Mike’s New-ish 90 Gallon Journey

[SweetReefOH]

You’re doing what most people don’t do.... go slow and be patient. I would stop ghost feeding and just feed what your damsel eats. No reason to have all that decaying matter in your system. You will see the nitrates start coming back up after a while. The reason your nitrates dropped is because you had some good anaerobic bacteria consuming the nitrates while your tank was fallow.

Just an FYI, yellow tail damsels can be very mean and territorial. Also, they’re extremely difficult to catch. Like tear the whole tank apart to catch them difficult

[lvlikey]

You’re doing what most people don’t do.... go slow and be patient. I would stop ghost feeding and just feed what your damsel eats. No reason to have all that decaying matter in your system. You will see the nitrates start coming back up after a while. The reason your nitrates dropped is because you had some good anaerobic bacteria consuming the nitrates while your tank was fallow.

Just an FYI, yellow tail damsels can be very mean and territorial. Also, they’re extremely difficult to catch. Like tear the whole tank apart to catch them difficult

That makes sense why the nitrates have dropped. I think I was misinformed about the bacteria perishing without a food source. I was ghost feeding thinking that I no longer had any good bacteria since it sat for so long with nothing in it. I will no longer be ghost feeding it.  I've never heard the term fallow and wasn't sure how to research this. Like you said, not many people cycle the tank then do nothing with it lol.

The damsel is an azure damsel actually. Seems they are also quite temperamental. It was against my better judgment to pick him, really. I know enough to know damsels are a pain in the butt. In your opinion, do you think I should try and trap him now while there's not much in the tank? I really don't want to do that.....kinda like the little guy lol but, maybe not worth the headache. I'm not sure. Thanks for taking the time to reply. It was exactly what I needed to know.


Mike

[CoralBeauties]

Congrats on the new baby.  +1 with what Jesse told you.  Your biological filter will increase and decrease according to the load you put onto it.  with just one fish there wont be a lot of load going to the bacteria. Just like what Jesse said going slow is a good thing.  You will learn as you go and not kill off a lot of fish or corals.  If you like the new fish let him go and see how it turns out.  You can always use the clubs fish trap later on if you start having issues with him.  If not a member the tools that are available to members are well worth the $10 club fee.
Jeff

[lvlikey]

Thanks guys. Ammonia is on the rise. Today it tested at 0.50PPM. Wasn't a good day for me and the tank. Came home from work and my damsel was stuck in my overflow and very weak. Once I placed him back into the tank he had a difficult time swimming and ended up wedged into a rock crevice and couldn't get free. I had to move rock around and free him by hand. I was able to catch him and placed him into my sump where he wouldn't have as hard of a time swimming. From time to time I see him stuck against the baffle but he's able to remove himself from it and swims okay for a little bit. Not too sure he's going to make it. ugh. I can't place my finger on what could have caused it. Maybe the ammonia? Another thing I thought of was that I added an emerald crab with a few other cuc snails. I seen my damsel swim somewhat close to him a couple days ago and the crab acted like he was going to snag him out of the water. He wasn't too far off. I never thought that fish would be clumsy enough to get too close without being aware. Maybe the emerald caught the fish off guard while sleeping? Just spitballing.

Also, I need some advice. I'm attempting to install a system for water change from a station in my basement but again things aren't going as planned. I've found myself in a debacle. In short, I'm wanting to siphon the tank the old fashioned way then pump the new pre-made saltwater from a brute container from my basement into the sump. I didn't think it through enough. I have the system in place and a small test run reminded me back siphon is a bad thing lol. The pipe that comes from the basement was submerged into the water too deep at my sump and continued to siphon water from my sump back downstairs when I shut the pump off. Before I could wrap my head around what was happening and how to stop the siphon it drained quite a bit and threw my water out of whack. It's under control now. I shortened the pipe where it is not into the water at all now to eliminate any back siphon. The issue is within the brute container itself now.... The way the pump is situated in the brute it will never allow me to use every bit of pre made saltwater I have made. There will always be some left in the bottom. Aside from the pain in the butt of having to fine tune the salinity every time I mix a new batch, will I run into any issues with using what little bit of saltwater is left each time? I'm thinking maybe a drain at the bottom if I have to?

I'm not the greatest with explaining things very well or writing in general, but I hope you guys understand what i'm asking. Here's some pictures of what I have going on. Maybe someone can throw some tips in to help me out a little. Thanks guys.

Mike

[lvlikey]

Here are a couple pictures. Hope it helps illustrate what I’m trying to accomplish...




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[lvlikey]

Little guy is still hanging in there this morning. Still struggling though.

