I just got rid of my freshwater setups to fund my saltwater fetish. Here are my two setups (just added one), with my problems. I am bad with remembering names of stuff, still working on it. Here goes:
FOWLR 80 gal - about 75lbs of LR, yellow tailed damsel, black/white damsel, fake perc, valentini? puffer, a handful of hermits.
260W 4x65watt coralife cp light, CPR overflow, 20 gallon sump with macroalgae and little starfish (I forgot the name?) (not sure if they're still alive), berlin protein skimmer, 3 powerheads.
Anyway, this tanks been up for a long time, over a year, and theres a ton of algae growth everywhere, more than the hermits can eat.
Recently, I attempted to add some coral and mushrooms to the tank, and my velvet blue damsel made a treat out of them, and nipped at corals (I gave him away, and sadly I gave the corals away as well). Now its back to fowlr. Also, the corals didn't seem very happy either the brief amount of time they were in there. Snails also do not seem to enjoy the tank, as they would die after a few weeks without sign.
I tested the water and ammonia and nitrates were both at 0, but the nitrates were high and I changed the water, about 20% every other day and got the nitrates back down, but they go back up really fast. pH is at 8.2, Calcium is at 450ppm, phosphates are probably high since I'm on tap water, but I will buy some phosphate pads later today.
I am pretty certain that my culprit lies in the substrate, which is pretty coarse crushed coral nitrate factory. How do I change the substrate with the least detrimental effect?
What kind of puffer is this?
Nitrate Factory
Two days ago I bought my second tank, a 72 gallon tank I got for nearly nothing, then I bought a 130w coralife, and a 30 gallon sump I haven't set up yet. Currently running a backpack skimmer, hob filter, 3 powerheads, about 200lbs ish of LR with a couple of goodies in decent shape, except with a crazy pest problem that the previous owner gave up on.
Livestock include, 2 percs, a mandarin goby, 1 clarki, 2 purple blennies, assorted hermits (blue legged, 1 red, a few with black and white legs (name?) )
some purple mushrooms, a white bubble anemone (unsure of name), I believe some GSP, and possibly a kenya tree, and some unknown coral (see pics)
Parameters go something like this
pH - looks like 8.2 or 8.4 (got the color card thing wet)
amonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 5.0 ppm (mg/L)
calcium - over 450mg/L??? (I might have done the test incorrectly, but I don't think so, I measured it up to 480ppm)
phosphates 0.8-1.0 (still using dechlorinated tap water) (can't quite afford RO water yet)
I think the nitrates were even higher before, as I changed about 20% of water when I got it. Will do another one shortly. Can I get enough snails and crabs to take care of the algae that results from phosphates? Are there any other detrimental effects to phosphates and tap water?
Also, this tank has a bubble algae, hair algae, red algae, you name it, I got it. And to make the situation worse, I've got aiptasia and majano anemonies all over the place. I think I'll chance the aiptasia with some $5 peppermint shrimp, (which I think will look good anyway, should I get like 3?). I'm trying to stray away from buying more stuff because I'm the college budget kind of person, so I might try the boiling water injection method on the majanos... comments?
Front shot.
That white anemonie in the back, whats the name of it?
pests!!
mushroom coral (anemones are getting kind of close to these)
Like I said before, this is a tank that hasn't been groomed and controlled before the algae bloom. Here are more pics, let me know if you spot anything strange.
FOWLR 80 gal - about 75lbs of LR, yellow tailed damsel, black/white damsel, fake perc, valentini? puffer, a handful of hermits.
260W 4x65watt coralife cp light, CPR overflow, 20 gallon sump with macroalgae and little starfish (I forgot the name?) (not sure if they're still alive), berlin protein skimmer, 3 powerheads.
Anyway, this tanks been up for a long time, over a year, and theres a ton of algae growth everywhere, more than the hermits can eat.
Recently, I attempted to add some coral and mushrooms to the tank, and my velvet blue damsel made a treat out of them, and nipped at corals (I gave him away, and sadly I gave the corals away as well). Now its back to fowlr. Also, the corals didn't seem very happy either the brief amount of time they were in there. Snails also do not seem to enjoy the tank, as they would die after a few weeks without sign.
I tested the water and ammonia and nitrates were both at 0, but the nitrates were high and I changed the water, about 20% every other day and got the nitrates back down, but they go back up really fast. pH is at 8.2, Calcium is at 450ppm, phosphates are probably high since I'm on tap water, but I will buy some phosphate pads later today.
I am pretty certain that my culprit lies in the substrate, which is pretty coarse crushed coral nitrate factory. How do I change the substrate with the least detrimental effect?
What kind of puffer is this?
Nitrate Factory
Two days ago I bought my second tank, a 72 gallon tank I got for nearly nothing, then I bought a 130w coralife, and a 30 gallon sump I haven't set up yet. Currently running a backpack skimmer, hob filter, 3 powerheads, about 200lbs ish of LR with a couple of goodies in decent shape, except with a crazy pest problem that the previous owner gave up on.
Livestock include, 2 percs, a mandarin goby, 1 clarki, 2 purple blennies, assorted hermits (blue legged, 1 red, a few with black and white legs (name?) )
some purple mushrooms, a white bubble anemone (unsure of name), I believe some GSP, and possibly a kenya tree, and some unknown coral (see pics)
Parameters go something like this
pH - looks like 8.2 or 8.4 (got the color card thing wet)
amonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 5.0 ppm (mg/L)
calcium - over 450mg/L??? (I might have done the test incorrectly, but I don't think so, I measured it up to 480ppm)
phosphates 0.8-1.0 (still using dechlorinated tap water) (can't quite afford RO water yet)
I think the nitrates were even higher before, as I changed about 20% of water when I got it. Will do another one shortly. Can I get enough snails and crabs to take care of the algae that results from phosphates? Are there any other detrimental effects to phosphates and tap water?
Also, this tank has a bubble algae, hair algae, red algae, you name it, I got it. And to make the situation worse, I've got aiptasia and majano anemonies all over the place. I think I'll chance the aiptasia with some $5 peppermint shrimp, (which I think will look good anyway, should I get like 3?). I'm trying to stray away from buying more stuff because I'm the college budget kind of person, so I might try the boiling water injection method on the majanos... comments?
Front shot.
That white anemonie in the back, whats the name of it?
pests!!
mushroom coral (anemones are getting kind of close to these)
Like I said before, this is a tank that hasn't been groomed and controlled before the algae bloom. Here are more pics, let me know if you spot anything strange.
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