Hi Ya

[mikeyd]

Hi All,

Got rid of the tang and I am no carring out a 10% water change twice weekly. Nitrates have halved and are around 10-15ppm. My green bubble tip seems to be suffering it has hidden it' seld right in the rocks, I understand they do deflat but this seems somewhat out of character. Also the torch coral has had 2 branches dye slowly.

The mushroom coral is ok and all other tank mates doing fine.

PH 8.2

 

[mng777777]

How long have you had the BTA? They require strong lighting. I know the RSM has better lighting then most other nano's but I'm not sure if it's enough? Can you post all of your water params? Also as stated before, how old is your test kit?

 

[mikeyd]

Hi There I have replaced the tubes about 6 months ago, and i do have one all atinic bulb would that help? as the normal tubes are 50% white 50% actinic? My water paramaters are: PH 8.2 nitrite 0 Nitrate 10-15 ammonia 0.25 SG 102.2 Calcium 360 alkalinity 1.7 -2.0 the kit is probably 1 year old. This morning the BTA has hidden even further under the rock looks healthy (not splitting up or disintergrating. I can't seem to upload pics, any ideas.

I bought some new media for the filter fluval clearmax and have added one bag to the system after the 2 bags of carbon, that seemed to help with the nitrates. Although more likely the water changes.

I would like to upload a pic is there a trick?

 

[daugherty]

keep an eye on the bta. as for pics i use photobucket it id freee you upload your pics there and then just copy the image code and past the code to the forum you are responding to

 

[mng777777]

My water paramaters are: PH 8.2 nitrite 0 Nitrate 10-15 ammonia 0.25 SG 102.2 Calcium 360 alkalinity 1.7 -2.0 the kit is probably 1 year old

The presence of ammonia is not good. That should be 0. It suggests that your bioload is too high and it exceeds the capability of the bacteria in your tank. That will probably solve itself now that the tang and boxfish are out of there. You could also be experiencing another cycle if you had too much die off from your parameter swings. Either way, water changes are your best bet at this point. DONT add any more fish until several months after you have this stabilized. Then proceed with caution, you will need to make sure that your are not over-stocking.

Calcium is low. It should be in the 450 range. Water changes will help to keep this up depending on the type of salt you are using, or you could use the 2 part buffer to bring it up.

Alkalinity is low. Alkalinity is a measure of the ability of a solution to resist a decrease in pH when acids are added. Your problem here is also related to your heavy bioload and will also solve itself with the acbsence of the tang and box.

I suggest you stay religous about your water changes now and consider a step up to 20% if you dont see an improvement within the next week. Also, The salt mix you are using will have a big effect on the calcium and alkalinity so if you are mixing your own look into the type you are using and consider switching. If you are buying it premixed at the LFS, find out what mix they are using and research it to make sure it's a quality mix, if it's not, you might consider mixing your own salty.


Finally, keep a close eye on everything. If something is doing poorly you should pull it and get it into QT. You don't need anything dieing in there now. The dead animal will put a huge strain on your bioload and your tank will likely go downhill fast.

Good luck, and keep us updated. I hope for the best for you and your tank.

 

[mikeyd]

Justin, thanks for the advice. Would it be worth me partly changing the bio media as it's been there for two years i do rinse in salt water about every 6 months but I thought that may help. I use the H20 salt which i mix myself with ro water and I also have calcium, buffer and alkalinty treatments but have tried to just use the buffer 1 tsp per week, they are made by seachem.

The BTA has finally croaked DAMM it found it's way to the bottom of a rock and just died, I fished it out this morning and have done two water changes, unfortunately I have to do them one at a time would it be better to do it in one go as i did with the last 50%? Its just very difficult to get the mixes ready and keep the water at the right temp.

The Torch is looking good and feeding ok and the mushroom is also fine.

I'll do another 10% change in a while and post up the parametrs again.

Once again all thanks for your advice and time, it's much appreciated.

Mike.:frustrat:

 

[Bifferwine]

If what you have been doing with the bio media has worked so far, then I wouldn't change your routine. Glad to hear your other tankmates survived the anemone kicking the bucket! They're lucky.

