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Anyone out there that can lift my spirits?


Glitchfish

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My aquarium lately has just be an absolute disaster and honestly i'm at the point now where i just want to bleach everything :( This cyano has drove me round the bend for half a year, my calcium alk and magnesium levels are just so out of sync and I can't seem to get water from anywhere with 0 nitrates :(! I hate my system so much right now, My corals are starting to sulk and bleach and some have even been burnt and I'm just sick of looking at my aquarium and how much it's going down hill, If i can't fix things i'm probably just going to sell up shop and just forget about marine aquariums for another 10 years like i did with my first :( It's all happening again and it breaks my heart

 

Sorry for this depressing message but I just need to get it off my mind

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Hold on, my fellow reefer. All that you said can be corrected. All things in this hobby, has a cause and effect. So, if we can find the cause. Then we can fix the effect. First, lets get some numbers going. We are your test results. Feeding schedule , amount and livestock. Lighting schedule and type ? LR or DR, to start the cycle? LS or bare bottom ? Number of power heads and size of tank. Filter type? Maintenance schedule? It's no hopeless, we can get you the right track.

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Cyano usually means your phosphates are up so GFO or something along those lines would help.

 

Alk, Ca, and Mg are a bit of a pain but the best way to fix it is to do a large water change with ideal water. By ideal water I mean make that batch of water exactly what you want your tank to be. For me that's about 10.5 alk, 440 Ca, and 1300 Mg. If your tank numbers are way off then you may have to do multiple water changes. This should balance the tank out. While doing that, do not dose anything. After doing a couple water changes (say, 4 x 25%) over the course of a week or so you can stop. Test Mg, Ca, and Alk and write it down. The next day test all three again. Do that for a week straight feeding normally (aka, don't overfeed). Once you do that, you should see the general trend as to how much of each you are losing. For my tank, Mg simply doesn't drop enough to bother with it past the usual water changes. If your Mg is dropping significantly over the course of a week then you will at least know how much per day. You do the same with Ca and Alk. Use an online calculator where you input the total water volume of the tank along with current alk/Ca levels, desired alk/Ca levels, and the product you are using and that will spit out how much of said product you will need to use. Add that amount daily and you should be fine for a while.

 

In regards to water, use and RODI system or simply go to the store and buy distilled water. Distilled water is easy but gets rather pricey since it is usually around $1 per gallon so a $120 RODI unit will actually pay itself off rather quickly.

 

The corals can be a variety of things. If your water parameters are way out of whack then they can be suffering from that. If they bleached overnight or quickly then that's usually because your light is too intense. You can very easily bleach coral but it takes a much longer time for them to suffer from not enough light.

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Can you tell us more about your tank? We can help you recover it. Just know it's not going to be a over night fix. But don't dispare it's not a lost cause!

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Hammerstone

Cheer up, if your at bottom with your tank, things can only get better. There are a lot of us having problems or have already went through them. No one is immune and no one will have a perfect tank all the time. Just some of the challenges we face being reefers.

 

I'll be thinking of ya. Good luck and smile ???

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This forum is a great place to diagnose your issues and fix them. From my own experiences from disasters, hold nothing back about what you are doing, be willing to admit you are wrong, and correct the problems that are identified and you could end up being ToTM. Literally. In my case it was overdosing on GFO, which once I disclosed how much GFO I was running compared to my volume, was immedately identified as the problem after month or two of decline an losing stuff. Be brutally honest, be willing to admit husbandry mistakes, and take advise and your reef can be amazing. Or you can be stubborn, egotistical, and your reef will die. Ultimately the choice is yours. Given your post, I firmly believe you are a member of the former, not the later. So post up all of your parameters. If you can test it, post it. If you can't test it, admit you can't test it and based on the feed back of members here, if you value your reef then buy the tests to diagnose the issues. In the end, corals want to live, otherwise they wouldn't have existed as long as they have in the wild. Duplicating that environmental is difficult, but hardly impossible, especially with the help of the members of this forum. However, if you dismiss, belittle, and ignore the advise given here as many stubborn individuals have before you, then I'm afraid you are set on a path of disaster which can not be averted. Learn from my mistakes. Disclose everything you are doing, every parameter you can measure, and let the experts guide your reef to health. There's nothing anyone on this board wants more than another healthy reef. It's incredibly difficult as you will feel you are opening your self up to criticisms, however, the sole reason I am a member of this forum is the vast majority of people here have no interest in criticism, they only have interest in helping your reef be all that it can be.