I’ve been thinking about it and the more I read and ponder on it. I can’t see the emerald crab grabbing him. I know emeralds can be pretty feisty sometimes but when I found him in my overflow there were no visible marks on him. I’m starting to lean towards ammonia poisoning. His behavior was very sporadic with short bursts and darting followed by heavy breathing and barely enough energy to escape the pull of my powerhead. I’m going to allow my emerald the benefit of the doubt here and keep a close eye on that little bugger. After receiving my CUC I was feeding the tank a bit heavier and I’m starting to believe that’s what my ammonia source is. Luckily I’m off work today with water made. I’m going to do a water change of around 30 gallons this morning to hopefully reduce some stress on him. That’s if he makes it that long.

This hobby doesn’t come easy to me.

Here he lay. In my sump. The top of his head is a little roughed up. That’s from me prying him from a rock crevice. He would have definitely died there had I not.




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[CoralBeauties]

You need a water change ASAP. There are ammonia removal products available also. Ammonia will kill just about everything in your tank.
Jeff

[SweetReefOH]

+1 to what Jeff said. If you haven’t used any ammonia detoxifying products then the ammonia is burning his gills and starving him of oxygen. He will die without intervention, with an ammonia reading of .5. I would immediately get Seachem Prime and dose it to the recommendations. Might not be a bad idea to add some BioSpira bacteria as well.

You need a water change ASAP. There are ammonia removal products available also. Ammonia will kill just about everything in your tank.
Jeff

[lvlikey]

Running a water change right now, then I’m going to make another batch and do it again. Can only change around 25 gallons at a time. Had to wait for the temp to get relatively close. Felt like forever. I don’t have any of that stuff on hand so doing the best with what I can. The closest shop to me doesn’t open until noon. I’ll ride up there and pick up some detox when they open. Fingers crossed.


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[Keith92]

Cincinnati Coral opens at 11:00.
It's at the IKEA exit

[lvlikey]

@Keith92 I’m heading up to Cincinnati coral now. It’s about 25 min drive. Never been there. Need to kill some time while my second batch of water makes.

I just changed 30 gallons and my water change system worked so well. Took about 8 minutes start to finish.

I’m not sure how accurate of a reading it is just after a water change but it looks like I’ve made a somewhat  dent in the ammonia with the first WC. Way better than it was. It read a solid 0.50ppm last night.


Still some traces in there but I’m happy with the results so far.



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[SweetReefOH]

Just an FYI, API test kits are notorious for reading higher than 0 ammonia ALL the time.

Your test there looks really good. I would say that’s a definite 0!

So the WC fixed your problem for the moment, but it will go right back up until the nitrogenous bacteria build back up. That is where the Prime or BioSpira come in to play. Those two additives will stop the ammonia and nitrite from becoming toxic to the life in the system. Once added, you should be able to go thru the cycle again without harming inhabitants.

[lvlikey]

Damsel didn’t make it through the night last night. He was too far past the point of recovery. I added prime yesterday shortly after my water change. Tested water today...

Ammonia - 0 (would register even with being detoxified by the prime right?)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

I’m lost. I hate to complain about this but, my clean up crew is starving to death. There is absolutely zero algae growing. They are turning my rocks back to white lol. My skimmer is pulling out nothing at all. Should I turn it off? Part of me wants to try another fish. Should I give it a few days to see what the ammonia does or what?


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[Steve]

A couple of salt water mollies might not be a bad idea. Fairly cheap too. Not sure if you bought any BioSpira yet, but I have used Fritz's bacteria in my quarantine system with good success. Be conscious of how much food you feed and less is always better than more, especially until you get your bacteria established.

[SweetReefOH]

Damsel didn’t make it through the night last night. He was too far past the point of recovery. I added prime yesterday shortly after my water change. Tested water today...

Ammonia - 0 (would register even with being detoxified by the prime right?)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

I’m lost. I hate to complain about this but, my clean up crew is starving to death. There is absolutely zero algae growing. They are turning my rocks back to white lol. My skimmer is pulling out nothing at all. Should I turn it off? Part of me wants to try another fish. Should I give it a few days to see what the ammonia does or what?


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My experience is that the ammonia will not test higher than about .5 on an API test when prime or BioSpira are being used.

[lvlikey]

A couple of salt water mollies might not be a bad idea. Fairly cheap too. Not sure if you bought any BioSpira yet, but I have used Fritz's bacteria in my quarantine system with good success. Be conscious of how much food you feed and less is always better than more, especially until you get your bacteria established.

Hey Steve.