 

[mng777777]

I am with biff on not changing your bio media. Stick to your routine on that. as far as your dosing, I cannot speak to the potential risk or benefit from it other than to say you should only be dosing what you can test for. If you are testing for calcium and it is reading low then by all means, dose it to keep it in line, but if you are not testing for it then you could be overdosing. Your salt mix should keep your levels in line with all of the water changes you have done lately so unless you are testing for something that calls for dosing, then don't! Also, not sure how much water has been changed since the original post, but I am guessing it has been enough. I would suggest that you keep it at weekly 20% water changes and stop the 50% changes as you shouldn't have to change that much water to keep your levels in line. Of course if your nitrates are still spiking then keep up with the larger water changes until you get that under control.

 

[mikeyd]

Hi All,

Just thought i'd give you all an update. My problem has been high nitrates for some time, after getting on to this site ive carried out lots of water changes and removed various (the bubble tip did not survive) species leaving me with:

2x perculas
1x ghost Goby
1 xblue leg hermit 5x small red leg hermits
1 lobster (species unknown (he's red and never comes out from behind the lrock))
1 X medium size mushroom coral 1x 4 branch torch coral
about 6 snails
1x tube worm
1x cleaner shrimp

After some carrying out the water changes in the above thread i no do a weekly 15% change and have managed to get nitrates down to around 3-5ppm, which is good news.

All tankmates are doing fine and I'm itching to add something else, ideally an anenome. The lghting is 2 x 55w t5 actinic and white light.

So can anyone give me some ideas?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[mng777777]

Congrats! That is awesome progress! How long has your tank been running? Nem's need a stable system and are not recommended for tanks under 1 year old. I would also watch that lobster. It sounds like you've got yourself a red reef lobster. They are known for killing shrimp and fish. They are cool, but you just need to be careful what you put with it!

 

[Bifferwine]

You should really consider something other than an anemone, since your lighting is low to borderline okay for one. They are harder to keep than most corals. Candy cane or trumpet corals are always good choices, as are blastomussa corals. Ricordea mushrooms are my favorites.

 

[dcantucson]

Mike, I had a lobster in my Red Sea Max too and he was a little aggressive. I would possibly reconsider it. They can be killers of your shrimp, crabs and fish, too. A fish you might consider is a Dwarf Angel. Coral Beauty or Midnight. They worked well in my Red Sea tank.

 

[mikeyd]

Hi, The tank has been running for two and a bit years, I did at one time just have a dwark lion and a condy, then i added the clowns. But the condy grew up to be a big old boy and ate the lion whiuch was about 4" in length.

Saying that the condy is the only nem ive ever managed to hold onto. I will check up on the lobster sounds about right a 'red reef lobster' he has not caused any trouble yet!

Thanks

Mike

 

[mng777777]

If you do choose to add another nem, at the very least, make sure that your bulbs are fresh. If those are still the original bulbs from 2 years ago, they are in need of replacement. Replace them one at a time every 2 - 4 weeks to acclimate your livestock to the new and more intense light.

 

[mikeyd]

I do change the bulbs about every 6 months? but wonder if it's worth putting in two twin t5 whites lights instead of the actinic white combo?

 

[mng777777]

Just FYI you probably don't need to change them that frequently. The bulbs are good for at least a year in some cases two.

 

[mikeyd]

Good stuff, that will save some pennies.... What are your views on the white and actinic mix

 

[mng777777]

I have heard that effect on the livestock does not change, however the appearance does. I don't entirely agree with this, because I know that certain things react differently to different parts of the light spectrum. For example, a luminescent cell (like what glows on the hands of your watch) can store just as much energy from a black light as it can from the sun even though black lights are not very intense. My take away from what I have heard and combined with my understanding of the spectrum, and photosynthesis, is that color can be greatly affected by the difference in the bulb. I understand that color is the result of the luminescent properties of the micro algaes living within our corals tissues. It would stand to reason that if you starve a system of part of the spectrum, that any algae which relies on that part of the spectrum will either morph, or die. Either way, I think a combination of as much spectrum as you can get, with an emphasis on the bulbs that give you the coloration you desire is probably best. Realize though too that some parts of the spectrum will grow algaes that we don't want. All that to say that unless you are going to get into a high dollar LED system, stick with the combination that you have.

 

[Altohombre]

Hi and welcome!