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My first Reef Aquarium 30G shallow
- Thread starter Aram
- Start date
Things are not doing great, all SPS's are bleached, fish died ...
But I have giant copepods swimming by acetionaly, Skunk Shrimp and Red Fire shrimp are doing fine.
I added hermit crabs and 5 snails, they are doing fine.
Purchased all possible water test kits:
Ammonium - 0
Phoshate - 0
kH - 8.9
Mg - 1170
Ca - 440
pH - 8.3
Salinity - 1.025
Temp - 78F
Every 2 weeks doing 5G WC.
My base water is RO w/2 TDS
All Zoa's (if they are open at all) only 20% open.
Mushrooms use to thrive first month, now look soso
Any ideas what else I may posible doing wrong?
Thanks
Aram
But I have giant copepods swimming by acetionaly, Skunk Shrimp and Red Fire shrimp are doing fine.
I added hermit crabs and 5 snails, they are doing fine.
Purchased all possible water test kits:
Ammonium - 0
Phoshate - 0
kH - 8.9
Mg - 1170
Ca - 440
pH - 8.3
Salinity - 1.025
Temp - 78F
Every 2 weeks doing 5G WC.
My base water is RO w/2 TDS
All Zoa's (if they are open at all) only 20% open.
Mushrooms use to thrive first month, now look soso
Any ideas what else I may posible doing wrong?
Thanks
Aram
Parameters look good at the moment. It doesn't mean they were good last week.
Guess 1 is there is not enough oxygen in the tank. Ensure you have a powerhead agitating the surface of the water. The surface should be rippling a bit which get O2 into the system.
Guess 2 is the tank didn't cycle for long enough or it went through a second mini-cycle (not uncommon).* I'm leaning this was as you had the tank set up with corals and a clown in it at the week and 1/2 point. If this is the case, it's not an uncommon mistake and its a learning experience.
Just some thoughts.
*Usually, once the rocks and sand are in, the tank should run for at least 6-8 weeks, empty. This allows all the dead materials (which, though unseen, are covering the rocks and sand) to filter out. Ammonia will briefly spike during this process and will kill any livestock. Allowing this to happen without anything 'living' in the tank is called a cycle.
After 4 weeks your tank should have cycled. But there can often be a second cycle (which is why I try to wait 8 weeks).
Past the 4 week mark, you can add the clean up crew (snails/hermits/shrimp)**.
If you add your fish and corals early (before 4 weeks) and the cycle occurs, they will die.
If you add your fish after the first cycle (4 weeks) but before a possible second 'quick' cycle (6-8 weeks) occurs, they may die. Inverts (snails, shrimp, crabs) usually survive.
6 weeks is a good compromise, but 8 weeks is the sure point (from what I understand).
I'm currently in week 9 of a cycle on a nano tank and just added my first crab today.
In my first tank I put a fish and coral in early and they died, I learned a lot from that.
**Keep in mind hermits will ALWAYS kill snails. Best to have either one or the other.
Hermits are fun to watch and clean rocks well enough but many varieties will attack livestock and kill coral (red legged are safest).
Snails are boring but mixing varieties (nassarius, cerith, margarita, etc) means clean rocks, sand, and glass.
I'm a snail guy, they do a ton of your maintenance for you.
If your going to keep both, buy the cheapest snails you can find as they'll be gone soon.
Guess 1 is there is not enough oxygen in the tank. Ensure you have a powerhead agitating the surface of the water. The surface should be rippling a bit which get O2 into the system.
Guess 2 is the tank didn't cycle for long enough or it went through a second mini-cycle (not uncommon).* I'm leaning this was as you had the tank set up with corals and a clown in it at the week and 1/2 point. If this is the case, it's not an uncommon mistake and its a learning experience.
Just some thoughts.
*Usually, once the rocks and sand are in, the tank should run for at least 6-8 weeks, empty. This allows all the dead materials (which, though unseen, are covering the rocks and sand) to filter out. Ammonia will briefly spike during this process and will kill any livestock. Allowing this to happen without anything 'living' in the tank is called a cycle.
After 4 weeks your tank should have cycled. But there can often be a second cycle (which is why I try to wait 8 weeks).
Past the 4 week mark, you can add the clean up crew (snails/hermits/shrimp)**.
