Guys I'm so discouraged, P***** Off, ready to give up

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by wmcinnes

Thats crappy. Is that what you meant by 'filter' in the first post?

I would at least get some media bags and put carbon in one and GFO in the other and put them in a high flow area of the sump for the time being. Until you get another media reactor.

This is exactly what I did, yes my "reactor" is not working so I have carbon and gfo in media bags in a HOB tetra filter which is running on my tank.

[Frankly Canadian]

Ya, I felt like that when I first started this hobby. The folks here really know their stuff. One of the most important things I learned here is to be patient. If your a PHD (poor hungry desperate) student, I would get a wish list for Christmas and Birthday's. You will want to ask for light bulbs, media material, such as phosphate remover and charcoal, salt buckets, and fish that help your situation, for example sand sifting golbies, or crabs and snails. Oh one more thing shop on boxing days and always look on this web-site for good deals. Good luck and happy holidays.

[Coleus]

what brand of carbon are you running? if i were me i just run lots of carbon for now until water clear up. Then start gfo again. Also make sure you power head does not pointing at the sand

[daniella3d]

did you leave that clam without light all this time?

It needs light to survive.

Could it be a bacteria bloom? if you left the lights out for a month, maybe some corals on the liverock died?

Hard to tell where the cloudy water is coming from, bacteria bloom or calcium precipitation, or something else.

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

did you leave that clam without light all this time?

It needs light to survive.

Could it be a bacteria bloom? if you left the lights out for a month, maybe some corals on the liverock died?

Hard to tell where the cloudy water is coming from, bacteria bloom or calcium precipitation, or something else.

Hi daniela, when I had the tank lights out for a month we had no coral or clams yet only fish - the corals and clams are a new addition. Probably should have waited on them, I'm going to try and find a sitter.

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by mandyplo

Hi daniela, when I had the tank lights out for a month we had no coral or clams yet only fish - the corals and clams are a new addition. Probably should have waited on them, I'm going to try and find a sitter.

mandy you never told me that you had the lights out for a month and no live stock........


shame on you how is your tank doing today i will call you later ok.

[shootingstar]

Hey Mandy,
you know where I am
Call if you need a critter-sitter.
Cathy

[whatcaneyedo]

Am I the only one who thinks that the skimmer is grossly inadequate for this tank? Based upon the picture it also looks quite immature, especially for coral and clams.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

Am I the only one who thinks that the skimmer is grossly inadequate for this tank? Based upon the picture it also looks quite immature, especially for coral and clams.

I couldn't find an exact spec on the skimmer but it looks to be of a CPR BakPak style design, which for this tank I wouldn't call grossly inadequate but certainly on the lower end. That said, I grew SPS happily for many years skimmerless and with a CPR skimmer on a similar sized tank.

Mandyplo: what kind of skimmer are you running there?

I agree with you though: tank looks young. I don't think that's the problem at hand but without the tank's "immune system" at full speed, it's more of a battle keeping things in check.

I bet the clams are lovin' the excess phyto though

[whatcaneyedo]

I've yet to see a tank with a good skimmer turn into green soup. I've also run the CPR BakPak, Aqua C Urchin Pro, Red Sea Prism, and some other horrible piece of crap that no one else has heard of. They're alright for aerating a nano but I'd spend the money on good liverock before I'd purchase one again.