Sad Aquarium :(

[TheBirdsNest]

Hey all,

Looking for some advise or direction as I'm at a bit of a loss..

For 4 years I've had a 50L/10Gal reef aquarium and it was thriving.
About 10 months ago I upgraded to a Reefer 250 and cycled it as a new tank but now, it just does not seem right and I cannot figure out why...

The tank was built with dry sand and dry rock. I used Red Sea's Reef Mature kit to cycle it, and it ended up taking about 2 months.

To date, I've got two Clowns, a Cleaner Wrasse, two Sun Fire Damsels, 5 Chromis, a Royal Garama and a Cleaner Shrimp. They all seem quite happy, with the exception of a Sand-Sifting Starfish that seemed fine for a month or so and then lost 3 limbs and now isn't to be seen anywhere..

I can't seem to keep many corals alive, I've got a green Kenya Tree, some pulsating Xenia and a Firework and they are all OK, but my Candy Cane, Duncan and many others have just died.. I've no Coraline algae despite dosing Red Sea's Coraline Gro at the start and now via dosing.. My rock looks almost the same as it did when I bought it, white but now a bit more grey and I don't seem to have any micro organising (when I would clean the filter in my 50L, lots of little wriggling things would jump off the filter sponge, nothing in this tank)..

Do you think this is normal or is something missing? Maybe I am being impatient?
I really want to start getting corals in there but I don't have the confidence they will survive and I don't know where to focus my efforts..

I have a Red Sea Reef Skim 300 on a relatively dry skim, x2 Reef Wave 25's, x2 Reef LED 90's on the 20K setting, as well as a reef mat.
My last parameters are as follows (and usually typically the same):

* Salinity: 1.024
* Temp: 26.4 Celcius
* Ammonia: 0.025 ppm
* Nitrite: 0 ppm
* Nitrate: 2 ppm
* Phosphate: 0 ppm
* Alkalinity: 9.2 dKh
* Calcium: 470 ppm
* Magnesium: 1400 ppm
* PH: 8.0

My TDS from my RO water is 0.06.

I do a 20L water change per week.
I was worried Phosphate was low so during the change I usually dose phosphate to try and get it to 0.2 but despite dosing the amount suggested, it never reads above 0 (I'm using the Red Sea Marine Care Pro and Foundation Care Pro test kits btw).

Additionally, I get horrible algae on the glass almost every other day.
The rock and things are usually safe, but the glass is covered in only a day or so.. When trying to combat that it was suggested I have too many nutrients soI started dosing No:3/Po:4-X from Red Sea and that brought everything to 0 but then I got Algae even faster and thicker along with the beginnings of Cyano.

In terms of CuC I have about 20 snails, x5 red-legged crabs, x3 hermit crabs.
My sump is full of what appear to be pineapple sponges that probably need to be culled soon..

So I'm at a bit of a loss... It seems to me like things are off and that's why I can't keep the corals happy and I'm getting crazy algae but not sure what direction to go in to try and get things better..

Any ideas or suggestions would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

 

[TokenReefer]

Try getting Po4 up from 0?

 

[crazyfishmom]

Hey all,

Looking for some advise or direction as I'm at a bit of a loss..

For 4 years I've had a 50L/10Gal reef aquarium and it was thriving.
About 10 months ago I upgraded to a Reefer 250 and cycled it as a new tank but now, it just does not seem right and I cannot figure out why...

The tank was built with dry sand and dry rock. I used Red Sea's Reef Mature kit to cycle it, and it ended up taking about 2 months.

To date, I've got two Clowns, a Cleaner Wrasse, two Sun Fire Damsels, 5 Chromis, a Royal Garama and a Cleaner Shrimp. They all seem quite happy, with the exception of a Sand-Sifting Starfish that seemed fine for a month or so and then lost 3 limbs and now isn't to be seen anywhere..

