General questions need help please! THANK!

[Bambi28982]

Hello, I have had this tank since 2012, and so far have kept it well and healthy. it used to be in a 20 gal tank but because of some losses due to power outages and life things has now shrunk to a 10G. I went back to that size because I was having major issues with it in the 20g.

the set up no is about 8 lb live rock frog spawn and Kenya trees. fan to move water, protein skimmer bio cube, and LED and 18 I floresant t8 50/50 lighting bulb. heater of course with 5 fish. doing water changes every 1 or so SG of 1.025

how can I get my tank back to the former glory

 

I have hit a stump in the road I would love any feed back but have some specific questions

 

1. how much lighting of each a day should I set my timer.

2. I have Kalk wasser do I need it?

3. am I even lighting the tank right?

THANKS AGAIN

 

[khh27]

1. Lighting is solely bias. I run 12h sunrise/sunset cycle shouldn't run more that 8-10h of daylight.

2. A tank that small kalk shouldn't be needed unless Sps dominated. Frequent water changes will suffice with what you have.

3. I'm still not quite sure of your lighting setup.

Edited March 12, 2015 by khh27

[khh27]

How has your water quality been with the 5 fish and what are they? How often do you do water changes?

[Happyfeet]

Hi Bambi, what you've outlined as concerns are very minor when it comes to the overall health of your tank. 
You haven't really outlined the problems you are having outside of saying your having them. This makes it fairly hard to diagnose whats wrong with the tank.

Start by telling us your 
NH3
NO3
PO4
dKH
Temp

Frequency and Volume of water changes

Are you having algae issues?
Are you having issues with corals melting away
Whats the specific problem you are encountering that you view as your problem.

With as much of this information as you can provide, we can better serve you. And we want to help.

[Bambi28982]

I do a water change every week give or take a few days, my light is 18 inch floressant 50/50 corallife T8 brand connects 2 sides says it has 50% blue light you need along with the normal lighting.and I also have an LED 18 inch with a white light and blue light setting

[khh27]

We need some of happyfeet questions I don't think the problem lies within the lighting.

[Bambi28982]

nitrates are a bit high but did a water change 5% gave 2 days to rest and did another 5% change water evey week give or take a few days. no algae issues, my frog spawn will not open fully like It used to its very small and I already lost a head.  SG 1.025, NH3, TEMP 78

Main concern is the coral dissipating but I had a bad light that I just switched out to a my light is 18 inch florescent 50/50 corallife T8 brand connects 2 sides says it has 50% blue light you need along with the normal lighting. And I also have an LED 18 inch with a white light and blue light setting

 

10 GAL 8 lb live rock protein skimmer and water fan to move water

fish : 2 clowns, 1 dansel 1 wrasser, and idk what the other is but I think it is an dansel
 

Edited March 12, 2015 by Bambi28982

[khh27]

It could be high nitrates and phosphates. LPS will Will peel way from skeletons which high nitrates and phos. What were are your nitrates and phosphates. High isn't constant high to me could not be high to you

[Origami]

You may need a few large water changes to bring pollutants like nitrate and phosphate down. Is the tank near a window where it can receive direct sunlight from outside? I'm assuming that it doesn't.

 

If you have high phosphate and nitrate levels, and you don't yet have algae problems, then I suspect that the tank may not be lit well, because that's the missing part to make for a nice algae outbreak. 

 

In post #7, you wrote "NH3" but didn't give a number. That's ammonia and it's very detrimental to both fish (who can tolerate some) and corals (which can tolerate less). That measurement should be zero in your tank given the amount of live rock that you have. But could be non-zero if you're overfeeding or if the biological filtration is not developed. 

[Bambi28982]

yea ammonia is 0 basically close to but 0, I just changed the bulb like I said today so hopefully that will help and no it is not in direct sunlight at all may get a beam or two every day but not near a window

[YHSublime]

There is a lot of information that you're not giving us, and it will help answer your questions.

 

1.) What is the problem? (Is it that your frogspawn is not opening?)

2.) How long are you running your lights currently? You just replaced the bulbs, correct? I guess T8 will get the job done, although not standard practice.

3.) What are your parameters for:

Temp

Salinity

Nitrate

Nitrite (if applicable)

Ammonia

Phosphate

Alkalinity

Calcium

4.) Are you using an RO/DI? When was the last time the filters were changed.

5.) How much of a water change are you doing every week on your 10 gallons? 1 gallon? 5 Gallons?

[Bruleyii]

There is a lot of information that you're not giving us, and it will help answer your questions.

 

1.) What is the problem? (Is it that your frogspawn is not opening?)

2.) How long are you running your lights currently? You just replaced the bulbs, correct? I guess T8 will get the job done, although not standard practice.

3.) What are your parameters for:

Temp

Salinity

Nitrate

Nitrite (if applicable)

Ammonia

Phosphate

Alkalinity

Calcium

4.) Are you using an RO/DI? When was the last time the filters were changed.

5.) How much of a water change are you doing every week on your 10 gallons? 1 gallon? 5 Gallons?

She answered some of these in post #7. Good thought about the RO/DI though.

[lutz123]

Just thoughts since it could be so many things.  If nitrates are high perhaps you need a source of mechanical filtration unless you are doing fairly large water changes weekly.  Even though they aren't big, that's alot of fish in a 10 gallon (if I understand correctly that it's still in the 10 gallon).  I have a 16 gallon nano and it felt a little overstocked when I temporarily had three small fish.  That will definitely contribute to nitrates, as will feeding heavily which you likely have to do.

 

A 10 gallon would do fine with an HOB filter - a little oversized like an AC70.  That way you could use filter floss to catch the crud that may be making it harder to keep up with.   The 20 gallon should simplify things greatly and an HOB filter would be fine with that too.  You really don't need a protein skimmer in my opinion - on nanos they are of marginal benefit but it doesn't hurt.

 

Lighting should be fine and likely isn't contributing.

 

I agree on the water source being a question (though that won't cause high nitrates).

 

The tank can easilly handle changing 3 gallons at a time and it would be worth it.  If you run up to your LFS you can pick up 5 gallons pretty inexpensively and do two pretty good water changes in a week.  At least you would have a hopefully good source of water.

 

Also, if your top offs are inconsistent and there are large swings you may be seeing stress, but I personally don't reallly every notice that and have pushed the limit a few times.

[nanolong]

I have a 3 gallon pico and use Kent's Part A and Part B solution to supplement growth in my corals. When I stopped using Kent's for a couple of months all of my corals lost their color and stopped growing.