I Am So Disappointed

I am so disappointed. I use to have a beautiful salt water aquarium. The water was so crystal clear that you wondered if there was water in it @ all. The coral looked like an undersea garden. Everyone commented on it.

Apparently I over fertilized. I heard this from a member. My coral was all but dead & the crystal clear water was gone. I did a water change every other day to get rid of chemicals. My tank is a 10 gallon & I was told that, what I feed the fish,would be enough for the coral.

The coral is very gradually coming back, but will I ever have what I had before ?

I do a weekly water change, wash the filter media in the discarded water & test. Perhaps I should be doing this twice a week.

Is there any way way I can get back what I once had ?

 

lots of time....good luck..just stay patient

 

in time young padawan you will, if you learn the ways of the reefer.

Important to only dose based on test results, it is. Things that can't be tested for like trace elements, you can do water changes for those.

 

Personally I would only do a 10% wc once a week and not more than that.

And of course as sostoudt stated, test before adding anything to the tank.

Go slow make smaller changes over a number of days. Consistant parameters are more important than chasing the numbers.

 

Mastery of nitrates, phosphates, magnesium, calcium, alkalinity, temperature, salinity, and light are basic reef skills, they are. learn those and you will be well on your way.

 

Sorry for your mishap...
If I were you I'd switch over 2 a larger tank.
You were stating that the reef you are running is a 10 gallon.
We'll I've been running my 25 gallon nano for awhile now and what I've learned that keeping a smaller reef is much harder to restore if you have problems,unlike bigger masses of water you can catch the cause before it gets out of hand.
Although again not 100%

 

Thanks for your comments. I will do everything I can to get it back to rights. I'm afraid getting a larger tank, however, is out of the question. ( no more room ) That is why I had to get a 10 gallon in the first place. I love all kinds of fish & try to keep all tanks in the best condition possible. I have everything from a goldfish tank, a discus tank, salt water,tropical & everything in between. I love them all equally. It's a FANTASTIC hobby !
Thanks again. All comments are greatfully accepted.

 

Update ! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT !

Thanks for all your advice everyone ! After quitting the dosing, doing a water change every other day for a week, doing a 10% change weekly & watering the filter media weekly, I can almost sit there & watch my coral grow.

I did use a sponge to give the inside of the glass ( except the back ) a good scrubbing. I'll continue to do that weekly wiith my water change.

Even the water is clearer. I did discover that I am doing considerably more than a 10% water change. I'll have to watch that.

Thanks for all the help you gave me, I think I am going to get back to where I was. I couldn't have done it without you.

That's what this site is all about ! )))))))

OceanSurf

 

Congrats. Keep up the good work.

 

I'm happy to here that you did not lose everything.

but what really happened. did you other feed the tank?