 

But let your spirits be lifted. Because I bared my reef keeping soul, found my GFO overdose problem, and won ToTM 8 months later.

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This forum is a great place to diagnose your issues and fix them. From my own experiences from disasters, hold nothing back about what you are doing, be willing to admit you are wrong, and correct the problems that are identified and you could end up being ToTM. Literally. In my case it was overdosing on GFO, which once I disclosed how much GFO I was running compared to my volume, was immedately identified as the problem after month or two of decline an losing stuff. Be brutally honest, be willing to admit husbandry mistakes, and take advise and your reef can be amazing. Or you can be stubborn, egotistical, and your reef will die. Ultimately the choice is yours. Given your post, I firmly believe you are a member of the former, not the later. So post up all of your parameters. If you can test it, post it. If you can't test it, admit you can't test it and based on the feed back of members here, if you value your reef then buy the tests to diagnose the issues. In the end, corals want to live, otherwise they wouldn't have existed as long as they have in the wild. Duplicating that environmental is difficult, but hardly impossible, especially with the help of the members of this forum. However, if you dismiss, belittle, and ignore the advise given here as many stubborn individuals have before you, then I'm afraid you are set on a path of disaster which can not be averted. Learn from my mistakes. Disclose everything you are doing, every parameter you can measure, and let the experts guide your reef to health. There's nothing anyone on this board wants more than another healthy reef. It's incredibly difficult as you will feel you are opening your self up to criticisms, however, the sole reason I am a member of this forum is the vast majority of people here have no interest in criticism, they only have interest in helping your reef be all that it can be.

 

But let your spirits be lifted. Because I bared my reef keeping soul, found my GFO overdose problem, and won ToTM 8 months later.

Hell of a post and fantastic advice.

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my calcium alk and magnesium levels are just so out of sync and I can't seem to get water from anywhere with 0 nitrates

Let's start here. What have you been using for water? There are two acceptable choices for pure water. First, and preferred, is your own RO/DI system (making 0 TDS water). Second, is store bought gallon jugs of distilled water.

 

We'll need to know what test kits you have, and your tank's current values. Along with how any of these values have been changing. We'll also need to know if you have been dosing supplements (or other additives), and what salt mix you've been using.

 

We'll need a description of your tank (like tank volume, filtration, how old it is, depth of your sand bed, etc). A picture (no matter how unflattering it might be) can help us immensely. We also need to know what type of maintenance you typically do (and how often).

 

What type of livestock do you have (corals, fish, and cleanup crew)? Have you lost any livestock in the past few months? What do you feed your tank?

 

I don't know about cheering you up, except to say that just about any tank can be turned around. Some require more drastic measures than others, and some require a lot more time than others to turn around.

 

Are you up for just about anything? Are there any budgetary concerns or other restrictions that we should know about? Do you tend to prefer to fix things, or just replace them? There are no wrong answers here.

 

Try and be as forthcoming as you can be, even if you know that you shouldn't be doing something (like using treated tap water, putting off maintenance, or dosing some crazy additives). If you are open to suggestions and are willing to change what you need to, people will tend to help without being very judgmental.

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Hello Everyone and thankyou so much for all of your kind words, I love my aquarium so much and I hate seeing it in the state that it's in! I really hope it gets sorted as seeing it in the state that it's in is really tearing my heart apart.

 

Right well the first thing to mention is my parameters, Here is what they were last night, I use a Red Sea Test kit

 

Magnesium: 1700 (No Dose)

Calcium: 340, Dosed 49.5ml of Red Sea's Liquid Additive

Alkalinity: 7.8 Dosed 7g of Red Sea's Powder Additive

 

I run an Ecotech Radion XR30W Pro and My lighting schedule starts from 9am and ends at 8pm to give a somewhat natural sunrise sunset spectrum, My UV bulbs within the lighting unit are at 100% -80% dependant on the time.I was told to keep them that high to bring out the colours and the health of the corals. At first I was hesitant but I went with it anyways. The overall Intensity of the bulbs are at 80% (If anyone has a better light schedule then I would be happy to install it in my lighting system)

 

In concerns of water I unfortunately need to go to stores and rely on their water, My mum doesn't have the money to waste gallons of water for an RO unit as it would cause her water bills to be too expensive. Unless things have changed and RO units are actually cheap to run now and more efficient. I use D&D H2ocean and I honestly hate the stuff and always have but it's the only one many of my retailers sell. I used 1800g in 50litres of water. My Alkalinity Is usually at 6.5, Calcium 420 and magnesium 1420 after mixing and my salinity is a stable 1.025.

