Annap729 November 5, 2011 Share November 5, 2011 What am I doing wrong..my nitrates were high and I did a 50% change. Since then the second polyp has closed tightly. Two days later my nitrates went from 5 back to 20. Haven't disturbed much but I guess every couple days I'll just keep doing changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 5, 2011 Author Share November 5, 2011 They opened...but they don't look uniform, and they look like they have some sort of mucousy substance on them. Are they dead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad November 5, 2011 Share November 5, 2011 Usually the mucous is produced because something is irritating it - either physically or chemically. How are you doing your water changes? Newly mixed saltwater? Aged saltwater? RO/DI? Separately, I am suspicious about the cause of your nitrates raising so quickly in a tank that has a fair amount of live rock in it... Live rock should contain enough anaerobic bacteria to remove nitrates. Doing water changes to keep nitrates low in a reef can get time consuming and expensive very very quickly and is not (at all) a preferred way to do things. Have you significantly changes the bioload on your tank (addition of more than 1-2 fish) or something like that recently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 5, 2011 Share November 5, 2011 Looks like something has irritated them. Whenever palys or zoas and the like are irritated they secret a mucousy slime. As long as they are open, they're fine. Do you use RO/DI water? These guys are less picky than anything you can put in your tank. They prefer dirty water. How's your PH? They don't like low PH They opened...but they don't look uniform, and they look like they have some sort of mucousy substance on them. Are they dead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 5, 2011 Author Share November 5, 2011 I have been doing 5 gallon at a time water changes; I've done two in the last week. Wondering if splashing the water and disturbing the sand a little (i diffuse it but because it's a tiny cube it seems inevitable that it gets a little turbulent) causes nitrates to be high. I thought the live rock would keep nitrate down too but it isn't. My filter is a hang on filter for now. Should I add more bacteria culture or try dosing vodka to get nitrates down? Not sure what I should do. I don't have a skimmer, and I've only been feeding live brine. Tank inventory: I have a dozen hermits and three teeny peppermint shrimp w one fire shrimp. The mandarin goby was the only fish addition besides the two original damsels. I'll check ph as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad November 6, 2011 Share November 6, 2011 What is the salinity in your DT and how are you measuring it? How soon before using your saltwater are you mixing it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 6, 2011 Author Share November 6, 2011 <br />What is the salinity in your DT and how are you measuring it? How soon before using your saltwater are you mixing it?<br /><br /><br /><br /> I'm mixing it the day before I use it. I keep salinity at 1.023 with the refractometer. Both palys have opened totally. What should I do with my water-how much time do I wait? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 6, 2011 Author Share November 6, 2011 Tell me your thoughts on how to get it down. I wanna get this right and not kill the feesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 6, 2011 Share November 6, 2011 Why do you keep your salinity so low? http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php <br /><br /><br /> I'm mixing it the day before I use it. I keep salinity at 1.023 with the refractometer. Both palys have opened totally. What should I do with my water-how much time do I wait? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightline November 7, 2011 Share November 7, 2011 1.026 027??? wow when i started 28 years ago it was 1.021 then it went to 1.023 now 1.026?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad November 7, 2011 Share November 7, 2011 LOl, yep. Over the last 28 years, though, we have gotten better at keeping corals! FYI, the average salinity on the world's coral reefs is 35 or 1.0264. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der ABT November 7, 2011 Share November 7, 2011 How long has your tank been up. Keeping a drogonet can be tricky unless you have them eating prepared food (pellets/frozen). usually they like an established reef with lots of things to eat, i got my old one to eat frozen food by using live brine shrimp and feeding it individually/slowly mixing in frozen and pellet. Are you using RO/DI water? What size tank is this, you said small but how small. Besides salinity i would check PH as Tom said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 7, 2011 Author Share November 7, 2011 (edited) Okay, here goes: ph 8.2 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 40-60ppm (scream) I only fed live brine shrimp. I've tried some mysis in the cubes today for the first time. fire shrimp is going NUTS, but the mandarin doesn't blink. I saw him eat some more tigger pods that i used the turkey baster to target feed. I am going to hatch some baby brine shrimp and hope that helps. my problem is the darn damsels suck a lot up before he gets to them, even when i distract them with some mysis. RODI from a typhoon III extreme, coming out clean, clean, clean. 0 TDS, 0 nitrates, etc tank dimensions (it's a custom acrylic that will be my ATO here soon for the 125) are 18x16x15 and there is some live rock in there. I have just added some red macro (tank flow is really minimal because I'm using a little hang on filter (no protein skimmer). However, the live rock came from TriBu's 15 year established tank, loaded with pods and bacteria, etc. I even used his original water. I'll do a water change and bring it up to 1.025-but how long do i need to wait to use my freshly mixed SW once it's dissolved? Edited November 7, 2011 by Annap729 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 8, 2011 Share November 8, 2011 Brine shrimp has no nutritional value unless they are enriched with something. Have you been rinsing or pouring them in with the water they came with? Not rinsing and pouring dirty brine water in to your tank will definately increase nittrates. Mandarins really shouldn't be introduced into a system that less than 30 gallons and is well established or they are eating frozen foods. You can never have enough pods for them. The only manadrins I know that eat frozen foods are from ORA. Fresh mix should aerate for at least 24 hours after it's been mixed. Mix and stick a powerhead in there for at least 24 hours. Okay, here goes: ph 8.2 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 40-60ppm (scream) I only fed live brine shrimp. I've tried some mysis in the cubes today for the first time. fire shrimp is going NUTS, but the mandarin doesn't blink. I saw him eat some more tigger pods that i used the turkey baster to target feed. I am going to hatch some baby brine shrimp and hope that helps. my problem is the darn damsels suck a lot up before he gets to them, even when i distract them with some mysis. RODI from a typhoon III extreme, coming out clean, clean, clean. 