CORAL NOOBIE I seek help!

I took the top off yesterday morning and I got home and the temp was already down to 83.

I added the fans last night and the temp went down to 81.7

This morning I woke up and the temp was down to 78.

I had to plug the heater back in to get back up to 82. I don't even remember why I unplugged it. In any case, it's a rainy week, I won't know till probably the weekend if I can find a balance @ 82°. I honestly hope I do so I can avoid the problems and cost that comes with a heater.

On a side note, I got home and couldn't find my bubble coral that I got on sunday. I dug in, moved a bunch of rocks and it found it in the depts behind the rocks where it probably been since night before. Up till this morning it still looked rocky and closed up. I think it's dead. I'm pretty pissed about it. It was only $19.00 but it was the last frag the guy had of that kind.

All in all it was a bittersweet night. Those reef troubles + accomplishments + my iphone screen breaking.

 

good to hear that you got your temp back down. 82 is still on the a little hight I would maintain a constant 79-80 if you can. your anemone might have closed up do to major temp changes. things dont like temp. changes so try to keep it constant or it could be your high ammonia and nitrates. If its just closed up then you should be ok but if it starts looking like its melting then its probably time to remove it.
So now you need to find out why you have ammonia and nitrate readings. What is your feeding habbits? Whats your phosphate reading?

 

What's wrong with 82?

The anemone went down the toilet a couple weeks ago when I mentioned it with my initial troubles in another thread. I really regret tossing it, but It's better him than everything else in the tank. The paranoia set in.

I was also told that I was feeding way to regularly (2 times a day every day), and on advice of another poster, can't remember his name, sorry. I changed feeding down to 3-4 times a week. I saw the ammonia drop to 0 within a couple days. I also made a little food mash from a bunch of frozen foods, some flakes, some pellets. Smushed it up and froze it. I found out the hard way that a tiny piece will expand into a monster ball of food. Maybe I will get some of that liquid plankton coral food and apply some to the mixture so everyone eats at the same time.

I also saw my nitrates decrease as well. I had a sudden spike, no algae bloom either, and since I lessened up on the feeding I saw it drop to 20 as of yesterday morning. I also changed filter pads in sump. Don't know if that contributed. I figure they see high water flow and decent amount of air, may be contributing factor.

 

I read this article just the other day. Here is a small "quote" from it and the link for the entire article.

Perhaps a more pertinent reef tank temperature question, particularly during the summer months, is "how high is too high"? When do you really need to crank up that electron sucking chiller you paid a half a month's wages for?

The first place to start is to determine where your corals originally came from. The Indo Pacific, Caribbean and Red Sea are where most of the corals in the aquarium trade are collected. Perhaps the easiest way to find out is to ask the LFS or OLS where you purchased your corals where the corals were shipped from.

Since most aquarium corals are collected from the Indo Pacific and the Caribbean where the water temperatures are routinely between 85 and 89 degrees Fahrenheit, perhaps you may not need to get too concerned as long as your tank temps do not rise above this level.


Reef Tank Temperatures - How High is Too High?

 

Sigh...

Salinity 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20
Ph Not tested
Calcium: Still not coming up on in tests but showing up with 1.20ML as opposed to two weeks ago when it was only showing up after 3ml of the test regeant. I saw it taking 3 syringes to turn from pink to blue, then 2, and now 1.20 to get that change, which shows me the calcium is building up in the water chemistry.
Alkaline: Haven't checked since calcium isn't coming up. Someone told me it doesn't make sense bothering with the Ph and alkaline while I'm dosing the calcium and alkaline. The calcium supplement instructions say Ph will fluctuate a bit while dosing and to does equally the calcium and alkaline.

I have two powerheads, one pushing against front glass, another that oscilitates. I see the corals flowing in the current.

Temp, with now, uncovered top, and fans added, seems to have stablized on it's own @ 80°-80.9°

Yet still my corals are looking pathetic. The bubble one that fell behind the rocks is now dead :'(

The star polyp opens up, but they don't stand tall like they did when i bought them, and I have another green/brown-ish polyp that opens but also looks pathetic.

What should I do

They look closer to drying than thriving!

 

Until you get your chemistry sorted out I would not expect things to start to improve. Even after you get your chemistry right it might take them a while to recover. Keep working at it.

You should try raising your alkalinity in balance with your calcium, you also should check your magnesium because you won't be able to raise your calcium and alkalinity over a certain level if your magnesium is too low. Your magnesium should be 3x the level of your calcium.

Aim for 450 calcium and 9-10dkh alkalinity once you have your magnesium over 1350. That's my balance anyway.

Good to see you got your temps down, just keep working at it!

If you really want to understand what is happening with your chemistry read parts 1, 2, and 3 of the chemistry articles at the top of this page. They explain everything. Feel free to skip over the highly technical stuff but it does a good job of explaining what is going on.
Reefkeeping Online Magazine - Randy Holmes-Farley

 

First take a deep breath. Get a pad of paper out and write a list of what you need to do to get your tank back where it needs to be. Then go down the list and repair each problem. Don't stress. Everyone has gone through something with their tank. This is how we learn sometimes about things. Remember 3reef is here to help you... Just keep asking the questions.

 

I may be wrong, but I understood calcium to be more of a "supplement" than actual food. In other words, they need it, but won't directly show a substantial amount of symptoms if it's not supplied appropriately. I guess you can think of what i"m saying as eating food, but not getting the necessary nutrition out of it.

Not to say I don't care about the calcium, I'm just wondering if it's the lack of calcium that's having such an adverse reaction on them as it is. I'm begining to hope it's something this simple right now.

As for the magnesium. I didn't even add that yet. The ca/alk supplement came with a strong magnesium supplement and they instructed that I add the entire bottle only after finishing off the full bottles of ca and alk.

As far as the standards of the chemistry, ammo, nitrites, nitrates, I think I finally have everything stabilized. I'm not showing any fluctuation in it. I'm gonna try a hippo tang today. Hopefully I will have some sucess.

 

The tank has been running for about 6 months now.

I have about 30-40 lbs of live rock. It may even be 50 lbs.

The tank is 30 gallons, 30x18x12.

Livestock is
1 x neon Goby
1 x blue damsel
1 x talbot's damsel
1 x maroon clown
1 x purple face firefish
1 x 3 striped damsel
1 x diamond goby

I was told in another thread my bioload was too much for my size tank, so I cut back and above is the current list. All my fish are small. The clown, neon goby, daimond goby, firefish are the only ones more than an inch long. If that makes a difference.


I wouldn't get another fish your maxed out on your bio load IMO and hippo requires a bigger tank than a 30 gal. and I would make sure your tank is stable and your coral health becomes better before adding anything else. Remember go slow.

 

I'm thinking of losing the 3 stiped damsel and the neon goby soon. I'm looking at the fact I'm stuck to the parameters of this tiny tank. But I do want to make the best of it. The neon goby is rarely out now, always hiding under the rock. It used to be cool to see him peeking out, but even now that's lost it's luster. it's more like a hermit. I suspect it's cause he's alone now, and the 3 striped damsel just hassles everyone else. I don't mind trading them up for something with a little more life.