Just when I thought I was through with the drama...

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.

Oh Jenene. So sorry you are going through all this. You sure are going through a very large learning curve in a very short time, but it seems that you have all the help and support you need to get you through this. Like l said once before.....Take a big breath and move forward.
I hope that you'll get a chance soon to shows us an updated picture of your tank, as I'm sure its looking beautiful, and hopefully the clowns will be up the front.

Here's another one for you. 'What dosn't kill you makes you stronger'.

Good luck!

Thanks for your support Joe. Really needed that. You are the best.

Hoping to see some small improvements after tomorrow's change. Maybe I can see if my local guy will double check those 2 parameters.

I will post pics when I turn this sad tank back around. Hopefully really soon. Thanks again!

Looking forward to it. :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by two utes

Looking forward to it. :thumbsup:

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It's funny how this forum bridges the gaps and brings people together from all over the world. In the middle of a sleepless night here at almost 4 am. I see you are almost at 6 pm. A day I haven't lived yet. Pretty cool...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jenene

It's funny how this forum bridges the gaps and brings people together from all over the world. In the middle of a sleepless night here at almost 4 am. I see you are almost at 6 pm. A day I haven't lived yet. Pretty cool...

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Haha...Yes you are right....We're a bit ahead of the times here in Australia. ;)

Hope you can get some rest, and try not to worry to much about the tank mishaps. Remember its a hobby that we do for our pleasure and enjoyment :) I'm sure everything will work out eventually.

Hi Jenene, sorry to hear about the mishaps with your reef tank. I kept marine tanks before I switched to discus http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ht=discus+this. While I am not up on the current practices of keeping reef tanks one thing I remember was to go slow when building up with tank with livestock. I would suggest slowing down and see if that helps.
Pat

Lol! Thanks Pat but boy you are right. I have been slamming way too much in there. I am sure it is a combination of the light source, over feeding and over stocking.
So it's kind of hindsight for me now but with the way some of the corals look I may not be over stocked for long. Live and learn. There is definitely way more to balance with reef. I think I was on the right track until I went to NYC for the reef expo. That was just too hard to resist.

Hopefully with intervention I can get my parameters back and have a minimal loss and a stronger ecosystem.

My confidence was certainly crushed but the only way to learn is to make mistakes here and there. This was a combination of them. Hopefully I will gain more from it than it takes away.

Thanks for the advice. You are right on.