Jon's new 20 gallon

J

jonathan

Guest
Well its been a week since I started this post and not much has changed. I do need help with nursing a Sebea anemone back to helth. Pictures are attached. I would hate to lose him. The clowns really like the anemone. Any help would be great. Here it is my 20. I’m running 2x 65w power compacts. Dual daylight and dual atnic. The fixture also has two led moon lights which are very cool. It the Current USA Orbit fixture. Very nice I definitely recommend it I have a Aqua C Remora protein skimmer with a maxi-jet 1200, and an overflow box. The thing gets some really nasty stuff out. Two power heads although the one bought from ***** is noticeably less power full than the mini-jet 606 which was rated the same. There is 15pounds of live sand with 10 pounds of crushed coral underneath. I also have 30 plus pounds of live rock. Ammonia is at 0, Nitrites 0, but I always get a reading of about 10-15ppm with my nitrates( this worries me and is why you see no corals) The tank has been set up for about 3 months. I’ve even busted some of the rocks up looking for sponges and stuff like that, but nothing. I do water changes regularly and have even taken advice on not doing a water change for awhile. When I do this it stays constant but the nitrates never drop. What is up? Salinity is at 1.024 and PH is at 8.2.
I would love to here any comments. Rock structure etc how’s it look will it work good for coral placement? If any ones knows what is up with the nitrates please clue me in. Ill post as I add to the tank so be sure to scroll down and see what's going on.
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
You aren't using tap water are you? If so, that could be where your nitrates are coming from. Also could be overfeeding.
 
J

jonathan

Guest

Originally posted by hagfish
You aren't using tap water are you? If so, that could be where your nitrates are coming from. Also could be overfeeding.
I use RO water and when it comes to feeding I have tryed different feeding methods. I could probably use to feed them more to be honest. I really cousious when it comes to feeding
 
salty chee

salty chee

Member

Originally posted by Jonathan
I use RO water and when it comes to feeding I have tryed different feeding methods. I could probably use to feed them more to be honest. I really cousious when it comes to feeding
Have you noticed anything unusual? If so, say. And by the way you spelled "tried" wrong. :hilarious
 
J

jonathan

Guest

Originally posted by salty chee
Have you noticed anything unusual? If so, say. And by the way you spelled "tried" wrong. :hilarious
I havent noticed anything unusual. Other than my spelling is a little off today. If you mean by fish acting strange or other creatures. The clowns are happy, the watch man had some fin problems but once the coral banded was removed that his fins fixed them self. The pepermint shrimp, cleaner shrimp, and the hermit crabs all seem to be fine. They shed there Exoskeletons a feed with every one else. I use pelet food, flake food, and frozen brine shrimp. There are no overwellming algea blooms, there is plant growth on the live rock.
Im not really sure what you mean by unusual? maybe this will help if you were looking for something else let me know. I can use any advice.
 
laddy

laddy

Active Member
How long has the tank been setup for?:notsure:
Registering 10-15 ppm nitrates isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd much rather have that than measurable amonia levels....plus you're never going to actually get your nitrates at zero. If you have healthy rock and sand I wouldn't worry about it.
 
salty chee

salty chee

Member

Originally posted by Laddy
How long has the tank been setup for?:notsure:
Registering 10-15 ppm nitrates isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd much rather have that than measurable amonia levels....plus you're never going to actually get your nitrates at zero. If you have healthy rock and sand I wouldn't worry about it.
Jonathon. You probably know this but heres a little chart i made REALLY quickly. Hope it helps a little.
ph: 8.15-8.6
alkalinity: 2.0-5.0 meg/L
Ammonia: 0-0
Nitrite: 0-0
Nitrate: <20 mg/L (ion)
Phosphate: < 0.05 mg/L
Strontium: 8.0 mg/L
Iodide: 0.6 mg/L
Dissolved oxygen: >6.90 mg/L
 
J

jonathan

Guest
I read and I read. And I know the answers to my questions. Im still scared that Im just going to waste money and kill any corals if I put them in my tank. I have a strong back ground in biology and some of this stuff just does't seem like it should work. Even though I have provided what I feel is the best equipment for what I could afford. Reefs were not ment to be kept in 20gal tank. Well thats the idea Im trying to get across. I guess what Im asking is did anyone else ever have this scare? How did you address it?
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
I'm running a 20 gallon as well for about 7-8 months now. This is my first SW tank and I've done it a little different than the norm in that I've been running an under gravel filter and no protein skimmer (just got a protein skimmer last week). I'm also using CC instead of LS. But my nitrates have been at zero since about the first month. I seem to get some nitrogen bubbles so I think I may have a decent amount of anaerobic bacteria helping out. I do water changes basically when I buy something new which until the last month or so is about once every 1-2 weeks. I have had corals for probably 4-5 months and haven't really had any problems. Although I'm starting to get some hair algae now that is choking out some corals. I'm hoping the skimmer helps with that. I had the same scare as you before I bought any corals, but I just went and got something easy (green star polyps) and I've had no problems with them. That's what I would suggest you do when you start. Shrooms, zoo's, and GSP's are really quite easy to keep (I think it's easier than fish so far). Also, some corals such as Xenia would even appreciate some nitrates and may even help reduce them a little.
I just reread your original post and noticed that you say you have about 10 lbs of CC under your LS. I wonder if detritus is getting stuck in your CC and since you have LS I assume you wouldn't be vacuuming it out. That's the only thing I can see as a potential problem here.
If you can't figure out where the nitrates are coming from, maybe you should look into a way to get them out (such as fuge).
 
J

jonathan

Guest
Thanks hagfish,
Yes it is true about the cc under the ls. I had read that that was a pretty standard way when expecting to stock a tank with corals. Due to the buffering it provided your tank with some extra means of getting more calcium. I do use adiditives aswell. Is this not your understanding. I hear where your coming from on the fuge. Uve looked into doing a fuge. Im jsut not sure about the easiest way to go about doing it. I love the concept of it though. any suggestions. How small can you go on a fuge. I like neat put together things, sloppiness does not fly with me. Could I put something as small as a two and a half gallon under my tank. Thanks
 
hagfish

hagfish

Active Member
Jonathan, I'd have to disagree about CC under LS as a standard way to set up for corals. I have read many thread on this site and others where people try to argue LS vs. CC and LS pretty much always wins. And that is JUST LS, not LS over CC. Maybe you could do a search on the subject and see what you come up with. It is well documented that CC can become nitrate factories if not vacuumed consistently. But you'll have a hard time doing that with the sand over the CC. As for the CC helping with calcium, I wouldn't worry about that too much. You said you're putting in additives anyway so if you calcium test (you are testing for what you're putting in I hope!) comes up low just add some in.
I don't actually have a fuge, but I have heard of some very small ones. You could probably even put some plants in a HOB filter and light them and they would live. After looking at many fuges in this message board, I can only think of a couple where the fuge was above the aquarium. I think it's usually below the aquarium so that is fine if that's how you prefer to do it. Do a search on the boards here to learn more about fuges.
 
gfk

gfk

Member
could post some pictures of your skimmer setup with overflow?
i have a 20 gallon and will be getting a skimmer soon, interested in ways to set it up
 
J

jonathan

Guest
Well I just put my first anemone in my tank. It’s a Sebae Anemone. I have seen anemones attach them selves to rocks before it pretty cool. This guy really got down in there though. Is this okay? If he needs to get more light he will move right?
 
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