Is this hobby always so frustrating?

[bubblegurl]

This started when we added corals a couple weeks ago, figured out with help on the forum my lights weren't right, so added lights. Bad feeding and a breakout of red algae, treated, water change and protien skimmer stops working, give things a few days, still not working, tank turns green, buy new skimmer, hang lights, and add more clean up crew. Older snails start spitting out white goo, tank is now hazy. Have tested ph, nitrates, nitrites, calcium, too tired to post results, but all are where they should be. All tanks on forum are beautiful, anyone else struggle like this? Tank is almost 5 months old.

 

[sviellvoicae]

Can you give us more info on the tank? Lights, skimmer, size, etc...

 

[bubblegurl]

75 gl, changed from eshopp skimmer to tunze 9011, t5 lights, vertex LEDs fluval sump, 1 powerhead. Temp is 80 degrees. My frogspawn looks like it's dying, my bubble was struggling, then was looking good, now it looks like it's not going yo make it. Fish are all fine - 1 of each of the following clown, yellow tang, yellow tang, purple dotty back and bangaii cardinal. Brain coral looks ok right now too.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubblegurl http:///t/387494/is-this-hobby-always-so-frustrating#post_3410038
75 gl, changed from eshopp skimmer to tunze 9011, t5 lights, vertex LEDs fluval sump, 1 powerhead. Temp is 80 degrees. My frogspawn looks like it's dying, my bubble was struggling, then was looking good, now it looks like it's not going yo make it. Fish are all fine - 1 of each of the following clown, yellow tang, yellow tang, purple dotty back and bangaii cardinal. Brain coral looks ok right now too.
Run carbon, it will remove toxins (I think you have coral war going on) it will also clean up the water and make it crystal clear. I put my carbon in a mesh bag with a little floss and attach it to the overflow hose that drains into the sump...that way it has good water flow over it to be able to do it's best.
Keep your chin up...All these problems and how you fixed them will someday be golden knowledge to pass on to beginners.

 

[bubblegurl]

Thanks Flower! We did a carbon change as well. Tank looks a bit better this morning. My lfs suggested a better carbon than we are using which I will pick up when we need more. He has been awesome at helping out, I am really struggling with this at the moment. I think we are making all the newbie mistakes. It's a great hobby, hopefully the overwhelming bits will get better over time!

 

[deejeff442]

one powerhead wont cut it with corals,especially brains and frogspawn.add a korilia #4 to the tank.5 months is a young tank nobody here is an expert there are way too many variables in this hobby .we just adjust our set ups as we go for the better.you will always be learning.and algae is always an ongoing battle

 

[jerth6932]

More flow will always help, corals really don't like stagant water (granted every coral has their own requiremnts). In my 55 gallon, before I got my 90 gallon, had 2700gph ratings worth of flow in the tank. Now my 90g has an mp40 (rated at 3000 somthing gallons) and I want a mp10 to compliment that.
Also do any of the corals you are haveing problems with, are they touching another coral? Big thing, watch your fish and make sure they aren't Picking at your corals!

 

[bubblegurl]

I've thought flow has been an issue as well. We have pieces of LR touching the glass and those sides of the rock looks blah, so concerned about the flow in these areas. With the issues with the red algae, I think we don't have enough movement over the sand as that was the only place it showed up. I will see if I can make a stop this week to pick up another powerhead or two. I only have 3 corals nowhere near each other and the fish don't bother them at all. The cardinal hangs out above the frog and the dottyback hangs out underneath him but I've never seen either pick. My frog looks much better today. Last night he looked like a limp green glob and barely moving around - he's quite large and when fully expanded is beautiful. I have pics on my profile of the tank and corals before this latest problem. My tank was so hazy last night I could not see from one side to the other. I think the problem was the corals were starting to show signs of algae growth on them, I'm not sure if this would weigh them down. Will do another water change this weekend to help clean things up. I've cut back on the fish food and cutting cubes into quarters, we were dropping whole cubes in for 5 fish twice a day....the skimmer will take about a week to get going, I bought one that can go in either the tank or a sump (when we eventually add one), the other hung on the back of the tank. Hopefully this is the last one I need to deal with for a while (3rd in 5 months) and its larger than what we required.

 

[deejeff442]

when i added two mp40 powerheads 3000+ gph to my reef the corals blew right up and are growing a whole lot faster than when there were just 4 korilias in there.probably doubled the flow and now doubled the coral happiness. i make my own food but i feed once a day you are way over doing it on the feeding.if you want to feed twice a day do a half cube at a time that is plenty for what you have in there.fish will always look hungry.

