Detailed form submitted: Philip.Cloete

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Philip.Cloete

Joined
21 Dec 2010
Posts
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Location
Secunda Mpumalanga
Detailed help request​
Are you experiencing any problems in your tank?
Yes ​
Brief Description
Had some deaths in tank( yellow tang, Urchin,pyrimid snails) also blue chromis jumping out of tank and got some algae on substrate and liverock ​
Tank size
1600lx780wx750h ​
System Volume
totol with sump =1150litres ​
How long has your tank been running?
5months ​
What livestock do you have?
2 false percula clowns
3 blue chromis
1 cleaner shrimp
2 blue legged hermit crabs
1 kenya tree coral
1 torch coral ​
Water Parameters
alkalinity - dont have test kit
calcium - about 500
phosphate - not detectable
magnesium - no test kit
ph - 8
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
ammonia - 0
salinity - 1.025
temp - 25 deg ​
What lighting is over the tank?
1 quad t5 unit 1.5m tubes 2xblue 2xwhite
1 x 400w MH unit ​
Pumps and equipment
return=reef octopus water blaster 7000l/h
3 x seio prop 1500
skimmer = reef octopus rated at 1500l
deep sand bed in sump
macro algae in sump cheatamorpha
running carbon in a sock
running seachem phosphate remover in sock ​
Maintenance
I do maintenance alot as this tank is the main feature in my living room and the algae keeps on growing and growing on the rocks substrate ang glass panes, the glass panes need to be cleaned at least once every 2nd day otherwise it gets realy green.
I also have an other pump conected to a hosepipe which i use to blow clean the substrate and under the liverock
I did water changes monthly about 90 litres as I only have limited stock at the moment I dont see it nessasary to do more ​
Other info and photo's.
O.k I am starting to doubt my ability in maintaining this tank I realy put a lot of time and effort in this tank all my spare time goes into it and I love the hobby I just need to know exactly what I am doing wrong I had all this deaths but they dont happen all at once first it was one turbo snail after about a week the next one then the urchin went into the overflow where it died, I went away for a weekend and when I got home all seemed to be well the next morning I woke up finding the yellow tang had passed....I am limited on money at this stage and did everything I was told I spent most of my money on equipment hoping the system will run perfectly, but it looks like im missing someting.

I dont want to keep buying livestock and let them fade away beacuse it impacts the enviroment and it costs me a :61: load of money. I am trying to stock the tank slowly but I seem to get nowhere when my livestock only lasts 2 months

I also replaced my RO unit filters (got them from Marco)

I do not overfeed (Feed flakes 3 times a day and once a while give them frozen food)

My lights is on for 10 hours a day and all lights is new

the algae that is growing is a light green algae and looks like hair algae as it gets quite long about 3cm before I scrub it

My corals seem to be doing verry well and growing good ​
 
Another thing I just want to add is the powerheads are all facing forward and not blowing on the substrate beacuse of the torch coral I dont want to blow it away.....

I also have about 35 kg of liverock, I dont know if this will be a concern but I have verry limited livestock so I think its sufficient for now
 
The 1st thing that comes to mind is you'r water parameters...
especially ALK, MAG and CAL... you need to test for MAG and ALK also... the 3 are interlinked...

Hopefully someone with more Experience can help you with you'r current problem...hope these help steer you in the right direction till another Member can give better advise and pin-point you'r problem...:blush:
Unfortunately, calcium and alkalinity are linked 4,5 in many ways in reef tanks, and these links can lead to serious problems if they are not fully understood. If, for example, you add too much of a calcium supplement, you will drive down alkalinity as you get precipitation of calcium carbonate in the tank. Likewise, adding too much of an alkalinity supplement can result in reduction of calcium. Consequently, trying to correct one problem can cause another. Moreover, if you try to correct a calcium or alkalinity “problem” with the wrong type of additive, you might accomplish nothing more than creating limestone in your tank.
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Chemistry And The Aquarium: Solving Calcium And Alkalinity Problems — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
A Simplified Guide to the Relationship Between Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Understanding Reef Tank water Testing and Parameters
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com


Rough Guideline...
Below are recommended water parameters that can be used as a guideline for general marine tanks.

pH - 8.2 to 8.4
Salinity - 1.023 to 1.026 (or 30.5 to 34.5 Specific Gravity (SG))

Calcium - 380-420
Alkalinity - 6 to 9 dKh (ideally 6.5 to 8.5 dKH) NSW levels
Magnesium - 1300 to 1350
Iodine - 0.04 to 0.06
Strontium - 8ppm or 8mg/l (NSW levels)
Potassium (K+) - 380-420
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - less than 5
Phosphate - less than 0.01
Ammonia - 0
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Ideal Water Parameters - Marine Aquariums of South Africa

What to test for and why - Marine Aquariums of South Africa
 
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Snails could have been eaten (hitchhiker crab in liverock), hermits could have tried to steal the snail shells depending on their size. Did someone feed your tang while you were away? Blue chromis are notorious jumpers if stressed (bracing tank with eggcrate helps keep fish in).
 
