• Hands are lowered.

  • Tammy

Hello friends. I've been into marine aquariums for 7 years, but I still haven't become a pro. My current aquarium is 470 liters with a 105-liter sump, and it's been running for 3 years. For all three years, I've been struggling with pests like cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, and hair algae. I'm exhausted. I haven't added any new inhabitants while I have water issues. The residents include a butterfly fish, two clownfish, two girls, a cardinal, and my first fish, a long-lived one that has been alive for 7 years. There have been some losses, but they weren't significant; I don't like to torture living creatures. I also have a hermit crab and a sinularia. In general, my tests show NO3 > 100 and PO4 1. I've tried everything, including running a scrubber, but it was useless. I've used Prodibio BioClean, but as soon as I stop, it gets even worse. I've added live rock (about 50 kg). I've been adding live water. I do water changes every two weeks at 15%. I'm banging my head against the wall, and it's pointless. I measured the water from the RO after salting, and the nitrates and phosphates are still high. I change the carbon every 2 months, using 1 kg, and the phosphate is zero. I suspect the huge sandstone that I foolishly put in the base of the reef might be the cause, but I can't dismantle the reef. I've been adding vodka for two months, reaching 5.5 ml, but there's no result. Gentlemen, fellow hobbyists, I'm not lazy, but something isn't working. Please help with advice; don't let a sailor wash ashore. I'll add photos from better times and now after expanding the aquarium. The first photo is of the old aquarium. P.S. I edited and expanded the photo of your aquarium.

Samuel6138

I apologize, the photo was not rotated.

Christopher1252

Why do you need two pennies? Better one but powerful. I once saw a similar case with a man. The reason was precisely the stone. He bought a low-quality one. He wanted to save money, but it didn't work out. He replaced it with a high-quality one, and everything became normal. Where did you get the stone?

Jacqueline5976

I got the stone from a pet store. How can I check it? Maybe chip off a piece and put it in a glass of fresh seawater to measure before and after a week?

Jeremy8404

I have doubts about the tests. I can only see the cyan film (not cyan, it's hard to see) in one place. The overall appearance of the reef is good.

Joyce

Good afternoon. The tests may be misleading, but I don't see how you export NO3 and PO4? If we could allocate space for macrophytes. If we immediately tie in a good portion of macroalgae with a good water change, I think the situation would improve. But it's not all that bad. It's too early to give up.

Breanna9982

I have one powerful penik from Loginov. The second one I bought when the main pump broke down for a while. Now I've started it up so it wouldn't be idle.

Christine864

The tests of two types of salt, Solifert and Tetra, seem to show the same results. Regarding the algae, I had a scrubber that I made myself, but it didn't help much. I cleaned it from green growth, but overall it didn't change the situation in a year. So I gave up on it and decided to try vodka for a better effect; I installed a second skimmer. The first skimmer is powerful, 5000 liters/hour, and the Chinese one is just for backup.

David4968

Sber also has its calculations based on volume; its efficiency greatly depends on its area, spill, and proper lighting. I used to think it was useless and let the screen overgrow. It's not that simple. Sber also needs to be adjusted to the system. Only then was it possible to achieve results; before that, it was also of no use. I will tell you that Sber is a very good thing.

Susan9583

Three years is already a long time. Tell me what salt you use, what kind of sand you have in your aquarium, what lighting you have, how you feed the fish, and how often? For now, I would remove the stone and take out everything questionable from the aquarium right away, and in the future, you should probably prepare for a system restart. After seven years, a lot has accumulated there and it's causing issues.

Heather9815

Red Sea Coral Pro salt. This aquarium is three years old. 50 kg of live rock. The bottom has 5 mm of coral sand. I feed with frozen food. I prepare royal shrimp this way without heat treatment. A little bit of seafood mix (octopus, mussel) along with daphnia and live bloodworm, as well as flakes "with vitamins," which are always different. I feed once a day in the morning, and I also add water at that time. I added anti-phosphate four days ago, but I lost the box and don't remember the name. However, the levels have dropped to 1 mg/L during this time.

Heather9815

Yes, lighting. 10 hours T5 1 actinic 15000K; 2 plain white. 6 hours 30 green diodes, half blue and half white. And 3 hours metal halide 250W 20000K, some German brand, I don't remember.

Ryan7682

What would I do?! I would restart, sift through the substrate, and remove the questionable live rocks without hesitation. I would first throw away the 5 mm pieces and add only live sand. I would stop pouring all sorts of junk in, let the aquarium mature, and stop messing with it so much. Your feeding base is a hodgepodge, simply put, garbage for the reef. In short, that's about it.