 

When I started the aquarium I had half Live Rock and Half Dead rock, I purchased live sand and let it run for about a month before adding my first clownfish, She was afraid of the dark so we needed to add a buddy for her to swim with. Few more months down the line

I needed some more live rock as the aquascape I had was quite bare. So I thought i'd buy some of the Real Reef aquarium rock to prevent harm on the ocean. I was unaware that this caused another diatom bloom/ cycle and caused me to battle dinoflaggellates. I had it under control but needed to go elsewhere for a few days so I left my mum in charge, my mum unaware allowed it to bloom out of control thinking "Naww that's pretty" and I could never beat it after that. So i went to a new store in my area and told them my problems, They suggested i used "Dino X" to eliminate the problem, slowly but surely It did and destroyed it once and for all, However at this time my water quality slipped and made me lose all of the bacteria In my Biopellet reactor, Turning the thing black.. My water quality slipped and since then I have been battling CyanoBacteria, it just gets thicker and thicker and is ruining my enjoyment.

 

My livestock is as follows In my Aquareef 195 with custom order sump making volume up to 220:

 

Fish:

2x Clownfish (one fancy one isn't)

2x Banggai Cardinalfish

1x Orange Spot Goby

1x Sunburst Anthias

1x Flame Angel

1x Helfrichi Firefish

 

Inverts:

1x Fromia Starfish

1x Tuxedo Urchin

5x Hermit Crabs (Scarlet)

2x Turbo Snails

3x Cerith Snails

4x Nassarius Snails

3x Feather Dusters

1x Maxima Clam

1x Bubbletip Anemone

 

Corals:

Variety of Acan

Lobophyllia (sulking to death, Showing bone)

Lots of Zoos

Cabbage Coral ( which I believe is being burnt)

Duncans Coral

Blastomussa

Many Euphyllia (One has Bleached)

Variety of Mushrooms

Toadstool

Cavularia Coral: Covered in cyano

GSP: Not really spreading much

 

 

Right now onto equipment:

 

I run 2x Ecotech Vortech Powerheads

1x Tunze 2085

1x Korallia

I run a TMC V2 React 500 Reactor with Bio Pearls (I hate the reactor so much do not buy this thing)

1x Bubble Magus Curve 5

1x D&D Reactor with rowaphos (Which from all of these comments have found out you can overdose o_o) Also need a new tube as it's pipe is broken.

I run a refugium with a Fluval Sea LED

I have a Miracle Mud Sandbed which has turned a golden brown colour and it worry's me that it's full of Hydrogen Peroxide plus my rowaphos reactor sits inside it disturbing it every time it moves or is changed... Seriously need to change that! Oh and recently I've been dosing MicroBacter 7 which I find has stressed everything out more so I've stopped

 

My Maintenance Schedule Is as follows: 20% water change weekly It was twice a week but I've took it down to once a week for ease on me, I clean the class the rocks and change my filter floss whenever it turns brown. Used to have a filtersock but I could never clean the damn thing so i threw it away. I use Red Sea's Carbon (Which Is amazing) In a filter bag, Been thinking of placing it in the same reactor as my rowaphos? would it be ok if i did? Oh i also trim my chaeto

 

My Feeding Schedule Is once a day half a cube ( I make sure to defrost before placing in my aquarium, I also dose Red Sea's Reef Energy every night, I used to add reefroids and Coral pellets to but i've stopped that to keep my aquarium somewhat nutrientless to prevent more cyano ( Hasn't really worked)

 

Also I don't know if this information is needed but the cyano i can't get out turns orange after every water-change o_o

 

I seriously hope this helps! I love every single one of you trying to help me out and already you've helped me a ton :)! I know i'm not the best reefer in the world (Just knowledgeable on the fish species) but I will try anything to get my aquarium back on track before university in September I really hope this information helps :)!


Let's start here. What have you been using for water? There are two acceptable choices for pure water. First, and preferred, is your own RO/DI system (making 0 TDS water). Second, is store bought gallon jugs of distilled water.

We'll need to know what test kits you have, and your tank's current values. Along with how any of these values have been changing. We'll also need to know if you have been dosing supplements (or other additives), and what salt mix you've been using.