 

[bubblegurl]

Will def add more - I've looked to see if the korilias are available here (Canada) and they are - just have to make the stop. I guess the fish have me figured out, I'm the one who feeds them, so I go near the tank they think food and go nuts and I give in....I'm so far away from making my own food at this point, I think I would go insane....lol
Thank you for the feedback, I do feel much better.

 

[mr. limpid]

You are feeding your fish way to much this may be the cause of your algea and cloudy water 1 cube for the amount and size of your fish. I feed 3/4 of a cube for twice the amount fish, plus half of a algea sheet every other day. Try cutting back on feeding and see what happens.

 

[tangs rule]

Quote:
Originally Posted by deejeff442 http:///t/387494/is-this-hobby-always-so-frustrating#post_3410100
one powerhead wont cut it with corals,especially brains and frogspawn.add a korilia #4 to the tank.5 months is a young tank nobody here is an expert there are way too many variables in this hobby .we just adjust our set ups as we go for the better.you will always be learning.and algae is always an ongoing battle
+1
It really can be a challenge to do corals in a tank under 5-6 months old. Some real pros can set one up and have a perfect tank within weeks - though this is the exception to the rule. Corals require excellent water, light, and only a little food. It takes months to determine weather a coral is happy in your tank as to how deep it's placed, the water flow has to be right, the water must be great, and the light good. This assumes the coral survives that long. And in a reef tank with fish, overfeeding of the fish can produce an environment where most corals will die, as overfeeding results in poor water/high nitrates or nitrites. Take things slower - do not add anymore fishes, or corals, and attempt to keep what you have alive for a few months. Check water parameters often, and do waterchanges wehn needed. Let your reef grow into YOUR desired looks, over time - rather than attempt a full blown complex system over only a couple months......a good reef tank regardless of size requires many months, if not years! I'm still waiting for mine to look like a million bucks - and it'll be 5 years from now.

 

[bubblegurl]

Wow, thanks for all the great feedback! The over feeding came from also feeding the corals after the fish. I cut back today, it's a start! With the amount I've just put into the tank, slowing way down on adding anything live to the tank for quite a while. The tank was running really well and we had no issues with just the fish, this all got crazy with the addition of the corals. I'm not sure what to do to clean up the corals, the brain is fine but it looks like the bubble and frog have some on them. We've increased the flow a bit. Is there anything I can should do? The skimmer is working slowly, added additional CUC.

 

[tangs rule]

I'd kinda stick with what ever you've got. Adding anything more - even cuc from another tank/system/retailer - could prove to be more trouble than you've got already. I'd suggest adding nothing more, monitoring water quality, doing regular waterchanges, and let things stabilize - you might be best to try to keep what you have already alive, and just let things get stable for a couple months, allow the tank to mature, and let things work out. Test the water parameters you can, and maintain the best water you can for a bit - then, add things slowly, as the tank matures into them.

 

[kiefers]

+1 on what everyone stated, I agree run carbon and a big water change wouldn't hurt either, tune your lights down, meaning cut down on the time you have them on. If I read correctly you got new lights, coral may have not had time to adjust to the setup. white goo? Hmmm without pics of your tank, it's hard to tell, what is your water temp? you may have corals that are competing but without a pic of the critters it's hard to say. IMO

 

[bubblegurl]

ok, i'm having issues loading pics so will try just a couple. Retested water, salinity 1.026, temp 80, ph 8.3, mg 1150, ca 1050, nitrates/nitrites 0. Will do a water change this week, when you say big, how much for 75 gl tank? LEDs were added a week and a half ago, corals the week before. One of the snails (turbo) was spitting out the white goo, LFS said it was laying eggs. Tank was so cloudy could not see from one end to the other but water is crystal clear now. Please let me know what to do to help these corals or have I condemned them? As much as I would hate it, I will take them back if the LFS can bring them back.

 

[bubblegurl]

 

[bubblegurl]

sorry pics so big. I can't get the pic of my frogspawn to upload and lights are off on tank. He's been closed up since I got home 3 hours ago. We turned up the flow on the one pump and he looked like he would respond, but then closed up again.

 

[tangs rule]

If your calcium is 1050 - that's either a poor test kit, or more than 2 times the desired 420-450 range. What kit are u using?

 

[bubblegurl]

Elos test single test for calcium only. I will retest, it's not a color test but calculations, may have misread results. Maybe just me being stressed....lol