Joseph9057

1. Sandstone usually contains phosphates. Nitrates are not stable in nature. 2. 5.5 ml of vodka is... just a precaution. I would recommend 70% alcohol + 9% vinegar in a 50/50 ratio, 10-20 ml per day. 3. Three years is generally a short time for an aquarium. I have had mine running for 6 years without a restart, three of which have been without water changes. Of course, it is important to consider that each aquarium is unique and there are no universal recipes. In my opinion, there won't be enough stones. Regarding the feed, you are right.

Sheila1322

Remove 1 sand. I would start by siphoning all the sand, replacing the water that comes out with fresh water, and then I would monitor the nitrates for a month. I also think there is too much white light, judging by your description: 10 hours T5 1 actinic 15000K; 2 just white. 6 hours 30 LEDs, half green, half blue and white. 3 hours metal halide 250W 20000K.

Kimberly

Does "gadas't" refer to vodka? After all, I don't pour anything else.

Michael

Oh really? Just when I started 7 years ago, I got the idea for the feed from forums. Back then, that idea seemed almost like a privilege of the pros. The best of feeds and not for the lazy. So what should I feed then? My fish has been thriving on this feed for seven years. I remind you that my fish is now going into its eighth year.

Ryan2281

Now they will sell the advertisement for a super-class food from friends... I like it from someone... about the touch of foolishness... - immunity for life. Use... both your food and, most importantly, for your fish-friends!!! They like it, and let them bring joy with their presence... and I would also like to see how to make such food and a list of ingredients... don't be afraid to repeat... often a hit becomes something old that was forgotten.

Charles5941

There is nothing new here. Royal shrimp (this is the base) Sea cocktail (rings of calamari, octopuses, mussels) Daphnia dry. Optional live food Any flakes for herbivores or vitamin-enriched ones are available in pet stores Everything is chopped and blended and put in the freezer All the food is ready. Cut into pieces and serve.

Julie3950

Why in the morning? Fish may have difficulty feeding after sleeping. I feed mine every other day, let them search for food in the aquarium from natural sources.

Christopher4125

By the way, it will be very beneficial to maintain a population of copepods in the aquarium. For fish, this is a natural live food.

Colin1418

Throw a large bunch of good algae into the sump and provide lighting for them. You can use white LEDs for lighting. I think it will take you a month to level things out, and the nitrate and phosphate levels will start to drop in a couple of days. And there's no need for any vodka or vinegar. A couple more pages on the topic, and we will be extinguishing the aquarium with iprite and carpet bombing.

Collin

The moth is the same as the white worm. In the natural reef, fish also do not feed on it exclusively. However, they certainly do not shy away from the corpses of various crustaceans and mollusks. My variant may even be richer in protein. But essentially, it's the same moth and dry artemia (by the way, I also include them in the mix). After listing these ingredients, do you get the impression that I throw all of this in by the kilogram without thinking? No, it's not like that, and the feed is quite balanced. Moreover, before the move, everything was fine for me for 4 years. And I don't change the feed. The issue is clearly not with it, although I might reduce the amount of feed during feeding.

Ronald

I might consider it. In my old aquarium, I had an algae tank. The parameters in the aquarium were normal, but the algae compartment looked like a real swamp. I managed without it later. In the new system, I didn't plan for a separate space. Which algae is better to keep, Chaetomorpha or Caulerpa, or maybe something else? And what would be the most economical way to light it? I have a small 100W halogen spotlight in the cabinet (left over from the scrubber), but it gets really hot and is quite power-hungry.

Shane

I mentioned seven years in the sense that I've been feeding them this stuff for a long time, and it hasn't always been bad. The first few years were quite good. But after the move, things somehow went wrong. Given that everyone is recommending it to me, I can try switching to bloodworms or dry artemia. Moreover, it's cheaper and gives me less hassle. P.S. And still, seven years is not a bad result.))))))))))

Patricia

You have strong nerves.. Is it cyano or dino on the sand?

Melissa

Thank you all for not leaving me alone with the problem. I'll share what's new. After 10 days of adding antifos, the RO4 dropped to 0.5. I continue to add vodka; the experiment needs to be finished, and I've reached 6.5 ml, while NO3 has dropped to 50 mg/L.

John828

Artemia is not dry, it's frozen, just like bloodworms.

Jason9385

I see it's packaged in cubes. So how many cubes are used per day? I need to estimate the volume.

Christopher1252

There is both. Two of each creature.

James8887

Read it, it might be useful for removing additional organic matter from water.

Jennifer

The water is already salty + vinegar, and now we just need to throw in fresh tomatoes or cucumbers, and we'll also get lightly salted ones. Seryozha, why add vinegar, thereby lowering the pH when a person has a problem with high pH?! Or is it so that he goes crazy trying to restore the pH later?! Off-topic: I remember how you recommended Asterinok to someone, saying they are useful.

