help with dieing green zoanthids and torch coral

[nano24]

Get rid of the Bio Balls.......

 

[cmiller]

Yeah, the only thing you should be dectecting is nitrates. If you are detecting ammmonia and nitirites, something has died or is rotting in your tank and has set off a cycle. If it were me, I'd do some big daily water changes until things look better. I'd also cut out the phyto. I don't think it's really necessary unless you have a large amount of non-photosynthetic corals or inverts. I also see you are running a seaclone skimmer. Can you upgrade? Lots of more efficient skimmers available for a fair price in the used equipment forum. If you act quick, Luke has a sweet Bubble Magus cone skimmer for sale for $175 that I saw this morning.
That eel is a HUGE fish for a 46 gallon tank...or at least will be someday. I've heard they are pretty messy eaters. What do you feed him? Maybe it's an overfeeding problem?

i was wondering if i could get some more feedback. i tested my levels again today after doing 3 separate 30gal water changes since 1/7/2010 (its a 56gal system).
amonia 0
nitrite .01
nitrates 25
ca 450
dKH 10.5
ph 8
sp grav 1.025
i stopped the phytomax and cut back on feeding mysis. reduced halide light to 9 hours. still, the zoanthids and torch coral are declining.

how high is too high for nitrate?

so other than water changes what could i bo doing to control the algae bloom that is now happening?

i've got a wet-dry bio ball set up in the overflow and thinking i may need to go more organic. what would that look like? just chuck some live rock in the overflow. and some carbon? sadly, space is an issue (as is often an issue with reef keeping!) so there's really no room in my sump or outside for a refuge.

i suppose i should upgrade my skimmer also, right?

thanks for the help.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Hmm.... so if you did 3x 30g changes since the beginning of January, that's about 50% tank/sump volume. And your nitrates are now at 25. Before, you said you were out of your nitrate test kit, so is this the first time you've tested for nitrates for a while? From the sounds of it, before you started doing the water changes, you were probably up around 75ppm nitrates. Yowsa.

If that's the case, that's probably the culprit for the corals to be unhappy. And the algae bloom. And I'm thinking even if you got the nitrates down below 10, it'd still take a while for the coral to bounce back.

I'm not a big fan of changing a bunch of things all at the same time. Doing that, you can never figure out what the culprit was. I'd keep on the water changes and get those nitrates down below 10. Below 5 would be even better. Now that the eel is gone, it might be easier to keep them in check.

 

[cmiller]

so, i did a 30 gallon change on 1/7 (no nitrate testing) then did a 20 gal change 1/16 and my nitrate levels read 25ppm but saw no reduction in levels today: nitrate 25ppm.
also, today phosphates 0
i'll keep on the water changes and shoot for nitrate <5.
thanks again.

 

[baseballkid5]

Are you vaccuming up in the Gravel? Are you running any Carbon if not that will help some. Also if you have bio balls you will never get your nitrates below 10 unless your pulling them out and cleaning them consistently. You should replace the bio Balls with some Live rock Rubble, or some macroalgae that can be trimmed back when needed. AS most macroalgae sucks up nitrates.

 

[cmiller]

Are you vaccuming up in the Gravel? Are you running any Carbon if not that will help some. Also if you have bio balls you will never get your nitrates below 10 unless your pulling them out and cleaning them consistently. You should replace the bio Balls with some Live rock Rubble, or some macroalgae that can be trimmed back when needed. AS most macroalgae sucks up nitrates.

i did vacuum up some of the algae in my last water change.

can you tell me what 'running some carbon' would look like? do i just put a bunch of the carbon in a mesh bag and toss it in the overflow with some live rock rubble?

thanks for the input.

 

[roblou]

That's how I run carbon...mesh bag which I place in my sump right where the overflow dumps into.

 

[cmiller]

That's how I run carbon...mesh bag which I place in my sump right where the overflow dumps into.

quick question: in your opinion is it best to have the carbon submerged (as would be the case if i put in in my sump) or is it better to have it set up more like the dry-wet system of the bio balls in the overflow?

 

[mcvicker]

You should have the carbon submerged. Also don't pull the bioballs all at once, there is a lot of beneficial bacteria on them that will need to move to other spots. Gradually remove 20% each water change so you don't shock the system. For what it is worth I too think a better skimmer and carbon will solve the problem, but it will take time for the corals to respond to the improved water condition.

 

[cmiller]

You should have the carbon submerged. Also don't pull the bioballs all at once, there is a lot of beneficial bacteria on them that will need to move to other spots. Gradually remove 20% each water change so you don't shock the system. For what it is worth I too think a better skimmer and carbon will solve the problem, but it will take time for the corals to respond to the improved water condition.

good stuff. thanks.
in terms of a skimmer upgrade i've had a bubble magus cone skimmer recommended to me and i was wondering if anyone would recommend others?

 

[OCDreefer]

I have a NW-150 Octopus skimmer on my 40 gallon (50 gallon total water volume) setup and it works great for me... advantages are it is cheap, might be able to find a used one for $100 or so. Disadvantage is that it might be hard to fit in a 15 gallon sump.

I would like to say +1 for macro algae. You can buy a clip on light and bulb at home depot for like twenty buck

Also remove any sponges or balls. Keep doing 20% water changes tell you see an improvement. Just make sure your doing your water changes correctly as not to add more stress.

Carbon is also very easy helper. Just put it in a mesh bad and wash it well then toss it where you have the best flow. Change once a week.

 

[tcduongxx]

Remove the rock and clean them next time you do water change. Vac the substrate behind and under the rock. Buy good carbon and put it in a canister filter (More Efficient than bag) and let your run and clean it out once in a while use it as a bio media instead of the bio ball(Junk the bio ball) just take it all out. No need for a little bit of a time. There is not enought of anything in there to affect your water quality. Try to raise your ph a little bit higher. Low ph will leach whatever that attatched to your rock and substrate over the pass few years back into your water. That why I told you to scrub your rock. It like you starting over. Every system have the end of life cycle where you need to do over. I just did mine after three years and once I did that all my coral that are some what living and now it is growing. Hell people should do it once every year and don't let that chemical build up force you to do it. Call it spring cleaning. We did it to our home why not your fish and coral home.

 

[Pink Coralline]

That happened to my cousin when she overloaded her tank too fast. It wiped everything out. I warned her, she didnt listen. It was a very expensive lesson.