Ok i need reefkeeping answers 101

[jgraeff]

How can i get my nitrates down below 20ppm? i have done water changes and i only use ro water mixed with red sea coral pro salt. I add a ph buffer and kh buffer and calcium. NO matter what i have tried i cannot get them down. i know once i topped off with treated tap and i know that caused lots of issues and will never do that again.


Also i want to know how to get coraline to spread onto my rocks.

I have a huge red slime problem in my refuge, which i have about 10 snails tackling that. I hope it clears up soon. I would like to know what to add to my refuge to help filter the water i have chaeto and mangroves in there now.


I have a proclear 75 skimmer and it works really well. Although it is difficult to get the water level right with the air control it came with is there anything else that will make it easier or more efficient to dial it in to skim better?


Which are the best inverts for a clean up crew that are reef safe?

 

[returnofsid]

Water changes, Water Changes and more Water changes. Skimming will also help. Chaeto is about the best macro for Nitate removal. Sounds like you're on the right track...just do more of it. Larger water changes and more frequently.

As for a clean up crew...Nassarius snails for the sand bed, Astrea and Turbo snails are also great to have, Cerith snails are great too. Can't forget Bristleworms, which some people will tell you are bad. Don't listen to them...they're great!! Some people are against using crabs. Crabs are opportunistic feeders and sometimes might eat something we don't want them to. I personally love Emerald Crabs. They do a great job against some algaes that nothing else seems to touch. They've never hurt anything in my tanks.

Oh and WELCOME TO REEF FRONTIERS!!!

 

[Myteemouse]

Yea what SID said!!

 

[CRASHFIREJOE]

I agree with Sid. Lots of water changes more frequent and larger vol. until your nitrates are down. Also I don't know how much you are feeding or the number of fish you have in your system but overfeeding is one of many contributors to higher nitrates. If you can describe your system in more details as well as your maintaniance routine maybe we can help you a little more. And Welcome!

 

[jezzeaepi]

Whats your fish load?
How big is your tank?
What and how often do you feed?
How long has the tank been set up?

 

[ac7av]

Why is it so high? Sounds like your doing all the right things. Can you tell us more about how your system is set up? What kind of filtering are you doing? What is the bio load of the tank?
And welcome to reef frontiers.

 

[jgraeff]

thanks and i think i had an over amount of bio load in the tank, i am new to this hobby.

I think my main problem was i topped it off with treated tap once. I have an emperor 400 and a proclear 75 skimmer. I have a maxijet 900 and 1200 for flow.

I have in the tank now a mandarin and a pair of clarki, 10 snails a hermit crab and a blood shrimp, just a couple of days ago i had a small mimic tang and cardinal but they both died.

I also a redslime issue int he refuge but i am taking care of that with the snails.

Doing a 10g water change today and probably another either tomorrow or the next day.

 

[warforged]

Just to correct a misunderstanding on the Cyano.

Redslime algae.aka cyanobacteria...is the spawn of hell and no snail or fish I know of that we can put in our system will touch that stuff.

Snails will keep down other algaes.. but when it comes to Cyano.

its a whole different animal. Its a Bacteria and Algae hybrid. And has to be dealt with differently.

Using the sites search command ...Find topics on Cyano.. god knows its been on these threads often.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Siphon it out as your water change, better flow and lower nutrient levels will help.

 

[tike]

I have a Q! What test kit are you using to test nitrates with and how old is it?

 

[jgraeff]

Im not sure if it is cayno then because they are eating it like crazy. Everyone else said that it was from looking at the picture and how i described it. Im not sure i was going to buy the red slime remover but they seem to be taking care of it relatively fast.

 

[returnofsid]

Don't use that chemical in your reef tank. Cyano can usually be overcome by re-directing or adding more flow so that the effected area receives more flow. Flow and manual removal will usually rid a tank of it fairly quickly.

 

[jgraeff]

I have a Q! What test kit are you using to test nitrates with and how old is it?

i was using seachem tests but i ran out so i went and bought some test strips for the mean time until my order is shipped to me.

