Water Parameter, is that all good?

[NeBu]

Hello There,

Just wanted to share with you my water parameters, as I am quite new in that hobby (5 months:)) and a quick video of the tank. If you have any recommendation or suggestion, I am all open!! Thanks

MG : 1290ppm
No3 : 20 à 30 mg/l (never managed to bring it down since the launch of the tank...the chemical reaction is always in the purplish)
No2 : 0
Ph : 8 to 8.3
Po4 : 2 à 3mg/l

Calcium : 380 mg

Alk : 5.5meq/l (and this is a real issue, I don't understand why this is so high)

Here for a quick video

Cheers!

[sgtayc]

Hi the black crown with yellow face is nice. Where can i buy them and is it expensive?

[NeBu]

I guess you can buy them in every shop provided they have supply.
I got mine at Reef & System Service Pte Ltd, on Boon Lay Way. But they don't really have a retail shop, so, give them a call to check their stock and pay them a visit when they give you the go.

[SubzeroLT]

Nice tank

Your alkalinity is quite high indeed but its probably not in the critical zone.What's your dosing regime like?

I understand that prolonged high alkalinity can affect the mucus later of fishes leaving them more vulnerable to infections.

Nitrate is likely to do with too much feeding & insufficient ways to remove the nitrates (either via water change, use of biopellets or chemicals to bind the nitrates).

[NeBu]

Hey thanks! Pictures to follow My intention is to grow corals and ideally spam babies. I have already had bb prawns, all eaten by the fishes...

I think my pump is not strong enough, with approximately 400l/h for a 70l tank. That might explain the Nitrate.
I have bought a new one that can pump 1400l/h, that should change the deal. I might be feeding too much indeed. I have tried to save some corals (fan) that were given by my supplier, and I was still new, so accepted sea fan and scleronephthya...did not know that there were SPS and that there were so hard to keep alive. For the last few days I feed Roti Feast and Phyto Feast on a daily basis (2 spoons a day of each) + palettes + blood worm. Everything is eaten quite quickly, and if it is not, the 2 prawns and the hermit crab finish it in a minute.

For the water changes, I will do it this week-end with Dasani & Instand Ocean. I plan on doing 12 liters change, which is a good 15% of my water. It might adjust the Alkalnity, hopefully.

One of my grey/blue chromis (the very small one) seems to have been bullied and probably eaten by the anemone, no sign of him for the last 2 days :-( An aquarium is a real Jungle! I have already lost a hermit crab (eaten by others), 2 chromis and a sea star, in 5 months. Is it over populated.

[Guest]

Yellow clowns are clarki clown. Nice tank bro. I wouldn't worry about nitrate if you include water change in your weekly maintainence

This is a signature : hi

[gdc0910]

Hello There,

Just wanted to share with you my water parameters, as I am quite new in that hobby (5 months:)) and a quick video of the tank. If you have any recommendation or suggestion, I am all open!! Thanks

MG : 1290ppm

No3 : 20 à 30 mg/l (never managed to bring it down since the launch of the tank...the chemical reaction is always in the purplish)

No2 : 0

Ph : 8 to 8.3

Po4 : 2 à 3mg/l

Calcium : 380 mg

Alk : 5.5meq/l (and this is a real issue, I don't understand why this is so high)

Cheers!

water change will help

[NeBu]

Hi there,

Changed 10% of my water and cleaned pumps and other accessories yesterday. Deep cleaning. Water change has been done with 6 bottle of Dasani and Reef salt.

Parameters seem to be better

No2 : 0

No3 : 15 mg/l (my lowest ever)

Po4 : 2mg/l (still a bit high...any idea? Do I feed too much?)

Alk/KH : 4.9 meq/l (better than before, isn't it?)

Calcium : 425 mg/l

Mg : 1170ppm ++

PH : 8

Will post some photos later

[NeBu]

Hey guys, here are some pics, comments are welcomed! Trying to improve the thing and make everyone happy inside. Might be a bit overpopulated. I have lost one small Blue Chromis so far and a sea star..

