Making sure this is right

ok, so I am still playing with my 125G everything tank and hoping I am far past the cycling stage( which I think I am because nothing is dying anymore LOL). I just got my 72" coralife lighting system with the 3 halogin lights and 4 96w and 4 led and it cooks dinner and does the laundry light.. LOL But seriously, my polyps are doing a lot better (still looking weak in the sense of not fully coming out. I only see there "Pedals" but no stems yet) Now this light is in place then my 100K bulbs. It was worth the $$$. Now that I have the light in place and is making everything come to life I still have a few questions of my everyday procedures. I have live rock, sand and it's 125G tank mostly with Damsels, a lemon peel, 1 blue tang, 1 anthias, 2 star fish, shrimps, turbo snails, and a sea anemone with some other mushroom life forms..

So, I say I am will past the cycle stage because I finally have a sea anemone that is eating my frozen kreel I feed him and has been doing very well for over a month. Usually my past they die in a few weeks.

Questions... I am feeding 4 cubes of frozen brine (Formula two) along with one capful of DT's everyday. With a everyso often 3 days or so extra treat of dried seaweed on a clip and some dry "New life spectrum" marine food. I am sure this is why my Nitrate is around 40 right now (PROBLEM). So I am doing water changes every 2 weeks as scheduled, I am keeping a log book of what I do and add to the tank as well. I am also adding every week five drops of iodine.

1. Too much food and if so how often for feeding. I want to cut back to once every other day but afraid of lemon peel and blue tang start nipping at my plants, seaweed and other natural yummies.

2. Fish store sold me a bottle of AZ NO3 to bring down my nitrate, but it aint helping because I am still sitting at 40 nitrate. I don't like using this so I want to increase my water change from every 2 weeks of 15 gallons to every 2 weeks of 25 gallons and topping off with RO when needed. I am increasing my AZ per instructions and feel like I am pulling the trigger on a gun when I put more drops in per instructions..

3. I also was sold a 4 lb live rock that has seaweed and some other seaweed type on top along with this rock being covered in little muscles and clams. Storemguy claims it is really good for the tank and the muscle and clams really help eat up the nitrates.. Is this true and can you add more information about what these muscles and clams will do as I think it looks neat and want to learn more?

4. Store also sold me a bottle of Coral Vital. Suppose to be a reef life energizer and really open things up and get this tank snapping. Is this a store gimmick or what? (I call it the tank Viagra)

5. I have a cleaner shrimp and a red banded shrimp (I think) anyways they are both the same size but when they shed I can usually get the left overs out but now there is 2 or 3 in the rocks that I can't fish out without moving have the tank to get to it.. Will these old sheddings hurt my tank and will they eventually be cosumed or what?

I really want to keep my tank natural and really looking into taking a JBJ 22" 100K single bulb and strapping it under the tank for the sump and start working on a refgium? I have a 20 Gal sump under there and my skimmer is hanging on the back. So I have open space in the sump and want to add a bag of live sand and some Pet Smart seaweed my store in town is selling to help with natural filtering. I had this seaweed before an placed it in my sand in the tank but the blue tang kept eating it all. Also, will add slowly a rock or two here and there to build up the sump system over time.

So there are my questions. Please give a feed back. My Nitrate is a my biggest problem so far and somewhat know I have to space and cut back feeding and increase water changes but I wanted peeps input as well for some new info and ideas.. Thank you all for the info in the past and as well as the future answers..

 

Hello, I will try to answer your questions as effectively and efficiently as I can.
As for the feeding, cut down on the feeding! If you have the live rock, your fish should be able to find something to pick on, plus they can go for days without eating. Decrease feeding your anemone to once a week as they are filter feeders and also get their nutrients from their zooxanthellae in their tissue walls.
Muscles and clams are filter feeders along with feather dusters and suc. They will help to clean your water like a filter and yes they do feed on nitrates as do corals.
Your shrimp will shed periodically as they grow. Their shell/carapace can be left in your tank with no ill effects, in fact, it is readilly consumed by other organisms within your tank as a source of calcium especially.
This should help somewhat! Do you have a skimmer? Be careful also with macro! Yes it is beneficial, but can become a monster in disguise, if not careful!
Best of luck!

 

Thank you and yes I do have a skimmer.. But what about the chemicals and other items I am adding to the tank?

You said feed sea anemones one a week but for fish what is a recommended amount along with the DT's and how often?

Also what is Macro? Sorry new lingo for me.

 

Macro is a word for large forms of algae that are in essence "seaweeds", microalgae is just that annoying stuff on the glass/acrylic. If your no3 remover isnt working may i recomend kordon amquel+. it removes ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, chlorine, and chloramines. i add just a tad each week so i can add an extra couple of days between water changes, for i am still in high school and will have lots of essays this year English Honors:)

 

I would feed 1/2 a cube of brine per day. and stop adding any chemicals to your tank. If you don't measure Iodine and don't know what the level is in your tank I wouldn't add it

Jason

 

Much of what pet shops try to sell you is evident in your synthetic salt. As long as you are performing regular water changes, your live stock will get the necessary salts and traces affording your livestock its success and vitality, IMO!
As for the feeding of your fish, I would feed small amounts once or twice a day, but if you skip a day or so, it will be fine.

 

Wow, 3 cubes a day. Way to much for the ammount of fish you have. I have two very large tangs and about 4 other good size fish and they get half a cube of frozen every other day with some Splirtna flakes and on the even days I just put some dried seaweed on a clip for the tangs. Let the fish do what they do in the wild like picking at your rock and the surrounding in the tank for food. It will help keep your tank clean.

 

Killing fish and corals is not the way to tell if you are done cycling. You would know by regularly testing. Your tank is still very young and you are certainly way overfeeding whatever you have in it. Go slow and let it grow!

 

all good points thank you..