We'll need a description of your tank (like tank volume, filtration, how old it is, depth of your sand bed, etc). A picture (no matter how unflattering it might be) can help us immensely. We also need to know what type of maintenance you typically do (and how often).

What type of livestock do you have (corals, fish, and cleanup crew)? Have you lost any livestock in the past few months? What do you feed your tank?

I don't know about cheering you up, except to say that just about any tank can be turned around. Some require more drastic measures than others, and some require a lot more time than others to turn around.

Are you up for just about anything? Are there any budgetary concerns or other restrictions that we should know about? Do you tend to prefer to fix things, or just replace them? There are no wrong answers here.

Try and be as forthcoming as you can be, even if you know that you shouldn't be doing something (like using treated tap water, putting off maintenance, or dosing some crazy additives). If you are open to suggestions and are willing to change what you need to, people will tend to help without being very judgmental.

I am very willing to change, If I need to I will, I do have a budget so there is that, Hopefully my recent post will show you into my story


This forum is a great place to diagnose your issues and fix them. From my own experiences from disasters, hold nothing back about what you are doing, be willing to admit you are wrong, and correct the problems that are identified and you could end up being ToTM. Literally. In my case it was overdosing on GFO, which once I disclosed how much GFO I was running compared to my volume, was immedately identified as the problem after month or two of decline an losing stuff. Be brutally honest, be willing to admit husbandry mistakes, and take advise and your reef can be amazing. Or you can be stubborn, egotistical, and your reef will die. Ultimately the choice is yours. Given your post, I firmly believe you are a member of the former, not the later. So post up all of your parameters. If you can test it, post it. If you can't test it, admit you can't test it and based on the feed back of members here, if you value your reef then buy the tests to diagnose the issues. In the end, corals want to live, otherwise they wouldn't have existed as long as they have in the wild. Duplicating that environmental is difficult, but hardly impossible, especially with the help of the members of this forum. However, if you dismiss, belittle, and ignore the advise given here as many stubborn individuals have before you, then I'm afraid you are set on a path of disaster which can not be averted. Learn from my mistakes. Disclose everything you are doing, every parameter you can measure, and let the experts guide your reef to health. There's nothing anyone on this board wants more than another healthy reef. It's incredibly difficult as you will feel you are opening your self up to criticisms, however, the sole reason I am a member of this forum is the vast majority of people here have no interest in criticism, they only have interest in helping your reef be all that it can be.

 

But let your spirits be lifted. Because I bared my reef keeping soul, found my GFO overdose problem, and won ToTM 8 months later.

This seriously cheers me up, such a brilliant post, My heart has sunk very low atm and If i can get everything back on track I'll finally be proud of my aquarium once again. Plus I won't need to be so stressed .-.!

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It can be very frustrating but know you aren't alone. It can be fixed!

 

What we need to do is find the source and eliminate it.

 

Your maintenance routine sounds good, I don't think thats the issue.

 

The water source could be the issue but even those who use ro/di, still have nutrient issues. I've had 4 tanks, I've used ro/di, ro, distilled - all the tanks at some point or another had algae issues.

 

Do you know what your nitrate and phos levels are right now?

 

I'm assuming you have a sump and not a canister or hob?

 

The miracle mud, is that your dt sandbed or in the refugium?

How deep is your sb?

 

As for the corals, it does sound like bleaching.

 

The lobo- they like low to moderate light and low flow. Try moving it to a low light area. Same with your euphyllia that is going white.

The leather going white, is it patches of white, is it soft and breaks apart with touch?

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It can be very frustrating but know you aren't alone. It can be fixed!

 

What we need to do is find the source and eliminate it.

 

Your maintenance routine sounds good, I don't think thats the issue.

 

The water source could be the issue but even those who use ro/di, still have nutrient issues. I've had 4 tanks, I've used ro/di, ro, distilled - all the tanks at some point or another had algae issues.

 

Do you know what your nitrate and phos levels are right now?

 

I'm assuming you have a sump and not a canister or hob?

 

The miracle mud, is that your dt sandbed or in the refugium?

How deep is your sb?

 

As for the corals, it does sound like bleaching.

 

The lobo- they like low to moderate light and low flow. Try moving it to a low light area. Same with your euphyllia that is going white.

The leather going white, is it patches of white, is it soft and breaks apart with touch?

