twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Ok I have a 30 cube. slowly everthing is dying. Have lost all sps and all but 1 fish. have some zoas that look ok but thats it. Nitrate 25 Amm 0 ph 8.0 Calcium 490 Nitrite 0 Alk 8.2 Mag 1200 Phos .03 Done weekly water changes, just cant see a major problem. HELP(flame) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 alk needs to be higher, ph needs to be higher, nitrates need to be lower, what salt are you using? what test kits? whats your salinity at? do you have use a refrac or a hydro? got any pics? how old are your test kits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 alk needs to be higher' date=' ph needs to be higher, nitrates need to be lower, what salt are you using? what test kits? whats your salinity at? do you have use a refrac or a hydro? got any pics? how old are your test kits?[/quote'] Kent salt, Salifert kits, Salinity .025, i use a refrac. kits are about six months old. no pics sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 How old is the tank? Was everything doing fine before, or is the tank fairly "young"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 you might want to look into dosing for alk and ph for starters, and then do a quick check to make sure nothing has dropped into the tank that shouldnt be there. what salt do you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Friend gave me some sps frags to see if they would make it cause I have not put anything new in for a while. And within a week dead.(flame) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Tank is almost a year. everything looked great untill about a month and a half ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 you might want to look into dosing for alk and ph for starters, and then do a quick check to make sure nothing has dropped into the tank that shouldnt be there. what salt do you use? I have been dosing for ph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 What type of lighting do you have? The 25 Nitrates is probably part of the reason your sps are dying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 What type of lighting do you have? The 25 Nitrates is probably part of the reason your sps are dying. I have a 150w 20k radium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Hm, at that age and with the lighting you have, sps should do fine. Did you acclimate them? The nitrates need to come down, though. I was never successful with sps until I got my nitrates below 5ppm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Hm, at that age and with the lighting you have, sps should do fine. Did you acclimate them? The nitrates need to come down, though. I was never successful with sps until I got my nitrates below 5ppm. I acclimate everything. retesting my trates right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 yeah still 25. Been doing weekly changes for 5 weeks. and just not coming down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 how big a change are you doing? what salt are you using? that could be part of the problem. as for the PH, try adding a small, read tiny, pinch of baking soda, i was having a chronic ph of 7.9-8.0 using oceanic salt, and start dosing baking soda, bam, ph stays nice and steady at 8.4 now, im quite happy with it lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 how big a change are you doing? what salt are you using? that could be part of the problem. as for the PH' date=' try adding a small, read tiny, pinch of baking soda, i was having a chronic ph of 7.9-8.0 using oceanic salt, and start dosing baking soda, bam, ph stays nice and steady at 8.4 now, im quite happy with it lol[/quote'] Im doing a 10 gallon change, I use kent salt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 For me, frequent water changes never got the nitrates to stay down. I finally succumbed and built a sulphur nitrate reactor, and now it's easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 if you can pull one off, they suck too, trust me, i know, but, try a 15g change, that will be half your water, do that, dose it with baking soda to get your ph back up, and then test in 48 hours to see how it looks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 For me, frequent water changes never got the nitrates to stay down. I finally succumbed and built a sulphur nitrate reactor, and now it's easy. How easy was that to build? How much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 ive never heard of one either, im pretty interested too, if i can make one fit under mys tand, i might just have to do this myself lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 How easy was that to build? How much? I found the instructions on an RC thread, and I found it fairly easy to build, even with out limited tool selection. Got all the stuff at home depot and spend about $10-15 on the parts. I already had an MJ pump around, so if you have to buy one, that would add to the cost. I'll try to find the thread... Found it, but unfortunately the creator has moved on, and the pics are no longer available. But it's a huge thread, and maybe someone else has posted pics to make up for the missing ones! http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1288082 Also, I made another one for my smaller tank (about 75G inc. sump) and for that I just used a little reactor like a phosphate one, without a recirc pump, filled in a little sulfur and media for the bacteria to colonize, followed the instructions for getting it started, and it works fine! No building needed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevman Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I have to say.. I once had alot of things dropping off , come to find the Temp was fluctuating 15 Degrees between night and Day..it was causing my levels to fluctuate enough to kill small Orginizisms and BAM my Nitrates went up.. I stablized my Temp and Nitrates came back down within a week... Just food for thought!! Good Luck ,I hate to hear it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 sisk, got any pics? id love to see some pics of this reactor or what not lol im interested in building one for my 30 breeder an if its that cheap to build, it might be well worth it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Stability is most important. It is possible to do too many water changes. I think your numbers are fine except nitrates are a little high and mag could be a touch higher. If I were you, I would add some macro algae and wait to add more corals. Double check temp swing and have someone else verify your tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twogirls Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 What is an acceptable temp swing in a day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 1-3 degrees from what ive been told, mine usually fluctuates between 79 and 82 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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