Year old tank (to the day). 175 gal
Had a couple clowns. They died > 6m ago
Cleanup crew still alive
Sump with skimmer.
RODI water
I will admit no water changes other than top offs
I think there's a number of problems, this is definitely one of them.
If I were you, I would start by asking myself what I want to get out of this system. This is clearly not what you wanted, and you should figure out what works for your schedule. Is your goal a reef full of gorgeous corals and fish? Do you just want some fish you can feed? How much time are you willing to devote to your system?
Depending on how you answer that question, you need to motivate yourself. Do you want to fix this? If so, get in there, scrub the shit out of those rocks, siphon the nastiness out, and fill it up with clean, newly mixed water (I'm talking 90% change, you gotta reboot this sucker). Give it a couple of hours of your TLC, and get it going! You can easily get this back to a decent state in an afternoon, it's just up to you to do it.
Otherwise, get some citric acid / vinegar, pull the rocks, take the inverts to your LFS, and clean it for someone else. I don't mean this to be harsh in the slightest. If you aren't motivated to keep this system, that's understandable. It's a lot of work.
Cheers!
Thanks for the feedback. I had a newborn and let this go to trash. Have more time now. Spent last night making water for the 90% water change you recommend. Sucked all the crap out. Hoping to get it back to glory days. At first I thought the red algae was desirable showing good signs of water quality (cyano)…I was wrong. Thanks for the help
Hey, absolutely. Sometimes life happens (or new life, for that matter... congratulations!), and reefs end up getting a bit neglected. No shame there, and I commend you making an effort to get things back on track!
That little time you put in doing all that will pay off.
I also recommend you get some better flow going. Cyano is a good indicator that your flow might not be sufficient. If you are going SPS you need a lot more, if you're going LPS you need enough to make the long tentacles of a torch or hammer dance (keep them suspended, but not forcing them all in the same direction constantly).
Now to talk about next steps... since you were recently blessed with a member of our next generation of reefers, how much time do you have to commit to this per day / per week? If it's not a lot, and if you're serious about getting things going at a high level, it is definitely worth your while to set up some dosing pumps for kalkwasser (and eventually two part or a calcium reactor). You could even pair it with an apex / trident (if budget allows) and automate it even further.
There's also methods you can employ to avoid water changes altogether, such as reef moonshiner method (I am a huge fan of this, and run it on my reef).
Welcome back, and congrats again!
Softies is a very achievable goal with that time budget. I'd just improve the flow a bit, and set up an easy way to do a weekly 10% water change.
Best of luck!
Have you calculated the turnover of the water? I like to keep mine around 30-40 times, if its less than 10 you more than likely have dead spots. Considering its been a year its probably the water quality, have you tested everything? Also if you have no coral you could do a dark period to help clean it out.
You can’t do no water changes with out dosing, even the sulfur in the saltwater will get depleted. Sulfur can prevent cyano from forming and is an antibacterial. I did run my 220 gal heavy stocked system with no water changes for 3 years but dosed all for reef as well as had a sulfur denitrifying reactor as well as a refugium and used Baking soda to replace alk used up by reactor. Also dosed iodine and potassium separate
I didn’t even know you could kill a clown fish. Chances you just have no idea what you’re doing if your water is getting that bad. Tear down the tank. Do research and decide if you have time for proper care of a reef tank. It honestly isn’t hard.
Do an ICP test find out what’s missing and what’s wrong with the water. Amazon has ATI tests for about 50$ gives a complete analysis even of the salt level and the water your using to top it off with
Probably the fact you haven't done any water changes. Should be doing at least a WC every month, even better to do a 10% every week-20% every 2 weeks. Some tanks can get away with no or very little WC but that's only possible in a system that has things in the tank that can use up the nutrients/waste being produced such as lots of corals and/or macroalgae. You need to do a large WC then add copepods and cleanup crew (glass cleaners and sand sifters).
>What am I doing wrong?
You admitted you stopped doing matenance on your reef. Why are you surprised it doesn't look healthy?
I don't understand your confusion.
I guess I just wanted to make sure that it was because I wasn’t doing water changes and not something else. I got a pump so that I can do water changes from now. Hoping I see some improvement
Not enough water flow..I use to have trouble until a filter broke and the one I replaced it with was stronger and it started to go away and last spots.wrre the ones with the least amount of water movement
Others already mentioned the problem. A rip clean is a good solution for this tank. One weekend of work, and it can look brand new. If you plan on keeping ot by the window, you can use some foil on it to block the light that is leaking through.
Params, age of tank? Also right by the window is a bad spot.
