2.5 issues

[Morpheus77]

So started a 2.5 gallon nano back Jan 2021. Currently have about a 1 lb of LR, and about one inch of LS. Tank did pretty good for the first 5-6 months, added a GSP, and some other type of soft coral, have no idea what it is, sorta forgot. Went through a divorce, and the tank wasn't kept up with like it should, had other priorities at the time. Anyway, I would do WC's but not enough, and I hardly ever checked parameters, maybe salinity. It went through a bit of cyno earlier this year, however I brought down the whites, and it started dying off, but my sand bed still had that decayed layer on top. The other day I checked params and ammonia was .25, and nitrates were 160. So I did about a 90% WC yesterday, and still getting 25 on ammonia this morning and 40 on nitrates. Did another 6 cup WC earlier, but haven't checked parameters yet, want to do another 6 cup change tomorrow and check then. I am running a 30 watt Nicrew LED setup, mostly run blues, with the whites on the lowest setting, and running a small power head for water movement, I have it facing mostly up. I did pull some of the old sand out yesterday and replace it with new sand. So question is, could it be I don't have enough LR maybe? I did install a small 3 gallon HOB filter yesterday, and running activated carbon, not really big enough to squeeze a sponge or purigen in there, so what are yall's thoughts on the ammonia and high nitrates? More WC's? Maybe a bigger HOB filter and run chemical and biological filtration to help clean it up temporarily? I have had success with bigger reefs in the past, but got out of it for about 10 years. I appreciate any input.

[Tiki_Reef]

What are your other parameters phosphate, nitrite etc, what salt do you use do you use RODI water need more info to help you out and if you can post some pics of what you are dealing with.

[Morpheus77]

Nitrite is 0, phosphates, no clue. Guess I need to get a test kit for that. In all honesty, figured if there was high nitrates, then probably had phosphates as well. I am using Imagitarium ocean water, I've tested this, and no nitrates in this, like literally 0. The salinity is a bit high, I always dilute it. I forgot to mention, I did have a layer of greenish/reddish algae on the back glass for a good 6 months. Cleaned this off when I did the 90% water change. The GSP, and the other coral, haven't been fully opened in a long time. 

[Morpheus77]

Just checked parameters, no WC today, yet. Seems to be headed in right direction, but appears ammonia spiked a bit since yesterday.

[Tiki_Reef]

What is your specific gravity, also is there any thing growing on the corals green film, algae etc? Can you send a close up pic of the gsp? 

[Tiki_Reef]

Also does your light have red and green LEDs, if so what do you have them set at? 

[Morpheus77]

1.025. I have red and green, but don't use them. 

[Morpheus77]

[Morpheus77]

The reason I don't use the red and green, is because there is only one LED for each, and in order to use them, the whites have to be on, and I don't like to use whites. Is this something that could benefit?

[Tired]

Corals need zero detectable ammonia to open properly, since ammonia is toxic. Do a very large water change (for that tank size) to get it down as low as possible.

 

You should get a phosphate test kit at some point. Not API, their kits aren't sensitive enough. It's important to make sure you have enough phosphates, or your corals will starve. 

 

More live rock would help, but that ammonia is coming from somewhere. Something is decaying and releasing it, or some cleaning agent has gotten into the tank. Any snails or worms formerly present that could have died? Are you feeding the tank at all? 

[Morpheus77]

Not feeding the tank. Don't think I have anything that has died in the tank. All of my CUC has been accounted for. Good idea on the phosphate test kit. Idk, still doing daily water changes for now. Did the big one last Friday. It seems to be getting better, just did another water change, gonna check params before I crash. Will keep you updated.

[Tired]

How old is your test kit? I just saw in another thread that API ammonia kits can read false positives when they're old. API isn't too accurate anyway; might be time to get a new kit. Once you do, if ammonia is still showing up, test the water that you're using for water changes; maybe it's contaminated. 

 

How are you checking salinity? Has whatever you're using been calibrated recently? 

[Tiki_Reef]

A question that has been missed that I forgot to ask myself, where is your water change water coming from, is it RODI, tap water etc?

[Morpheus77]

18 hours ago, Tired said:

How old is your test kit? I just saw in another thread that API ammonia kits can read false positives when they're old. API isn't too accurate anyway; might be time to get a new kit. Once you do, if ammonia is still showing up, test the water that you're using for water changes; maybe it's contaminated. 

 

How are you checking salinity? Has whatever you're using been calibrated recently? 

Test kit is push a year now. I check salinity with a portable refractometer. It's also about a year old as well. Guess I need to look into that.

[Morpheus77]

2 hours ago, Tiki_Reef said:

A question that has been missed that I forgot to ask myself, where is your water change water coming from, is it RODI, tap water etc?

I am using imagitarium SW, however, I am gonna try the Nature's Ocean Nutri-sea water, see if that is any better. Bought a test kit for calcium today, and I had to check it twice, but I am getting a reading of 500. I thought Imagitarium didn't have that much trace elements in it, if any at all. The Nutri-seawater seems to have lower count on calcium, so figured it wouldn't hurt. Also the HOB palm Azoo came in today, installed it, with filter floss, a foam filter and some purigen. Nitrates still.rumning about 20, ammonia still the same, .25. Fixing to do another 6 cup WC in a bit. Corals are better, but still not opening almost the way, but definitely a lot better than a week ago.

[Morpheus77]

On 6/6/2022 at 5:07 PM, Tired said:

Corals need zero detectable ammonia to open properly, since ammonia is toxic. Do a very large water change (for that tank size) to get it down as low as possible.