I would like to buy another small blue light, to avoid strong water evaporation (my white light is very hot) and to keep the coral a bit more active, even at night, and see some nice other colors

General view, it is an Elos Tank, quite good.

General view 2, tank only

General View 3

Quick zoom on the Anemone, an Antacmaea. It has moved only on the first night, from the upper right of the tank to this new location, in a "cave". Always open, eating quite well, and a Ocellaris clown fish (female) hosted it the day after. Unfortunately, the other Ocellaris (male) tried to join the anemone, showing many submissive dances to the female, but the female somehow rejected him for now.
The fan on the right is dying, it requires a lot of care, and almost impossible to keep in such a tank. I have been wrongly advised :-(. The Zoanthus is pretty happy as soon as the light is on. You can also spot a small cleaning snail.

A sea star, active, she is going to lose one arm, after a rock fell onto it!

My stupid hermit crab...He keeps destroying everything, but he is doing a pretty good job in keeping the tank, especially the sand, clean. He climbs, falls, tries to climb the tank, with limited success

Another Zoanthus, pretty happy as well, but he keeps falling...his feet is stuck to a very small rock, and somehow, I can't get to fix it anywhere. So as soon as a prawn or a fish passes by, it falls, and I have to put it back to another location.

Here you can see one of the anemone fish hosting the anemone. You can also spot a Briareum

And here is the back view. The "stick" is actually an anemone worm, inside most of the day, but comes out at night or when he does not get disturbed. He is very sensitive to movements and vibrations.

The system under the tank, with a protein skimmer, a auto water top-up system, and 4 pumps (one for the skimmer, one for the auto topper, one for the chiller and one for the main tank). In the servicing area, there are 2 tanks, one for the fresh water and one for the tank water, with a mechanical filter and a bacterial filter.

[vincentwangz]

Nice tank! And a really elaborate set up in the cabinet to maintain the system! A pity the sea fan didn't work out!

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[NeBu]

Nice tank! And a really elaborate set up in the cabinet to maintain the system! A pity the sea fan didn't work out!

Thanks mate. Still want to improve it. Decided to invest in a blue light only, so I can keep the light on even at dusk. Else, I can only appreciate my tank on the week-end.

Will send more pictures when I get new stuff or if I can catch some of the smaller things.

[NeBu]

Hello there!

Just wanted to confirm. Is Dasani water good enough for water changing?

Thanks

[xiggie]

Dasani is distilled water , so it's good.

[Arronpsw]

Dasani is distilled water , so it's good.

Dasani is drinking water, not distilled.

reefing from pasir ris

[dinGdinG]

Hello there!

Just wanted to confirm. Is Dasani water good enough for water changing?

Thanks

Hey bro, even if it's commercial distilled water it will still have traces of tds but tds below 10 is acceptable.

I have been using life distilled water from NTUC and it has 4 to 5 tds. Now switched to polar distilled water, around 3 to 6, bigger range. But I think below 10 is acceptable.

[xiggie]

Dasani is drinking water, not distilled.

reefing from pasir ris

Any recommendation of good and acceptable bottled water?

[Arronpsw]

Any recommendation of good and acceptable bottled water?

Life or one that sheng siong sells haha both ate distilled

reefing from pasir ris

[NeBu]

Hey guys,

Thanks! I have now switched to Life and will do water change (20%) this week-end. I am wondering when is the break even point between having a distilled unit at home to distill tap-water and continuing to buy life distilled water. Also, driving motobike only, it is not easy to carry back more than 30 liters of water from Fair Price And, Fair Price does not do home delivery for free...RedMart also does not offer distilled water. So it is a tricky choice here.

Update from today.

