Another Marine Addict, Oh The Horror.

[MiniMarine]

Tell me if I shouldn't post here or something... I'm new, heh, found the site and decided to join and make a journal. Feedback is great.. But be nice I'l be asking A LOT of question, mainly.

This isn't my first tank... I had a nano and a seahorse tank, which I dismantled due to other commitments... School, working and competing two horses and trying to playing guitar... Gah. There's not enough time for it all haha. But about 8 months ago I decided to basically re-setup a tank... Nothing to big, a few corals and fish, but this time I wanted to do it more or less right.... Gah, so much bad advice from the LFS in my area.

Erm, no one kill me for this. But I don't use a protein skimmer. Heh.

So now I have;
122L (30 or so gallons)AquaNova
AquaNova 1500 liters per hour canister filter. It's great
200watt Aqua One heater
Cosmo 1100L/h filter/power head for extra circulation
Live rock... I honestly don't know how much =/
Sand substrate

Livestock;
Pair of Black and White clown fish
1 x Flame Hawk fish
1 x Fire Goby
1 x Fiji Damsel
1 x Random Goby.. It was sold to me as a Diamond Goby, but it's not. I'll post a picture and see if anyone can tell me what he is.

2 x Coral Banded Shrimp
1 x Elegance Coral
1 x Frogspawn Coral
1 x "Daisy Coral" I think it's closer to a Duncan Coral or something. It's SLOWLY recovering from basically dying in my nano.

So I want to update my lighting before I continue with anymore corals.
The tank it 18inches deep. Would you recommend 4 x 39 watts, or 8 x 39 watts T5 HO lighting?
Those two fixtures are on sale at the moment.. So I can actually afford them, I think the 8 bulb fixture is overkill... But I'm not sure the 4 bulb fixture is enough for the anemone I want in the future.


Sorry for no pictures at the moment but my camera is dead I'll get some up ASAP.


Listening to; Falling Down - Atreyu (Looovvvvves themmmmmmm to death)

 

[ben1987]

looking forward to your pics

 

[seffieuk]

Thats the sort of size tank I started with, 126 litres (26 gallons)- oh hold on, forgot the welcome:

to the salty side TFF

I had two t5 lights, good enough for most softies, euphyllias etc and for a while a BTA. 8 would make the tank too hot in the summer imo and even 4 could cause a problem, so I would go with four and make sure I had a good fan ready

Looking forward to seeing your photos and hearing your future plans

Seffie x

 

[MiniMarine]

Thanks, I think I'll go with the 4 bulb fixture Once I get money from selling my old tank
I'll get a fan as well... It gets pretty hot in summer around here, around 40 degrees Celsius

I tried to upload pictures but the files are too large =/ I'll see what I can do...

At the moment I'm using a video camera and them pausing and print screening the pictures into paint

Oh and thanks for the welcomes, guys.

 

[MiniMarine]

Just this afternoon both my elegance and frog spawn have both really declined... We lost power in our area last night for several hours and the temp in my tank dropped to around 21oC. Gah stupid power lines

The frogspawn looked like it suffered the most, but was recovering after a few hours. The elegance didn't seem phased at all. But now, it's 7:30pm and they both look rather sickly.

I tested my water.. With what test kits I have at the moment. It's ridiculous, really

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm - 20ppm, closer to 10ppm
pH: 8
Salinity: 1.023(a little low?)
Temp; 26oC

I have no idea why my ammonia and nitrates have gone up so much
I did a water change, a bit over 10%, using DI water on Saturday... Thats only 3 days ago, the corals were fine after that. They looked great. Why do you guys think this is happening. I'll have to wait another couple of days t get DI water to do the water change... Is there anything else I should do?

Edit: Could this be the Frogspawn's allelopathy?

Listening to: On To The Next One - Escape The Fate

 

[seffieuk]

Test the water before you put it in the tank, just to check I would always say do at least a 25% water change rather than 10%.

Are you running any phosphate or nitrate remover?

SG is certainly too low, for corals needs to 1.026

Seffie x

 

[MiniMarine]

Ok, thanks, good idea haha, can't believe I've never thought of that

I usually do 5% water changes every week. But 'cause of a developing hair algae problem I did a larger water change... How often do you recommend 25% changes?

My phosphates are high, I know.. Because I've only recently started using DI water.
"No, no" The pet shop says, "there's no need to use DI water" So I have to buy the water in contains from the supermarket cause I can't get it ANYWHERE else. Not at the pet shops, or the hardware stores or anything like that. It's rather expensive, too.

Either tomorrow or on the weekend.. Whenever I can get into town.. (we live a fair way out of town)... I'll get a phosphate remover, and a nitrate remover. I've been meaning to for almost a month now, lol.

