MrsPeet15 Posted November 20, 2016 Author Share Posted November 20, 2016 You may need to up the cuc. They really help Hey clown, I currently have 2 sexy a shrimp, a Mithrax and a trochus. Do you think I could get away with any more in 3.3 gallons? Like maybe a couple of diddy little hermits perhaps? Link to comment
Clown79 Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Ya, a few small hermits should be fine as long as they are ok with a mithrax Link to comment
MrsPeet15 Posted November 26, 2016 Author Share Posted November 26, 2016 Ya, a few small hermits should be fine as long as they are ok with a mithrax To be honest I don't think we'll be able to keep the mithrax too much longer. He's grown very big very rapidly, and if he sheds again anytime soon he'll be rather cramped! Might see about trading him in next year and getting some hermits.... Link to comment
Clown79 Posted November 26, 2016 Share Posted November 26, 2016 I'd trade him in. You could get a variety of cuc. Hermits, emerald crab, pom pom crab(very cool), nassarius, and trochus Link to comment
MrsPeet15 Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 I'd trade him in. You could get a variety of cuc. Hermits, emerald crab, pom pom crab(very cool), nassarius, and trochus Yup he's just gotten too big too quick and he's really boisterous, goes storming all over the corals and has flipped frags in the last week trying to get to food. He was fun and entertaining but has to go. I thought I'd update quickly on the state of the tank. Had another spike last weekend - a big one again. Absolutely at my wits end I took every single filter pad out and THREW THEM AWAY. I then felt rather anxious that this was a stupid move and messaged my friend who said she thinks I've done the right thing. Nitrates are now the lowest they have ever been. I've watched the tank closely in the last week and getting shut of the pads doesn't seem to have had an detrimental effect on anything..... in fact it's looking a lot better in there already. Fingers crossed I did the right thing but I am convinced they were churning out nitrates and I think I was one last spike away from a whole crash. Link to comment
Clown79 Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 What kind of spike? Nitrate or ammonia? Ditching the sponges is fine. Most ppl will advise that sponges are not beneficial in Sw unless you have no liverock. Link to comment
dandelion Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Yea sponges are really difficult to clean. I try to squeeze out my sponge every WC but I'll toss it out sooner or later. I needed it to keep my media basket in place for my aquaclear 70 HOB fuge. Get some polyester pillow fillings from your local craft store and cut them to size for your filter. Or you can buy filter pads. Link to comment
MrsPeet15 Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 What kind of spike? Nitrate or ammonia? Ditching the sponges is fine. Most ppl will advise that sponges are not beneficial in Sw unless you have no liverock. Nitrate. It's always been nitrates I've struggled with in this tank. Ammonia has always hovered between <0.15 - 0.25 since the initial cycle. Tested the water on Sunday at the nitrates were 0.2, they've never been this low in all the time I have had the tank so I think the pads were the problem all along. Unfortunately due to our stupid British winter it's been dark before I leave for work and dark when I get home sonhavent been able to test again this week! Will check again Saturday am and see how is getting along. Yea sponges are really difficult to clean. I try to squeeze out my sponge every WC but I'll toss it out sooner or later. I needed it to keep my media basket in place for my aquaclear 70 HOB fuge. Get some polyester pillow fillings from your local craft store and cut them to size for your filter. Or you can buy filter pads. Hey dandelion, thanks for the advice, I think polyester in a media basket is my best plan. I just had to take the media out until I can get one for fear of losing everything! My test kits are salifert btw Link to comment
Clown79 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 What are you afraid of losing by ditching the sponge? There are ppl who don't use anything, not even filter floss. The beneficial bacteria is in the liverock, thats the filter. Filter floss, sponges etc are really only to trap particles but not used for biological filteration in sw, unless you have no liverock Fyi, if you use pillow stuffing, ensure it has no fire retardent on it. Link to comment
MrsPeet15 Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 What are you afraid of losing by ditching the sponge? There are ppl who don't use anything, not even filter floss. The beneficial bacteria is in the liverock, thats the filter. Filter floss, sponges etc are really only to trap particles but not used for biological filteration in sw, unless you have no liverock Fyi, if you use pillow stuffing, ensure it has no fire retardent on it. Thanks clown, sorry I meant I was scared of losing everything to the nitrates they were holding. I had a slight wobble about taking them out initially as I seem to remember reading somewhere that removing all of the sponges can potentially destroy the eco system as they can hold so much of the tanks chemistry, but on further reading I couldn't find it again and found posts by several people who ran no media at all. I'm happy I went with my gut feeling and did it in this one. I'm just excited to see where the nitrates are now as soon as I have enough natural daylight to test! ? And looking back on it, it was stupid to worry about it since it's the live rock that counts! Link to comment
Clown79 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Sounds good. Let us know where your nitrates are at when you can. If you are still encountering issues, back to the drawimg board. Link to comment
MrsPeet15 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Share Posted December 15, 2016 Sounds good. Let us know where your nitrates are at when you can. If you are still encountering issues, back to the drawimg board. Sorry for the radio silence, it's been peak month at work and it's been absolute chaos! Nitrates tested at 0.25 at the weekend, nitrates at 0 and ammonia at >0.15....... looks like we've found our culprit!! Link to comment
Clown79 Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 The nitrates are high, and you have ammonia. Whats causing the ammonia? Are you using seachem prime to bind the ammonia? If you have liverock in the tank, there is biological filteration and after removing the sponge you had no ammonia. Did something die in the tank? Something is causing you to have continuous jumps in nitrates because you are getting them down only to have them rise and significantly. How much rock is in the tank and what kind of rock? Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Nitrates at 0.25 is high? I'm thinking you are high.... As for ammonia reading 0.15 in an established tank. It's probably a false read. Link to comment
Clown79 Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Is nitrate .25 or 25? 25 is high and I'm not Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Look at her last post. It says 0.25 over the weekend, then 0. Fwiw, hobby test kits are mighty inaccurate. With a read of 0.25 nitrate, it's probably anywhere from 1 to 7 ppm. I'd consider anything at, or below 10 to be pretty good. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.