gio28's 36g tank diary

gio28

gio28

Active Member
my tank has been up and running for a few months but i figured i might as well start this thread now to show my progress and get some help along the way.
anyways...my tank is kinda a mess at the moment. theres slime algae all over the place and my clown is slowly dying of something (???).


but the goods news is i got my new stand so i can move my tank off my dresser. and since i have a stand now i built a 20 gallon sump.

so im moving the tank onto its new stand right now. and im gonna clean off my rock and sand to get rid of most of the slime algae while my tank is down. hopefully i will have a nice clean tank on a nice new stand with no problems during the move.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
What are your water parameters? Are you siphoning that slime out?
what are you feeding? Light schedule? Filtration?
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
my parameters are
nitrate-10
ammonia-1
nitrite-0
im gonna siphon the slime plus all the other gunk out. i feed marine flake and mysis shrimp soaked in garlic. my light schedule is reduced cause of algae from 2pm-11pm. and my filtration is an aquaclear 50. but my 20g sump is already made so all i need is the pump, overflow, and the fuge materials.
and my clown hasnt eaten for weeks...like 2 or more. idk who hes alive still. i soak all my food in garlic to intice him to eat and feed twice daily. he just lays in my anemone all day and wiggles back and forth. i've tried everything to get him to eat and swim where hes not touching the nem.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Well IDK how he is alive either if you have ammonia like that....your lights are on for 9 hours? What were they on before? You need to get the ammonia to 0.....I'm surprised your shrimp and anemone are alive......
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
oops my bad...i meant .25 for ammonia. i was like thinking of a whole different scale for some reason. my LFS said slight ammonia...i think they said .25. my lights were on 11 hours a day. they are PCs (130watts).
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
No amount of ammonia is acceptable....your clown is slowly dying probably from ammonia poisoning....do a large w/c...do you have amquel+ or Prime? you need to detoxify the ammonia toxins....the fish is suffering.....
I'm wondering why you have ammonia...you say the tank is a few months old right? Have you stirred things up? Added more LR? Done anything?
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
i do have some amquel and im gonna do a big WC since im moving my tank tonight anyways. before i had ammonia my clown was still not doing good. i think it may contribute to the problem but i dont know what made him sick in the first place. i have stirred up the sand slightly before to get rid of some slime so maybe thats why i have it.
i dont have my own test kit yet but i plan on getting one next time i go to my LFS. my ammonia was tested last about 1 week ago so i dont know any of my params at the moment.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
i actually had some prime i used to get rid of any ammonia. i also put in some Stability to help also. and i did a 25% water change on my tank when i moved it. i think the problem with my clown was that it had no idea that it was safe when it wasnt with its anemone. when i separated them when i moved my tank he started realizing that he could swim around where he wasnt touching it 24/7.
he seems much happier now but i still need to work on getting him to eat more.
here is my tank (nice and clean for once) on its new stand (kinda blurry)

and here is my clown back in his anemone
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
You do know Prime does not get rid of the ammonia...it is only supposed to make it so it is less toxic to the fish
from what I hear
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
oh i had no idea. the guy at my LFS said add it to newly mixed saltwater to get rid of any toxic stuff. the bottle says removes ammonia, and detoxifies nitrite and nitrate...but idk if thats true or not. i have ammonia test strips but they suck...but ill use them anyways to see if i still have any.
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
finally i moved my tank unto its new stand. after waiting forever to move it , i can finally get more fish and some corals. i also got my sump built and ready to go and i just ordered the overflow box (eshopps 800) and the water pump (via aqua 3600). then i can hook my sump up and buy a couple bags of sand and chaeto to make a nice fuge that will hopefully get rid of my nitrate problems and keep my water quality perfect.
i finally decided on what my fish stocking list is:
-my clown (or trade in for clarkii clown pair)
-2 firefish
-midas blenny
-flame hawk
-sixline wrasse
-coral beauty
-green clown goby
its alot of fish so i will start from the top of the list and see how many i can have with my bio load. my sump adds 10-15 more gallons when i get that hooked up so that will help also.
im also ready to get some beginner corals (any suggestions?). my calcium i will have tested next time i got to my LFS. i also added some trace elements to my tank a few minutes ago. the only thing i need to buy as a necessity is some marine snow i think to feed the corals. my lighting is PCs (130 watts) so i can keep mushrooms and soft corals at the moment. i do plan on doing DIY T5s later one to keep LPS and SPS.
so does my stock list seem good? and what corals do you think would be a good start?
 
gio28

gio28

Active Member
i just came across this deal on craigslist i think. its a 150 watt MH ballast for $40 and for another $30 i can get a HQI lamp and pendant too. so $70. sound like a good deal?!
 
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