Seven weeks ago, with the help of my LFS, I stared a 110 gallon reef aquarium. About 100 lbs of LR and about 4 inches of sand.
After two weeks I added 7 damsels on the advice of my LFS. A couple days later five of them were missing. Fortunately I found 4 of them in the filter box hanging from the tank and got them out before they died. Unfortunately there was one MIA, never did find him again. He wasn't in the filter.
After three weeks there was a good amount of brown alge and the water tested pretty well: pH 8.2, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5. I added 12 hermit crabs, 6 snails and a lawnmower blenny. One of the Damsels started swimming out of control, doing large loops in the water current and he was eventually sucked into the filter. All the other fish still seemed to be doing great though. Any thoughts what that was?
After four weeks I tested the tank, got the same readings and added four soft corals. They all looked great in the store, but the one has never opened in my tank. I tried moving it higher in the tank, closer to the light but no luck. I have since moved it again and no luck. The rest seem to be doing really well.
At this point, eventhough the water was testing well, I decided to did a little over a 20% water change anyway, thinking it might need it for things I'm not testing for. And I was going away for four days for Christmas.
After the water change the water tested about the same ~5. I was a little surprised the Nitrate didn't go down even a little bit. But it still seems like it's an acceptable level, right?
Before I left I hooked up an automatic feeder with flake. I set it to feed them twice a day. That seemed right from what I've been reading about Damsels. Although it's hard to control the exact amount it gives off.
When I returned home from Christmas everything looked good. I the one coral still hadn't come out though. There was now a bit of green alge and not a lot of brown. I headed off to the LFS, should have tested the water again first, but I didn't. I didn't think of it.
At the LFS I bought a yellow tang and a green bird wrasse and added them to the tank. The wrasse immediately found at least four of my hermit crabs, ate them and then in what I can only see as pure pride, he put the empty shells in a little pile at the front of the tank.
As I was fishing those empty shells out of the tank I remembered that I was told (by my LFS) to rake over the sand a little. So I did one section, thinking it might not be best to do it all at once.
Later that day I tested the water: pH 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0 but the Nitrate was now about 10.
The two things I can think of that might have caused this are:
1) Stiring up the sand, maybe there was some trapped Nitrate in there. Is that possible?
2) Overfeeding. Most likely the source, right?
One of the problems with the automatic feeder and flake is that it sits on the surface and then gets quickly sucked into filter, due to the movement of water in the tank.
With the two new fish (tang & wrasse) I thought I should try different food beside flake, right? The tang didn't seem to be eating very much flake. He pretty much likes to eat stuff off or near the bottom of the tank. And the damsels and the wrasse eat like maniacs. On the advice of another fish store, I got frozen food. Formula One and Formula Two.
To be honest I'm not sure how much to feed. I was feeding the whole gang half a cube of Forumula One and half a cube of Forumula Two once a day. But the wrasse started attacking the coral and the snails. It looked like he was hungry. I feed him some additional flake, which he quickly devoured, like a starving person and then, from what I could tell, he stopped pecking at the coral and the snails. How much should I be feeding four damsels, one small/medium tang and a six inch green bird wrasse?
My Nitrate is still up around 10. I am thinking of adding some plants to help control the Nitrates, possibly Shaver's Brush. Will that work? Or will something else work better?
Additionally, I've been replacing the evaporated tank water with Arrowhead water, but now I read that spring water isn't as good as filtered water? Should I switch to Sparkklet's Water? THoughts on this?
Finally, for now anyway, what is the best way to clean the cloth filters? Is it okay to use tap water and then rinse them with purified water? Do you rub them clean or just pour the water over them?
Thank you in advance for any help. It's greatly appreciated.
Craig
After two weeks I added 7 damsels on the advice of my LFS. A couple days later five of them were missing. Fortunately I found 4 of them in the filter box hanging from the tank and got them out before they died. Unfortunately there was one MIA, never did find him again. He wasn't in the filter.
After three weeks there was a good amount of brown alge and the water tested pretty well: pH 8.2, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5. I added 12 hermit crabs, 6 snails and a lawnmower blenny. One of the Damsels started swimming out of control, doing large loops in the water current and he was eventually sucked into the filter. All the other fish still seemed to be doing great though. Any thoughts what that was?
After four weeks I tested the tank, got the same readings and added four soft corals. They all looked great in the store, but the one has never opened in my tank. I tried moving it higher in the tank, closer to the light but no luck. I have since moved it again and no luck. The rest seem to be doing really well.
At this point, eventhough the water was testing well, I decided to did a little over a 20% water change anyway, thinking it might need it for things I'm not testing for. And I was going away for four days for Christmas.
After the water change the water tested about the same ~5. I was a little surprised the Nitrate didn't go down even a little bit. But it still seems like it's an acceptable level, right?
Before I left I hooked up an automatic feeder with flake. I set it to feed them twice a day. That seemed right from what I've been reading about Damsels. Although it's hard to control the exact amount it gives off.
When I returned home from Christmas everything looked good. I the one coral still hadn't come out though. There was now a bit of green alge and not a lot of brown. I headed off to the LFS, should have tested the water again first, but I didn't. I didn't think of it.
At the LFS I bought a yellow tang and a green bird wrasse and added them to the tank. The wrasse immediately found at least four of my hermit crabs, ate them and then in what I can only see as pure pride, he put the empty shells in a little pile at the front of the tank.
As I was fishing those empty shells out of the tank I remembered that I was told (by my LFS) to rake over the sand a little. So I did one section, thinking it might not be best to do it all at once.
Later that day I tested the water: pH 8.2, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0 but the Nitrate was now about 10.
The two things I can think of that might have caused this are:
1) Stiring up the sand, maybe there was some trapped Nitrate in there. Is that possible?
2) Overfeeding. Most likely the source, right?
One of the problems with the automatic feeder and flake is that it sits on the surface and then gets quickly sucked into filter, due to the movement of water in the tank.
With the two new fish (tang & wrasse) I thought I should try different food beside flake, right? The tang didn't seem to be eating very much flake. He pretty much likes to eat stuff off or near the bottom of the tank. And the damsels and the wrasse eat like maniacs. On the advice of another fish store, I got frozen food. Formula One and Formula Two.
To be honest I'm not sure how much to feed. I was feeding the whole gang half a cube of Forumula One and half a cube of Forumula Two once a day. But the wrasse started attacking the coral and the snails. It looked like he was hungry. I feed him some additional flake, which he quickly devoured, like a starving person and then, from what I could tell, he stopped pecking at the coral and the snails. How much should I be feeding four damsels, one small/medium tang and a six inch green bird wrasse?
My Nitrate is still up around 10. I am thinking of adding some plants to help control the Nitrates, possibly Shaver's Brush. Will that work? Or will something else work better?
Additionally, I've been replacing the evaporated tank water with Arrowhead water, but now I read that spring water isn't as good as filtered water? Should I switch to Sparkklet's Water? THoughts on this?
Finally, for now anyway, what is the best way to clean the cloth filters? Is it okay to use tap water and then rinse them with purified water? Do you rub them clean or just pour the water over them?
Thank you in advance for any help. It's greatly appreciated.
Craig
