Arce's Tank

[jedimasterben]

Imbalance, nopox won't help that much and might make it worse IMO. Trates are good. Might be time to try some PhosphateRx, just a drop a day, no more, to slowly lower it down without moving Nitrates. I've used it for over 6 months now, both tanks. Only negative effect was lowering PO4 too far in my 40.

all of this. Your nitrate would need to be somewhere in the 80-100 range for carbon dosing to lower your phosphate by 5ppm (which is really, really, really unlikely to be that high).

[Arce]

Imbalance, nopox won't help that much and might make it worse IMO. Trates are good. Might be time to try some PhosphateRx, just a drop a day, no more, to slowly lower it down without moving Nitrates. I've used it for over 6 months now, both tanks. Only negative effect was lowering PO4 too far in my 40.

 

Keep carbon dosing out and I swear things just work better, but then I'm biased due to how well my tank is running at the moment.

 

all of this. Your nitrate would need to be somewhere in the 80-100 range for carbon dosing to lower your phosphate by 5ppm (which is really, really, really unlikely to be that high).

 

Well the reading was between the higher end of the chart which was 3.06-5.44. Still crazy high. Ill try to get some phophaterx today and a new kit so i can monitor it. I expected both to be high, I've been feeding like crazy, but the symptoms and issues I'm having aren't what I've experienced with high nitrates or phosphates. They aren't browning, just stning tips down. Wish i had a tested long before this so i would know if the phosphates have been high this whole time.

[Arce]

With how much ive been feeding i could have had 0 nitrates this whole time seeing how it only tested at 4ppm. Pretty much all guesses at this point which still doesnt get me anywhere.

[markalot]

With how much ive been feeding i could have had 0 nitrates this whole time seeing how it only tested at 4ppm. Pretty much all guesses at this point which still doesnt get me anywhere.

 

Start the PhosphateRx, but don't go higher than a drop a day and keep feeding. If after a week PO4 is still high then go to 2 drops for a week and test again.

[Arce]

 

Start the PhosphateRx, but don't go higher than a drop a day and keep feeding. If after a week PO4 is still high then go to 2 drops for a week and test again.

Ok, Thanks Mark.

[Arce]

Crap, just remembered my lfs is closed on Mondays.

[Arce]

Ordered the phosphaterx and a kit from MD just now. Didn't expedite the shipping so it'll be a couple days. Until then i have a waterchange mixing for a change later tonight.

[jedimasterben]

Ordered the phosphaterx and a kit from MD just now. Didn't expedite the shipping so it'll be a couple days. Until then i have a waterchange mixing for a change later tonight.

Unless it's a very large change, it won't have much effect, so I wouldn't go out of your way to do it.

[Arce]

Unless it's a very large change, it won't have much effect, so I wouldn't go out of your way to do it.

Its my scheduled change anyway. Its 5 gallons of around 25-30 gallons, so its 15-20%. Id do a larger change but dont want to make things worse.

[jedimasterben]

Its my scheduled change anyway. Its 5 gallons of around 25-30 gallons, so its 15-20%. Id do a larger change but dont want to make things worse.

A larger change would, in no way, make things worse unless you forgot to put salt in it

 

Do the absolute largest change that you can at one time. You're not going to hurt any of your corals or do anything that would be detrimental. If a large water change would do them in, then no hobbyist would ever be able to put corals in their tank that were in another tank with different chemistry.

[Arce]

A larger change would, in no way, make things worse unless you forgot to put salt in it

 

Do the absolute largest change that you can at one time. You're not going to hurt any of your corals or do anything that would be detrimental. If a large water change would do them in, then no hobbyist would ever be able to put corals in their tank that were in another tank with different chemistry.

Eh, Alright. I only have 5 gallons ready to go for today but ill mix up another 10-15 and do a larger change tomorrow.

[jedimasterben]

Eh, Alright. I only have 5 gallons ready to go for today but ill mix up another 10-15 and do a larger change tomorrow.