 

You should get a phosphate test kit at some point. Not API, their kits aren't sensitive enough. It's important to make sure you have enough phosphates, or your corals will starve. 

 

More live rock would help, but that ammonia is coming from somewhere. Something is decaying and releasing it, or some cleaning agent has gotten into the tank. Any snails or worms formerly present that could have died? Are you feeding the tank at all? 

You know, my kids do use window cleaner to clean the counters when the wipe the counter down, and it is an open top aquarium....hmm. 

[Morpheus77]

Will pick up a phosphate and alkalinity test kit soon. Will check into other brands as well, maybe just update the entire test kit with red sea, salifert, or something else. Interested to see how the nutri-seawater will do. I see there are mixed reviews, but seemed a bit more positive reviews than negative. Any thoughts on this?

[Tiki_Reef]

1 hour ago, Morpheus77 said:

Will pick up a phosphate and alkalinity test kit soon. Will check into other brands as well, maybe just update the entire test kit with red sea, salifert, or something else. Interested to see how the nutri-seawater will do. I see there are mixed reviews, but seemed a bit more positive reviews than negative. Any thoughts on this?

Well as far as the glass cleaner that would explain a spike in ammonia unless you use a vinegar based glass cleaner, I personally do not use premade water so I would not be any help there, but I would say to go ahead and test it to see where it is at also do partial water changes with the new water and work your way up to the amount you do right now. 

[Tired]

If your pre-made water doesn't come with many trace elements, you'll want to switch to a different water if you plan on keeping more corals. Calcium is important for anything with an exoskeleton or endoskeleton. (I think a coral skeleton counts as an endoskeleton?)

 

If your test kit is accurate, I'd strongly suspect that window cleaner is responsible. Sprays and fumes are bad around reef tanks. Either plastic wrap the top of the tank while cleaning, or try something else. 

[Morpheus77]

Nitrate still running about 20, nitrite is 0, Ca is 460, PH is running around 8.3. Gonna purchase a Alk and Phos test kit soon, will probably have to order online, as there is no real LFS near me. I did a 6 cup WC for 3 days straight, then skipped a day, and did a four cup WC earlier. The new hob azoo filter seems to be working ok, water is clearer. Running floss, foam filter and purigen, may redo all that this weekend, may be too stuffed, idk. Think my foam could use a trimming, maybe help flow a bit, but it's not struggling, just don't like it. Corals seem to be doing better, however the unidentified coral still isn't 100%. Gonna post a pic on the "coral Id" forum in a few, see if yall can help me with that. I am considering doing some type coral energy additive to see if it helps any, fuel, red sea AB + or something, but the test kits first. Keep ya posted.

[Tiki_Reef]

1 hour ago, Morpheus77 said:

Nitrate still running about 20, nitrite is 0, Ca is 460, PH is running around 8.3. Gonna purchase a Alk and Phos test kit soon, will probably have to order online, as there is no real LFS near me. I did a 6 cup WC for 3 days straight, then skipped a day, and did a four cup WC earlier. The new hob azoo filter seems to be working ok, water is clearer. Running floss, foam filter and purigen, may redo all that this weekend, may be too stuffed, idk. Think my foam could use a trimming, maybe help flow a bit, but it's not struggling, just don't like it. Corals seem to be doing better, however the unidentified coral still isn't 100%. Gonna post a pic on the "coral Id" forum in a few, see if yall can help me with that. I am considering doing some type coral energy additive to see if it helps any, fuel, red sea AB + or something, but the test kits first. Keep ya posted.

Glad it is doing better, I wouldn't dose any supplements until you get your other issue in order it could create another problem for you. You have plenty of nitrates and I would assume you have quite a bit of phosphates as well to feed the corals. Get your parameters in check after you get those down then you can consider dosing. Just my 2 cents 

[Morpheus77]

Ty for the info.

[Tiki_Reef]

3 hours ago, Morpheus77 said:

Ty for the info.

Anytime 👍

[fenderchamp]

I would disregard the ammonia reading.  

 

If you neglected the tank for a long time, and it corals don't seem happy, and you just did the big water change and scrub everything down thing.  

 

If it was me, and I'm a noob so take it with a grain of salt.  I would simply start maintaining your tank.  I wouldn't change salt, change the light, put a new filter on it dah dah dah dah dah... 

 

just start a maintenance schedule and stick to it say for 3 months, change your water every week, maintain your sand bed, blow off your rocks.   And then see where you're at.  Maybe feed your tank a little bit with some AB+ or whatever too. 

 

 

 

[Morpheus77]

Ordered a salifert Po4 test kit, and some matrix. Was thinking of removing the foam filter, and running floss, matrix, and purigen. See what that does, however think I'm gonna continue to watch and observe for another week or so, before I mess with the filtration. Seems the purigen doesn't remove nitrates, only keeps them from getting worse, works in conjunction with WC'S. If you have 40 on nitrates and do a 50% WC, then you should technically have 20 on nitrates and the purigen will help keep it at that, till next WC, and it seems to be holding at 20, and hasn't gone up since the big WC a week ago, so that tells me the purigen seems to be working as described. The matrix seems to be a better long term solution for nitrates once the good bacteria develops on the substrate. When I had my 29 gallon 14 years ago, I guess I got lucky, the only real issue I had was a small cyno outbreak, that tank was phenomenal otherwise. I'm determined to make this a show tank in due time.