I can't seem to keep many corals alive, I've got a green Kenya Tree, some pulsating Xenia and a Firework and they are all OK, but my Candy Cane, Duncan and many others have just died.. I've no Coraline algae despite dosing Red Sea's Coraline Gro at the start and now via dosing.. My rock looks almost the same as it did when I bought it, white but now a bit more grey and I don't seem to have any micro organising (when I would clean the filter in my 50L, lots of little wriggling things would jump off the filter sponge, nothing in this tank)..

Do you think this is normal or is something missing? Maybe I am being impatient?
I really want to start getting corals in there but I don't have the confidence they will survive and I don't know where to focus my efforts..

I have a Red Sea Reef Skim 300 on a relatively dry skim, x2 Reef Wave 25's, x2 Reef LED 90's on the 20K setting, as well as a reef mat.
My last parameters are as follows (and usually typically the same):

* Salinity: 1.024
* Temp: 26.4 Celcius
* Ammonia: 0.025 ppm
* Nitrite: 0 ppm
* Nitrate: 2 ppm
* Phosphate: 0 ppm
* Alkalinity: 9.2 dKh
* Calcium: 470 ppm
* Magnesium: 1400 ppm
* PH: 8.0

My TDS from my RO water is 0.06.

I do a 20L water change per week.
I was worried Phosphate was low so during the change I usually dose phosphate to try and get it to 0.2 but despite dosing the amount suggested, it never reads above 0 (I'm using the Red Sea Marine Care Pro and Foundation Care Pro test kits btw).

Additionally, I get horrible algae on the glass almost every other day.
The rock and things are usually safe, but the glass is covered in only a day or so.. When trying to combat that it was suggested I have too many nutrients soI started dosing No:3/Po:4-X from Red Sea and that brought everything to 0 but then I got Algae even faster and thicker along with the beginnings of Cyano.

In terms of CuC I have about 20 snails, x5 red-legged crabs, x3 hermit crabs.
My sump is full of what appear to be pineapple sponges that probably need to be culled soon..

So I'm at a bit of a loss... It seems to me like things are off and that's why I can't keep the corals happy and I'm getting crazy algae but not sure what direction to go in to try and get things better..

Any ideas or suggestions would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

First and foremost, please don’t get discouraged, you can and will prevail.

Second, I see two things that I believe are a bit off for corals to be successful. 1) I would raise your salinity to 1.026 (closer to the average in the oceanic zones where coral reefs thrive and 2) your nutrients (phosphate and nitrate) are much too low. You need some phosphate, ideally between 0.05 and 0.15 ppm and a lot more nitrate, target around 10 ppm.

I would bet that if you do that you’ll start to get results quickly.

Also, starfish eat bacterial films. With a tank this clean it likely starved. Second, even in weLL established tanks many starfish do not do well unless you target feed it regularly and that’s a huge labor of love.

 

[TokenReefer]

Yeah don't get discouraged. I'll add to my post. When I moved last year and went to a (slightly) larger tank and added new dead rock and sand, I had to supplement po4 and no3 directly to keep them at detectable levels to keep my corals happy. If you added new rock and sand, it will absorb po4 for a period until it reaches saturation and then it will actually leach a little po4 until equilibrium is met (is my limited understanding). I would try to keep the necessary nutrients like no3 and po4 detectable even if algae is a risk for the sake of the corals (and then deal with the algae in other ways). Best of luck. Don't give up.

 

[Garf]

Hey all,

Looking for some advise or direction as I'm at a bit of a loss..

For 4 years I've had a 50L/10Gal reef aquarium and it was thriving.
About 10 months ago I upgraded to a Reefer 250 and cycled it as a new tank but now, it just does not seem right and I cannot figure out why...

The tank was built with dry sand and dry rock. I used Red Sea's Reef Mature kit to cycle it, and it ended up taking about 2 months.

To date, I've got two Clowns, a Cleaner Wrasse, two Sun Fire Damsels, 5 Chromis, a Royal Garama and a Cleaner Shrimp. They all seem quite happy, with the exception of a Sand-Sifting Starfish that seemed fine for a month or so and then lost 3 limbs and now isn't to be seen anywhere..

