New To Saltwater, Ready To Throw Towel In

renegade64

renegade64

New Member
Hi everyone. And thank you all already for helping with all the info I have ready got from this forum since I started in july of this year. But I just can't seem to keep the nitrate down! I have a 29 gal tank with : 30lbs live rock, 10lbs fiji coral, 3" live sand base, 14" Hang-On Refugium with Protein Skimmer with power head,1x24W CF bulb 50 daylight/50 actinic blue on a clump of chaetomorpha in the reugium, a hang on whisper 20-40 filter, heater2@ 78, maxi-jey 600 powerhead. 2 clown fish, 2 pajama fish, 2 lawn blennies, a couple of red legged crabs, and a few snails but they keep dying. Thr clowns are have had since after the tank cycled. The pajamas I had to rescue from the 10 gal from a demoned fish, a Purple-Pseudochromis. I also started which is giving me the same issues. The 10gal has only 2lbs live rock 2" base live sand 1lb coral, a marineland 400 filter system that use to be on the 29gal. air stone. The levels on both are about the same:
sal. 1.023
ammon 0
ph 8.2
nitrite 0.1
nitrate 5.0 in use a marine lab testing kit
10-15 gal water changes a week
also in use ro/di water from a typhoon lll system with aged saltwater mixed. I'll try and include some picks. Also what can I do with my demon fish, she was fine with the clowns for over a month in the 29gal tank and then all of a sudden she decided to take over, (they must be male clowns ha ha, just kidding) she chased the clowns in the corner and wouldn't let them move. So after a very long chase, and believe me it was a long chase and tearing most of the tank about I managed to get her out. So please help, I hope I gave enough info I don't know what else to do!
Thanks and Hi to all again!!!
I guess my pic are to big or I just have to learn how to send them.
 
auntkaren

auntkaren

Member
You can get those trate readings down by doing water changes daily...small ones like 10%. Test before you do the wc then test after. You should see a small change after the wc. You might be doing too large a water change believe it or not! We were doing 50% water changes and the trates were going off the charts then we researched and found that smaller water changes done daily would work much more effectively. I hate to use the P word with you but Patience! LOL (I hated that word for a long time!) Try a 10% water change for 3 days in a row and see if that brings your trates down to an acceptable level.
The aggressiveness of the damsel (demon) fish? You might be able to take it back to your LFS or to another LFS and get credit toward a future purchase. (I would just take it to the store and tell them they can just keep it! LOL) Before you get another fish research carefully to see how aggressive it is, which fish it gets along with, what they eat, things like that. If you use the internet for your research go to at least 3 sites and compare the info.
Your lawnmower blennies should be removed very soon. They require a very mature tank with lots of the algae and zooanthella they survive on. Your tank truly isn't mature enough to support them yet, unfortunately. Wait about 8 or 9 months and put them in.
KEEP YOUR TOWEL! It's worth all the frustration! Research, research, then reasearch a bit more, then....have Patience! You are doing fine and asking questions can only help you learn!
 
bobwire

bobwire

Member
Yeah, don't throw in the towel. I think that you just need some patience. There have been times when I was unsure of what to do and I did nothing. I waited till I could talk to my LF expert and got advice. Sometimes the problem would even fix itself. I guess what I'm saying is don't panic. There is a lot of information out there and good help here. Although they get flamed a lot, your LFS is also pretty good at advice (if you look past the sells pitch). And remember, you learn best through experience.
 
mandarin w

mandarin w

Member
The first year I probly flushed 500 dollars worth of fish. I couldn't my nitrate down below 40. I had red slime for over 10 months. and spent 25 bucks a week on chem clean and red slime remover just to get it back a few days later. But at that time I didn't have a computer. So you are already one step ahead of me. You have acess to the whole of reef keeping. and hundreds of thousands of people just like you. We all were beginners at one time. and didn't know Instant ocean from Morton. Give it time. It will come. And in five years you will be tell a new hobbiest the same.
Keep up with the waterchange, Do a small one more often. Give you tank time to grow. and don't add any more livestock for a few months. Let your good bact. grow so it can handle what is in there.
 
joncat24

joncat24

Active Member
sounds to me like you are doing too many large water changes. 50% cahnges will keep your tank in a constant cycle. do like three gallon changes about twice a week for few weeks and see if this helps. It doesn't take as long and should bring your trates down quickly.
Test your water before change and see what the results are afterwards and then you can gauge how many and how often to do them.
 
piscesblue

piscesblue

Member
I didn't think 5.0 Nitrate was such a bad thing in a reef tank. I thought it was the cut-off and since most testkits I've seen only test down to 5.0 on nitrate, your true level could be between 1 and 5. I might be mistaken and thinking of 0.5. I'll have to look at my kit when I get home from work.
Don't give up yet, 3 months is not long enough to have a grip on what works for your tank.
 
renegade64

renegade64

New Member
No not selling the stuff, ImUrNamine Just looking to get a grip on my mistakes and learn from them from you all.
 
renegade64

renegade64

New Member
Thanks for all the replies. I have been listening to my LFS but it doesn't seem to me that the info that I'm getting is to accurate lately! I'm going to try a new place I have heared of here in Buffalo Ny it's a reef store, they just had a frag trade show last sat I believe, had to work so couldn't go.
 
O

oreo12

Guest
Originally Posted by PiscesBlue
I didn't think 5.0 Nitrate was such a bad thing in a reef tank. I thought it was the cut-off and since most testkits I've seen only test down to 5.0 on nitrate, your true level could be between 1 and 5. I might be mistaken and thinking of 0.5. I'll have to look at my kit when I get home from work.
Don't give up yet, 3 months is not long enough to have a grip on what works for your tank.
I agree with this the nitrates are by no means too high. Just do a 3-5gal water change once a week with ro water and give it about 1 year and then it should be a great little fish bowl for you. The bigest screw up we all make is not waiting long enough it takes a bout 1 year for the tank tgo get setelletd in. Try not moving the live rock around that just stirs stuff up and won't allow things to settel in good luck
 
team2jndd

team2jndd

Active Member
10 percent weekly not daily. Daily will put you in a constant cycle as well. And 5 nitrates wont casue problems its got to be something else.
 
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