2fishy
New member
I saw another aquarium last week, which was a very similar set-up to mine. It was a 55 gallon with 8 small fish in the aquarium, and I believe probably about 55 lbs of live rock. It has a wet/dry w/ bioballs (I know, I know). While I was admiring the fish in the aquarium, the owner of the aquarium came over and we began talking about aquariums. I explained that I had the same size, and how much fun it is. The owner had the Nova Exteme 4 bulb 48" fixture like mine I believe, but could have been another brand but I am certain it was t-5. While we were talking the owner asked me if I had clams, which I do not, but would love to have them. The owner went on to explain that the empty clam shell that I could see, had been a living clam in their aquarium, one is still living, and that the hermit crabs and snails keep dying. There is a healthy anemone in the aquarium, a leather, a tree coral or two, a bubble coral, mushrooms and polyps. The corals are not doing as well as they had been and the mushrooms are down to just a few, but had been growing across the rock. The same with the polyps. Fish are healthy and then here's the kicker, they have a living scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp that has been in there for a while. The owner asked what I thought of why the corals were getting smaller. I asked about the water quality, nitrates were one I questioned because of green algae on the substrate, and calcium levels. They were not sure what the exact reading were as someone set up the aquarium for them and comes back and tests the water. At that point the owner got called away at their business and I couldn't ask any more questions.
-my first thought was that maybe they weren't doing weekly water changes, so the trace elements, calcium, and iodine, etc. are being used up inbetween water changes. I can't confirm that they are not doing regular water changes but the water was on the low side on the sump.
-second thought, was if copper was ever used in the aquarium. It would explain the loss of inverts and problems with the clam. But it would not explain why the other corals, anemone, and cleaner shrimp are doing okay.
-so the only thing that I can figure that it might be is that they are using city water for saltmix, not RO/DI. They need to maybe switch to weekly water changes, if not permanently, at least long enough to figure out if this is the problem, maybe seeing a change after 20 gallons have been changed out, doing a 10% a week, they may begin to see a difference on weekly water changes in maybe 1 month, at least in the amount of algae on the sand bed.
Why this is still bothering me, I am not sure, other then I would like someone else to have a successful aquarium rather then thinking about getting out. Any thoughts or suggestions, please recommend them. I will answer anything that I think I might know the answer to, but remember this is just an aquaintance so I do not know anything for sure about this aquarium other then the little information that came up in our short discussion. Thanks everyone!
-my first thought was that maybe they weren't doing weekly water changes, so the trace elements, calcium, and iodine, etc. are being used up inbetween water changes. I can't confirm that they are not doing regular water changes but the water was on the low side on the sump.
-second thought, was if copper was ever used in the aquarium. It would explain the loss of inverts and problems with the clam. But it would not explain why the other corals, anemone, and cleaner shrimp are doing okay.
-so the only thing that I can figure that it might be is that they are using city water for saltmix, not RO/DI. They need to maybe switch to weekly water changes, if not permanently, at least long enough to figure out if this is the problem, maybe seeing a change after 20 gallons have been changed out, doing a 10% a week, they may begin to see a difference on weekly water changes in maybe 1 month, at least in the amount of algae on the sand bed.
Why this is still bothering me, I am not sure, other then I would like someone else to have a successful aquarium rather then thinking about getting out. Any thoughts or suggestions, please recommend them. I will answer anything that I think I might know the answer to, but remember this is just an aquaintance so I do not know anything for sure about this aquarium other then the little information that came up in our short discussion. Thanks everyone!