Jenene
07-12-2017, 09:45 PM
So I had just recovered from the fish jumping ship drama. I caved and made a screen top to save my clowns. I could not stand to lose them. I made it based on a Youtube video from screen framing and a black netting from a fabric store. It actually just looks like the side of the glass. You don't even notice it unless you get right on top of it.
Everything was great or so I thought. I added a few more corals and a few Green Chromis. They really brought out the clowns from the back corner.
Monday morning I noticed all the corals were closed up tight. Even after the lights came on they were closed. I also noticed some hair algae growing that hadn't been there before. I tested everything. I had been testing for the chemicals I was dosing for every few days but this time tested Nitrates and Phosphates. I knew my Nitrates were really high between 15 and 20. I had no idea that phosphates at .15 were bad. Luckily Casey/Lido had been helping me try to figure out the Nitrate issue. When he heard about the phosphates. He pretty much figured it out. My tank is too close to a window letting in a lot of sunlight causing excessive algae growth which then dies off creating waste. Plus I was most likely over feeding being used to wanting to beef up the discus and being able to change lots of water on them.
So some emergency water changes were in order. Closed the blinds near the the tank and pulled the soji screen around the side to block more light. I also put the fish into temporary diet mode. I am going to pick up some live rock rubble for the sump and ordered some Copeods to hopefully boost the ecosystem a bit.
Last night's water change was a disaster. I didn't make enough salt water but had some extra ro so I had to scramble on that. I knocked two of the corals over with the hose. Then I had forgotten to remove the full skimmer cup and knocked that into the sump basically undoing the entire water change. Rookie mistake times three.
Luckily overnight the skimmer worked overtime and recovered all the waste plus some. Some of the corals seemed a bit better today. Nitrates dropped by about 5. I didn't want to stress everything out by doing another change today but have plenty of water going for another 50% change tomorrow. Hopefully I can battle this back.
I owe Casey big time. He spent a lot of time diagnosing and advising from 3000 miles away. My local reef guy always seems to have a day off when things go south. It just exemplifies what a delicate balance needs to occur for things to be happy. A big learning curve here. I just hope I can remedy this quickly so everything can bounce back before I have more losses... Learning the ways of the reef is like a scary movie- just when you thought you were safe....you are not. It will be a long time before safety the legendary peace sets in.
Everything was great or so I thought. I added a few more corals and a few Green Chromis. They really brought out the clowns from the back corner.
Monday morning I noticed all the corals were closed up tight. Even after the lights came on they were closed. I also noticed some hair algae growing that hadn't been there before. I tested everything. I had been testing for the chemicals I was dosing for every few days but this time tested Nitrates and Phosphates. I knew my Nitrates were really high between 15 and 20. I had no idea that phosphates at .15 were bad. Luckily Casey/Lido had been helping me try to figure out the Nitrate issue. When he heard about the phosphates. He pretty much figured it out. My tank is too close to a window letting in a lot of sunlight causing excessive algae growth which then dies off creating waste. Plus I was most likely over feeding being used to wanting to beef up the discus and being able to change lots of water on them.
So some emergency water changes were in order. Closed the blinds near the the tank and pulled the soji screen around the side to block more light. I also put the fish into temporary diet mode. I am going to pick up some live rock rubble for the sump and ordered some Copeods to hopefully boost the ecosystem a bit.
Last night's water change was a disaster. I didn't make enough salt water but had some extra ro so I had to scramble on that. I knocked two of the corals over with the hose. Then I had forgotten to remove the full skimmer cup and knocked that into the sump basically undoing the entire water change. Rookie mistake times three.
Luckily overnight the skimmer worked overtime and recovered all the waste plus some. Some of the corals seemed a bit better today. Nitrates dropped by about 5. I didn't want to stress everything out by doing another change today but have plenty of water going for another 50% change tomorrow. Hopefully I can battle this back.
I owe Casey big time. He spent a lot of time diagnosing and advising from 3000 miles away. My local reef guy always seems to have a day off when things go south. It just exemplifies what a delicate balance needs to occur for things to be happy. A big learning curve here. I just hope I can remedy this quickly so everything can bounce back before I have more losses... Learning the ways of the reef is like a scary movie- just when you thought you were safe....you are not. It will be a long time before safety the legendary peace sets in.