If you add your fish and corals early (before 4 weeks) and the cycle occurs, they will die.
If you add your fish after the first cycle (4 weeks) but before a possible second 'quick' cycle (6-8 weeks) occurs, they may die. Inverts (snails, shrimp, crabs) usually survive.
6 weeks is a good compromise, but 8 weeks is the sure point (from what I understand).
I'm currently in week 9 of a cycle on a nano tank and just added my first crab today.
In my first tank I put a fish and coral in early and they died, I learned a lot from that.
**Keep in mind hermits will ALWAYS kill snails. Best to have either one or the other.
Hermits are fun to watch and clean rocks well enough but many varieties will attack livestock and kill coral (red legged are safest).
Snails are boring but mixing varieties (nassarius, cerith, margarita, etc) means clean rocks, sand, and glass.
I'm a snail guy, they do a ton of your maintenance for you.
If your going to keep both, buy the cheapest snails you can find as they'll be gone soon.
Last edited:
Thank you Mark for reply.
I don't think it's O2 issue, I have massive aeration going on in the skimmer, I also have return makes water rippling I think it's too much will be installing ball valve.
But I think it maybe mini-cycle... I had long time ago mini-cycle happened with FW setup, I washed canister filter and did 70% WC and something else ... basically I killed too much Denitrifying bacteria, so I was familiar with this.
I was under impression since almost all filtration happens in the rocks, so I had 2+ year old rocks, water and some sand from perfectly healthy tank, also added some freshly mixed water ... I will never setup / start reef this way, but I got a gift (or an offer that I could not resit) and I don't know anybody who can hold corals wile I cycle LOL
I checked Ammonia it's 0, unless cycle is complete
Thinking maybe Alkalinity swing, on WC, but I'm testing kH for past 4 days and it's stable 8.9.
Thank you for the hermits and snails tips!
I got 2 blue leg, and one red, and 5 Nassarius also 2 hmm looks like trumpet snail from FW side, but I don't know the name.
I don't think it's O2 issue, I have massive aeration going on in the skimmer, I also have return makes water rippling I think it's too much will be installing ball valve.
But I think it maybe mini-cycle... I had long time ago mini-cycle happened with FW setup, I washed canister filter and did 70% WC and something else ... basically I killed too much Denitrifying bacteria, so I was familiar with this.
I was under impression since almost all filtration happens in the rocks, so I had 2+ year old rocks, water and some sand from perfectly healthy tank, also added some freshly mixed water ... I will never setup / start reef this way, but I got a gift (or an offer that I could not resit) and I don't know anybody who can hold corals wile I cycle LOL
I checked Ammonia it's 0, unless cycle is complete
Thinking maybe Alkalinity swing, on WC, but I'm testing kH for past 4 days and it's stable 8.9.
Thank you for the hermits and snails tips!
I got 2 blue leg, and one red, and 5 Nassarius also 2 hmm looks like trumpet snail from FW side, but I don't know the name.
Have you checked ur nitrates and phosphates in your tank? With 2tds going in from your RO they may be something to look at
Update:
Massive algae outbreak
Check this video: Dropbox - 2017-04-18 03.54.35.mp4
Maybe someone can help? I did search around and nothing is similar to what I have.
I know that it starts growing after I increase the Blue from 32% to 70% within 48 hours. Maybe I need to blackout for 2-3 days?
Corals- mushrooms, Pulsing Xenia (start pulsing), dead/ bleached SPS start showing live ! But algae grows everywhere
Water chemistry is good, no major changes.
Thanks.
Massive algae outbreak
Check this video: Dropbox - 2017-04-18 03.54.35.mp4
Maybe someone can help? I did search around and nothing is similar to what I have.
I know that it starts growing after I increase the Blue from 32% to 70% within 48 hours. Maybe I need to blackout for 2-3 days?
Corals- mushrooms, Pulsing Xenia (start pulsing), dead/ bleached SPS start showing live ! But algae grows everywhere
Water chemistry is good, no major changes.
Thanks.
Last edited:
sorry about that, I took the blues off (light is in the Photo mode): Dropbox - 20170420_220851.mp4
See if this is better ...
I am going to turn the light off for 3 days... is anything will die? I have no fish
See if this is better ...
I am going to turn the light off for 3 days... is anything will die? I have no fish