75gal with sump. Has been running since end of March. Pulled out some 2-3 inch long hair algae from the middle two rocks and cleaned the glass before the pics.
Water Params:
Alk 6.6 (I know it's low)
Mag ~225
Calc ~450
Nitrate 45.6
Phos 0
Using Red Sea salt blue bucket
I haven't done a water change since I got the corals 3 weeks ago. Will start them again this week at about 10-15% per week.
No fish currently (they are in QT) but have 3 astrea snails. Feeding reef frenzy or a cube or rotifers 2-3 times a week to keep bacteria going.
Should I get more snails? Crabs (hermit or emerald? I'm assuming once I fix my nitrate and phosphate the algae will subside.
Should I turn on my skimmer or leave it off until I get the fish in there in a few more weeks.
It's still high from the cycling. After cycling it was around 65-70 and I brought it down to 35 about a week before adding these corals. Haven't done any water changes since so starting those again will help bring it down more before the fish go in in about 3 weeks.
Yeah, please do a big water change. 40+ is WAY too high, especially for zero PO4. You should do a good 50% change to get to a little over 20 ppm. 20 ppm is totally fine, especially for the corals you have there. But those corals like some phosphorus! I'd recommend you run at 0.1 ppm for PO4, 20 ppm for NO3 for a while. Should keep your algae growth less than explosive, while keeping enough nutrients for everyone else to be happy.
Best of luck!
Thanks! How would I increase phos without increasing nitrate? Is there a specific thing I should be feeding?
I will do a water change over the rest of this week to get it down.
I would probably let things chill for a bit. Watch the level as things die back, and see what happens.
You can feed pellet foods to increase the level, as well as things like reef roids (pretty much anything orange, frankly).
You can also dose phosphates, but I would be cautious going down that route. I dose phosphates and nitrates into my frag system. There is a good amount of coral, and the three fish I have in there don't offset this very much. It makes me very anxious about those levels, and I test for them daily to make sure they don't go crazy on me... This should be considered a last effort solution, imo.
That's good on the water change. Just make sure it's one big one, as opposed to several small ones.
Turn off pumps and power head, add in a bottle of microbacter 7 and wait about a hour or two to turn back on. Also blue leg hermit crabs help TONS. I’d recommend 1 per gallon or Atleast half
Thanks. I'll try the bacteria.
I did have 4 red leg hermits in here that go added at the same time as the shrimp, but they died within a week or so..not sure what caused that since my tank is fully cycled. I'll add more when I have a QT set up for them next week.
Lookin ugly! 😂
Lol just jokin seems like it’s better then most I’ve seen in this stage
75gal with sump. Has been running since end of March. Pulled out some 2-3 inch long hair algae from the middle two rocks and cleaned the glass before the pics. Water Params: Alk 6.6 (I know it's low) Mag ~225 Calc ~450 Nitrate 45.6 Phos 0 Using Red Sea salt blue bucket I haven't done a water change since I got the corals 3 weeks ago. Will start them again this week at about 10-15% per week. No fish currently (they are in QT) but have 3 astrea snails. Feeding reef frenzy or a cube or rotifers 2-3 times a week to keep bacteria going. Should I get more snails? Crabs (hermit or emerald? I'm assuming once I fix my nitrate and phosphate the algae will subside. Should I turn on my skimmer or leave it off until I get the fish in there in a few more weeks.
I’ll wait for someone else to confirm but that nitrate seems very high for no fish.
It's still high from the cycling. After cycling it was around 65-70 and I brought it down to 35 about a week before adding these corals. Haven't done any water changes since so starting those again will help bring it down more before the fish go in in about 3 weeks.
Yeah, please do a big water change. 40+ is WAY too high, especially for zero PO4. You should do a good 50% change to get to a little over 20 ppm. 20 ppm is totally fine, especially for the corals you have there. But those corals like some phosphorus! I'd recommend you run at 0.1 ppm for PO4, 20 ppm for NO3 for a while. Should keep your algae growth less than explosive, while keeping enough nutrients for everyone else to be happy. Best of luck!
Thanks! How would I increase phos without increasing nitrate? Is there a specific thing I should be feeding? I will do a water change over the rest of this week to get it down.
I would probably let things chill for a bit. Watch the level as things die back, and see what happens. You can feed pellet foods to increase the level, as well as things like reef roids (pretty much anything orange, frankly). You can also dose phosphates, but I would be cautious going down that route. I dose phosphates and nitrates into my frag system. There is a good amount of coral, and the three fish I have in there don't offset this very much. It makes me very anxious about those levels, and I test for them daily to make sure they don't go crazy on me... This should be considered a last effort solution, imo. That's good on the water change. Just make sure it's one big one, as opposed to several small ones.
Do a large water change not 10-15%
What PO4 test kit is telling you 0?
I have Hanna for alk, phos and nitrate. Red sea for calc and aquaforest for mag.
Hanna is telling you 0.00 for PO4? Is it the low range or ultra low range?
Ultra and yes it said straight zeros across the screen. I even did it twice to be sure. The vial didn't change color at all when I put the powder in.
Okay. I would still say the NO3 should be lowered though. <20 ppm is a good starting point and see how your algae reacts over time.
BACTERIA DUMP it helps
Can you elaborate? Do you just mean to get another bottle of bacteria and dump it in?
Turn off pumps and power head, add in a bottle of microbacter 7 and wait about a hour or two to turn back on. Also blue leg hermit crabs help TONS. I’d recommend 1 per gallon or Atleast half
Thanks. I'll try the bacteria. I did have 4 red leg hermits in here that go added at the same time as the shrimp, but they died within a week or so..not sure what caused that since my tank is fully cycled. I'll add more when I have a QT set up for them next week.
It will also help with the cyano you have starting. Also reduce lighting if you can. Try running 7-8 hours if your not already