A complete newbie who needs a way to start!

[Laz]

Thanks for the replies.

I think it's a combination of both, Erin.

I have to be honest, I haven't been doing WC's since I bought my clowns. Just haven't had the time to make it a priority. It's not too bad, Chichi. I've been removing the diatoms and cyano/dinos manually without too much problem although it does seem to regenerate slowly. I think it's down to my flow near the bottom of the tank, so I may purchase another power head this week. Yeah, the CUC definitely needs to be added to, it's just that suppliers are so little around here and the prices are ridiculous.

I just did a test of my param's and surprisingly my Nitrates are 0? I've not done any water changes at all. Couldn't find my reef test to check for phosphates but I did my others:

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Salinity - 1.25
PH - 7.2

Is my PH a little low? I am measuring it using one of these:

 

[Marinne13]

That PH seems low...the algae could be consuming the nitrates and that's why it is reading 0

 

[Laz]

Yeah, thought so. Any ideas on raising it to a good level?

I don't have any algae, though. Well, barely any at all.

 

[Marinne13]

Might just have good water haha...not sure on raising it, I didn't yhink a marine tank could be that low

 

[Laz]

Haha, maybe. Well, I did have a big hair algae bloom on the back side of my LR which grew quite long. I was planning on removing it four days ago and when I went to remove it, it was all gone. Guess the clowns were hungry?

I'll check my PH using the API test. Maybe it'll give me a different reading.

 

[Laz]

Hi guys, It's been a while and I thought I'd provide an update.

I've gotta be honest, I've been managing my tank terribly. Since purchasing the two clowns, I've done three water changes in a time span of probably two months, and both were around 10-15% WC's. I've just been feeding them really and not doing a whole lot. I've not been too frequent with top-ups either and lazily add a ton of R/O (well, not a ton but a fair amount) just to get it back to the level set.

My tank is a bit of a mess and I'm glad I didn't purchase any corals because they probably would have died by now. I only have a single red hermit crab for a CUC, which seems to be doing alright. The other one did a suicide and went out, unfortunately.

I need a bit of assistance. I've got this weird stuff on my LR that I can not recognise and it looks quite horrible. Can anyone assist in methods of taking it off? I was thinking of taking the two pieces of LR out and scrubbing them in fresh saltwater. My concern was, will I be killing the rock or cause an Ammonia spike by disturbing it?

I've also got this fish dropping like stuff on the sand which I can't identify. Any methods of clean up?

I'm guessing my Nitrates are something to do with it all as there's been little WC's and I've got some algae. Just need a bit of steps in what someone would do if they were in my shoes.

I've put a internal filter with filter floss to start buffing the water a little.

Here's some (embarrassing) pictures.

 

[Laz]

Sheesh, it's been a while since I've updated this and I sure didn't leave on a good note.

Not sure if anyone following read, but I ended up restarting the whole tank as I couldn't take the fact that there was so much detritus in the sand bed and rock. It was impossible to clean within the tank and was pointless. Unfortunately, I again, encountered the exact same problem I had previously and I could never diagnose why I had this problem. I went to hell and back and back again with the tank and really thought of giving up.

Below is some of the problems I had before and after I started again.

This is only a small showing of how bad the tank really good. It was much worse. The main issue for months had been that I had misdiagnosed what this stuff was. I had always thought it was diatoms and I found out I was wrong. I thought it was the fact that I didn't do water changes or clean out the tank properly, but even when doing this, it kept re-occuring. I thought the water may have been bad, but didn't buy an RO/DI machine just yet. Later, I find out this stuff isn't diatoms, but dinoflagellates, a similar sort of algae but not the same thing.

I researched the possible solutions and tried by cleaning out as much of it as I could and then keeping the light off. So far I have kept the light off for 2.5 weeks and I couldn't care less that it's off because the LR and sand is just so clean without a ton of garbage growing on it. So far, everything has matured and my tank is settling well. Here's a latest picture.

My next steps will be hopefully to expand my CUC a little more and then in the future, maybe add some more LR and start with the task of corals.

 

[Daghda124]

it's looking better :), i'd add some snails and hermits to it to control the algea and destrius,.

 

[Laz]

it's looking better :), i'd add some snails and hermits to it to control the algea and destrius,.

Thank you, it is. I've got one hermit crab, 1 turbo, 1 branded trochus and 1 nass snail. Would you recommend I had anything else?

 

[Daghda124]

Thank you, it is. I've got one hermit crab, 1 turbo, 1 branded trochus and 1 nass snail. Would you recommend I had anything else?

well first off whats the size of the tank

 

[Laz]

well first off whats the size of the tank

The tank is 55L or 12 Gals.

 

[Daghda124]

The tank is 55L or 12 Gals.

ok so in my opinion about five more snails three more hermits, and two more nass snail, or sub the nass with a sand sifting goby like a pink spot goby

 

[Daghda124]

and maybe run some carbon to just to help remove organic waste

 

[Laz]

ok so in my opinion about five more snails three more hermits, and two more nass snail, or sub the nass with a sand sifting goby like a pink spot goby

Thanks. Getting a couple more Nass's for sure. Would 5 more snails and 3 hermits be pushing it considering the amount of LR? Also, any particular snails you reccomend and in terms of hermits, are you talking about those teeny tiny ones or the larger ones? Thank you.

 

[Daghda124]

no it wouldn't push it considering what they are doing, with the hermits make sure they got plenty of shells to change homes, an as far as snails turbos, asteria, nass. and ya the little hermits like a scarlet hermit.