Suggestions/help for 10g nano?

[matthewpunger]

Hey there,

I wanted to ask advice and suggestions from all those experienced and smart reef keepers. My tank has been having some difficulties for the past 2 months and is starting to frustrate me.

so here's my tank:
10g, HOB filter, small heater, nano koralia PH, 70W MH
11lbs LR (presently covered in hair algae and some cyano which is now going down)
1 yellow tail blue damsel - have had it for 1 year
1 (new) tiny algae blenny
5 small hermits
5 turbo snails
2 nassarius snails (about 1.5" diameter),
1 large hitchiker crab named fred that may need to go
now, only some softies - mushrooms, zoos, xenia, palys (presently all closed or not fully extended)
upon tests - 0 nitrates/nitrites, 0 phosphates, ammonia: 0.1, salinity 1.025, not sure about ph.
I get RO water from the grocery store and use oceanpure salt

Okay, so I've hinted at some problems already - lots of hair algae, about 3 weeks ago my tank was covered in cyano, my Monticap completely died 2 days ago, I had a yellow clown goby for 10 months that just died as well. My zoos and palys aren't doing well, my mushrooms and ricordea aren't liking life too much either.

I went away for about a week over Xmas and had a buddy feed my fish when most of the problems started and things have just deteriorated from there. I've been religious with water changes at least once a week, but mostly twice a week, at about 40%. I haven't used additives until this point and just tried the red slime remover which seemed to help the cyano (but possibly not dealing with the root cause), just started adding bacteria treatments, and now phytoplex. I really don't want to get into the chemical thing at all since I believe that may just bandaid what's going on, and water changes to the extent that I'm doing them should be sufficient. I think the lamp is starting to change a bit (its 14k, 70W and about 10 months old), so have just ordered a replacement.

I'm sort of at the point where I feel like I need to start over, do something drastic, trade everything in or anything just to get things running proper. I had thought I had done my research on the blenny before I got him, but am now just realizing that while he might be alright for a couple months while he's so small, he will outgrow my tank quite quickly. argh. bad decisions?

I am now thinking about a rio protein skimmer, or trading in fish, but have no clue at this point.

so, any help would be appreciated by anyone that would have any suggestions.

Thanks!

[Snaz]

Hmm.

Water from the supermarket is not to be trusted, who knows how often the filters are serviced and does that servicing match usage. Remember the kid replacing the filters is getting a little better than minimum wage and would rather be chatting up the florists than messing with wet filters.

I get my water from a small local company that does nothing but fill water bottles for drinking. I asked and dude gave a full tour of his industrial Culligan filters and showed me his log book including TDS in and TDS out.

I have never had Hair or Cyano in my 12 Gallon and I think the water has a lot to do with it.

Ammonia with no nitrate or nitrates to me means your cycle is messed up. I would stop all dosing of "Bacteria in a Bottle" and let your tank sort it self out naturally, think of it as a mini-cycle.

What is in your HOB filter? If it is a sponge make sure it is switched out with a clean one at least twice a week. I use filter floss instead, much easier. If your sponge ever starts to smell "fishy" then it has been in there too long and needs swapping out with a fresh one.

Confirm all test results with another reefer or LFS

[matthewpunger]

Hey Snaz,
Thanks very much for the reply...

the filter is a small biowheel with carbon and filter floss cartridge. I also use a small bit of "pura filtration pad" that I just threw out. I will use the last few chunks of it over the next week or two, changing them every couple of days. thanks for the suggestion; i've just read recently that they can turn into nitrate pads, but mine is on the other side of the carbon and floss filter just for extra filtration.

dosing stuff - i just dosed once, but I will cease and desist as of now

testing - the tests were done at a LFS actually, and ran out of the water i provided before we could do further testing of parameters.

