My first saltwater tank - Aqueon Frameless Cube Aquarium, 3 Gallon

[Ram419]

In the blue light only

 

[Ram419]

Got a blue leg hermit crab and a margarita snail yesterday.

 

[Ram419]

New coral added about a week ago

 

[Fishies4Ever]

I have no idea if you could do this for the tank but anemone would look really good!

 

[Ram419]

I have no idea if you could do this for the tank but anemone would look really good!

I think they get too big from what I was reading. I'm pretty limited with this size. Hopefully I can get a larger saltwater tank going some day.

 

[Ram419]

At night when the main light is off the new coral shrinks into itself.

 

[Ram419]

So, I've got quite the algae issue now. I've tried messing with lowering the light but the Kenya Tree needs more so I've got it at a setting that I think it's able to adjust to now. I've put in 3 turbo snails recently and they are doing a great job. I probably need a few more of them tbh.

The Kenya Tree in this pics is doing the shinking into itself thing and I found it's not due to lighting exactly. I think it's more of a daily cycle sort of thing. The lights are about to get dimmer so it's preparing for that I think.
It's actually shrunk a bit since I first got it due to me messing with the lights and the algae growing on some of it. I'm able to get the algae off pretty easy via water changes.

 

[Colin_T]

Do you gravel clean the substrate?

Do you feed the fish dry food?

Does the algae lift off in a film?
If yes, then it's probably blue green algae (Cyanobacter bacteria). This loves nutrients and can occur in new or old tanks.

 

[Ram419]

There's no fish, it's a 3 gallon so really can't have fish. The tank is a couple months old. I feed the corals reef roids once per week and very little at that. I also dose about once per week with Seachem Reef Plus. Again, like 5 drops worth so very little. I'm going to try and cut back on the Reef Plus.

I do try and get as much of the algae off the sand as possible but there isn't much water so I have to siphon, add more water, then siphon again. Sometimes I just bury it under the sand.

 

[Ram419]

After several water changes and cleaning out the existing algae, and reducing the light throughout the day the algae issue is under control. The Kenya Tree is doing better as well. Growing a bit more each day.

 

[Ram419]

Welp, think I'm going to hang this project up until I can get a proper sump with skimmer and refugium. Can't keep pH up and most corals have died. Only one left is hte Kenya Tree and it isn't looking good.

 

[Colin_T]

What's wrong with the pH?

You have limestone in the tank and are using sea water (either natural or artificial) and that has heaps of carbonate hardness (KH) so the pH shouldn't drop.

 

[Ram419]

Been going below 7.8. Around 7.5 during the day. I've tried Seachem Reef Buffer but can't seem to keep it raised. I was thinking at one point that I needed to raise the light output again because the coral started getting worse and then the algae started getting bad again. I've turned the light off for now and closed blinds to reduce outside light sunlight from hitting the tank today.

 

[Ram419]

I've even tried using Seachem kalkwasser in my RO/DI top off water which measures at 11 pH.

 

[Colin_T]

Has the pH test kit expired?

Can you take a sample of aquarium water to a pet shop and ask them to test it?
Take your test kit as well and test the same sample at the same time. Compare the results and if they aren't the same, one of the test kits is faulty.

Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) will raise the pH quickly if it is low. But if it is low, the question is why is it low?

Are you using an artificial marine salt?
If yes, what brand?