My anemone has bleached and shrunk to a critical size in few days after I fed it with cooked shrimp...my bad. I thought you have to feed cooked shrimp and not raw shrimp. It seems to have been suffering a lot, and being constantly stressed by the 2 clown fishes that host it. The tentacles are now so small that it does not grab any food by itself and it hides behind the rock, away from light. I have checked numerous forums about anemone, it seems that water change and feeding meaty products might save it. All the zooxanthellae seems to be gone. I have bought raw shrimp fresh from the market, cut them in small square, and now feeding one small piece a day to the anemone (rest being in the freezer). I bring the shrimp cube directly into its mouth, which remains open, i stay there for a while to check if any fish or prawns is not trying to steal the cube. It seems to swallow it after a while, so it is a good sign. The anemone still expand and inflate to a certain extent...

Water parameters seem to be still good, only the Po4 might be high...i can't really tell which color is the test tube water after making the test because the blue (dark blue) that comes out does not match any of the colors provided on the guide table. No2 and No3 are at 0.

I have also decided to add a small sea urchin...it was happy, just to find it 2 days later in the claw of my stupid hermit crab, who was happily eating it...only the urchin shell was left. Damn it...so upsetting.

Beside that, all animals still very happy. Added a small powerhead that simulates wave in the tank, a small anemone crab (porcelain crab) and a new blue light, to enjoy the aquarium after 3PM (time when I switch off the blue and white leds).

Forgot to add that my coral fan (which is very difficult to maintain, my bad), is so far "maintaining" its state. I give it a spoon of roti feast and phyto feast daily and have positionned it right into the current of the new power head.

Here are some pics with the blue light only. I like the glowing effect it gives.

And here some pics with the normal light on.

The anemone...before I fed it with cooked frozen schrimp :-(

A hard shell anemone worm (donno the real name)

The little fu***er that destroy everything and would eat everything

More pictures to follow this week.

Cheers, and thanks for your comments and help on anemone care etc.

[sherman]

Your MG is dropping. Not good. You need MG above 1300 .

[NeBu]

I will redo water parameters this week.
Difficult to get the perfect reading for Mg (salifert test)...can't tell if I am at 1150PPM ou 1300PPM...the coloration of the water being tested changes from blue to pink around 1400PPM...then complete change to 100% pink at around 1100PPM. So I believe the good reading value is in between.

[patricklhc]

Seems like u are struggling to keep your reef going don't worry it's part of the learning. Keep up the good work so far. Based on your picture apart from the cooked prawn incident your tank is good great for a new hobbyist.

Let try to answer some of your questions if I miss out anything u need to know let me know again.

Distill water vs ro or rodi to me there is no break even point. If u are going to keep this hobby going in long run invest in a di unit or rodi it's even better especially so when u want to venture into sps in near future

Light- depending on what u really like. Led or t5 don't waste time and money buying those unknown brand. Rather invest in a reputable brand. If u like LED for your tank side AI prime makes a good choice IMO. T5 I'm not sure if ATI have one that's suitable for your tank (research on your own)

Anemone- it's in a bad state u know your mistake which is good ( excellent learning curve I would say. Now u know anything not sure we are always here to help you. No question is stupid question) but for now I suggest u leave it is at where it hides to. It's trying to recover. Yes providing them good water parameter and feeding them meaty helps them in recovering. But do NOT feed it everyday!! U will kill it. Once a week will be more than sufficient.

Do not try to make too big a chance in adjusting your water parameter. Trust me big swing in parameter does more harm than good it's something new hobbyist must learn to control. Big water changes in an attempt to correct parameter is also the same.

To control your no3 and po4 apart from controlled feeding u may want to consider nutrient export method either via growing of Cheetos in your sump(light must be provided for them to grow), biopellets, or via probiotic means(uses bacterials to consume both no3 and po4 but there's more to it. Do some research and ask question to better understand how it works before u decide) po4 can also be easily reduced/controlled via means of Po4 removal media eg: Rowaphos run in a reactor or put them in a bag and place it in your sump with high flow area. Take note that such media are dusty so read the instruction carefully to prepared the media before adding to your tank.

