rickrange

Very nice!

Yes I talked with River city and they sell 5 gallons of Ro/DI for $1 probably cheaper then the water out of my tap here in Buda...lol. I do have a syphon I just heard it was bad to go into the sand. I guess I heard wrong. I have about 50lbs of live fiji rock . Should I get more? Should I just keep doind water changes daily until the nitrates come down?

Good Thought renman. Here they are. calcium before = 460...now 420 Ph before = 8.4...now 8.3 alkalinity before=300 now ...280 KH before= 19dkh...now 16 PO before= 1.5...now 1 nitrate before 20...now 20 still! and yes i am using tap water. Do you think this is part of the problem?

Ok I disconnected the cannister filter and did a 10% water change. I will test the water again in about an hour to see how it looks.

Renman. I actually started doing this when I tested my water on 9/14 so great idea on the acct log. Also going to petco to buy the Maxijet 1200 that you were speak of. They have it for 19.99. Stoneroller- I should be off next Wed the 23rd if your up for it? pbjn- Your right I did have the wrong dimentions its 6'Lx18"Wx24"t you had me worried.

I did the 20% water change. I will do the cleaning of the canister tomorrow Acura wants me to work early and stay late! I always thought the media in the canister would be a problem. Thank you guys for confirming this. Renman I would love to take you up on your offer to see your set up. I love this site ! It has gotten me back on track and am meeting some really cool people. I will prob. take you up on your offer on the 55gal also but be prepared to give some advise on how to build it. LOL. I had a 55gal fresh water tank and when I purchased this one I sold it. I wish had known!

so should I buy another k3? I thought the CA should be around 400-500? Also you stated I should remove the bioballs and netting from the canister. Is this temporary or permenant?

Sounds good. Ill do this right now. As far as the peppermint shrimp wont the fish that I have eat these? (Panther grouper, Lionfish)

thanks guys your a wealth of info! Sorry it took so long I had to do some cemistry! The hitchhiker is probably an "Aptasia"...get rid of it...However, that is not the problem that you are having. How long has the tank been up and running BEFORE you added any animals? When did you get it? How did you acclimate it? If you've had your water tested and the coral has not been in there very long. It may be in shock. With the very little lighting that you have I would suggest that you put it near the top of the tank close to the lights. I'm running 3 Metal Halides at 400w each plus 4 T5's at 54w each. Do you have good water movement? If not, go buy a surplus pump to put in the tank to get the water moving. What are your water parameters??? I know you said they were good but, what are they? When did you have the water tested? If it's been awhile and you have not checked the water in awhile the parameters may be drastically off! Also, I do 10% water changes EVERY WEEK. Nothing is off in my tank because it doesn't go very long before being re supplemented. What are you supplementing your water with in terms of Alkalinity and Calcium? These are the two most important chemicals. You must have some sort of Calcium Carbonate and some sort of Sodium Carbonate to keep the Calcium at about 425-450 and the dKH should be about 8-12. You may have to monitor these daily for awhile. The tank was running about 5 weeks before any animals. The coral was just dropped in with I guess some bad advice? Got the coral about 2 months ago. Great lighting set up you have there! Reefaholic you live in Buda as well as I do maybe one day you can stop buy and give me some tips??!?!?! I'm sure ill be embarresed for the lack of knowledge but I promise I'll catch on fast! The coral has been in there for about 2 months just noticed this about 2 days ago. The water movement comes from a single number 3 coraline propellor. I have not used any supplements at all but here are the readings: Calcium = 460 PH = 8.4 Alkalinity=300 KH= 19dkh Phoshate=1.5 Nitrate=20 So what would you experts suggest? A water change? Aslo, the aptasia what the easiest safest way to get rid of them...I have a bunch! Anyone want any...hahaha lol

oops. renman if you look at the top right hand side of the pic you can see the hitchhiker anemone that is kind of touching the coral

Let me start by saying that I can tell I'm going to learn a ton from you guys which is exactly why I signed up. Also Renman303 I saw the letter that you posted from Moody Gardens ...this was very cool. You can tell you have passion for this. Now on to the subject at hand. I bought the tank from a gentleman on Craigslist and am using a lot of what came with it. And only added what certain LFS told me would be safe. Tank is 135 gallon 6' x 22" tall by 12". (old school tank from what he said. Have to t5 lights one blue the other white (prob need more) Berlin 25 to 250 gallon triple pass protien skimmer Ehiem Typ 2217 canister aqua clear 110 hang on. Aquadome said all the parameters were fine (need to invest in my own kit so any info on affordable kits would be helpful) I have a small panther grouper, a medium sized lionfish, small brown starfish, and a one foot green brittle star and just bought a 45 piece clean up crew of snails from capitol city aquatics on sunday (had about 10 large turbos but they eventually started landing on backs (my favorite place...great guys with good info)

Hello guys and gals. I just signed up for this yesterday and wanted to say thank you for having me. Seems like some nice folks on here. Please take a look at this and see if this is dying and what can I do to save it or make it beautiful again. coral.bmp