toadstool!) are doing wonderful. Some people complain about xenia being a pest, but I'm jealous. I just can't keep it.

Are any of your other corals acting up? If not, I wouldn't worry. You did seem to add a lot of fish fast, but your tank will adjust. I work at a LFS. I have seen some people do really stupid things and have their tanks pull through. You seem to have done a bit of research from the equipment you're buying, so just hang in there. Slow down a tad though.

Also, was it the amquel that your LFS told you to put in for Nitrates?
 
Thanks Kali , I have taken a step away from the edge.... What I added you can see in the second picture?.... Amquel ... The only other question I had was should I buy the 8 x t5 fitting or the evo quad 3w x 64 led system.... They are the same price..... On eBay.... And Forsure no more fish and corals for at least six month ..... I Have the standard 48" 90 gallon tank....
 
I feel like a murderer one of my toadstools has not extended its tentacles .....almost in the centre vertically in the first picture.... The other to the left looks ok... &$@&$. ... Should I take them back to the LFS????? For a couple months?
 
I have a 300w heater and keeps the water temp at 80f with a 2-3f drop on cold nights
, was thinking to get 2x

com/itm/230567935572?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Is this ok
 
I have a 300w heater and keeps the water temp at 80f with a 2-3f drop on cold nights
, was thinking to get 2x

com/itm/230567935572?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Is this ok
 
Haha away from the edge? No you're not. Lol take a deep breath. You're doing just fine!

Toadstools are a little finicky sometimes, but are VERY hardy. Last tuesday I went to take a little one home from the LFS. I bagged it and set it by my coat before I finished closing up the store, and lo and behold I forgot to take it home! The store was closed wednesday, and so when I got there thursday morning I grabbed the bag expecting to see frozen water-mush, and it had full polyp extension. It was fine, and the bag that it was in for two straight day's temp was at 64 degrees.

This is the fixture we actually run at the LFS and its okay. Personally, I feel like I get better coral growth under T5s rather than LEDs, but I like the LED shimmer effect so I add a few strips to my T5 fixtures. If I were in your shoes, I'd get the T5s but to each his own. Someone else will probably chime in saying they hate T5s and that you should get all LEDs haha.

The heater link didn't work for me, but a lot of people will cut the heater requirement in half and get two. So in your case, if you're running a 300w heater, get two 150w heaters instead. That way if for some reason one of your heaters breaks, the tank wont drop in degrees too fast.

If you get a little variation between day and night, its okay. Thats normal. Its just a safety precaution. If you want REALLY good control over your temp (and even PH if you up th model), get yourself a Reefkeeper Lite controller. I love mine, but I have the most basic one (the cheapest). You can upgrade them to do some pretty neat things.

EDIT: Snapped a quick shot of my toady that doesn't want to die. He's a tough little bugger. Even has a little baby! Didn't notice it when I first bagged it, so I wonder if the stress from being frozen in a bag of stagnant water made it reproduce. I know if you stress corals out (and anemones!) sometimes they'll spit out babies to try and conserve the gene pool or something crazy like that.

http://i48.tinypic.com/22zpz.jpg
 
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