That hard shell anemone worm is actually called a tube worm a beautiful addition to reef tank

For your mg testing using salifert. For me I take the reading when it turns 100% pink use that to determine. No hobbyist test kit can provide u 100% accuracy. So no need to go around chasing for those PERFECT numbers. I'm not saying u don't need to achieve those numbers just that there is no perfection. For me as long as they stay within the range I'm will leave it then to try and make adjustment.

Also basic important parameters to keep as constant as possible are mg,ca and kh

Recommended reading would be

Mg 1280-1380 (some reefer kept it at 1500)

Ca 380-450

Dkh 7.7-10

Feel free to drop me a pm if I didn't reply to your thread here incase I miss it

Happy Reefing

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[NeBu]

Thanks Mr Patrick! Will follow all your remarks and try to succeed....

This hobby is very tempting; i constantly want to visit reef shops and buy new stuff but it is bad. My tank is small, 70 to 80l and I think it is time for the existing corals and animals to be happy and get used to their environment. I will leave it as such for at least 4 months.

My lights are actually very nice..worth 1000sgd for the led; Elos is a premium quality product, saw it when I was in France and feel in love with it. Only drawback is that those lights are either on or off. Can't adjust the power based on the time of the day.

I have a question. Noticed that sand keeps stacking onto my zoanthus, hence I have to create a small wave movement with my hand in the morning to remove the sand and make it happy. But, on a long run, i would like to stop doing this. Is my current wrongly adjusted and push sand there? Should there be some parts of the tank that are actually well protected from current?

Also; my cleaning schrimps are always pregnant (green belly, looks like eggs). So far, i have seen them releasing tiny babies only once, all eaten by fishes. Now it seems that those eggs are actually just there and then disappear and come back again. Is that egg? Will try to get pics but they mostly hide.

Night!

[patricklhc]

Thanks Mr Patrick! Will follow all your remarks and try to succeed....

This hobby is very tempting; i constantly want to visit reef shops and buy new stuff but it is bad. My tank is small, 70 to 80l and I think it is time for the existing corals and animals to be happy and get used to their environment. I will leave it as such for at least 4 months.

My lights are actually very nice..worth 1000sgd for the led; Elos is a premium quality product, saw it when I was in France and feel in love with it. Only drawback is that those lights are either on or off. Can't adjust the power based on the time of the day.

I have a question. Noticed that sand keeps stacking onto my zoanthus, hence I have to create a small wave movement with my hand in the morning to remove the sand and make it happy. But, on a long run, i would like to stop doing this. Is my current wrongly adjusted and push sand there? Should there be some parts of the tank that are actually well protected from current?

Also; my cleaning schrimps are always pregnant (green belly, looks like eggs). So far, i have seen them releasing tiny babies only once, all eaten by fishes. Now it seems that those eggs are actually just there and then disappear and come back again. Is that egg? Will try to get pics but they mostly hide.

Night!

Agreed that Elos is a premium brand. Can't argue on that. However most led available in market today usually have that function when u can set it to auto on and off some with sunset sunrise mode. For your case since u already got it let it run on a timer to on and off. Livestocks will need a constant light on and off so that they function properly.

As for your wavemaker, is it because u placed it too low or power set too strong and shifted your sand. I suggest u start a tank thread list down all the equipments u have and also your full tank shot FTS easier for us to help identify your challenges. Usually it's quite normal for wavemaker to shift your sandbed here and there. If it's too much of an issue why not try relocating your corals to another position ?

Shrimps with egg!! I never have the luck to see that so in all honesty I don't have an ideal how to deal with it haha I guess I will be happy if I see something like that in my tank it means food for my fishes and sps maybe

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[NeBu]

Hello there,

Expecting help for : water flow and wave maker, Po4 issues, bleached anemone treatment.

