Reduck
Because I can....
You should try it! I broadcast feed once a week, then target on Sunday. This way your sure they eat..and its fun!
Owners Thread: Innovative Marine Fusion 40
- Thread starter Mr2KiEu
- Start date
You should try it! I broadcast feed once a week, then target on Sunday. This way your sure they eat..and its fun!
Reduck
Because I can....
there ya go, lemonade from lemons...
Oh yea...water tests....alk is holding at 9.5dkh, cal at 450.
Dos is doing its job now. I couldn't keep dkh above 7 at all.....
Nitrates are a little higher than I'd like but wc is coming in a couple days.
Last edited:
Reduck
Because I can....
An anemone only tank would be quite cool. Is 20 large enough?
Reduck
Because I can....
I always think of carpets..they can get huge...
bklynreefer
New member
Same thing happened to my chaeto... I'm thinking my nutrients are too low for it to thrive.
SparkyTuna
New member
I had the same thing happen, I replaced the chaeto with Dragons Breath. Its been in there for about 5 weeks, growing and looking good. Also I cut my light back there to 9 hours from 12.
Reduck
Because I can....
Not anymore. I had a similar experience a while ago. I believe it had to do with lack of nutrients as the tank was going through the uglies at the time. So I had large amounts of gfo and carbon running and it sucked up the nutrients.
Now my chambers hold rubble only and I'm using only a 1/4 cup of Phosban. I'll occasionally use a bag of chemipure or purigen but that's it. My parameters have been quite steady so I see no need for a fuge. Just floss...
Check your water. Remove any chemical filtration and try again. If you are using chemipure or gfo, it's starving the chaeto. Another experiment you could try is to grow it in the dt side. See if it thrives. If it does, it may be due to lighting, or circulation in the fuge area.
Reduck
Because I can....
thats some nice growth! If mine looked like that I'd have kept it.
But it dwindled away to a slimy ball in under a month. I have not tried to grow it since and my parameters are staying in check. Maybe I'll try again just to get my nitrates down a little more..or maybe not, since its been so stable...and everything seems to be thriving..
Thats probably the kiss of death right there saying that..
I think I'll do my wc tonight...
bklynreefer
New member
Agreed. Def not enough nutrients. My tank is almost 3 months, still going through the uglies but my nitrate and phosphates are close to 0
I could use some input. Tank is 4 weeks in. I am seeing a hair algae bloom and have been adding snails, tiny hermits (I mean the little blue leg ones) and an algae blenny (now so fat I'm surprised it can swim). Have been doing 10 gallon water changes weekly. Algae seems to have stopped spreading, but it's still growing at the sites it has taken hold. Snails are doing a great job ... but I'm wondering what I should do. I have a little cyano on the sand bed and a little algae ... but a sand sifting star fish is doing a great job of keeping a check on that.
Here are the stats:
Ammonia 0
PH 8.2
Salinity normal range
temp - somewhere between 77 and 79 (2 different gauge readings)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0 ... was reading next level up 2 weeks ago ... but now at 0
DKH 10.5
** Calcium - just tested in the 1100 mg/l range - had to add 25 drops to get the test to change. Wondering why? (Scratching head !!)
2 bengaii cardinals, 2 clowns, 1 algae blenny, snails, blue leg hermits and a sand star.
Running LR in one caddy ... + 22lb LR in tank. 34LB of LS.
Added one IM phosphate sponge and one carbon sponge in other caddy about 1 week ago. Have filter floss in top of two caddys - changing weekly to catch uneaten food.
Have a 5 stage RO/DI water system ... reads 0 on output...
Ideas?
Here are the stats:
Ammonia 0
PH 8.2
Salinity normal range
temp - somewhere between 77 and 79 (2 different gauge readings)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0 ... was reading next level up 2 weeks ago ... but now at 0
DKH 10.5
** Calcium - just tested in the 1100 mg/l range - had to add 25 drops to get the test to change. Wondering why? (Scratching head !!)
2 bengaii cardinals, 2 clowns, 1 algae blenny, snails, blue leg hermits and a sand star.
Running LR in one caddy ... + 22lb LR in tank. 34LB of LS.
Added one IM phosphate sponge and one carbon sponge in other caddy about 1 week ago. Have filter floss in top of two caddys - changing weekly to catch uneaten food.