I can't seem to keep many corals alive, I've got a green Kenya Tree, some pulsating Xenia and a Firework and they are all OK, but my Candy Cane, Duncan and many others have just died.. I've no Coraline algae despite dosing Red Sea's Coraline Gro at the start and now via dosing.. My rock looks almost the same as it did when I bought it, white but now a bit more grey and I don't seem to have any micro organising (when I would clean the filter in my 50L, lots of little wriggling things would jump off the filter sponge, nothing in this tank)..

Do you think this is normal or is something missing? Maybe I am being impatient?
I really want to start getting corals in there but I don't have the confidence they will survive and I don't know where to focus my efforts..

I have a Red Sea Reef Skim 300 on a relatively dry skim, x2 Reef Wave 25's, x2 Reef LED 90's on the 20K setting, as well as a reef mat.
My last parameters are as follows (and usually typically the same):

* Salinity: 1.024
* Temp: 26.4 Celcius
* Ammonia: 0.025 ppm
* Nitrite: 0 ppm
* Nitrate: 2 ppm
* Phosphate: 0 ppm
* Alkalinity: 9.2 dKh
* Calcium: 470 ppm
* Magnesium: 1400 ppm
* PH: 8.0

My TDS from my RO water is 0.06.

I do a 20L water change per week.
I was worried Phosphate was low so during the change I usually dose phosphate to try and get it to 0.2 but despite dosing the amount suggested, it never reads above 0 (I'm using the Red Sea Marine Care Pro and Foundation Care Pro test kits btw).

Additionally, I get horrible algae on the glass almost every other day.
The rock and things are usually safe, but the glass is covered in only a day or so.. When trying to combat that it was suggested I have too many nutrients soI started dosing No:3/Po:4-X from Red Sea and that brought everything to 0 but then I got Algae even faster and thicker along with the beginnings of Cyano.

In terms of CuC I have about 20 snails, x5 red-legged crabs, x3 hermit crabs.
My sump is full of what appear to be pineapple sponges that probably need to be culled soon..

So I'm at a bit of a loss... It seems to me like things are off and that's why I can't keep the corals happy and I'm getting crazy algae but not sure what direction to go in to try and get things better..

Any ideas or suggestions would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

How are you measuring temperature? That's a little higher than I'd be comfortable with, even if it is accurate (which it may not be).
Same with salinity, how are you calibrating that? and is a little low (about 10%) if accurate (may not be). Phos is lower than advised, once again, if it's accurate.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I agree with the others, nitrates and phosphate need to come up. Is the a window near by? I asked because to me, that would explain dirty glass but nothing else. What lights do you have? And what are they set at. Do you have the ability to get some live rock? Even just a piece or 2 would make a tremendous difference. Please do not get discouraged. This hobby can be very frustrating, but once you have it down, the rewards make it all worthwhile.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Sorry just saw the lighting.

 

[TheBirdsNest]

Thanks everyone! It a little frustrating but I am persevering!
Definitely I will work on the Nitrates and Phosphates, thanks for the advice!

In terms of temp, I have my controller (the heater is in the skimmer section and probe in the return chamber) and then I cross-reference that with my ATO+ controller. It's set to 25.5 -> 26'C. Maybe that's a little high?

As for salinity, I have a refractometer, before I take a reading of my tank water I read my RO water and make sure it's 0. Then take some water from the return outlet into the tank and measure that.

The tank isn't 'near' and window but the side that is further from the window and has the least amount of exposure typically has the most algae interestingly!

Thanks again everyone, I feel I have a direction now

 

[Mechano]

Phosphate is zero. That’s a no-no , also nitrate are super low.
Corals aren’t getting any form of nutrients to grow.
My system has on average
Phosphate .23-.27ppm (not .02)
Nitrate around 25ppm

Here’s a quick vid to demonstrate I’m not talking out of my be-hind

Ppl worry too much about ULNS. Unless you have specifically only Acros , there is no need for it and they still need phosphate and nitrate for growth.

