Is this a healthy tank?

MaxC-130

Member
5 months in, I’m still not sure I’m doing this right.
The tank interior is brown and furry and not the pristine environment I was hoping for.
My water levels are all good but the sand has diatoms on it and only today I found my Royal Gramma lying on the bottom gasping for air. :duh:
Please see photo and let me know what you think.
 

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MaxC-130

Member
Hi Jonathan.
Everything works fine. It’s a second hand system but all in good working order. I have had a period of everything settling down after the initial cycle but now it appears to be going through it again. Either that or I’m facing a full system crash!
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
What did you test for and what are your exact readings? What may seem ok to you might indicate a big problem to some one else.

It looks like you need a lot more live rock. You want about 1 lb of rock per gallon of water.

It looks like you need to manually remove the algae on the back glass.

It looks like you need a much larger clean up crew. Some people use as many a 2 snails or hermits per gallon. I'd start with 15 snails, see how that works out. You can always add more.
 

MaxC-130

Member
Thanks Dave.
Levels are:
SG 1.026
No3 10
No2 0
Gh 8
Kh 15
Ph 8.2
Cl2 0.2
Last week, due to concerns about by BTA, my LFS tested for Phosphates with no concerns raised.
I have one conch, three hermits, two shrimp, three trochus, three turbos and four nassarius snails at the moment - clearly not enough!
I will head to the LFS at the weekend and pick up more live rock and snails
 

melvis

Well-Known Member
I've got the C130 as well and had a load of issues at first, including cyano, which it looks like you've got. I'd increase flow by adding another powerhead, as this stuff loves dead spots. You could black out for a few days but as you've got a nem that's struggling, I'd probably not do that. I wouldn't advocate chemicals to clear it up, as that can just introduce other problems and does little to address the route cause.
In terms of phosphates, I had plenty of 0-0.03 readings, all suggesting things were good - but the algae issues I had said otherwise. What is your set up in terms of filtration etc? How big and often are your water changes?
 

MaxC-130

Member
Water changes are clearly not happening often enough.
Once a month/ two months at best.
I need to scrub it down and change the water 50%, see if that helps.
 

Peskin

Member
5 months in, I’m still not sure I’m doing this right.
The tank interior is brown and furry and not the pristine environment I was hoping for.
My water levels are all good but the sand has diatoms on it and only today I found my Royal Gramma lying on the bottom gasping for air. :duh:
Please see photo and let me know what you think.

I think you have cyano, i would suggest putting some phosphate absorver in the filtration system, seachem phosguard or phosbond, that will solve the problem, but as always you have to discover what is introducing the phosphate or silicates in your system, from my experience top reasons are:

1) Water is no good, Reverse Osmosis is a must!
2) Too much feeding.
3) Too much Animals in stock for the volume of water.

You have to get a pristine system so everything you can do to get to that point is crucial.

Good water, good salt, good filtration, good skimming, not too much light, not too much food.

Try with the resin if that works you know phosphat or silicate is the culprit.

See you!


Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk
 

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
I used Daves standard lecture number two found on this site.
When I followed this religiously, water is clear, tank stays clean, just the glass every week. I do carbon dose with NoPox, this helped the bacteria get to a population that keeps the tank clean...

Sounds kinda weird but until I placed a great emphasis on perfect water, consistent, always on point with each parameter and tested, and recorded on a worksheet, the tank was a ton of work and I had a hard time keeping up. Since using much of Daves lectures, most water, I work so much less.
15% every week, no misses....

Water water water......save time and money in the end...
 

db75Reef

Member
PO4 it may be a concern even if test seems OK. Depend by test, those values are not always correct;
Also, once you have large quantity of algae in your system, large amount of PO4 is "trapped" in algae; Can have 0.00 measured and still a green tank;
RODI weekly water change (can scrap algae from windows and siphon it out during wc) + NOPOX + some PO4 absorbers should work just fine;
The sterile tanks you wish are with NO3 between 0-2 and PO4 in range of 0.00-0.04

Also light spectrum can have an impact on algae growth. Are you using old T5??

On your test KH = 15 - is this correct?
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
In the first year anything is possible. As @db75Reef said, PO4 can be 0 on a test, but this only indicates dissolved in water, not part of the algae. Scrub the algae, increase flow and remove algae manually.

The first year, things will be wonky. Was your rock live rock, dry rock or cured and cultured prior to introducing to your system?

In my case, I always start with dry base rock & it is not unusual to have alage 6-8 months in FOR ME. I don't get to crazy for the first year. Back in December I moved a tank 50 miles, and the disruption period is almost over. Things are starting to stabilize. I know this from observation, and don't test for anything other then specific gravity. It is a catch 22 really. You need fish to produce waste which feeds the bacteria during this time, but also the tank can and may be very "fragile" on what changes it can handle on its own. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each tank is different. I have had great luck with vinegar dousing, but it is my method, and am religious about it.
Water changes are clearly not happening often enough.
Once a month/ two months at best.
I need to scrub it down and change the water 50%, see if that helps.
The best thing to do to verify is become regular with water changes. 25% every other week is good GENERALLY. Larger/more frequent changes may be required to get algae under control.

I know that if I go a month without a change AND there are any other issues, it will produce algae. Once you get algae, you have trapped algae food. You can become perpetually algafied (not a word, but I made it up anyway). Algae dies, and releases the nutrients back into the water, and more algae just eats it up. This is where heavy water changes and physical removal of algae works best. You are removing it all.

It can take months for a wrong mistake to be worked out, and it requires work.
 
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