please help a beginner out!?!?!?

sfl01208

sfl01208

Member
Alright guys I need some help suggestions with my tank. I have a 55 gal, with about 50-60 lbs live rock and live sand lights are good and stay on about 10 hours. its been up since about christmas, so it is pretty new. I went through a phase of algae middle of january and got a clean up crew and I mean they took it out...and I had TONS!!!!!! But every single member of the clean up crew has died . I had 2 mexican turbos, 2 emerald crabs, 10 blue legs, and 20+ snails. Mexican turbos lived almost 3 weeks, emerald crabs lived for about 1.5 months, the hermits are just now starting to die....and I have plenty of empty shells in there for them. snails last about 24 hours and i cant figure it out but after that they are done. Now I only have a clam and lawnmower blenny, and a feather duster that just threw his crown. Lawnmower blenny (john deere) is the man....i have had him for a while and he is very healthy. I think what is killing my inverts is the nitrIte which is always at .5 and no matter how much water i change or what i try to do I can't lower it. I just added another power head, and some phosphate remover to my canister to keep algae down. I also have a hang on filter I dont think the phosphate remover has been in there long enough to change anything yet. My water is beautiful crystal clear, glass for the most part keeps clean with the magnetic cleaner thingymabober. my pH is perfect, the salinity is perfect, the nitrAte is decent at 20, but nitrite is .5. I have a bunch of algae that grows on my sand which i have run my fingers and stuff through several times and its clean for about 3 days and then back to algae, and then there is stuff on my rock....it doesnt like jump out at me as a disaster, like the first algae chaos i had....i mean its there but im also getting a little RED SLIME! . i turned lights out for a couple days and it went away but came back as soon as i turned it on. Should I take out my rock and scrub it with a tooth brush and get all the algae off? is this a good idea? is the toothbrush the best way to go?i could take out my rock and scrub it (i think my blenny would go nuts he hides 24/7)? And what should I do about nitrites I just cant get it down....and i dont want to add any snails ro anything because well they will die again. 2 different set of 15 snails have died. Fish lives great. Please help me guys tell me what I should do about scrubbig, algae, and nitRITES.....thanks a bunch
 
swnewb

swnewb

Member
Scrubbing your rock won't help. You basicly will be treating a symptom, not the problem. The algae will return in short order unless you figure out the problem a fix it.
 
dominican

dominican

Member
Something tells me you have the tank in a place where sun hits it directly, or very close to an indirect source. That would cause your algae probs for sure, outside of nitrate issues... Also if you're using tap water, your tap water could be very high in phosphates/nitrates in which case you'd want to get an RO. Fundamentally, you haven't really mentioned whether you cycled your tank, and named a bunch of livestock in there for it being just two months old. That would be a bad thing. If your tank never cycled, water parameters won't stay stable, and things will keep dying. Also, low salinity will kill inverts without necessarily killing fish. Target is around 1.019-1.026 depending on what you're keeping. You didn't specify. Just some things to consider.... Good luck.
 
sfl01208

sfl01208

Member
"Something tells me you have the tank in a place where sun hits it directly, or very close to an indirect source. That would cause your algae probs for sure, outside of nitrate issues... Also if you're using tap water, your tap water could be very high in phosphates/nitrates in which case you'd want to get an RO. Fundamentally, you haven't really mentioned whether you cycled your tank, and named a bunch of livestock in there for it being just two months old. That would be a bad thing. If your tank never cycled, water parameters won't stay stable, and things will keep dying. Also, low salinity will kill inverts without necessarily killing fish. Target is around 1.019-1.026 depending on what you're keeping. You didn't specify. Just some things to consider.... Good luck."
Thanks...no its away from direct sunlight i got about 220 watts going close to 9 hours a day which is rather long for no corals (i know im working on it). dont use tap water i use premade water sold at LFR. As far as i know it cycled everything was at zero and I added cleaner and everything died fish still living. salt would be more on the high side than low side. For a good month or more my parameters have been exaclty the same. with nitrite at .5
 
eel

eel

Member
:rolleyes: where are you getting your water,if its tap water not good,although in the begining of my hobby i used it but never had the problems that you have listed.you said that you set it up in dec.did ypu let it cycle first,
 
sfl01208

sfl01208

Member
i use premade water sold at the LFRs nutriseawater or something like that.....i just let the snails temp. acclimate and then add some of my water in every 5 minutes
 
scubadoo

scubadoo

Active Member
Your nitrite should not be at .5...it should be zero. I would try testing the water with another test kit to make sure the reading is accurate. Your red slime is due to high nutrients in your water, light bulb issue, or lack of water movement...or a combination. Source could be tap water or dirty filter pads in your hang on and cannister.
Adding water movement will help regarding the red slime as well as changing your bulbs (if they are old) or decreasing the time they are on. You should move 20X or 20X plus your tank size.
I'd make sure the salt you are buying is what it is...and not some premix with tap. Test it before putting it in the display tank.
First, I'd verify that nitrite reading with a different test kit to make sure it is not false...then go from there.
We need a little more history...have you added live rock recently? This could cause another tank cycle if the rock was uncured with die-off.
 
jesatfis

jesatfis

Member

Originally posted by sfl01208
Alright guys I need some help suggestions with my tank. I have a 55 gal, with about 50-60 lbs live rock and live sand lights are good and stay on about 10 hours. its been up since about christmas, so it is pretty new. I went through a phase of algae middle of january and got a clean up crew and I mean they took it out...and I had TONS!!!!!! I think what is killing my inverts is the nitrIte which is always at .5 and no matter how much water i change or what i try to do I can't lower it. I just added another power head, and some phosphate remover to my canister to keep algae down.
im fairly new at this too but have you thought that maybe it was the live sand, did u get it from another tank? if so did they use medications?
think abought that and your liver rock was it in someone elses tank? cured?
did you mix your watter in a bucket that was used for chemicals? or the aclimation bucket, was it used for chemicals?
and this may sound really stupid but did you rinse out your tank after you brought it home from the store, chances are it was in a store room and in a store room there are metal pipes.
 
sfl01208

sfl01208

Member
Yea I changed out filter pads yesterday....cleaned the canister filter. tryin everything to get that nitrite down and remove red slime, which is only in one spot for now its not taking over or anything. just added more flow. light bulbs are 2-3 months old so i think they are good. No live rock recently. that and sand was the first thing put in there in december. I think my problem was topping off with the premix stuff and water becoming too salty. my hydrometer always read well but from what i have heard it isnt accurate. so im gonna get that tested at an LFS and get salt lower. get a nitrite kit and check it, as well as ammonia. when should i see results from my phosphate remover I thought i would by now they way some people talked about theres, maybe i put it in wrong...cant imagine though...lol thanks alot. im not going to do anymore until the nitrites are zero and salt is perfect...snails probably died do to salt.....
 
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