The ones i am using now are lifeguard strips i know they arn't as accurate but i wanted to save money and order the others online.

btw what are some good test kits to get?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Salifort and Elos, spendy but accurate

 

[returnofsid]

Elos and Salifert are highly regarded by hobbyists. Salifert is more readily available usually. They are both a little more expensive, but seem to be more accurate.

 

[warforged]

Im not sure if it is cayno then because they are eating it like crazy. Everyone else said that it was from looking at the picture and how i described it. Im not sure i was going to buy the red slime remover but they seem to be taking care of it relatively fast.

I would hold off on that red slime remover. It will only put your inhabitants under more stress. As things play out in the forums here you are getting good direction.

Its a matter of patience and taking on one problem at a time here. Some take some time to get a handle on.

The advise to change water frequently ... feed 1 to 2 times a week for now. And sticking to your guns with maintenance. Its going to take some time for things to work out.

As I read the others responses about the bioloads its making sense to me. I dont have a FOWLR..never have. So I really dont know the fish very well. Just reefs.

The fact you had a overload on the bio load and over feeding...sounds like the root problem was found. Which lead to the other problems like that mess in the fuge.

You may have to go trade some of your fish in to lighten up the load. Sorry you lost the Tang and Cardinal. If I knew more on fish, I would have said sooner to get them out and into the store you got them from to save them.

 

[windwaterwaves]

I've had nitrate problems since I decided to go reef (last year) and continue the fight. I have a massive bioload since I converted my fish only to reef (15" lionfish, 7" naso tang, 3" maroon clown, 3" spot damsel, 15" eel). I haven't lost a single fish in the last 4 years. I've done it all, water changes, replaced sand, lots of live rock, nitrate filter socks, removed bio balls (which killed my schlero and dendro) etc etc etc. It was over 100, and now is down between 25 & 50, all of my corals are growing and nothing looks too unhappy, and the Coraline is finally expanding (and my dendro has little startups!). I have a little isolated refuge in the corner of my tank for some chaeto now. I've had tons of snails, an urchin, sea stars etc. Now my tank has a ton of feather dusters and bristle stars in every crevice.

Out of all this in the past year i've had a few major improvements. I added a second tank (55) to my existing 75 thus adding water volume and reallocated some of the live rock from my 75. There was far too much live rock when following "guidelines" causing lots of dead circulation zones and collecting detritus! My new philosophy is if I can't see through there the water can't flow, i've also started vacuuming the sand and blowing off any areas to move the detritus and swap the filter sock every couple of days. Alternating pumps has helped now too via my aquacontroller...

The other improvement was to cut feeding to every 3 or 4 days, and do a water change the day after the second feeding. I also changed my lionfish food from jumbomin (cichlid food) to silversides the waste seems more digestible by snails etc.

The final improvement, set aside every additive anyone told you about... just use good salt and wait and test, only add if you KNOW you have to. purple up, reef plus, trace, etc. I think the old adage "time heals all wounds" seems to be the case and the reef salts are well balanced.

During this I saw the red stuff a couple of times, when it happened it was because I ran out of water in the sump and it was pumping lots of air bubbles in the tank, that caused a massive bloom. Overnight it would disappear due to the snails thankfully. Now I have an auto top off (boy does it save work).

Keep up the fight... and build a nice refugium

 

[jezzeaepi]

Im surprised you guys have all this advice yet we still dont know the size of his tank? =P

 

[returnofsid]

Actually we do know. We're all psychic. Okay, no we aren't. It's in another thread, 30 gallon. In the other thread, we've actually been able to get a lot more information that was useful in determining the most likely problems. Here's the other thread. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41827

 

[jgraeff]

In terms of a nice refuge what should i have down there? I have a refuge/sump together the first two compartments is where the water comes in and the second has my skimmer then i have the third which has 3-4inch sand bed with mangroves and chaeto and the fourth is the return. Should i add bio balls where the water comes in or add anything to help with filtration? I have an option of putting nano bio balls in my emperor 400 but havent because im not sure how well that would work. I don't have a wet/dry because i can't afford one and don't really have the room.