Multiple issues with my aquarium

[aedificator]

Hi guys,

I have been reading for a long time your forum with a ton of insightful tips which have helped a lot, however I am still facing a bit of problems with my aquarium and decided today to share with you what is happening in my aquarium.

 

I have a 55gal, with about 100Lbs rocks (fiji premium), Seaclone Potein Skimmer, Fluval 405 Canister, LED lighting (custom built ), and different small corals most of them bought at Petco, ranging from few weeks old to few years old; they are:

 

3 years old:

2 Zoas (green-red, about 50 heads, and yellow-green, about 50 heads) - very healthy

1 candy coral (3 heads) - very low growth

1 Taro Tree Coral (about 3 inch heigh) - extremely low growth, 2/3 of an inch in three years at the best

 

2 years old:

1 Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral - very very slow growth, maybe half an inch in two years

2 Yellow birdnest (dead)

1 Pulsing xenia (dead)

2 anemonies (withe, dead; pink, dead).

 

1 years old or less:

1 Zoa blue (dead)

1 Zoa pink (deying)

1 pulsing xenia (about 2 inches x 2 inches)

1 blue mashroom (1 head) moderate growth

1 red mushroom (1 head) almost no growth

 

I have 2 clown fish, and 1 yellow tang, 1 small blue daimler, 4 snails (so far all very healthy, all 3 years old)

 

I have green algae on most rocks, and the more I try my best the more it seems to go nowhere. At times the green algae starts to disapper but the grey algae builds up everywhere, then green again, then grey, and these cycle repeats constantly.

 

I change the water one a month, and the salt mix I use is RedSea (used to be reef crystal). In addition, I use these additives:

Kent Iodine - 5ml one a week;

Kent Tech M - 5ml one a week;

Kent Strontium - 5ml one a week;

Kent Tech Purple - 5ml one a week;

Kent Phytoplex - 5ml one a week;

Kent Zooplex - 5ml one a week;

Kent CoralVite 5ml one a week.

 

I have had my water tested at Petco and all the parameters seems to be fine. Hardness appeared a little bit high but i was told that is ok. Calcium also ok.

 

What am I doing wrong???

 

I would say that of all the corals I have bought so far many have died after 2 or 3 weeks, and those that are still alive do not grow or grow at a very very small rate (only the zoas do weel). I am feeling a little bit defeited and very hopeless.

 

 

 

 

 

[mattyfelts]

get a test kit, and test yourself. probably not enough light can you tell us more about that

[aedificator]

how do i test the light?

[mattyfelts]

how many leds, what wattage, what kind of LED, photos, company that made it or where you bought the parts, any links, if you have a PAR meter then the PAR

[farkwar]

Once a month water change?

 

And you're adding all that stuff weekly?

[tetraodon]

im guessing not enough light, as well as too much of the trace nutrients, you say your using red sea salt, can you link us to which one. you also say you does zooplex and phytoplex, in my experiance, those wreck havok with your system if you dont have a large export system or have coral that need them.

[farkwar]

how many leds, what wattage, what kind of LED, photos, company that made it or where you bought the parts, any links, if you have a PAR meter then the PAR

Do you have a PAR meter? I don't, and I build lights.

 

This is in the beginner forum.

 

There are probably 10 people on this board who own a PAR meter.

[Nano sapiens]

get a test kit, and test yourself. probably not enough light can you tell us more about that

 

+1. Trusting outside sources for tesing and even water is often a bad idea. You can test the intensity of light reaching your corals with a PAR meter, but they aren't cheap. If you describe your lighting in detail many on this forum can tell you if it's sufficient for the corals you keep.

 

Why all the additives? PetCo told you you need them? The salt mix provides these in abundance, especially if you change water regularly.

 

Stay away from anemones and stony corals until you have this tank turned around. Killing livestock is not what anyone wants.

 

If you are serious about turning this tank around you'll need to get a good handle on at least the basic reef keeping parameters and how to keep them stable. Suggest reading this:

 

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-chemistry-randy-holmes-farley/173563-optimal-parameters-coral-reef-aquarium-randy-holmes-farley.html

[farkwar]

You have a 3 year old tank. You probably have detritus in the tank that's that old.

 

Do substantial(20-30%) water changes, weekly. Use distilled or RODI water.

Get all the poop out of your substrate.

Stop adding all that extra stuff, its not helping anything.

Your salt mix has all the trace stuff your tank needs.

 

Get a pair of tongs, forceps, or large tweezers and manually pull out as much GHA you can.

Get a CUC made up of algae consumers.

 

Clean that Fluval weekly.

[CronicReefer]

One thing I can recommend is you need to stop dosing iodine. This is something that need to be tested extremely careful for because it is a poison in large enough concentrations.

[aedificator]

thank you very much guys! i am already starting to feel a little bit more optimistic about my aquarium thank to your help.

 

@Farkwar: Indeed, I have noticed that each time I add an additive the corals tend to shrink for several hours, sometimes days, but when i do water change it all seems to flourish! For the water change I was told i can use tap water with water conditioner, and this is what i have been doing so far.

 

Also,

> Do substantial(20-30%) water changes, weekly. Use distilled or RODI water.

Can I boil tap water and use it for water change?

 

> Get all the poop out of your substrate.

I don't have a substrate, I initially added white sand, about 1 inch then each time i did the water change the sand would go everywhere, at times covering the rocks so I took it out. Shoudl i add a substrate? what kind?

 

> Stop adding all that extra stuff, its not helping anything.

Done, as of today.

 

> Your salt mix has all the trace stuff your tank needs.

one good news

 

@ NanoSapiens: At Petco, and at a local fish store, I was told i need to add these additives a week after any water changes because the nutritive chemicals are flashed out by the skimmer. So to protect my corals i followed their indication.

