This was posed in another forum, but here in the NTTH forum is where it really, really needs consideration.
You have a vision for your tank. You see this pristine thing in your mind...
You have researched. You think you're good.
And something starts going wrong.
You're a novice. You know some things really matter. You know some signs of trouble, enough to know you're in it...
So you think. You reason. You apply the knowledge you've got and---there could be an answer.
It could be. But the best thing to do is to start testing your water and looking very carefully at your equipment. Having your water tested by the LFS as 'ok' is not enough. You should have at very least a test for 1. salinity 2. nitrate/ammonia 3. alkalinity ---and if you have stony coral, clams etc. 4. calcium and 5. magnesium. Not only should you have the tests, you should have written down the results with dates so that you can see if these levels have been trending up or down.
There are SO MANY causes of problems---you can get into real trouble starting to 'correct' things without knowing what the problem actually is...or how to fix it.
Wrong assumptions are killer. You can lose critical time or mess up your chemistry worse than is.
Ask for help: and in your 'help me!' letter give us a good readout on your basic test results, your tank size, principle livestock/corals, what's worrying you, and also your skimmer brand/size and lights brand and whether you're using ro/di and whether you've been adding anything like supplements or had an accident or such. And do you have a good brisk flow in your tank with a constant roiling of the surface. Don't HIDE deficiencies from people trying to help!
THose of us who've been at this a few decades don't always know the answer, but there's not a one of us who hasn't had an equipment failure or weird goings-on we've had to solve from clues available. We sure don't know everything, but we're not here to judge---we're here to help sort what's relevant and what isn't and try to keep you out of trouble. THose things I did list above are pretty critical.
You have a vision for your tank. You see this pristine thing in your mind...
You have researched. You think you're good.
And something starts going wrong.
You're a novice. You know some things really matter. You know some signs of trouble, enough to know you're in it...
So you think. You reason. You apply the knowledge you've got and---there could be an answer.
It could be. But the best thing to do is to start testing your water and looking very carefully at your equipment. Having your water tested by the LFS as 'ok' is not enough. You should have at very least a test for 1. salinity 2. nitrate/ammonia 3. alkalinity ---and if you have stony coral, clams etc. 4. calcium and 5. magnesium. Not only should you have the tests, you should have written down the results with dates so that you can see if these levels have been trending up or down.
There are SO MANY causes of problems---you can get into real trouble starting to 'correct' things without knowing what the problem actually is...or how to fix it.
Wrong assumptions are killer. You can lose critical time or mess up your chemistry worse than is.
Ask for help: and in your 'help me!' letter give us a good readout on your basic test results, your tank size, principle livestock/corals, what's worrying you, and also your skimmer brand/size and lights brand and whether you're using ro/di and whether you've been adding anything like supplements or had an accident or such. And do you have a good brisk flow in your tank with a constant roiling of the surface. Don't HIDE deficiencies from people trying to help!
THose of us who've been at this a few decades don't always know the answer, but there's not a one of us who hasn't had an equipment failure or weird goings-on we've had to solve from clues available. We sure don't know everything, but we're not here to judge---we're here to help sort what's relevant and what isn't and try to keep you out of trouble. THose things I did list above are pretty critical.
