Sharkey18

Hi all, So these "easy" "beginner" corals are killing me. My mushroom exist but don't thrive and my zoas more often than not shrivel up and disappear. I can easily start with a nice colony on 50 polyps and reduce it to 20 pathetic ones in a few months. Any suggestions? Thanks! Laura Tank specs: 54 gal. corner bowfront 10 gallon sump 4 to 5 inch sand bed. About 50 lbs live rock (some in the sump) T-5 Fluorescents 1 use a two part Mix of softies, LPL and a few sps 79 F 1.025 8.21 pH 10 dKH 360 Ca 0 ammonia 0 nitrate .25 phosphate

Just caught one of mine eating my digitata. Definitely was removing flesh. I had been away for a week so there was light feeding... maybe he was extra hungry? Don't matter now, he's in the QT. The remaining one causes no problems. Yet. Laura

Thanks. I don't have enough hair algae to support a large algae grazer. I'll try the snails. I am having loads of fun feeding my corals and that has caused a little bit of a hair algae problem but nothing unmanageable. Just looking to add a little management help. Thanks! Laura

Two days in a row I caught one of my mithrax crabs hanging on my digi pulling flesh off the end. The first time was forgiven, the second time got him sent to the QT. Anybody ever seen this before. Any chance I can reintroduce to the display? If not I thought I would offer him up to treesprite... she loves these guys right? Laura

I am looking to add a new fish and would like something that grazes on algae. Tangs are out due to previous bad luck and too small tank. Specs: 54 gallon 2 true percs 1 fat 6 line wrasse 1 orange spotted goby mostly softies and LPS Suggestions? Laura

I would love to get some macro algae from you. Do you (or anyone else) grow macro in the display? It is something I would like to try as long as it can be controlled. Do you run an ATS? I have a small remote ATS going for months and I love it, but I still grow mostly green hair on it. I am looking to set up a real fuge either under the algal screen or in the adjacent sump compartment. Any turf? Thanks! Laura

Stunning photography. Need to see more. Laura

Wow. Thanks everyone so much for their responses. This group has been such an amazing help to me and the generosity of the members with information still astounds me. Thanks so much. I will read through all the responses again and decide what to do, but I think the information provided is exactly what I needed and should be pinned for newbies like me who are just getting ready to start using kalk or a two part. I've read a lot of the articles on it and understand it but the personalized attention and opinions really do help. Laura

Hey everyone, I need to start dosing kalk or a two part additive. I have been reading lots of posts lately about killing tanks by overdosing kalk so I have to admit I am terrified to do it. On the other hand, I would slow drip a predetermined amount over night when needed so there isn't much risk of a valve or some fancy equipment failing and I would never put enough in the drip bottle to OD so I guess I should be ok. My question is what is the best way to do it for a small tank? (54 gal. corner, 10 gal sump) The directions say to mix a gallon and add what is needed to the tank. If I do that I will add a few ml. and throw out the rest of the gallon. Or can I keep the gallon if I keep it closed and stir well before I use it again. Or should I just mix a lot less, like 1/2 or 1/4 gallon and just toss it after? My concern with that is the smaller volume mixed the less room for error, but saturated is saturated right? Lastly: maybe I should just forget about kalk and use two part. It seems easier and safer? Anyone want to buy a cheap bottle of kalk? I have many more questions but I'll post them one issue at a time. Thanks so much, Laura Current values: KH = 8 calcium = 400 pH = 8.2

I have bought IO in the past from Pristine Aquariums in Alexandria. Laura

Well I don't really think I am up for a DIY light project. But I'll take a look! Thanks

I want to upgrade my PC lights to T5's. I have a 54 gallon corner tank with softies and LPS. I am not interested in keeping SPS yet. My issue is because the tank is shaped like a trivial pursuit wedge, getting even light from front to back is a pain. I am looking for something that is wider rather than longer. I have heard great things about the ice cap ballasts to overdrive t5's but I am not a good DIY person and don't even really know quite what a ballast does.... I was looking at this current nova extreme. light If anyone has any suggestions on where to shop or what to get I would appreciate it. I have no problems with a custom built unit but would need a lot of help / suggestions from the vendor. Laura

Here's what I did. After fish were gone. I removed what rocks I could and scrubbed them with a toothbrush, rinse and put them back. I set up a 5 gallon bucket of warmed 1.025 sg water and scrubbed them in that. After one or two rocks the water was black. The large rocks that had coral on I left in the tank and scrubbed with a tooth brush. It makes the water a disaster so a heavy mechanical filtration system is necessary to remove he particulates. I just use a 100 micron filter pad in the sump and a hang in the tank "water polisher": just a power head with an attached mechanical filter. I also removed my bioballs and cleaned out a LOT of detritus in the bottom of the sump which I strongly suspects was a major source of algae nutrients. I chose not to use bioballs any more and added the 100 micron filter pad to act as a particulate filter to keep detritus out of the sump. With no fish I did NO feeding except a little sea weed for the crabs maybe 2 or 3 times a week. I cut my lights down to 6 hrs. on only. Just enough to keep the corals alive. Then wait. I also run a very small DIY ATS which I do think helps. After the last scrubbing with no fish to feed, my algae grew back at half the rate it did before. After about 2 weeks, i scrubbed the rock again of any algae that seemed to be taking hold, which was very little. After that the algae just never grew back and I started leaving the lights on longer and longer. and this time the algae never grew back. No one was more surprised than me. I really couldn't believe it. be careful about what cleaners you add. My tank crash started with too many turbo's. I added what was recommended. Bad news. They only eat diatoms I believe. So with so many they started starving and dying. Also they fall over and can't right themselves and die. Apparently they are not intended to live in reef / rock environments and adding turbo's is a death sentence for the snails and a disaster for the tank when they start dying. I will never add any again. Now I have 2 emerald mithrax crabs which are awesome. I also have a bunch of hermits (15?) and a bunch of nassarius snails. The nassarius can right themselves and seem quite happy. That's my current clean up crew. one of the things I learned is that clean up crews can control new growth quite well but they cannot really mow down a major problem. Now that there is minimal algae they do a great job of eating what does grow. I have so little algae that I supplement with sea weed to make sure the crabs don't die of starvation. the cleaner shrimp will probably eat anything you offer. I suggest adding a mithrax crab and a few nassarius snails and maybe a few more hermits. Sorry this is so long but i do hope it helps. My last fish died on dec. 4th and I just added the first one back a week ago so patience and water changes are your best friends! Good luck.