Dawn6148

Sarcasm is good, but what if we take and calculate HOW MUCH the pH will drop? Well, to justify your sarcasm... What’s wrong with asterinas in the aquarium?

Ronald

It purely depends on the amount of fish and their appetite. I use a cube of this and a cube of that per day. Clownfish: ocellaris - 2 pcs, clarkii - 2 pcs. Yellow tang - 1 pc. Chrysiptera - 1 pc. Mandarin fish - 1 pc.

Martha

How are the efforts in the fight going?

Patrick4439

I have this sandstone in my aquarium. What do you think, should I throw it out? I just can't bring myself to dismantle the reef.

Amber9312

Could he be the cause of all the troubles with phosphates?

Brandon9634

Take a dry piece of this stone, soak it in an aquarium with osmosis. After a week, measure the phosphates in it. That's when you'll understand if they are leaching.

Daniel

Maybe someone has dealt with something similar and can share their opinion?

Jesse3979

I don't understand much about the sea, I just read out of curiosity. So I apologize if I'm off-topic. I went to Wikipedia to read about what sandstone is.

Amber6362

I made up my mind and rebuilt the riff. I threw the sandstone away, let's see what this will give.

Chad9037

Here is a photo after the renovation. I removed the sandstone, and after a week, the readings are No3-25 Po4-0 mg/l. The vodka has been flowing for a year at 7 ml/day. I will gradually reduce it to 0. From your advice, I replaced the feed with frozen Artemia and bloodworms. The most painful loss is my long-lived butterfly; it hurt (it’s 8 years old, maybe its time has come). In one of the photos, there is activated carbon; the packaging says it's for freshwater, and I tested it for phosphate, and it showed zero. Has anyone used this?

Melissa3200

Why? Is this how your aquarium has "luxuriously grown" with corals in a year? 5 water pumps... for whom? If you have a fish tank, you don't need that many. Substrate... coarse and a lot of it. As for the design... it would be more suitable for a Malawi tank. ...I'm sorry, but there's nothing to look at.

Angela6489

Пожалуйста, предоставьте текст для перевода.

Matthew7977

Sorry. Read the topic from the beginning. This photo is just a report. What was and what has become. I wasn't bragging about anything. You will understand the topic and why vodka is involved.

Lori4746

By the way, you can't see it in the photo, but there are corals there. Zoanthids, polyps, discs, and others. The colonies are young and not clearly visible in the photo. The corals are about a month old; I didn't dare to populate them earlier due to serious water issues.

Angel628

Indeed, I haven't read the entire topic. I'm sorry! But still, I don't understand the sand and the layout of the slides. There will be problems over time.

Steven

This is not sand, it's coral gravel of 2-5mm fraction. If I'm not mistaken, I don't remember. The aquarium is almost four years old. There have been all sorts of problems. What kind of problems are there? What could I have overlooked?

Elizabeth882

Sand-soil-coral crumb.... Coarse fraction and thick layer. All detritus and food will sink and accumulate beneath it. Then a constant increase in nitrates and phosphates. And you'll be reaching for a half-liter again.

Heather9815

It may very well be just a restart? With soil replacement? This is a disaster.

James3382

So no one will suggest any options. I'm afraid to change the substrate. It's about dismantling the reef, looking for containers to drain the water. Horrible. And if I need to prepare osmosis for a week for my volume, and again, in what? A bucket of salt will be used. Please give me some advice; maybe I can find a way to avoid this?

David3217

Why drain/fill? Fine soil is collected without draining, and in this case, it's even simpler. Stop the pumps, carefully extract the soil, then gently load the sand in a layer up to 1 cm.

Richard

In freshwater, I have several times extracted substrate simply by using a hose with gravity flow, along with the water, of course. It is possible to return the water through a dense layer of synthetic padding. But the main thing is that no sediment remained in the aquarium. Moreover, coral gravel is lighter than quartz or basalt.

Mark9853

Yes, but I have a layer of crumbs 3-4 cm thick, and how is it from under the reef?

Leslie

with hands, moving stones, with a siphon.

Christine

Well, I'll have to break the rhyme anyway. Alright, thank you. I'll think of something.

Elizabeth6302

I read the topic from the very beginning.... You were advised 10 months ago, and you are still pouring vodka and feeding the fish as you see fit, not as it should be done. How did you come to that conclusion? You need to change the substrate, but you are doing it again... What is there to think about..... action should have been taken yesterday, and you are asking the same questions for the second time. And for the second time, you are getting the same answers. I apologize, but I have unsubscribed from the topic...