What brands do you recommend?
Phosban???

Oh, and I checked my salinity again this morning... It's now at 1.026. GAH, last nights reading was driving me insane because I'm always, always, meticulous with the salinity... I must have read it wrong... Idk. It was pretty late, lol.


Edit: Both corals look great today... The frogspawn is probably better than I've ever seen it.. And the elegance is back to it self, for the most part, which is a relief. (Both have only been in the tank for... 2 weeks today)

But I still want to fix up the water quality, obviously.

 

[seffieuk]

Its much cheaper to buy online if you can I use phosban and purigen - Rowa is good but expensive long term.

Where do you live, maybe someone can suggest a supplier of RO water

Seffie x

woops, nearly missed your other question - on a tank your size 20-25% weekly is perfect. When i had a tank your size i didnt need to run the phosphate or nitrate remover because of the water changes

 

[MiniMarine]

Its much cheaper to buy online if you can I use phosban and purigen - Rowa is good but expensive long term.

Where do you live, maybe someone can suggest a supplier of RO water

Seffie x

woops, nearly missed your other question - on a tank your size 20-25% weekly is perfect. When i had a tank your size i didnt need to run the phosphate or nitrate remover because of the water changes

Yeah I'll look for it online... I need to buy calcium anyways, and at the local petshop it's $50 for 500ml to order it in and it's not the best brand either.. or that C - Balance stuff...

I live in Tamworth, NSW, Australia It isn' really that small... Buuut it's just lacking in the marine supplies front Erm... I doubt many people will know where Tamworth is It's about 7 hours from Sydney...

Ok, I'll definitely increase my water changes now...

Thanks


Edit: Have you had any experience with the "Fluval Lab Series Phosphate Remover"?

It claims to not leach any absorbed phosphate back into the aquarium... But it's a large amount cheaper than Phosban..

 

[MiniMarine]

God flipping #39####. I'm having a completely effing melt down right now all cause of the stupid tank.. and heaps of other stuff. and yes, I realise I complain a hell of a lot.

The calcium in my tank is really REALLY REALLY low, around 200 I think. And I don't have a calcium suppliment. Neither does any petshop near me, which means I have to order it online, but that means waiting till next friken week casue it's friday already.

I tested the carbonate hardness in the tank and got 120ppm, so I decided to raise it... Probably a little too much. I'm a bloody idiot, I know. But I stress out and then overdo it. I thought I should get it to around 160ppm?

Although I don't have a Mg test kit I figure it's probably low... So what should I do?

Should I buy seperate Mg and Ca products and add them?

Or should I buy a product like C Balance by Two Little Fishies? I thought this would also raise the carbonate hardness, when I don't want to.

Blehck I don't even know when I'll be able to buy the stupid stuff, my Mum and my step Dad are both in hospital tonight with my Pop, they wont be home until tommorow. So I'm home by myself and don't have anyway of getting stuff.

Yeah.. I'm mainly just venting. I work myself up so much until all I'm doing is bawling my eyes out and not thinking straight. Again, Im an idiot I know.

 

[Harry1996]

i do 10% a week which works fine but i have a skimmer so 20-25% it a lot better. when you do bigger water changers your ca should be higher.

 

[seffieuk]

Whoa, girl, chill try not to play with additives yet. What salt are you using to make up your salty stuff? That is probably your problem, you want to be buying a salt that has over 400 calcium.

Seffie x

 

[MiniMarine]

Hah, trying to chill I did a water change today, with water I mixed last night. And I'll do another tommorrow from water I'll mix tonight. I only had enough salt for a 10% change, so I'll do another 15% when I get more salt.

The salt I use is "Redcoral Sea - Synthetic Sea Salt for Reef Aquariums" all it says about calcium is that it's "enriched with sufficient calcium to satisfy the need of a calcium suppliment"... It doesn't have the exact levels...

So you guys don't think I should add any calcium or anything? Just frequent water changes?

 

[seffieuk]

So you guys don't think I should add any calcium or anything? Just frequent water changes?

Certainly, dont add anything yet

Red Sea Coral Salt
Temperature - 26c
Salinity - 35ppt

Calcium - 405ppm

Do larger water changes and the calcium must come up as there is nothing in your tank to be using it

Seffie x

 

[MiniMarine]

ok Thanks... Hmm I tend to stress over nothing. I'm doing a 25% water change tomorrow. I mixed the salt yesterday so I'll see how that helps.

Also, I'm hoping my nitrates will go down. I'll have to order the nitrate and phosphate remover next week. Too much family drama, didn't get a chance to order it

It's 3:05am here Lol I should be tired...but no