Nano Reef Chemistry Help

[MB_Reef]

I have a 10g tank with a HOB Marineland 125 filter with 1 cartridge and 1 DIY filter floss (cut to size, changed every few days). Tank currently has 2 Clowns, mixed CUC of hermits, astrea, and 2 nassarius. Tank is about 2 months old. Equal Mix of live rock and dry rock.

Coral frags include duncan, 2 zoas, neon green goni, and birdsnest.

Parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 7.8 (consistant)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10
phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 9-10
Calcium: 440ppm

All test are with API test kit.

Recently, the Goni has been pretty closed up, some heads open up nicely, while others stay closed. Zoas and birdsnest look good, duncan is always open but isn't opened as big as before when I first got it.

I have green and brown algae that is hard to control. Rocks were all brown algae but now turning green. Brown still grows on glass and sand. Some green on glass.

How do I raise pH and deal with the algae?

Thanks

 

[Reeflix]

ignore the ph. doesnt matter. mine is at 7.9 is fine. also just a hads up the api arent the most reliable (in my experince the calcium is the most unreliable) so maybe use a different test. your tank is pretty new still so the algae might persist for a little bit. as for the coral they might be closed up because your phos and nitrate are inbalanced.

 

[Reeflix]

if you REALLY want to raise the PH then you can dump a couple hundo down the drain for a reef stabilizer which needs to be dosed every other week. note that this stuff is quite expenisive in the long run so i dont recommend it

 

[MB_Reef]

ignore the ph. doesnt matter. mine is at 7.9 is fine. also just a hads up the api arent the most reliable (in my experince the calcium is the most unreliable) so maybe use a different test. your tank is pretty new still so the algae might persist for a little bit. as for the coral they might be closed up because your phos and nitrate are inbalanced.

What do you mean imbalanced? Need to increase phos?

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have a 10g tank with a HOB Marineland 125 filter with 1 cartridge and 1 DIY filter floss (cut to size, changed every few days). Tank currently has 2 Clowns, mixed CUC of hermits, astrea, and 2 nassarius. Tank is about 2 months old. Equal Mix of live rock and dry rock.

Coral frags include duncan, 2 zoas, neon green goni, and birdsnest.

Parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 7.8 (consistant)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10
phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 9-10
Calcium: 440ppm

All test are with API test kit.

Recently, the Goni has been pretty closed up, some heads open up nicely, while others stay closed. Zoas and birdsnest look good, duncan is always open but isn't opened as big as before when I first got it.

I have green and brown algae that is hard to control. Rocks were all brown algae but now turning green. Brown still grows on glass and sand. Some green on glass.

How do I raise pH and deal with the algae?

Thanks

Your parameters are fine, with perhaps the exception of the Phosphate which if truly zero is too low.
I doubt it is zero, and you would need a Hanna Phosphate checker to find the real level.

Algae of all sorts is normal in a new tank, it takes 6 months or so for the tank to stabilise. All you can do is manual removal - get in there scrubbing with a toothbrush. Add some snails, perhaps 2-3 Trochus snails who will eat the algae off the rocks. If you have algae on the substrate, you could add a Strombus snail.

The tank is a bit young for the coral you have added except for the zoanthids, however keep up the maintenance and weekly 10% water changes and it will hopefully all work out.

 

[NotReefsafe]

I have an extremely similar tank. My advice:

1)Water changes
2) feed less--a pair of clowns does not need much food, and doesn't even need daily feedings. No need for frozen food, either.
3)Turn up the flow on the Duncan and Goni.

A little bit of algae is totally normal.

 

[MB_Reef]

Your parameters are fine, with perhaps the exception of the Phosphate which if truly zero is too low.
I doubt it is zero, and you would need a Hanna Phosphate checker to find the real level.

Algae of all sorts is normal in a new tank, it takes 6 months or so for the tank to stabilise. All you can do is manual removal - get in there scrubbing with a toothbrush. Add some snails, perhaps 2-3 Trochus snails who will eat the algae off the rocks. If you have algae on the substrate, you could add a Strombus snail.

The tank is a bit young for the coral you have added except for the zoanthids, however keep up the maintenance and weekly 10% water changes and it will hopefully all work out

Thank you!

 

[MB_Reef]

I have an extremely similar tank. My advice:

1)Water changes
2) feed less--a pair of clowns does not need much food, and doesn't even need daily feedings. No need for frozen food, either.
3)Turn up the flow on the Duncan and Goni.

A little bit of algae is totally normal.

Thank you!

 

[TraydersAnonymous]

I have a 10g tank with a HOB Marineland 125 filter with 1 cartridge and 1 DIY filter floss (cut to size, changed every few days). Tank currently has 2 Clowns, mixed CUC of hermits, astrea, and 2 nassarius. Tank is about 2 months old. Equal Mix of live rock and dry rock.

Coral frags include duncan, 2 zoas, neon green goni, and birdsnest.

Parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 7.8 (consistant)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10
phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 9-10
Calcium: 440ppm

All test are with API test kit.

Recently, the Goni has been pretty closed up, some heads open up nicely, while others stay closed. Zoas and birdsnest look good, duncan is always open but isn't opened as big as before when I first got it.

I have green and brown algae that is hard to control. Rocks were all brown algae but now turning green. Brown still grows on glass and sand. Some green on glass.

How do I raise pH and deal with the algae?

