Hi guys, I'm just new to this cool site, aswell as to the hobby. I have a 20gal saltwater tank in my room that's been running for about 1 month and 2 weeks now. It has 19lbs of LR, 13lbs of LS, an airstone skimmer and no sump, with just an overhead filter and foam in it. My livestocks are, 3 fishes- (1 small mimic tang, cardinal and small fox face), 3 feather dusters, 3 mushroom coral and 1 leather coral. My problems are, first, my mushroom corals are starting to peel its polyps from the liverocks where it were attached, and the remaining polyps were not expanding fully. I don't know if its was due to the moderate water curretnt they were receiving from the power head. Some of the polyps were now scattered on the sand bed. Also my leather coral is not expanding and has a brown like stuff in its body. Second, I have an outbreak of Diatoms in my tank, my phospate level is 2.0mg/l. I do a weekly 10% water change, but still the phosphate level remained the same. Third, I have a high Nitrate level which was 80mg/l. I did 50% water change, hoping that the Nitrates level will go down. After a day, I test again the the nitrates level and is now 10mg/l. This was supposedly good, but after that water change,the ph level dropped from 8.2 to 7.4, where supposedly it will retain its ph level? Do you think the high Nitrates and phosphate level got something to do with what's happening in my mushroom and leather coral now? Do you think I need a sump to a have better filtration and exchange of gases for more stable ph level? Can my nano reef still have the chance to have a stable water parameters even without a sump? Need help badly...My water parameters now are: SG-1.021, Amonia-0, nitrates-10mg/l, phosphate-2.0mg/l, Ca-160mg/l, ph-7.4, temp- 26C. Lighting 4 x 24watts T5.I dont have a test kit for nitrites and alk.
New here, need help
- Thread starter wain1979
- Start date
Rick55555
New member
Welcome to the hobby!
You may have posted in the wrong forum (as this post relates to soft corals). I think your tank has a little too much life in it for just a 20 gallon. Nanos are lovely. However, the fish you're keeping are probably better suited for a larger volume of water.
As I am sure you know, keeping any number of fish in a smaller body of water will usually result in fowled up water quite rapidly.
As for your nitrate and phosphate issues, you may want to look into RO/DI water. What's the TDS of your source water?
I think it's likely that your problems stem from water quality issues.
If you can manage it, I strongly urge you to acquire a larger tank. At the very least, trade in your fish to your LFS and stabilize your tank. A month and two weeks is still a relatively short period of time.
Best of Luck
Rick
You may have posted in the wrong forum (as this post relates to soft corals). I think your tank has a little too much life in it for just a 20 gallon. Nanos are lovely. However, the fish you're keeping are probably better suited for a larger volume of water.
As I am sure you know, keeping any number of fish in a smaller body of water will usually result in fowled up water quite rapidly.
As for your nitrate and phosphate issues, you may want to look into RO/DI water. What's the TDS of your source water?
I think it's likely that your problems stem from water quality issues.
If you can manage it, I strongly urge you to acquire a larger tank. At the very least, trade in your fish to your LFS and stabilize your tank. A month and two weeks is still a relatively short period of time.
Best of Luck
Rick
First off welcome to RC!
My guess is your problem is do to excess nurtients, mainly your PO4. Ideally you want then in the range of .03 ppm. Lowering your PO4 will help with the Diatoms too.
I would recommend get a alk test kit too. My guess is that it is low see how your Ca are so low. An alk of 9 dkh is a good place to start, along with Ca of 420 ppm.
How often do you do water changes and are you using RO/DI water for them? What are you using of alk/Ca? A good two part will help keep levels up were you need them.
My guess is your problem is do to excess nurtients, mainly your PO4. Ideally you want then in the range of .03 ppm. Lowering your PO4 will help with the Diatoms too.
I would recommend get a alk test kit too. My guess is that it is low see how your Ca are so low. An alk of 9 dkh is a good place to start, along with Ca of 420 ppm.
How often do you do water changes and are you using RO/DI water for them? What are you using of alk/Ca? A good two part will help keep levels up were you need them.
the mimic and foxface just died 2 days ago. The only left is my cardinal fish. I won't buy any livestocks until my parameters are in their normal ranges. With regards to my water, I'm using a distiled water from a nearby water station. Also change my salt brand form my last water change, I'm now using corallife brand of salt. IF I'll become successful in setting up my nano tank, I'll upgrade it soon to a larger tank. Thanks man for the advice, i'll work it out to have a stable water params...
