Maria-Elena January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 Hello: I think I overfed my corals and they are not looking well. I have a 28 gallon JBJ nano tankI haven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novi January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 Just do a water change for right now. I mean thats all you really can do since you dont have a skimmer right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 Take a measurement of your water parameters. Specifically, look at ammonia levels. If they are elevated, a large water change is your best bet. Decomposing food would be the problem. If the overfeeding is new and you still have particulate food in the tank, if you're able to filter it out, do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvreef January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 yes I would do a water change....when you say you have no skimmer do u mean non at all.... if so i would also vacume the sand bed to help get some of the food out of the system....need to get a skimmer going to help pull out the nasties in the water column....I would be willing to bet the lack of not having a skimmer is the bulk of the problem with the corals not looking too good....your skimmer pulls out so many of the nasty stuff your corals don't like and gets it out of the water column... now with that said how much are you feeding your fish? how much to corals....how often are your water changes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 (edited) Can you post a picture? What is it that you're seeing that makes you say this? What kinds of corals are you talking about;SPS, LPS, mixed? Have you checked your parameters; ammonia, nitrates, PH, SG? Water change is the best advice for the short term, but you want to make sure you're not just putting a bandaid on the issue. Corals not looking good can happen from several things; infestation of pests, certain algae, parameters being off.. Can you be more specific?If it was ammonia your fish would be showing some signs of distress. Probably before the corals would. Edited January 11, 2012 by Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 Please don;t touch the sandbed yet. You may create a whole other problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria-Elena January 11, 2012 Author Share January 11, 2012 Thanks for the advice. When I have a skimmer that came with my nano tank, but I did not put it because I did'n't have any fish at that time. I will connect it today. I also have a Eiheim vacuum, but I will not touch the sand yet. I think I overfed them because all the glass had red spots (color of the food) yesterday. I've already cleaned it, but it is still red on the sand. I feel so bad. My husband and I are new in the hobby. I am preparing water to make a water change today. Hope this works. I am posting three pictures I took with an itouch. I am not sure if you can see what I have. Is there anyone close to Springfield, VA who can come and see them? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 Sounds like you have a cyano outbreak. A water change will help, feed the fish once a day, the fish poo will feed the corals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 (edited) I can't tell from the pictures. It looks cloudy to me. The xenia and kenya tree look fine but that SPS on the bottom right looks like it's losing it's polyps from the bottom up. What kind of light do you have? How did your parameters test? Have you done a water change yet? What food did you feed? What kind of flow do you have? You "think" you overfed because of the red spots that look like the food? It my be cyano, like Frank said. What food did you feed that would stick to the glass? Thanks for the advice. When I have a skimmer that came with my nano tank, but I did not put it because I did'n't have any fish at that time. I will connect it today. I also have a Eiheim vacuum, but I will not touch the sand yet. I think I overfed them because all the glass had red spots (color of the food) yesterday. I've already cleaned it, but it is still red on the sand. I feel so bad. My husband and I are new in the hobby. I am preparing water to make a water change today. Hope this works. I am posting three pictures I took with an itouch. I am not sure if you can see what I have. Is there anyone close to Springfield, VA who can come and see them? Thanks Edited January 11, 2012 by Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 It looks like the stock PC bulbs to me, and I don't see any added powerheads. Your soft corals look fine to me, but I think the sps is having trouble b/c of other things. Also, I do not see any coraline algae on your back wall, which makes me believe something is not in line with Alk/Calc/Mag. How long has the tank been setup? It looks nice, I think you should just focus on the soft corals like those green star polyps. I was expecting worse based on your first post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria-Elena January 11, 2012 Author Share January 11, 2012 I tested the water yesterday late at Petco and they said the parametres were fine. That is the reason I was surprised to see my corals like that. If my corals are still bado, when I get home this afternoon, I am going to take a picture of the coral that looked so sad yesterday night. Hope I can take better pictures. Thank you very much to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 So this isn't something that happened today? How long has this tank been set up? How long did it take to cycle? My suggestion to you would be to invest in a test kit. It should have a test for Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrite and PH. If you don't already have one get a refractometer to test your SG. Do you top off everyday? Do you inspect, dip and QT your corals? Do more research on the corals you have and what they need to survive. Nano tanks are notorious for being unstable. High nitrates are usually an issue. Proper lighting is key in maintaining most corals. A skimmer is good to have, but if you do frequent water changes you should be ok with a small system. Proper flow and water parameters are very important. Cleaners can help alot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 11, 2012 Share January 11, 2012 Looking at the photos, the "red" spots look kind of brown - like diatoms. At least, to the left hand side of the rock in the lower left corner, an along that glass pane. That would also explain why they're on the glass. It may just be a diatom outbreak. If the tank is fairly new (and it kind of looks that way), then this may just be normal break in. Are you using RO/DI or distilled water to make up your artificial salt water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria-Elena January 12, 2012 Author Share January 12, 2012 My tank was set up (the process wasready) three weeks ago. The cycle took one month. I came home 2 hour ago and connectedthe skimmer. My fish are OK, but some of my corals not. They look sad. The sandis with some red hairs and the glass has some green, but I did not touch thesand yet. My water will be readytomorrow, I prepared the water with a RO/DI filter. I am going to change 5 gallons, Pleaselook at the 4 pictures enclosed]and let me know what you think. Thanks again for all yourhelp. Pictures Tank (11_Jan2012).pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 12, 2012 Share January 12, 2012 Looks like cyano and some green film algae. Cyano will subside in the dark and reappear under light. If you observe this, it's almost certainly cyanobacteria. Just siphon it off. Running carbon can help remove the dissolved organic compounds (DOCs) that can sometimes fuel cyano growth. You may be over feeding the tank, and thereby adding too many nutrients to the system. That may be the root cause of this. It's hard to tell, but the lighting in your tank looks subdued and may be insufficient for the SPS colonies that you've got in there. This may be the reason they're unhappy. Without sufficient light, they will likely fade and die. What kind of light is on the tank? It may help to move them higher in the tank so that they are closer to your light source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria-Elena January 13, 2012 Author Share January 13, 2012 Thank you very much for your advice. We siphoned it off yesterday and made a water change, and I am going to buy the carbon to run it today (could you please explain to me how to do it?). There are still yellow/red spots in the glass. I think some of them look better this morning (unfortunately two of them died). I don't know if I can do something else. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 A lot of us run carbon in a reactor with water flowing across it (be sure to rinse it well first to clear the dust out). A less-effective way to use carbon is to put it in a media bag and place it in a high flow area of your sump. Carbon acts to adsorb (not absorb) long chain organic molecules onto it's surface (microscopic cracks give activated carbon extremely high surface area), keeping your water clean. Contact with those cracks (or pores) is needed for the carbon to be effective. That's why we want the water to flow by the activated carbon granule. When you go out to your LFS to pick up the carbon, ask them about how to use it and see what they come back with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schenktank January 13, 2012 Share January 13, 2012 dont worry too much. sh*# happens when you first get your feet wet. maybe add some more flow with a powerhead or two, that helps whith cyano. sps might need to be up as high as you can get it in that tank. you can always add more snails and hermits too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals January 20, 2012 Share January 20, 2012 I gave them a little rowaphos to put in their canister filter until they can get a hang on reactor for it. Their phosphates and nitrates were both reading really low so thats a good thing. Just keep doing water changes, use the carbon, rowaphos and sucking the cyano out and it will go away in time guys don't worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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