Hey I lost all my fish to ick a few months ago. Kick ick and other easy cure additives are not going to work. And and might even ruin your entire tank. You must have a QT (don't worry I didn't either) and QT fish before they enter your display. Once you have ick, you're in trouble. Now if you have any fish left either remove them to a QT and treat or wait for them to die. If you can save any that is great. The ick parasite can live in your tank for 4 weeks WITH NO FISH HOST. If you really want to get rid of the ick you should wait FOUR WEEKS before adding any fish back. Really 6 is better. after 4 - 6 weeks, you can add fish back after you've QT them. Good news is that if you set up a QT now you can buy a fish in a week, QT it and it will be ready to put i the display in a few weeks. It has been 2 months since all my fish died and I currently have 1 fish in my tank. The good news is that while i had no fish i was able to really concentrate on the corals, the water conditions and my hair algae problem disappeared. I am adding fish back very slowly, monitoring water quality to make sure all is good. the thing to remember is once you have ick the infected fish needs to removed asap. If you remove and treat properly with tried and true methods you have a chance. the time you wasted with kick ich just let it spread get worse and allow secondary infections. Good luck!

I understand what they are trying to do... be intentionally inflammatory and idiotic to get attention on a subject that they think is important. What I don't get is why use these silly ideas to intentionally mis educate children. Fish and kittens? huh? Don't they think that the truth is powerful enough? My dog's love to eat their forest cousins.... that doesn't mean I want them to be inhumanly slaughtered... It's like what you've all been teaching me about calcium and and alkalinity.... balance is important!

That's idiotic. Let's call deer forest dogs and maybe people won't want to hunt them. Seriously, is mis-education the answer?

Thanks so much for everyone's help. My alk and Ca levels are much more balanced now. Alk is at 9 (3.5) and Ca is at 420. pH 8.2. I did a 20 Gal water change and also noticed a lot of little white stuff flying through the water. Under the microscope they look like little shards of glass.... I am guessing I had something precipitating. (I was hoping they were pods....but no..) In any case, things are much better and I know a lot more about maintaining balance. Thanks so much! Laura

Too Cool. Thanks for sharing!

Yes, I'll be watching the levels closely to see how they go. I am not planning on keeping many stony's in this tank so I may be ok but my corals do not appear to be thriving, but surviving well. Specifically I would like to see some coralline algae and growth of my zoa's and such. I use Instant Ocean salt. Not sure if it's the best thing to be using but it's what I started with and am afraid to change. I use API drop type test. Which actually brings me to another question: There has GOT to be a more accurate way to measure levels of elements in water. I am a scientist and a visual color matching system would NEVER fly. I know I can buy a pH meter easy enough, but what about everything else? Specifically Nitrate and phosphate. The 0 reading color and the next detectable reading colors are barely any different. Suggestions? Thanks, Laura

Thanks so much!! I have read several of the reef keeping articles but it looks like there are a few more to get to! I have been dosing a lot of stuff and I have stopped it all until i figure out what I need and what to test for. I do understand the connection between alk and calcium and Mg and I have a good idea of what and how to dose if I ever want to. My tank is mostly softies and a few LPS so comparatively, my calcium needs are lower than a sps dominated tank. I do 5 gallon water changes every 2 weeks. My goal is to optimize the conditions for growth. My tank is finally doing well but my corals are not really growing at all. I have green coralline but no growing purple coralline. I think you're probably going to tell me the usual refrain..... PATIENCE! My question is what do I do now? Wait? I have not been testing Mg and have been to 2 LFS looking for a test kit with no luck. LFS 3 is on the list for today I guess my next step is NO dosing, and wait for the Ca and Alk to get in balance on their own? Thanks!

Back several months ago when I first set up the tank, before I added any livestock, I added 2 teaspoons of Kent Superbuffer-dKH. That was like 8 months ago. Since then my pH has been stable at 8.4 and dKH at 12. They have JUST recently (last two weeks) started to adjust down. pH is now 8.2 and dKH is 10. So it got me thinking maybe I should dose Kalkwasser. I was also adding calcium almost everyday and my Ca levels were at like 800! I stopped adding calcium and my levels are still at 500. Laura

Hey LOOK! I'm a hatchling.... with the number of questions I have i'll be "all growed up" soon. Laura

Saw a sign tonight at Pristine Aquariums in Alexandria that said "LIVE PODS". Probably pricey but could be worth it if the babies survive. Good luck! Laura

If my alkalinity (10) and pH (8.2) are consistently stable is there any reason to dose kalkwasser? If the levels are stable and I do dose (with top off water for example) will I do any damage? Laura