How is your tank doing today? Honest answers only...

[SaltySweet]

My son and I have waited a long time to start a salt tank together. We have just recieved a 250 gallon (210gal without sump) complete with breeding cups and a plethora of extra equipment, all for fresh water. Now all the sudden his fiance has decided that the tank should remain fresh water. So he's completely wrapped in her authority. I'm mad! I am the matriarch! And quite frankly, I'm upset. They already have enough aquariums set up through out our house, that she wanted, that it keeps her busy.
I know someone is going to leap to her defense...but trust me...she can share this one project, and they cannot afford to populate this new tank alone. Plus it is taking a large space in our garage...the last space available for any new aquariums. I'm not about to pay for this.
I would love to start filling, and balancing, and ordering coral...this light is really cool. As a newbie to salt, it has functions that I didn't even know could be a problem yet.

 

[Sdbuehler1]

My tank is at the 2.5 year mark and I think it has finally hit its stride where everything is happy and thriving. I’ve ordered my first ICP test so I can get a baseline of it now while everything is good lol.

 

[Arcu2]

Pretty bad Lost every single one of my fish overnight last week to an unknown parasite. Magnificent fox face, powder blue tang, 5 year old Hawaiian yellow tang, gorgeous Picasso clown pair, 1 bangaii cardinal and a tomini tang. All model citizens. Every single fish was put through Qt before introducing them into my new waterbox 8 months ago. No corals yet, just a clean up crew that was also put through qt. The only thing I can think of is the shells my wife put into the tank a few months ago might've been carrying a parasite. She got them from her best friend who just collected them from the Bahamas and put them in the tank without telling me. This kind of stuff really really sucks and I'm really trying to push through and keep the tank running but I'm losing motivation after that big of a loss.

 

[shcrimps]

in a news anchor tone:
it’s a cloudy day in lenny the barnacle blennies home as increased liquid filter feeder food has been dispersed amongst the water column
however it does appear to be showing signs of clearing up here shortly with all the sponges, fan worms, and more taking in all that (marine) snow

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

i’m currently out of town and turned off my skimmer and put my vital return pump and mo40 on battery backup for the storm. The salinity has jumped to 027 for no good reason so i am concerned. If usually sits at 026. Corals seem fine so i’m hoping it is not a big deal.

 

[joeoliver]

Tank was doing great, but noticed my All-for-reef dosing line popped off because it was clogged so my alk dropped to 6.6 (usually 8). I cleaned the line, resumed dosing, and coral look fine so it doesn't appear to have affected my tank. reminder to clean your AFR dosing lines.

 

[RedReefer]

Doing great. Needs a trim!

 

[cillam]

I just got rid of Dinos almost 2 week ago after doing a 3 day hybrid blackout while running UV for the 72 hours of blackout. I am still running the UV for 8 and a half hours a night.

I have struggled to keep my phosphates up, but it seems like i am winning that battle as phosphates are now sitting at around 0.1ppm.

I have not cleaned the glass since starting the blackout, i have film algae and other stuff growing on the glass so it looks a mess, i had to remove what looked like GHA from the DT today that was on a birds nest coral.

Right now my display tank does not look good but i know it is doing good. In another 2 weeks i will perform a water change and clean off the glass, and if need be getting more clean up crew to deal with any algae. I also just turned my skimmer back on today which has been off since the beginning of my battles with Dinos, so hopefully i can get my nitrates down to around 10ppm.

During the blackout my rainbow bubble tip anemone split so now have 2. My coral also seem to be doing good. I did loose 2 emerald crabs, a peppermint shrimp, a hermit crab and a Midas blenny in the days of noticing the Dinos until being able to win the battle.

 

[sharkbait-uhaha]

tank is doing great besides the fact that im over here trying to keep my phosphate and nitrate from bottoming out

Phosphate 0.01
Nitrate 0.80

 

[BryanM]

its new, I'm new, and we're trying to get to know each other.

Currently trying to lower phosphates with LC. Why, since its new? Unknown, but guessing from what I've read that it is likely leaching from the live rock. We shall see.

 

[cillam]

tank is doing great besides the fact that im over here trying to keep my phosphate and nitrate from bottoming out

Phosphate 0.01
Nitrate 0.80

I have not yet had an issue with my nitrates bottoming out, lowest i have gotten them was 5ppm when dino's hit. but phosphates in my tank have always been low (<.03ppm) I have been dosing Brightwell NeoPhos twice a day and i am now at .1ppm

 

[cillam]

Fighting algae - no idea what kind (still pretty new to this), but my phosphates were high (.30), and the guy at the LFS said that may be the cause. Added some chemipure blue packets, a UV sterilizer, 33% water change, and going on 2nd day with lights off. Hopefully it goes away, and my coral can have their lights back.

that looks like it could be cyano, i had it in my tank and decided to use chemiclean, it came back about 2 months later, i used chemiclean again, and after around a week or so got dinos, my tank has chronically low phosphate which probably didn't help. You have a UV sterilizer which i believe can help with cyano if they go into the water column at night

 

[sharkbait-uhaha]

I have not yet had an issue with my nitrates bottoming out, lowest i have gotten them was 5ppm when dino's hit. but phosphates in my tank have always been low (<.03ppm) I have been dosing Brightwell NeoPhos twice a day and i am now at .1ppm

I haven't gotten the amount needed to dose daily but I too have been dosing every few days after testing

 

[Flame2hawk]

Very interesting results so far with only ~18% saying tank is “doing awesome”. I saw another post asking about whether tanks are relaxing. Between both results it’s tough not to conclude that the “myth’ of stress free relaxation supplied by having marine life in our homes is just that, a myth. We certainly like the challenge and yes satisfaction when things appear well. However we are constantly looking at different aspects of the tanks that keep us a bit on the nervous edge side and perhaps even constant low or high levels of stress. And then we double down….at least in my case thats what’s happened. Started with 55g, then 125, then 240, then 650 and then 770g tanks! All having their issues along the way. Now Im down to 3 FOWLR;s. They are not any easier then reefs. In fact in my case harder because you become more attached as fish become pets. Anyway we are all in it together I suppose and there are some days when it is indeed relaxing but I have to admit that those days are few and far between. …Happy reefing or fishing if you have a FOWLR’s

 

[jermzisurmom]

Do you have a plan on getting rid of it?

Any advice is much appreciated

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

How do you like the ammonia dosing. I'm considering the bi-carbonate route as well for the nitrate, pH and alk neutral properties. I just have to source some cheap powder in Canada.

After many months of 0 nitrates my Hanna checker registered .4 this morning. The corals are more inflated/extended, especially my candy cane. I'm going to up the dosing to 5ml in the morning and at night with another 5ml at noon. I was actually looking at some new blastos to add. I have been hesitant with the zero nitrates.

 

[Kactai]

My tank has taken a leap forward since moving from AFR to ESV. My alk is finally stable and the tank is cruising along. Sps haven't looked better.

I was considering a change in the opposite direction but I'm hesitant to change anything and I like ESV.... I thought I was having issues with the cost until I actually priced out the balling light and AFR for my consumption. In your opinion, what is it about the ESV that's giving your tank a boost?

 

[i cant think]

My tank is amazing! We have happy corals again and am finally coming back from my mass die off from BJD.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Any advice is much appreciated

For me, I pulled out what I could, reduced nitrates in my tank, and then had a trochus snail take care of the rest.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Just cut the grass the other day. And found a bunch of fan worms.