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#1
06-15-2006, 02:25 AM
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What more could i do......(NEED HELP!!!)
Hey guys.
Ive been having a ton of trouble growing coraline in my tank, and have been fighting algae for a few months now. Hair and cyno (green). First off, tank specs.... -110 gallon with 30 gallon sump (built in fuge) -230 lbs of live rock, and 12 pounds of live rock ruble in sump - 90 lbs of arragonite. - ASM G2 skimmer (in sump) - Two 250 watt DE 14000K pendants with icecap ballasts - one Seio M2600 (2600 GPH) powerhead, on Seio M1100 (1100 GPH) power head. - 1200 GPH quite one return pump. - 44 times turn over in total with all pumps and powerheads. - 5 Stage R/O and DI unit. Only R/O water is used for Top-offs, water changes etc. Fish.... 1 Powder blue tank 2 clown fish 1 butterfly (forgot name) 1 coral beauty angel. 30 hermit crabs Water paremeters......... 0 Nitrates 0 Phosphate (although test kits are inaccurate) 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrites 420-440 Calium 9-10 DKH 8.2 PH 1.024 salinity 0 copper All parameters are pretty much constant with very little to no changes, and have been for weeks. Now i have been batteling algae, and was told my main culprit is probably phosphates that can come from live food if liquid in frozen food is not drained before entering tank since my water is otherwise perfect. So i also added phosban last night, to remove an phosphates if they are existent. Now THE BIG PROBLEMS....... 1. Snails wont survive for more then a few hours. - The are not being attacked or killed, they just die off within few hours or over night. 2. Corals will not open, and eventually die off. (even mushrooms) 3. Coraline has barely taken off in months. my rock looks dirty and full of ditrius, and is full of green or hair algae. Now, i just added the seio pumps today to increase flow. Before i had the return pump and just two 270 GPH zoomed powerheads. Also, i added phosban to rid of any possible phosphates in the system. Also, ive been dosing the tank with C-balance, but just started adding regulary a few days ago. Although, even without adding it, my calcium and alkalinity have been constant at 420-440 and 9/10 respectively. My question is, what is killing my snails, and corals, and why isnt my coraline taking off. Is it possible phosphates were doing it??? Ive heard, that even small traces of phosphate can kill snails and corals. I tested for it, but i used a hagen test kit, and have no idea how accutrate they are. As for my coraline, i figured a lack of flow, and algae all over the rock was out comping the coraline algae. Anyways, with phosban and increased flow, im hoping my problem will be fixed, but is there anything else i could do?? Included picture of my tank below so you can see how i positioned powerheads and rock work, etc... Thanks!! Last edited by mooch28; 06-15-2006 at 02:29 AM. 
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#2
06-15-2006, 02:41 AM
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What are your temps like? Min / Max, rate of change?
You've certainly built a very nice system but all that gear can heat things up quickly. Even if you temp doesn't get too high a quick change can cause inverts trouble. I'd say that this probably isn't your problem but it is easy to check and worth eliminating as a potential cause right off the bat.
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#4
06-15-2006, 03:15 AM
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how long do you acclimate your snails and corals for? how long has your tank been running. what type of test kit are you using for copper. sometimes rock can leach trace amounts of copper and snails are very touchy when it comes to copper. was it a new tank when you bought? if not, what was it used for previously? if for SW then was it ever medicated? just some ideas to think about
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#5
06-15-2006, 03:18 AM
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Quote:
- Test kits are from aquarium pharme.... - Tank was brand new. I built the whole system... - Tank has never been medicated.
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#6
06-15-2006, 03:21 AM
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IME Hagen test kits are not that accurate. If possible can you take a water sample to a LFS and have them test it? (not sure where you are located) or if not maybe have a fellow reefer test with their test kits to verify your readings. I have also found that a proper level of magnesium is very helpful in promoting good coraline growth so you may want to test for that. That should not be leading to snail deaths though. Do you acclimate them when you get them or just drop them into the tank? Phosphates can lead to invert. deaths so that may be a culprit and you phosban should help. None of the popular test kits will give you an accurate test for (I always forget inorganic or organic) phosphates so it is kind of hit and miss. Also if you have cyno algea - which I don't see in your picture - it can be consuming the phosphates so you will still get a nil reading.
Not much help I am afraid but your reading would indicate that things should thrive in your tank. Any chance that the tank, rock or anything else may have been exposed to copper? That will quickly lead to invert deaths.
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#7
06-15-2006, 03:21 AM
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what type of silicone did you use to build the tank? how long has the tank been running?
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#8
06-15-2006, 03:23 AM
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Quote:
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#10
06-15-2006, 03:25 AM
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Quote:
Took the water to LFS, he was really surprised to see water so perfect, yet so many promblems. My test resulted exactly the same as what he had. Even copper..... And no the rock was never exposed to copper. I have also been using seachem copper removing media incase it ever did leach.
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