0 TDS, 0 nitrates, etc tank dimensions (it's a custom acrylic that will be my ATO here soon for the 125) are 18x16x15 and there is some live rock in there. I have just added some red macro (tank flow is really minimal because I'm using a little hang on filter (no protein skimmer). However, the live rock came from TriBu's 15 year established tank, loaded with pods and bacteria, etc. I even used his original water. I'll do a water change and bring it up to 1.025-but how long do i need to wait to use my freshly mixed SW once it's dissolved? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 8, 2011 Author Share November 8, 2011 Awesome! I'm moving them to a 30g cube. I have been waiting about 18 hours or so on the salt mix. And OMG yes I've been adding the saltwater from the shrimp! But, its been two water changes since that and the numbers continue to hold at 40-60. Hopefully that's it. But my numbers are still high and continue to climb it seems. At least it's not coming down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 8, 2011 Author Share November 8, 2011 What is ORA? I need that reefkeeper's acronym guide . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John November 8, 2011 Share November 8, 2011 It's a company, www.orafarm.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 8, 2011 Share November 8, 2011 No, not cool to make mix, fill up a tank and throw fish in it. Dragonets need established tanks or they will starve to death. That 30 gallon cube with fresh mix does not have the life a dragonet needs. It may have it in a month or so if you don't add anything else to it. Even then it will have a low population of pods. I hope that dragonet isn't just shutting down because it hasn't eaten anything nutritional in a while. You may want to consider purchasing live pods, which can be costly. The way I see it is that fish didn't ask to be in an envirionment where it would not thrive so it deserves to be taken care of. Research! Read about the various types of set ups. Read about the livestock; their requirements, eating habits, compatability, etc.. Choose your livestock based on your set up, not what you think is cool to have. Choose your set up based on what you can afford, what you can accomidate and what you can dedicate to maintenance. Buy the appropriate size tank and wait for it to cycle properly; at least 1 month. To be successful in this hobby you need patience or you will pay a lot of money and kill a lot of livestock. Read about cycling a tank, so you can understand how the nitrogen cycle works. Get the proper test kits and other equipment needed for start up; PH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite to start. Make sure you know how to check the proper parameters. Make sure you know what those parameters should be. If you don't like to read books go to various groups. Read the threads, ask questions, look at picutres...all BEFORE you purchase your fish. The other option is to hook up with a decent LFS (Local fish store) that can guide you in the right direction every step of the way. ORA = Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums. A supplier of high end aquacultured corals, fish and other marine life that are bred specifically for the marine aquarist to keep in home aquariums. You can do a search on google for them and read what they are all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 8, 2011 Author Share November 8, 2011 Wait u might have misunderstood me. The entire tank was a transplant from a 15 year old tank. Loaded live rock, same water, same sand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 8, 2011 Share November 8, 2011 Oooohhhh. Yes, I misunderstood. Sorry. Wait u might have misunderstood me. The entire tank was a transplant from a 15 year old tank. Loaded live rock, same water, same sand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 8, 2011 Author Share November 8, 2011 I have a whole tub of rubble from the established tank. I have all the test kits. I've had my 125 for >6 months and just not started the cycling. I am taking my time and reading a lot. The only reason I have this small tank up is Bc I adopted some livestock from a tank breakdown. I wasn't going to give them to a lfs. I did buy the mandarin, but was assured he was eating and my live rock was teeming with life. Tank slightly small, but it was only a temporary home. I appreciate the info however. Why would nitrates continue to climb? Can I add bacteria? What about dosing vodka until it comes back down? I've also been doing 5g changes every other day. Is this right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 8, 2011 Share November 8, 2011 Are you using polyfilters? is there anything that can hold debris in your system? Has anything died? I have a whole tub of rubble from the established tank. I have all the test kits. I've had my 125 for >6 months and just not started the cycling. I am taking my time and reading a lot. The only reason I have this small tank up is Bc I adopted some livestock from a tank breakdown. I wasn't going to give them to a lfs. I did buy the mandarin, but was assured he was eating and my live rock was teeming with life. Tank slightly small, but it was only a temporary home. I appreciate the info however. Why would nitrates continue to climb? Can I add bacteria? What about dosing vodka until it comes back down? I've also been doing 5g changes every other day. Is this right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 8, 2011 Author Share November 8, 2011 One other thing Jan-The mix I made up was for my 5gallon water changes, not an entire tank, new or old. I'm very familiar w ammonia cycle. I own several large references that aren't near me but are apparently considered the bibles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annap729 November 8, 2011 Author Share November 8, 2011 Yes I have filter floss in the hang on filter, along with a phosphorus pad and a carbon pad. One sponge is established from another aquarium-its been about a week since I added the new filter pad and left the old one in there. The only dead thing I found was a tiny hermit and I pulled most of him out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 8, 2011 Share November 8, 2011 (edited) K, my sincerest apologies, really. I totally misunderstood and had no idea..... but what about filtration? Anything that is accumulating debris like poslyfilter? I could never get nitrates down in my 24 gallon because of the darn polyfilters. they are nitrate magnets. Must change them every week, at least. nnap729' date='07 November 2011 - 10:31 PM' timestamp='1320723064' post='387185'] One other thing Jan-The mix I made up was for my 5gallon water changes, not an entire tank, new or old. I'm very familiar w ammonia cycle. I own several large references that aren't near me but are apparently considered the bibles. Edited November 8, 2011 by Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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