1 min vid. There is clearly Acros, LPS, etc etc mixed reef doing extremely well with the nutrients stated above.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hey all,

Looking for some advise or direction as I'm at a bit of a loss..

For 4 years I've had a 50L/10Gal reef aquarium and it was thriving.
About 10 months ago I upgraded to a Reefer 250 and cycled it as a new tank but now, it just does not seem right and I cannot figure out why...

The tank was built with dry sand and dry rock. I used Red Sea's Reef Mature kit to cycle it, and it ended up taking about 2 months.

To date, I've got two Clowns, a Cleaner Wrasse, two Sun Fire Damsels, 5 Chromis, a Royal Garama and a Cleaner Shrimp. They all seem quite happy, with the exception of a Sand-Sifting Starfish that seemed fine for a month or so and then lost 3 limbs and now isn't to be seen anywhere..

I can't seem to keep many corals alive, I've got a green Kenya Tree, some pulsating Xenia and a Firework and they are all OK, but my Candy Cane, Duncan and many others have just died.. I've no Coraline algae despite dosing Red Sea's Coraline Gro at the start and now via dosing.. My rock looks almost the same as it did when I bought it, white but now a bit more grey and I don't seem to have any micro organising (when I would clean the filter in my 50L, lots of little wriggling things would jump off the filter sponge, nothing in this tank)..

Do you think this is normal or is something missing? Maybe I am being impatient?
I really want to start getting corals in there but I don't have the confidence they will survive and I don't know where to focus my efforts..

I have a Red Sea Reef Skim 300 on a relatively dry skim, x2 Reef Wave 25's, x2 Reef LED 90's on the 20K setting, as well as a reef mat.
My last parameters are as follows (and usually typically the same):

* Salinity: 1.024
* Temp: 26.4 Celcius
* Ammonia: 0.025 ppm
* Nitrite: 0 ppm
* Nitrate: 2 ppm
* Phosphate: 0 ppm
* Alkalinity: 9.2 dKh
* Calcium: 470 ppm
* Magnesium: 1400 ppm
* PH: 8.0

My TDS from my RO water is 0.06.

I do a 20L water change per week.
I was worried Phosphate was low so during the change I usually dose phosphate to try and get it to 0.2 but despite dosing the amount suggested, it never reads above 0 (I'm using the Red Sea Marine Care Pro and Foundation Care Pro test kits btw).

Additionally, I get horrible algae on the glass almost every other day.
The rock and things are usually safe, but the glass is covered in only a day or so.. When trying to combat that it was suggested I have too many nutrients soI started dosing No:3/Po:4-X from Red Sea and that brought everything to 0 but then I got Algae even faster and thicker along with the beginnings of Cyano.

In terms of CuC I have about 20 snails, x5 red-legged crabs, x3 hermit crabs.
My sump is full of what appear to be pineapple sponges that probably need to be culled soon..

So I'm at a bit of a loss... It seems to me like things are off and that's why I can't keep the corals happy and I'm getting crazy algae but not sure what direction to go in to try and get things better..

Any ideas or suggestions would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

Sometimes pictures say a thousand words.

*all white lighting*
Full tank shot
Problem algae
Problem corals
Any other pics you might think is a problem.

 

[jmoney7]

Hey all,

Looking for some advise or direction as I'm at a bit of a loss..

For 4 years I've had a 50L/10Gal reef aquarium and it was thriving.
About 10 months ago I upgraded to a Reefer 250 and cycled it as a new tank but now, it just does not seem right and I cannot figure out why...

The tank was built with dry sand and dry rock. I used Red Sea's Reef Mature kit to cycle it, and it ended up taking about 2 months.

To date, I've got two Clowns, a Cleaner Wrasse, two Sun Fire Damsels, 5 Chromis, a Royal Garama and a Cleaner Shrimp. They all seem quite happy, with the exception of a Sand-Sifting Starfish that seemed fine for a month or so and then lost 3 limbs and now isn't to be seen anywhere..