I never had any problems with hair algae and cyano either until this fall which is why it is concerning me. Although...things started sort of after this : I had an outright destructive pod infestation. seriously! all the big pods (i think they are arthropods) ate all the little ones, grew enormous, thousands of them that started eating everything in my tank when i had taken out all the caluerpa I had growing out of control (which was probably keeping everything in check). They were eating all my zoos and started chewing on snails and anything. At one point my entire tank turned carnivorous. so, I did a freshwater dip on the two main rocks and thousands erupted from the rocks along with flatworms and most of my good inverts. I was just afraid that I would have had another catastrophe because of the ferocious pods. probably another bad decision!

since then, my tank has really struggled dealing with keeping everything in check it seems like. I haven't been able to keep any sps alive and my softies have not grown at all for a few months. I've been thinking of trying to replenish the copepod population; I've seen a few since the crash, but not many.

I'll check out a place to get RO/DI water as well...

how could one do a mini-cycle on this tank?

[Snaz]

Well a mini cycle will just happen if it needs too. The Ammonia with no Nitrates or Nitrites lead me to think you will get a mini cycle.

If you see one pod then you are not seeing the other 10 hidden away. As long as you see a couple after lights out I would not bother putting in more.

1. Change the bulb if you suspect it is deteroriated and throwing yellow light which might explain the algae issue.
2. Make sure the carbon/floss of the HOB are not rotting.
3. Look for "dead spots" areas of low flow where waste will sit and rot, aim your PH there to keep things stirred up.
4. Get a better water source.
5. Run fresh carbon if you have it.

I think that would be a good start.

[matthewpunger]

Thanks Snaz,

That's all good advice, I'll get on all of it ASAP.

Do you think the algae blenny will be alright in the tank for a few months, or should I think of giving it up before then?

thanks,
Matt

[Rbacchiega]

also keep in mind that although you may be reading 0 for phosphates, the fact that you have algae means there are indeed phosphates in the water. Usually the algae is just using it up to the point where it is nearly undetectable.

Cyano is usually caused by areas of low flow and high nutrients. When you do the water change are you just skimming from the water surface or getting down into the bed?

[matthewpunger]

Thanks, that's good to know. When I do water changes, I blow off the rocks, try and scrape the cyano and trim the algae, and vacuum the gravel as much as possible. so far it has come back quite quickly.

I think I might have convinced myself to get a rio nano skimmer and run that on low with weekly water changes to help deal with the excess nutrients.

would that make sense?

[Snaz]

Originally Posted by matthewpunger

Thanks Snaz,

That's all good advice, I'll get on all of it ASAP.

Do you think the algae blenny will be alright in the tank for a few months, or should I think of giving it up before then?

thanks,
Matt

Well if the tank does cycle the fish and coral may be at risk, depends on how harsh the cycle is. Keep testing to make sure the ammonia is being broken down.

[matthewpunger]

alright, I'll keep an eye on everything. I did add rock about 3 months ago that I was told was cured to help restock the organisms in it. After adding it, I realized that it hadn't been fully cured and would need to go through a cycle, but I had thought that the cycle would have completed by now though.
thanks,
Matt

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by matthewpunger

alright, I'll keep an eye on everything. I did add rock about 3 months ago that I was told was cured to help restock the organisms in it. After adding it, I realized that it hadn't been fully cured and would need to go through a cycle, but I had thought that the cycle would have completed by now though.
thanks,
Matt

See the problem with doing a 'hard' traditional cycle is this: you have ammonia (the start of the cycle) which if not reduced or removed fast enough will cause more die-off, which produces more ammonia, more die-off, etc. This can go on for months in some tanks, until the tank finally reaches an equilibrium. It is possible that this is what is happening in your tank, but regular testing is the only way to be sure.

If this is the case, I would continue doing heavy water changes and test daily (at least) so you know if you need to remove the livestock.... BUT....

You said your problems started in the fall... did it start for seemingly no reason? And hasn't improved at all? It's possible that the RO membrane in the big filter in the store is past it's useful life, and the store just hasn't noticed (or doesn't care). I would buy a TDS meter to see what it says, just to be safe. I'll bet your test of their 'pure' water will surprise you.