I think I have found the issue just now actually, I just did a test on my ro/di water from a shop i trust and their nitrates are at 10 yet the nitrates in my Aquarium at 2 so i'm just refuelling the fire every waterchange

 

The Miracle Mud Is in my sump, 2 inches thick I don't have sand in my sump, i was advised not to even though I wanted to...

 

The odd thing is though I haven't moved any of the corals for months and they're now only showing signs of bleaching... Could it be a water quality problem. I'll try and move things though. However my Cabbage Leather cannot be removed. He's firmly attached to my rock. It's more of like lines of white i'll take a picture later :)

What size is your tank?

195 Litre Display with 25 litre sump

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Kat, pretty sure he has:

 

My livestock is as follows In my Aquareef 195 with custom order sump making volume up to 220:

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A year now Almost Year one month :)

 

Pic please!

While I cannot read through everything right now at my office I do want to point out in my experience salt has been a huge issue. It sounds like your salt mixes to parameters which cause huge swings each week.

 

Also, have you ever tried dosing bacteria such as MicroBacter7 & Reef BioFuel to combat the Cyano growth?

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In concerns of water I unfortunately need to go to stores and rely on their water, My mum doesn't have the money to waste gallons of water for an RO unit as it would cause her water bills to be too expensive. Unless things have changed and RO units are actually cheap to run now and more efficient.

1,000 gallons of water will add about $5 to your water bill. So cost shouldn't be a big concern, even at a 4:1 waste ratio. Having pure water available will be very important to correcting your problems. I can't imagine hauling that much water around when a RO/DI unit is so convenient (and will give you 0 TDS, 0 nitrate water).

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RayWhisperer

I'm gonna go against the grain here, as I'm pretty old school. I've never dosed mb7, don't know what it is. I've also never run half the shit this guy is running, and never had issues like this.

 

Honestly, I think your first 2 issues are too much livestock and relying too much on gadgets and additives. All those gadgets work, but you don't even need 1/3 of what you have, considering what you are keeping. As for additives, some work, some don't. I've never tried what you've used, so I can't say.

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I was just going to suggest what Ray said. I'd simplify everything. Ditch the Miracle Mud! I'd probably stop using the biopellet reactor too.

 

Forget about things like Red Sea's Reef Energy. I'd only dose based on consumption of alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium (at least until you get things back under control).

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It seems as though the beneficial bacteria was killed with repeated doses of DinoX. This allowed the cyanobacteria to colonize. There are many ways to combat cyano, the best is to siphon it out, go lights out for a day or 2, and at the same time dose a mixture of coral snow+MB7 (which has been sitting mixed for at least a day or two).

 

The mixture above is ReHypes recipe and has worked for me anytime I have seen cyano.

The premise of this treatment is that the right bacteria is being dosed to outcompete the bad bacteria. You can do the same thing with carbon dosing but at this point between miracle mud and bio pellets and rowa phos all running, I'm not sure how carbon dosing will affect a declining tank.

 

As others have said, go back to basics. Take the sump offline and remove the miracle mud. If pockets of gas are released they won't affect your display if you take the sump offline before you do it.

 

If you are able to change salts - do so.

 

 

 

Also, have you ever tried dosing bacteria such as MicroBacter7 & Reef BioFuel to combat the Cyano growth?

 

Yes he says he used MB7. :P

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1,000 gallons of water will add about $5 to your water bill. So cost shouldn't be a big concern, even at a 4:1 waste ratio. Having pure water available will be very important to correcting your problems. I can't imagine hauling that much water around when a RO/DI unit is so convenient (and will give you 0 TDS, 0 nitrate water).

 

Can I ask about RO/DI units? Do i need to have them running all the time or can I run it to get the water I need and then shut it off and store it away? My house isn't exactly big enough to have it as a permanent fixture :)? Thankyou! I'm mainly asking as my mother said she would let me have one if it could be taken offline and not used all the time.

 

 

Also another thankyou post for everyone helping me out :)! I'm taking all the advice on board :)!

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Can I ask about RO/DI units? Do i need to have them running all the time or can I run it to get the water I need and then shut it off and store it away? My house isn't exactly big enough to have it as a permanent fixture :)? Thankyou! I'm mainly asking as my mother said she would let me have one if it could be taken offline and not used all the time.

 

 

Also another thankyou post for everyone helping me out :)! I'm taking all the advice on board :)!

You only turn them on when you need them. I have mine hooked up under the sink and just use it when I need to make water.

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