Something in my tank just isn't quite right...

[amy]

and I can't seem to figure it out. I'm sure it's probably something I'm not doing right, or maybe I'm missing an important item??

Let me see if I can explain my tank. (still struggling to learn all the terminology)

I have a 90 gallon tank, I've only had it for 6 weeks myself but it was transferred from a (supposedly mature tank). It is not drilled, so has an overflow box that hangs over the back. I have a 30 gallon sump (I think), I have a protein skimmer and live rock rubble in the sump as well. I have an ATO set up in a 10 gal tank.
I have a TEK light fixture 48" 6 bulb with a mixture of bulbs, some white, some fiji purple.
My water paramaters seem ok.
Temp 79
Salinity 1.024
Ph 8.2-8.4
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Calcium 380-400 (currently using purple up to boost it a bit)
Phosphates bounce between 0-2

The tank cycled quickly (within a week of set up). At about 2 weeks post set up I added the clean up crew, by 3 weeks started adding my livestock.
It currently consists of:

2 clowns (sabae I believe)
melanurus wrasse
regal tang
lawnmower blenny
mandarin goby
Bubble tip anemone
Frogspawn
some mushrooms
5 small zoa frags

My water seems cloudy and full of particles, my non fish livestocks colors seem duller than they were in store, my zoa's seem flatter and not perfectly round anymore. I am also feeding Marine snow every few days, and of course food for the fish too (daily)

Do you think I'm doing something wrong? Am I filling it up too fast? Is it just an immature tank that needs time to flourish?

I would appreciate any advice, thoughts or suggestions anyone may have?

Thanks
Amy

[Jfish]

No expert here but it does sound like your moving too fast. Did you get fully cured live rock that you moved over from an existing mature tank? How much live rock do you transfer over and was it kept in water the whole time/not exposed to winter?

Being not exactly sure on the maturity of the previous tank if sounds like you have a lot of fish already. I would also cut back or stop with marine snow since it can pollute tanks very easily. That stuff can cloud up the water right after introduced but it could easily be something else.

[whatcaneyedo]

Your phosphate goes as high as 2.0 mg/L? That might explain some of your problems... unless its a typo. Overall how much flow do you have? What brand/model of skimmer do you have?

[outacontrol]

Words of advise that most of us here have learned from "The only things that happen fast are BAD!" Nothing good in fish keeping ever comes fast.

I would slow down and not add anything new until everything becomes stabil.

So it the tank only about a month old?

[amy]

Yes, the live rock was fully cured. Out of the water for maybe a minute or two in total and kept warm.

[amy]

Sorry, phosphate goes to the second colour...which is 0.25.
I don't find there is a ton of flow in the system. I have 3 power heads in there. The skimmer is a vertex IN-100 skimmer.

[amy]

The tank was transferred over from an existing tank 6 weeks ago. But we used only half of the old water and put all new sand in.

[outacontrol]

I am wondering if your calcium is precipitating, how often are you adding purple up?
Do you have any SPS? (hard corals) From what you listed for livestock your system should be using very little calcium and not really need any additional added.

[fiorano]

could the issue maybe stem from the old sand? I know i've heard horror stories of people moving the sand and causing a tank crash. But i guess that would of happened much faster...

[amy]

I've been adding purple up for about a week and a half now, daily. When I started the calcium was 360. I don't have any SPS Corals, only what I listed. I'm off to google precipitating calcium ;)

[Ian]

Regal tang in an 90....your sooooo gonna hear from the tang police :wink::wink:
good luck with your tank

[amy]

Uh Oh! Tang police sounds serious.
I was told this was ok. It's just a wee one now, so I have some time to figure my situation out I guess.

[chris121277]

Personally i would stop dosing the purple up, from what you have listed for your corals weekly water changes should be enough to maintain your cal levels.

Are you running any carbon and or filter sock?

[amy]

Personally i would stop dosing the purple up, from what you have listed for your corals weekly water changes should be enough to maintain your cal levels.

Are you running any carbon and or filter sock?

I have carbon and some filter floss in the sump. I think I will stop with the purple up and the marine snow....when I think of it, this all started around the time that I started using those. I'll give it a go and see what happens.

[bvlester]

I think it is the combination of Pup and snow doing it making the cal persipitate you should only need to use a cal supliment if you have lots of LPS or SPS other than that as stated already weekly water changes should do the job. I used it to get the coriline to grow a bit faster and it worked well but I only added at half dose.

Bill

[Aquattro]

As stated, stop dosing stuff, and stick to water changes. New sand? What kind? How well did you wash it? I used 4 bags of new sugar sand and my tank is still cloudy after 6 weeks. The wrasses don't help with that :)
Use filter socks for a while and everything should settle in time. I wouldn't add any more livestock for 6 months, giving the bacterial population time to establish fully.

[fencer]

I wouldn't worry too much as along as nothing is dying. Let the tank continue to cycle. Even if you have cured rock it still need to cycle. The white is due from bacteria or just silt in the water. also check your dKH

[amy]

Just thought I'd update this and share my discoveries.
Problem #1- floating particles...sand, blasted around by my power heads. I changed their positions and voila. (blush)
Problem #2- Super Monstrous turbo snails X4...climbing, cleaning and knocking over all of my zoa frags.
I'm still going to stay away from the purple up and marine snow until my tank is full and needs it. I am very happy with the difference these two changes made already.

[Flash]

snails are doing great! thanks amy!!!! lol

[fencer]

oh that was the amy in the store last night