Save that five gallons and do the larger change tomorrow. The tank has been screwy for this long, one more day won't hurt anything.

[Arce]

Save that five gallons and do the larger change tomorrow. The tank has been screwy for this long, one more day won't hurt anything.

Yea im going to dump it into a brute and do a 20gallon change tomorrow.

[jedimasterben]

Yea im going to dump it into a brute and do a 20gallon change tomorrow.

[Arce]

Ok... So i did a 20 gallon water change around midnight last night. I estimated another 5ish gallons left in the tank so it was around a 70-80% change. Boy was it a mess, water everywhere, i didnt plan this out well enough. I mixed the water in a 20 gallon tank i had laying around in my attic as soon as i got home from work and let it mix till around 10:30-11 to be sure it was good to go. Drained and cleaned the sump which was almost 10 gallons then took the rest from the DT. Everything is accounted for as of this morning, no signs of any issues from the large change in fish or corals. Ill see how things look later with the lights on.

The phosphate rx and test kit shipped from MD but tracking isnt up yet, probably get it by the end of the week.

[Arce]

Still don't have an eta on the MD order. I ordered it Monday morning and its just now showing in the tracking but doesn't give a estimated delivery. Might take some water to my lfs and see if he will do a quick nitrate and phosphate test.. but then again i cant do anything till i get the phosphaterx so do i really want to know what the levels are at seeing how i cant do anything about them... lol

[vlangel]

I agree with Ben about a large WC. I think you did the right thing. Hopefully when you do test, things will be more in balance. And then hopefully the tips of your coral will stop stning.

[metrokat]

How are things?

[Arce]

I agree with Ben about a large WC. I think you did the right thing. Hopefully when you do test, things will be more in balance. And then hopefully the tips of your coral will stop stning.

Yea, i did the 20 gallons. Hoping it will bring things back in balance.

 

How are things?

Everything's alive that's supposed to be. I didn't really look at the tank yesterday aside from making sure of that because it stresses me out. Nothing RTN'd from the change so that's good. Its obviously too soon, and without a test kit, to know if things are better.

[Arce]

I'm going to play out this phosphate issue and use the phosphaterx to drop it but I'm tempted to pull my sand and go back to BB. I've been trying to think of how i was successful with my 29. Aside from testing, which i did frequently on the 29, running BB and the fuge really allowed me to dump tons of foods in and keep lower nutrients without having to dose or worry. Now the look of sand has actually grown on me, but id rather have a functional tank and worry about aesthetics later.

[vlangel]

I'm going to play out this phosphate issue and use the phosphaterx to drop it but I'm tempted to pull my sand and go back to BB. I've been trying to think of how i was successful with my 29. Aside from testing, which i did frequently on the 29, running BB and the fuge really allowed me to dump tons of foods in and keep lower nutrients without having to dose or worry. Now the look of sand has actually grown on me, but id rather have a functional tank and worry about aesthetics later.

You could paint it with a sandstone paint underneath? I like mine.

[Arce]

You could paint it with a sandstone paint underneath? I like mine.

I would have to drain the tank and paint the bottom so that's out, i don't mind it not having the sand look, i actually liked the way my 29 looked BB.

[vlangel]

I would have to drain the tank and paint the bottom so that's out, i don't mind it not having the sand look, i actually liked the way my 29 looked BB.

 

Yes the draining and totally tearing the tank down is labor intensive plus a stress on your sps which are just beginning to respond. It makes sense not to add any more stressors to their existance. Especially if you liked how it looked in you4 29 gallon.

[Arce]

I don't think my mandarin will be with me for much longer. Hes barely eating anymore no matter what i feed so hes very skinny. All of his fins are torn and last night i saw the 6 line beating him up. I've had him for two years, and he was easily my favorite fish. Hoping he goes soon and doesn't suffer. I wish i could set up another tank just for him.

[markalot]

The sixline will kill anything that competes with it's food source, especially as they age. Mine has gone through bouts of extremely aggressive behavior with my yellow tail damsel, who also picks at some pods, but the little damsel can defend itself.