I can't seem to keep many corals alive, I've got a green Kenya Tree, some pulsating Xenia and a Firework and they are all OK, but my Candy Cane, Duncan and many others have just died.. I've no Coraline algae despite dosing Red Sea's Coraline Gro at the start and now via dosing.. My rock looks almost the same as it did when I bought it, white but now a bit more grey and I don't seem to have any micro organising (when I would clean the filter in my 50L, lots of little wriggling things would jump off the filter sponge, nothing in this tank)..

Do you think this is normal or is something missing? Maybe I am being impatient?
I really want to start getting corals in there but I don't have the confidence they will survive and I don't know where to focus my efforts..

I have a Red Sea Reef Skim 300 on a relatively dry skim, x2 Reef Wave 25's, x2 Reef LED 90's on the 20K setting, as well as a reef mat.
My last parameters are as follows (and usually typically the same):

* Salinity: 1.024
* Temp: 26.4 Celcius
* Ammonia: 0.025 ppm
* Nitrite: 0 ppm
* Nitrate: 2 ppm
* Phosphate: 0 ppm
* Alkalinity: 9.2 dKh
* Calcium: 470 ppm
* Magnesium: 1400 ppm
* PH: 8.0

My TDS from my RO water is 0.06.

I do a 20L water change per week.
I was worried Phosphate was low so during the change I usually dose phosphate to try and get it to 0.2 but despite dosing the amount suggested, it never reads above 0 (I'm using the Red Sea Marine Care Pro and Foundation Care Pro test kits btw).

Additionally, I get horrible algae on the glass almost every other day.
The rock and things are usually safe, but the glass is covered in only a day or so.. When trying to combat that it was suggested I have too many nutrients soI started dosing No:3/Po:4-X from Red Sea and that brought everything to 0 but then I got Algae even faster and thicker along with the beginnings of Cyano.

In terms of CuC I have about 20 snails, x5 red-legged crabs, x3 hermit crabs.
My sump is full of what appear to be pineapple sponges that probably need to be culled soon..

So I'm at a bit of a loss... It seems to me like things are off and that's why I can't keep the corals happy and I'm getting crazy algae but not sure what direction to go in to try and get things better..

Any ideas or suggestions would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

Ik everyone is telling you that your salinity is too low but I have had success growing and keeping corals happy anywhere from 1.023-1.025 this tiny differences there is not why your corals are dying. I would think like everyone else has said low nutrients.

 

[Mechano]

Sometimes pictures say a thousand words.

*all white lighting*
Full tank shot
Problem algae
Problem corals
Any other pics you might think is a problem.

Agreed and good call

 

[Dburr1014]

no Coraline algae


* Salinity: 1.024
* Temp: 26.4 Celcius
* Ammonia: 0.025 ppm
* Nitrite: 0 ppm
* Nitrate: 2 ppm
* Phosphate: 0 ppm
* Alkalinity: 9.2 dKh
* Calcium: 470 ppm
* Magnesium: 1400 ppm
* PH: 8.0

My TDS from my RO water is 0.06.

I do a 20L water change per week.
I was worried Phosphate was low so during the change I usually dose phosphate to try and get it to 0.2 but despite dosing the amount suggested, it never reads above 0 (I'm using the Red Sea Marine Care Pro and Foundation Care Pro test kits btw).

My take on all this.

Don't fret about no Coraline algae it will come when it comes.

Salanity: low. My acros get angry at 1.023 you are close to that if you are not on that. You are calibrating with RO water. Do not do that. Make a solution or buy a solution. Randy Holmes Farley has a article on making your own solution. The reason being the scale between 0 and 1.026 maybe off right from the factory. So if you're calibrating with a solution close to the 1.026 you will be very close.

Temp: high but to each there own. I personally run at 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ammonia, should be reading zero but that's pretty low anyhow. I wouldn't even worry about testing.

Nitrite: don't bother even testing this.

Nitrate, 2ppm is fine.

