Newbie 75 gallon

[Llorgon]

I ended up getting some cereal containers at Walmart. Works great so far!

As for the tank, it's doing ok. I am battling some algae. Hoping someone here can help me figure out what's causing it. Below is a picture of what I am dealing with.

My params are
Temp: 80
Salinity: 1.026
pH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphates: 0
Alkalinity: 8.2
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1410

I have a protein skimmer running, chaeto in the sump with a light that comes on opposite to the display tank lights, feed once a day 1/4 cube of mysis or some pellets.

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[Llorgon]

Been battling dinos recently. Just finished a 3 day blackout, but a bit of a dent in the dinos, but not much.


Corals are pretty unhappy. My big sps has gone from green to white, plating montipora is losing tissue, tyree toadstoll and forest fire digi have zero polyp extension...


Checked my parameters nothing seems out of the ordinary.


Frustration and discouragement is currently high...

[Frogger]

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

This is one of the things that makes keeping reef tanks aka sps tanks to be considered very difficult. Stick with it, it takes time, patience and proper tank maintenance to beat this one.

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Frogger

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

This is one of the things that makes keeping reef tanks aka sps tanks to be considered very difficult. Stick with it, it takes time, patience and proper tank maintenance to beat this one.

I know you are right, but right now it's very frustrating.


It kind of looks like the tank may be crashing. None of the corals are looking good, some are bleached and have lost tissue. All are closed up, no polyp extension. Fish still look ok.


Where am I going wrong on my maintenance?


My parameters as of last night seem to all be in the normal range. I know my nitrate and phosphate should be a bit higher. Extra feeding hasn't helped yet. As of last night my params were:

Temp: 79
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 8.4
Calcium: 430
Magnesium: 1410


Right now my maintenance is: Dosing alk everyday, dosing cal every other day, testing alk and cal every other day, feeding twice a day(morning, night), blowing off rocks with turkey baster each night, weekly 10 gal water change.

Where am I going wrong?

[Frogger]

Unfortunately it is not working. From what I have read water changes and trying to attain a clean tank doesn't work for dinos.

Water changes and blowing off the rocks having low phosphates and low nitrates appears to be not working for you.

Adding more fish, as you have seen is a problem in itself. You need to quarantine for at least a month assuming everything goes well. I have been trying to add more fish for over 6 months to my tank unsuccessfully can't get them past the quarantine stage/ type of fish I want not available when I want it.

Over feeding can help dirty up your water, stop blowing off the rocks if you are not exporting the dinos as you are just moving them around and spreading them.

Like I said before what worked for me is a micron filter helps remove smaller suspended particles and a UV sterilizer on a low flow rate to kill any dinos after I have blown off the rocks.

INNOVATIVE MARINE AUQASHIELD UV STERILIZER (9 WATT) is around 60 bucks.

I have some KNO3 and Potassium Phosphate you can have for free if you wants some. You know where I live.

You need to have measurable amounts of phosphate and nitrate.

[Scythanith]

I've only just come into this at the tail end but it seems to me like your tank is still fairly new. You need a small amount of nitrates (~5ppm) and phosphates (~0.5ppm) as you and Frogger mentioned. Does the tank get any natural sunlight throughout the day? Is the water you're using for water changes RO/DI? Have you tested TDS on the water you're using for SW changes?

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Frogger

Unfortunately it is not working. From what I have read water changes and trying to attain a clean tank doesn't work for dinos.

Water changes and blowing off the rocks having low phosphates and low nitrates appears to be not working for you.

Adding more fish, as you have seen is a problem in itself. You need to quarantine for at least a month assuming everything goes well. I have been trying to add more fish for over 6 months to my tank unsuccessfully can't get them past the quarantine stage/ type of fish I want not available when I want it.

Over feeding can help dirty up your water, stop blowing off the rocks if you are not exporting the dinos as you are just moving them around and spreading them.

Like I said before what worked for me is a micron filter helps remove smaller suspended particles and a UV sterilizer on a low flow rate to kill any dinos after I have blown off the rocks.

INNOVATIVE MARINE AUQASHIELD UV STERILIZER (9 WATT) is around 60 bucks.

I have some KNO3 and Potassium Phosphate you can have for free if you wants some. You know where I live.

You need to have measurable amounts of phosphate and nitrate.

It's difficult because depending on what you read some say yes do lots of water changes other say stop. For right now I have stopped the water changes in an attempt to raise my nitrate and phosphates.


I have a filter sock that I change everyday an hour or so after blowing off the rocks and stirring the top layer of sand.


I might take you up on the free KNO3 and Potassium Phosphate. Do you use the seachem stuff for planted tanks?

Originally Posted by Scythanith

I've only just come into this at the tail end but it seems to me like your tank is still fairly new. You need a small amount of nitrates (~5ppm) and phosphates (~0.5ppm) as you and Frogger mentioned. Does the tank get any natural sunlight throughout the day? Is the water you're using for water changes RO/DI? Have you tested TDS on the water you're using for SW changes?

Tank doesn't get any sunlight or if it does very little and not direct. Water I am using is RO/DI, filter are about 6 months old. I have not tested TDS. I guess I should pick up a TDS meter and see what it says.