Help!! Tank Crashing?!

[sdnd]

Yes, I got my skimmer up and running last nite, but I know it takes a few days for it to get going...so hopefully that will help some on the filtration side.

Definitely taking it slowly...will do the water change tonite and then test parameters again tomorrow...hopefully things will get better.

Thx again for all the great tips!

Excuse the newb-ness but what is a GFO? Will look into it tonite...planning to get some chaetos and put it in the sump...hopefully that'll help.

 

[BeanMachine]

Granular Ferric Oxide... you put it in a media reactor with a pump... used to reduce your phosphates... and usually recommend to change once a month or so.

 

[james-lee]

Yes dont add anything live but maybe a few cromis and let the tank settle for a month. I know some people say its snake oil but try seachems stability. I am not gonna lie it has saved my *** on a few new setups that I rushed on.

 

[5ft24]

The other thing is you can add Microbacter 7. helps build the bacteria faster.
I wouldn't stress about the nitrates, as others have said, it's the end of the cycle that they show up. A bag of carbon and some water changes will drop them in no time, and the media reactor with the GFO will drop phosphates. you typically want phos to be below .03 or so... any higher and corals will look like crud, and if they get to .2 or so, corals can start dying.

 

[sdnd]

So did my water change last nite 10g, and the tank already looks much cleaner...less floaty things going all around...cleaned out the sock...

going to test parameters tonite...so is GFO a must have for a reef tank? any that anyone recommends on a budget but still does the job?

thanks again for all the input!! hopefully one day i'll be contributing!

 

[turbonut]

Is gfo needed in a reef tank? No but then you would have to find some way to keep phosphate low, be it vodka,bio pellets, algae scrubber, etc etc.

 

[danagui]

Refugium is.a nice.alternative

 

[sdnd]

update: nitrates is down to 10ppm and phosphates is at .25ppm...
should i do another 10g water change this weekend? if the conditions don't go down?
water temp is still around 82-83F...going to get a clip on fan this weekend for the sump to hopefully keep the water cooler...was hoping to get water down to 80-82.

salinity was a lil high today at 1.028, topped off with some DI water.

anything else i should be concern of?

TIA again!!

 

[5ft24]

update: nitrates is down to 10ppm and phosphates is at .25ppm...
should i do another 10g water change this weekend? if the conditions don't go down?
water temp is still around 82-83F...going to get a clip on fan this weekend for the sump to hopefully keep the water cooler...was hoping to get water down to 80-82.

salinity was a lil high today at 1.028, topped off with some DI water.

anything else i should be concern of?

TIA again!!

The phosphates need to come down a bunch more...
ideally you want less than .03 at .25, most corals will look like crud if not start to die off.

 

[sdnd]

what do you think is causing such high phosphate levels? i will try to do another water change this weekend...i'm already noticing some aptasia growth on some of the rocks...ugh!!!

tia!

 

[5ft24]

what do you think is causing such high phosphate levels? i will try to do another water change this weekend...i'm already noticing some aptasia growth on some of the rocks...ugh!!!

tia!

Could be leaching out of the rocks... Keep up on water changes and get an inexpensive GFO reactor on there and they will drop right down.