I ordered the refugium starter pack from AlgaeBarn.com a couple weeks ago and it came with Fritz Turbo Start. I used that but didn't quite have enough to add the recommended amount the bottle suggested. I'll run out and pick some more up tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure overfeeding is the main contributor to what I have going on now. Lesson learned there. I've started more than a few tanks between freshwater and saltwater and never really experienced anything like I have going on. That said, I've also never cycled a tank then let it sit dormant for 4 months before adding anything to it  . Hard for me to believe that didn't have any ill effect on the bacteria that was established from my initial cycle. From a numbers standpoint, I couldn't ask for better water parameters right now. Maybe a slightly higher NO3, but I could easily eat my words on that I think lol. My zoa frag doesn't seem to mind. The colors are vibrant and I have noticed new growth. Again, I could very well regret saying this but I have zero algae growth and it's a little troublesome. Lack of bioload?

I'm going to add a fish tomorrow. I'm not too keen on the mollies personally. Is there a specific reason you recommend them? Cheap and hardy? I was thinking start on the docile side of my stocking list. Maybe a dartfish or yellow head jawfish. I wan't to discuss my stocking wish list and I have one planned but I'll get to that when the time seems right. One step at a time. Thanks, Steve.


Mike

[lvlikey]

Hey guys.

Stopping in here to give an update. October 30th was my last.

November 1st I picked up an orange spotted goby and tiger pistol shrimp. Fish is doing great, and I haven’t seen the pistol shrimp since I added it lol. I’ve been adding Seed brand bacteria since the 4th following the instructions on the bottle. Today was my last day.

Caught my emerald crab grab a piece of my green eye cyphastrea. Didn’t do much damage at all. This was his first offense as I watch him like a hawk. Immediately snatched him up and threw him into sump. He’s in jail as my 8 year old says lol. He will be in there until he passes or maybe give him to anyone interested (any takers?). That trust is gone. It’s a shame really. He added character to the tank and the family really liked him. I did  too.

Also picked up some frags on the 3rd thanks to @heinbaughb. From what I understand, they aren’t the best beginner species lol, but so far seem to be doin really well.

I’ve been monitoring ammonia daily and so far everything looks good, but I’m not sure how much the bacteria affected the results, if any. I’ll continue to monitor the next few days and periodically after that to make sure it’s all good.

My tank seems as if it’s sterile. I’m feeding as small of an amount as I can so my goby can pick some up. Once every 2 days. I’m feeding what I would call about 1/8th cube of frozen mysis. Even with my pumps off the food doesn’t make its way down to where my goby chills easily. He won’t work too hard for the food so I have to make sure there’s enough that floats by him. He’s lazy lol. I need to get some sinking pellets and try those.

I’ve also been adding some phytoplankton that came with my pods from algaebarn. I’ve been pretty conservative with this stuff as I have read some negative  results, but wanted to increase the chances of my new pods surviving. One of the big complaints I have seen is that it adds phosphates. This brings me to what I’ve been wondering about the past few days...

I use API testing as of now (I know, I know). It can’t detect at very low levels for any test. My phosphates are undetectable on the tests, and nitrates are also undetectable. If my memory serves me well, don’t corals need some amount of each to really do well? It’s also concerning because everything I read about dinoflagellates is never let your phosphate or nitrate reach zero. Another common contributing factor for them is simply a new tank/immature rock. I’ve seen too many thread topics on dinos and have read too many horror stories. To be frank, I’m terrified of dinos and I’m sitting with a tank that screams dinos lol.

My skimmer doesn’t seem to be pulling much out and my chaeto is alive but not growing. That, along with zero algae growth and low levels has me wondering if my filtration process is too strong as of now. Is this possible? I’m on a water change schedule of 25 gallons weekly. Roughly 100 gallon system.

I’m going to pick up some new test kits and see if I can measure anything in the low range that my API can’t see. What do you guys recommend as far as testing equipment?

For the sake of.....idk..here’s what API says:

Ammo - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Salinity - 35ppt
pH (day) - 8.0 (why so low?)
pH (night) - 7.5 (why so low?)
Calcium - 380
Dkh - 7
Magnesium - No test




Mike




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[lvlikey]

To show my appreciation for those of you that had to endure my lengthy writing style (and those that skip it lol) ....Here’s some coral pics...




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[ghurlag]

Mike,

I’ve had a bit of similar trouble with my little pico tank as far as nutrients getting out of whack.  In my case this is my third tank in a decade, so I’m able to be somewhat patient, but it’s funny how each tank behaves differently.

It seems to me you’re doing everything right as far as patience and being aware what is going on with the your tank.  It takes a good bit to stabilize an ecosystem, about a year on average from what I’ve seen.  As your live rock matured things will stabilize.

Good luck!  We need to get together sometime soon since we’re in the same town!


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[Heinbaughb]

Nice write up Mike. If you haven't already, adding another fish or 2 will help kick start more bacteria and get it going with a few nutrients that the corals will need. With that water change schedule, I don't think adding more food will cause you any problems.