 

@ mattyfelt and nanosapiens: I built this lighting system:

 

Total length: 48"

Base: aluminium + 3 fans on the top

Blue LEDs (generic brand): 35 x 3W

Cool White LEDs (generic brand): 2 x 50W

Purple LEDs (generic brand): 4 x 3W

 

more or less this setting:

 

B B P B W B P B B - B B P B W B P B B

 

(B=blue, P=purple, W=white)

 

However, because the light was quite strong i dimmed it down to approximate the lighting system at the fish store, however i can't afford the par meter so I do not know if it is enough or too much.

Each colour has its dimmer, so i can change the intensity of the Blue or the White as needed. Also the purple is turned off because a friend told me it is not needed (is it true?)

 

@ tetraodon: the sea salt mix is this one: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4685+15483&pcatid=15483

 

@ cronicReefer: i am going to follow your suggestion and stop immediately to add all those additives.

[tetraodon]

the skimmer takes out organic waste, as far as i know it wont take out nutrients. i worked for petco, and their lights are way too low, for any real coral other than softies, so bump up the lighting, and stop the dosing and the salt should replace all the necessary nutrients through more frequent water changes.

[Marc.The.Shark]

+1, I use that salt & don't dose anything. It'll keep your softies & LPS happy enuf along with feedings. I just do my weekly/bi weekly waterchanges

[Mojado]

Man, anecdotal at best, but my problems started when I was dosing iodine (potassium iodide @ 2ml once a week). It made my corals look bad@ss, but then came the aglae. I stopped dosing but it had taken hold already. I fought it for 9 months! I finally beat it with hydrogen peroxide (took out my rocks, toothbrush to remove algae, spritzed them with hyrogen peroxide, wait three minutes, rinse in removed water change water, put back in).

 

I then resumed potassium iodide, but at 1ml every other week (reduced dosing by factor of 4).

 

I also wasn't turkey baste-blasting my rocks, so a lot of detritus has built up on it. Good luck.

[CronicReefer]

thank you very much guys! i am already starting to feel a little bit more optimistic about my aquarium thank to your help.

 

@Farkwar: Indeed, I have noticed that each time I add an additive the corals tend to shrink for several hours, sometimes days, but when i do water change it all seems to flourish! For the water change I was told i can use tap water with water conditioner, and this is what i have been doing so far.

 

Also,

> Do substantial(20-30%) water changes, weekly. Use distilled or RODI water.

Can I boil tap water and use it for water change?

 

> Get all the poop out of your substrate.

I don't have a substrate, I initially added white sand, about 1 inch then each time i did the water change the sand would go everywhere, at times covering the rocks so I took it out. Shoudl i add a substrate? what kind?

 

> Stop adding all that extra stuff, its not helping anything.

Done, as of today.

 

> Your salt mix has all the trace stuff your tank needs.

one good news

 

@ NanoSapiens: At Petco, and at a local fish store, I was told i need to add these additives a week after any water changes because the nutritive chemicals are flashed out by the skimmer. So to protect my corals i followed their indication.

 

@ mattyfelt and nanosapiens: I built this lighting system:

 

Total length: 48"

Base: aluminium + 3 fans on the top

Blue LEDs (generic brand): 35 x 3W

Cool White LEDs (generic brand): 2 x 50W

Purple LEDs (generic brand): 4 x 3W

 

more or less this setting:

 

B B P B W B P B B - B B P B W B P B B

 

(B=blue, P=purple, W=white)

 

However, because the light was quite strong i dimmed it down to approximate the lighting system at the fish store, however i can't afford the par meter so I do not know if it is enough or too much.

Each colour has its dimmer, so i can change the intensity of the Blue or the White as needed. Also the purple is turned off because a friend told me it is not needed (is it true?)

 

@ tetraodon: the sea salt mix is this one: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4685+15483&pcatid=15483

 

@ cronicReefer: i am going to follow your suggestion and stop immediately to add all those additives.

Stop using tap water as well. You should be using distilled if you can not get ro/di water which for a tank your size I would recommend buying your own ro/di unit. Increase your water changes to at least biweeky and clean the canister once a week. I'm assuming the purple lights are UV which is an important but not necessary part of the light spectrum, I would turn them on. Turn your lights up 10% from what they are now and start from there with increasing light strength.

[aedificator]

One question: when i have to add water to the aquarium, before i do the biweekly change, do I just add distilled water? or do i have to add any salt/additive to the water?

 

In the past, i would fill in a thank (10 gal) add water conditioner, and replenish the evaporated water in the aquarium.

 

In case i want to use distilled water, do i still need to add the water conditioner to treat chlorine/clorammine?

[tetraodon]

replacing water that has evaporated, you use just plain RO water,

[CronicReefer]

One question: when i have to add water to the aquarium, before i do the biweekly change, do I just add distilled water? or do i have to add any salt/additive to the water?

 

In the past, i would fill in a thank (10 gal) add water conditioner, and replenish the evaporated water in the aquarium.

 

In case i want to use distilled water, do i still need to add the water conditioner to treat chlorine/clorammine?

You should be adding fresh water (distilled or RO/DI) daily to top off evaporated water to prevent salinity swings. Distilled water should have 0 chlorine but the main reason for not using tap water is it contains a large amount of elements and nutrients that you may not be testing for and certainly do not want in the tank. Distilled water (or RO/DI if you can get that) when mixed with your salt will produce the correct trace element levels needed for your reef, it is impossible to do this with tap water.

[LynkUK]

Using tap water and not distilled or RO/DI water is the root of your issues. If your tapwater has nitrates and phosphates, then no matter the amount of water changes will bring your nitrates down any lower than that tap water base line reading.