your crabs are molting from the constant water changes , they are known to do it after a water change and sudden changes.

daily water changes are not good for anyones tank.....ever...unless your doing azoox and are forced to then weekly water changes are enough.

have you determined where the nitrates are coming from, that should be your first step???


once you know its a matter of cutting off that resource and removing the excess pollution.

you cant remove it with water changes if your adding it just as fast right??

i would be happy to help if you have any questions, post or pm either way your not stuck alone , theres lots of brains here to pick.

cheers!

the golden rule is "nothing happens fast in a reeftank but disaster"

the other is " the secret to pollution is dillution"

their ideas were right but the method is too fast, perhaps if you had no livestock in the tank but with critters in the tank i wouldnt be doing large water changes like that daily.


if your going to do on average 10% weekly water changes , then what you should do or have done is a larger water change (20-40%) then continue weekly with your 10%

this is only assuming you knnow where the nitrates are coming from and have a way to battle them??

^^^ Yup, Find the source and fix it.
What is your water source?
How much live or dry rock is in your tank?
Any livestock besides snails?
What are you using for flow?

yes many ppl here will help you correct any issues and help you to be successful! ;)

really in a small tank water changes and a little husbandry should be all thats required to battle nitrates .

if your overstocked or overfeed and add pollution to the tiny tank it will snowball fast into high nutrients.

battle them from the beginning allowing time to adjust and cut down on the sources.


then kiss your trates good bye!!

cheers

I'm sure it's from the rock curing...

I think it's from my curing rock...
Ro water is been used
40lbs rocks 38 dry/2 live too seed
Hermits and was black brittle starfish got chopped in power head
Power head and hob filter for flow

With nitrates as high as they were, I would absolutely do the big water changes daily until they were back inline. Truthfully, if it was my tank, I would have done closer to 100%. I have done it in the past, and I would absolutely do it again. Providing the critical parameters are close between the NSW and the tank water there shouldn't be any issues at all.

The hermits molting isn't a big deal (typically). The brittle star getting sucked into the powerhead sucks, but is most likely unrelated to the water changes. The broken sump baffles have nothing to do with the water changes either.

The only real "problem" that I see here is that the nitrates aren't coming down, and they are at dangerously high levels.

This means one of three things:
1) The test is faulty,
2) The NSW has nitrates, or
3) Something in the tank is generating an obscene amount of nitrates.

In nano tanks the "good stuff" is typically added through water changes. What "good stuff" do you feel is being removed from the system through water changes?

It's just all adding up...things jus keep going wrong no matter how hard I try

I should have been more clear, I ment that if you change the water daily in a nano tank, basicly its not helpful and you end up removing to much bacteria to quickly that help stablize the tank to begine with! It really deppends on whats going on with it!
Yes there is exceptions to almost every rule and some rules can be flate out broken, but its simply best to follow advise from senior memebers when your in doubt.
I should have read the whole thread first probably, and without knowing much else other than "nitraits are high and im doing daily water changes" I would have to suggest relax on changing the water and find the source! Likely as stated before, faulty tests or there is something else going on.

Sorry to have been 100% clear in the begining!

water changes wont remove anything beneficial , what ever it takes out it will relenish with the new salt.


after a cycle ive always done close to 100% for a water change , after that theres no reason your nitrates would be climbing high enough to merit further large water changes.