Thanks

whats your Mag @ ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

if you REALLY want to raise the PH then you can dump a couple hundo down the drain for a reef stabilizer which needs to be dosed every other week. note that this stuff is quite expenisive in the long run so i dont recommend it

What are you talking about? What is a reef stabilizer?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have a 10g tank with a HOB Marineland 125 filter with 1 cartridge and 1 DIY filter floss (cut to size, changed every few days). Tank currently has 2 Clowns, mixed CUC of hermits, astrea, and 2 nassarius. Tank is about 2 months old. Equal Mix of live rock and dry rock.

Coral frags include duncan, 2 zoas, neon green goni, and birdsnest.

Parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 7.8 (consistant)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10
phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 9-10
Calcium: 440ppm

All test are with API test kit.

Recently, the Goni has been pretty closed up, some heads open up nicely, while others stay closed. Zoas and birdsnest look good, duncan is always open but isn't opened as big as before when I first got it.

I have green and brown algae that is hard to control. Rocks were all brown algae but now turning green. Brown still grows on glass and sand. Some green on glass.

How do I raise pH and deal with the algae?

Thanks

Can you post a picture of the tank?

 

[Reeflix]

What are you talking about? What is a reef stabilizer?

oh uh sorry i should of used the real name. that is just what i call it

 

[Reeflix]

ok here we are, it is called "marine buffer" by seachem. i had low ph (still do) but i bought some thinking it would solve the problem and nope, i needed to dose very week (it did raise it to 8.3 but it stressed out the corals with the spike and then went back down) so if you want to spend alot of money dosing this weekly, then go ahead, i mean it works pretty good, i just didnt want you to make the same mistake i did. also it raises alk, and mag, so it makes dosing a little tricky

 

[Reeflix]

What do you mean imbalanced? Need to increase phos?

so pretty much your phos should be in a 1 to 100 ratio of nitrate, that is what i mean by inbalanced because you have no phos. sorry, i should of explained it better

 

[MB_Reef]

so pretty much your phos should be in a 1 to 100 ratio of nitrate, that is what i mean by inbalanced because you have no phos. sorry, i should of explained it better

No worries. I have look into that a bit, but trying to raise my phos scares me with only having the API test kit. From my understanding, even tho its reading 0 that doesn’t mean its truly 0.

 

[MB_Reef]

ok here we are, it is called "marine buffer" by seachem. i had low ph (still do) but i bought some thinking it would solve the problem and nope, i needed to dose very week (it did raise it to 8.3 but it stressed out the corals with the spike and then went back down) so if you want to spend alot of money dosing this weekly, then go ahead, i mean it works pretty good, i just didnt want you to make the same mistake i did. also it raises alk, and mag, so it makes dosing a little tricky

I actually have marine buffer from seachem already. I bought it thinking I want to dose it, but am scared to add things that could potentially cause unwanted spikes

however, I do pride myself in testing my parameters often and am really trying to stay in tune with whats going on.

How did you go about dosing it? If you think that this would help, I am down to give it a shot. I just need to know the best way to go about it.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I actually have marine buffer from seachem already. I bought it thinking I want to dose it, but am scared to add things that could potentially cause unwanted spikes

however, I do pride myself in testing my parameters often and am really trying to stay in tune with whats going on.

How did you go about dosing it? If you think that this would help, I am down to give it a shot. I just need to know the best way to go about it.

The best way of fixing problems in a new tank is water changes, not randomly throwing chemicals in there.

Keep it simple and stick to the basics.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

ok here we are, it is called "marine buffer" by seachem. i had low ph (still do) but i bought some thinking it would solve the problem and nope, i needed to dose very week (it did raise it to 8.3 but it stressed out the corals with the spike and then went back down) so if you want to spend alot of money dosing this weekly, then go ahead, i mean it works pretty good, i just didnt want you to make the same mistake i did. also it raises alk, and mag, so it makes dosing a little tricky

Don't believe their claims about pH stabilizing at any particular value. No product can do that.

Only add buffers when you need alkalinity, and if you do, then you can make a choice whehter you want the alk additive to raise pH a lot, a little, or not at all. That effect is only temporary, but in a tank needing alk every day, a temporary effect every day can end up being a very useful tool.

 

[Reeflix]

I actually have marine buffer from seachem already. I bought it thinking I want to dose it, but am scared to add things that could potentially cause unwanted spikes

however, I do pride myself in testing my parameters often and am really trying to stay in tune with whats going on.

How did you go about dosing it? If you think that this would help, I am down to give it a shot. I just need to know the best way to go about it.

how much did you buy? if you only bought a small amount then you might just want to not use it, but... if you do use it cannot help you on that. sorry! i used such a long time ago and used it once i really cant remember how i went about it. now... sorry @Randy Holmes-Farley but it did raise my ph so i will say it works. maybe not for everyone but it worked for me. also your tank is so small that it might raise it super quickly. so i would just test every day for a week to see how much a small amount would raise it like maybe a half teaspoon or something like that. just look it up to see and to lots of tests. moniter calc, alk mag, and stuff like that to see if it raised those a lot

 

[TraydersAnonymous]

Don't believe their claims about pH stabilizing at any particular value. No product can do that.

Only add buffers when you need alkalinity, and if you do, then you can make a choice whehter you want the alk additive to raise pH a lot, a little, or not at all. That effect is only temporary, but in a tank needing alk every day, a temporary effect every day can end up being a very useful tool.