Crabs much smaller than snails they died and did not move for a while so - took one out and it smelled wrotten so I trew it away lkater the same happened to the other one I only went away for 2 days so no one feeded the tank
 
Yellow Tangs are susceptable to certain phosphate removers, not sure if this applies to brightwell products. Was the protein skimmer running when you dosed?
 
Yes it was running and I added it next to the skimmer as described on the instructions well since I added the tang it never had any problems and I had it for about 2 months but I never dosed the phosphate e in the time I had it exept the night before it died
 
Could just be that Tangs dont do well after most phosphate removers are added. Some phosphate removers have been taken off the market due to this.
 
Sorry to hear about your losses. It always sucks big time.

Firstly I seriously doubt it Phosphate - E , I have used it numerous times in varied setups as a temporary fix, to no ill effect whatsoever. As long as you took LR displacement etc into account.

Your Ca is quite high and the pH obviously low , also worrying is the fact that you dont have an Alk test kit ,which makes me doubt the correctness of the other related params . What test kits are you using BTW?

As a whole most of the deaths can be explained by plausible situations as the guys mentioned but the fact that you have some algae issues still point to nutrient issues which you should address through regular WC etc as the tank is still quite new.

I understand the budget constraints but maybe twice a month water changes will help already
 
OK yes maybe I will do more water changes to test if it works will also get myself a alk and mag test kit as I am quite far from a store that sels marine suplies what else would you sugest to get to stabalise the ph alk mag ect so I can get everything needed in case of someting going wrong I use salifert test kits and they are all quite new
 
Philip.Cloete said:
phosphate - not detectable
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Instructions for brightwell aquatics phosphate e
Basic: Determine phosphate concentration in aquarium prior to first use by testing with an accurate test kit. Add product to aquarium near a mechanical filter or protein skimmer intake at the maximum rate of 5 ml (1 capful) per 20 US-gallons daily for each 1 ppm of phosphate present in system. When used in this fashion, 250 ml treats up to 1,000 US-gallons (3,785 L). Add weekly at same dosage to maintain an immeasurable reactive phosphate concentration.
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FransSny said:
Firstly I seriously doubt it Phosphate - E , I have used it numerous times in varied setups as a temporary fix, to no ill effect whatsoever. As long as you took LR displacement etc into account.
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HenkHugo said:
Hi guys, Let me step in here before false info gets distributed again. @Nemos Janitor there were instances where users didnt take into account the displacement of the scaping, DSB etc when they dosed their tanks leading to a 3 or 4 times over dose. Yellow tangs seemed to be extremely sensitive to this very high dose. The new label comes with a rather large warning I believe. On the front label it says in big black text on a yellow back ground "Peel back for a warning" which then states "Do not over dose. Use only the amount directed for your system. Dose the actual volume of water. Not your tank capacity." I hope this clears it up. __________________
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from this thread MICROBE-LIFT/Special Blend & Microbe-lift Phosphate Remover - Page 2 - Marine Aquariums of South Africa
 
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Thanks butcherman that clears things up a lot I did not overdose but as you said my phosphates is undetectable which means I should have never added the product...

Just thought it will help with the algae problem in the tank...

So I think that clears up the tang death.
 
Im not saying its certain, only a possible cause.

Rather focus on good water quatlity.

Instead of spending money on fancy removers spend it on Water changes will be cheaper. only once an good water change regime becomes insufficent consider dosing addatives.

Like Fransny ask any reason why your CA is so high? what salt are you using, are you adding any Ca adatives?
 
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Not adding any aditives exept that one time phosphate e and running carbon and seachem phosphate granuales other than that all natural I don't know what causes the high cal I use seachem reefsalt since the tank has started up that's why I think I might need something to increase the alk but will test first just want to know what's best to use beacuse I can't realy buy test kit test the water and then drive all the way back to buy someting to get the readings right but I guess you can't buy anything if you don't know what the readings is ;)
 
Philip.Cloete said:
OK yes maybe I will do more water changes to test if it works will also get myself a alk and mag test kit as I am quite far from a store that sels marine suplies what else would you sugest to get to stabalise the ph alk mag ect so I can get everything needed in case of someting going wrong I use salifert test kits and they are all quite new
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Hi Philip,
If you desperately need supplies (ie test kits etc) you can PM me and I could perhaps send the stuff with my husband. He works in Secunda during the week. We could arrange for you to pick it up from him.
 
Send me a pm with your contact details. Ill come make a turn and see how i can help you my friend. Maybe you can pop in at my place and see how i do things.
 
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