Have a 5 stage RO/DI water system ... reads 0 on output...
Ideas?
Last edited:
Reduck
Because I can....
Most likely cause; too much nutrients. Your phosphate kit is lying to you!
The gha and cyano are eating it faster than you can test.
You didn't mention light cycles. Or give us a pic of how it looks so I can only tell you what works from what I've experienced
Here is a course you can take: do a large wc. Maybe 15g. Then Lights out 3 days. On the 4th blues only. Then ramp back up. Test immediately following lights coming on, you'll be shocked. The wc will quickly reduce the nutrient levels but you'll still have high phosphates. Make sure to skim wet. Dumping the cup every day wet. Lights out will help starve the Gha some and the cyano may not be visible...
Now, the hard part. Once you see just how high the phosphates really are you need to strip them down to acceptable levels. If you have a reactor, load up with gfo or Phosban or your choice of pho reduction. I like Phosban. Our tanks can handle about a cup. Run the reactor on low flow if you use Phosban, tumble gfo normally. Change the media EVERY three days. It will take a week or two to start seeing reduction in pho. Don't stop changing it for a couple weeks. Then do a wc and test. if the reduction worked you may have acceptable levels. If not keep up the course until you do.
At the end of the course do another large wc. Test. If good, cut the media amount in half. Keep changing every three days. Test, test, test. If it's good and everything looks ok, extend your media time to a week, then test. If it still looks good, cut media amount again in half. Should be about 1/4 cup. Let it go for a week and test. Then go back to normal.
The downside is you are gonna have some angry coral. They'll come back shortly.
Long term, cut your feeding down. You can get away with twice a week during all this. Feed very lightly. Skim wet through all this...spot feed corals very small amounts.
It's not easy. But it works. I just went through this myself. The tank is new. It's suffering from the uglies. It will get better! The first year is the hardest.
The phosphate sponges are useless against ultra high phosphates. You need real phosphate reduction media.
Don't stress over the calcium reading now. 1100 is real high so I'd retest a couple times to make sure..
Let us know how it's going....
Reduck
Because I can....
Or since you are only four weeks in, just continue doing your water changes weekly and ride it out. Your beneficial bacteria is still building its population. It will most likely fade away in time. The lights out won't hurt either. It's an immediate gratification but it's usually short lived in new tanks.
I would suggest you also get second opinions on your test kits, just in case.
Most likely culprit is still high phosphates and maybe high nitrates. But if you are doing 10g weekly, they should drop steadily as long as you don't overfeed during this time.
I would avoid any quick fix remedies as well. The tank is still young. If it doesn't subside in a few weeks you can then consider my other plan of action....
I would suggest you also get second opinions on your test kits, just in case.
Most likely culprit is still high phosphates and maybe high nitrates. But if you are doing 10g weekly, they should drop steadily as long as you don't overfeed during this time.
I would avoid any quick fix remedies as well. The tank is still young. If it doesn't subside in a few weeks you can then consider my other plan of action....
I just finished up the MrSaltwaterTank.com virtual 10-week course and his parting advice to us was exactly what you just said. Basically, "Okay, guys... get ready for some algae and a diatom bloom. Prepare for it, be okay with it, and this, too, shall pass."
I had a bit of algae growth, too, but it came and went pretty quickly. I've been stirring my sandbed weekly and that seems to have helped. Also making sure to feed no more than the two clowns will (almost entirely) eat before the return pump comes back on.
Speaking of feeding the clowns... I picked up Thera-A small pellets and only one of my clowns will (reluctantly) eat it. The other won't touch it. My black-and-white gets pretty excited about PE Mysis and the orange one will at least eat it but doesn't seem to be nuts about it either. Have been thinking about trying Rod's Food. Any other recommendations??? I don't think the orange one is sick. Visibly it looks very healthy; is very active, and will go up to inspect the food... will even try the Thera-A but then spits it out and completely ignores the rest of the pellets.
Bizacon - take note of this: thankfully the clowns aren't like the kids. When one daughter states that she doesn't care for a particular food, then the other instantly also doesn't like it... So you have to get irrationally militant and issue all sorts of threats to the older one in the event that they say anything to the effect of, "I don't care for..." Just a friendly tip as you proceed down the path of multiple children!
Similar threads