Update of the week. I have done a 7.5l change with Life and my salt. Seems to be ok. Tests following the water change are as follow :

No2 : 0

No3 : betwen 10 and 25, as usual

Po4 : 2mg/l (it is a dark blue, not greyish but dark blue, it does not correspond to anything on the chart, I am a bit lost). -- What to do? Is it too much food intake?

Calcium : Good

Mg : Good

Akl : going to the acceptable zone after being too high for a long time

pH : 8 to 8.3

General view on 25/07/2015

As you can see, I have added a wave maker on the left. So, it is basically creating a counter current downwards. Is that a good location? I have tried to put it as far as possible of rocks, so it won't be reached by any anemone. Sea fan has been removed, it was dead. I will probably add another LFS sea fan in the front of the aquarium later on (my wife has asked me to not spend a single cents before end of september on the aquarium...grrrr)

Anemone number 1

I am a bad person but I wanted to have a healthy anemone in the aquarium. Couldn't resist, so I have bought another small one with pink feet. It has moved to this hidden corner of the tank and can sometimes extend very well! Hosted by the 2 oscellaris direclty. Feeding it once a week with a 1cm cube of fresh frozen schrimp. When it extends, it goes all the way to the zoanthus...pretty impressive.

Close-up on Pink Zoanthus

Seems to be healthy and happy...

Focus on another Zoanthus (is it a Zoanthus?)

Seems healthy as well.

Zoom on Mushroom Coral

Just bought this little guy as well...happy when the light shines! Wonder what I should expect from it and how to care. Any tips?

Sick and bleached anemone

Here is the sick anemone. Been like this for 10 days now, but it is still growing and extending, but not as good as last time. And it is all white...anemone fishes still go there, as you can see on the picture. Managed to fed 1cm cube of unfrozen raw shrimp for the last 2 weeks, trying to not overfeed. Should I do anything else or continue this treatment? (PS, you can see a small porcelain crab on the right side...so cute)

Overall water quality and briareum x2

I believe those 2 corals are briareum? Isn't it?
Anyway, happy, especially since the wave maker strikes them with current.

Just a concern on this picture, you can see in the background a lot of particles floating around in the water. I suspect the sand to be responsible, but any idea to get a very clean water without particles?

Pest

Noticed this sort of anemone or whatever it can be. Is that pest and should I destroy it? Is it an aptasia?

I have also noticed a much bigger anemone that came on the shell of my hermit crab. It was pretty on the crab, but I guess it got bored of being banged constantly and decided to move to the feet of one of my coral...no harm on the coral after 1 months being the host of that anemone though

Cleaning Shrimps

Here they are. But day time, they hide so I can't take their belly. Their bellys are green with eggs. I will try to snap a photo at night.

My little *expletive*

I can't call him another name, since he likes to destroy everything. I fed him with a small piece of schrimp last time, omg, he almost snatch my finger. And he became superman for a while to grab that piece of meat.

Tube Anemone Worm

Here it is, open and filtering the water like it is supposed to do.

Anemone worm

Got 3 of them, in the sand. Filtering the water and occasionally grabbing a food pellet.

A view from above

And last but not least, a nice view from above, another angle that allows you to see everything. Looking forward for your comments and suggestions!

Cheers!

[NeBu]

Hi Guys,

Rectified my Po4 recently, it was skyrocketing to 4mg/l!!! Probably after the disappearance of a small anemone, that I never managed to retrieve, even after moving my rocks.

Here is a picture of a pregnant schrimp. I have so far seen the egg hatching only once, and it was a feast for all my fishes...so far none of the bb survived. It seems that my schrimps always get pregnant, with green belly. Is that normal? Are the eggs always fertilized? Or can they result in no hatching like chicken?

Here is a small picks of my latest addition (the anemone is sick, but I feed it once a week with a small cube of raw schrimp. It swallows it.