Phosphate, it's better to have some phosphate and zero nitrate than zero phosphate and some nitrate. You need to get this number up somehow. I would immediately turn off your Reef mat and stop doing water changes. At least for a week or two and check your numbers again. You keep driving them down by doing those two things. Let your water get a little bit dirty it's not going to harm anything.

Alkalinity, 9dkh with zero nutrients is bad. You can leave it there if you shut off your Reef mat and your skimmer and get your water a little dirtier. Your corals are more active the higher alkalinity gets and if they have nothing to eat they will die. This is essentially what's happening in your tank. If you slow down the metabolism, the dkh lower, and metabolism will slow down.

Calcium, magnesium, and pH are fine.

 

[jmoney7]

My take on all this.

Don't fret about no Coraline algae it will come when it comes.

Salanity: low. My acros get angry at 1.023 you are close to that if you are not on that. You are calibrating with RO water. Do not do that. Make a solution or buy a solution. Randy Holmes Farley has a article on making your own solution. The reason being the scale between 0 and 1.026 maybe off right from the factory. So if you're calibrating with a solution close to the 1.026 you will be very close.

Temp: high but to each there own. I personally run at 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ammonia, should be reading zero but that's pretty low anyhow. I wouldn't even worry about testing.

Nitrite: don't bother even testing this.

Nitrate, 2ppm is fine.

Phosphate, it's better to have some phosphate and zero nitrate than zero phosphate and some nitrate. You need to get this number up somehow. I would immediately turn off your Reef mat and stop doing water changes. At least for a week or two and check your numbers again. You keep driving them down by doing those two things. Let your water get a little bit dirty it's not going to harm anything.

Alkalinity, 9dkh with zero nutrients is bad. You can leave it there if you shut off your Reef mat and your skimmer and get your water a little dirtier. Your corals are more active the higher alkalinity gets and if they have nothing to eat they will die. This is essentially what's happening in your tank. If you slow down the metabolism, the dkh lower, and metabolism will slow down.

Calcium, magnesium, and pH are fine.

He’s not asking ab sps he had LPS die LPS will do fine in 1.023-1.025

 

[Dburr1014]

He’s not asking ab sps he had LPS die LPS will do fine in 1.023-1.025

I know what he's saying I know he doesn't have acros. 1.023 is low for any Reef. This may or may not be contributing because he is calibrating on RO water. So his water may be even less than 1.023.

 

[jmoney7]

I know what he's saying I know he doesn't have acros. 1.023 is low for any Reef. This may or may not be contributing because he is calibrating on RO water. So his water may be even less than 1.023.

Ahhh yes that is true

 

[tzabor10]

Hang in there.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

pictures usually help generate some idea's.....

 

[Jimbo327]

The fact that you are registering ammonia indicates that something is dead or your denitrifying bacteria cannot keep up. I suggest adding more biodiversity (especially if no live rock is used). I would get a bottled of Fritz, PNS substrate sauce, biodigest, live pods, and phytoplankton). Add to your tank to increase biome. While you do that, add some phosphate slowly to target 0.08ppm. I would also increase nitrate to 10ppm. If your LFS can help you test for water parameter, I would bring a sample. Make sure your number are correct. ICP would also rule out any contamination like metals. Check all your magnets.

Was this a brand new tank? Or was this a used tank? I want to see if previous owner added any chemicals.

 

[Debramb]

The fact that you are registering ammonia indicates that something is dead or your denitrifying bacteria cannot keep up. I suggest adding more biodiversity (especially if no live rock is used). I would get a bottled of Fritz, PNS substrate sauce, biodigest, live pods, and phytoplankton). Add to your tank to increase biome. While you do that, add some phosphate slowly to target 0.08ppm. I would also increase nitrate to 10ppm. If your LFS can help you test for water parameter, I would bring a sample. Make sure your number are correct. ICP would also rule out any contamination like metals. Check all your magnets.

Was this a brand new tank? Or was this a used tank? I want to see if previous owner added any chemicals.

My 2 cents are pods and plankton too! I learned a lot from all you’ve posted