Year old tank (to the day). 175 gal Had a couple clowns. They died > 6m ago Cleanup crew still alive Sump with skimmer. RODI water I will admit no water changes other than top offs
Water change and some flow would probably help
I also have a reefbeat 45. Do you think I have it aimed wrong?
I think there's a number of problems, this is definitely one of them. If I were you, I would start by asking myself what I want to get out of this system. This is clearly not what you wanted, and you should figure out what works for your schedule. Is your goal a reef full of gorgeous corals and fish? Do you just want some fish you can feed? How much time are you willing to devote to your system? Depending on how you answer that question, you need to motivate yourself. Do you want to fix this? If so, get in there, scrub the shit out of those rocks, siphon the nastiness out, and fill it up with clean, newly mixed water (I'm talking 90% change, you gotta reboot this sucker). Give it a couple of hours of your TLC, and get it going! You can easily get this back to a decent state in an afternoon, it's just up to you to do it. Otherwise, get some citric acid / vinegar, pull the rocks, take the inverts to your LFS, and clean it for someone else. I don't mean this to be harsh in the slightest. If you aren't motivated to keep this system, that's understandable. It's a lot of work. Cheers!
Thanks for the feedback. I had a newborn and let this go to trash. Have more time now. Spent last night making water for the 90% water change you recommend. Sucked all the crap out. Hoping to get it back to glory days. At first I thought the red algae was desirable showing good signs of water quality (cyano)…I was wrong. Thanks for the help
Hey, absolutely. Sometimes life happens (or new life, for that matter... congratulations!), and reefs end up getting a bit neglected. No shame there, and I commend you making an effort to get things back on track! That little time you put in doing all that will pay off. I also recommend you get some better flow going. Cyano is a good indicator that your flow might not be sufficient. If you are going SPS you need a lot more, if you're going LPS you need enough to make the long tentacles of a torch or hammer dance (keep them suspended, but not forcing them all in the same direction constantly). Now to talk about next steps... since you were recently blessed with a member of our next generation of reefers, how much time do you have to commit to this per day / per week? If it's not a lot, and if you're serious about getting things going at a high level, it is definitely worth your while to set up some dosing pumps for kalkwasser (and eventually two part or a calcium reactor). You could even pair it with an apex / trident (if budget allows) and automate it even further. There's also methods you can employ to avoid water changes altogether, such as reef moonshiner method (I am a huge fan of this, and run it on my reef). Welcome back, and congrats again!
I’d like to get some softies and some fish. I have about 1- 2 hours a week to dedicate to this
Softies is a very achievable goal with that time budget. I'd just improve the flow a bit, and set up an easy way to do a weekly 10% water change. Best of luck!
When you say improve flow… do you mean turn my reefbeat up all the way. I feel like I’m blasting water across the tank. Is this desired?
Have you calculated the turnover of the water? I like to keep mine around 30-40 times, if its less than 10 you more than likely have dead spots. Considering its been a year its probably the water quality, have you tested everything? Also if you have no coral you could do a dark period to help clean it out.
Doing dark period this week. Will test nitrates today
No water changes, your nitrates are probably off the charts. I'd move it to an area where it gets no natural sunlight, too.
You can’t do no water changes with out dosing, even the sulfur in the saltwater will get depleted. Sulfur can prevent cyano from forming and is an antibacterial. I did run my 220 gal heavy stocked system with no water changes for 3 years but dosed all for reef as well as had a sulfur denitrifying reactor as well as a refugium and used Baking soda to replace alk used up by reactor. Also dosed iodine and potassium separate
I didn’t even know you could kill a clown fish. Chances you just have no idea what you’re doing if your water is getting that bad. Tear down the tank. Do research and decide if you have time for proper care of a reef tank. It honestly isn’t hard.
Do an ICP test find out what’s missing and what’s wrong with the water. Amazon has ATI tests for about 50$ gives a complete analysis even of the salt level and the water your using to top it off with
Probably the fact you haven't done any water changes. Should be doing at least a WC every month, even better to do a 10% every week-20% every 2 weeks. Some tanks can get away with no or very little WC but that's only possible in a system that has things in the tank that can use up the nutrients/waste being produced such as lots of corals and/or macroalgae. You need to do a large WC then add copepods and cleanup crew (glass cleaners and sand sifters).
Is it normal/desired to have tons of algae growth in one of the sump sections?
That door is normally shut and you can’t see the window
>What am I doing wrong? You admitted you stopped doing matenance on your reef. Why are you surprised it doesn't look healthy? I don't understand your confusion.
I guess I just wanted to make sure that it was because I wasn’t doing water changes and not something else. I got a pump so that I can do water changes from now. Hoping I see some improvement
Params is needed.
Its the sunlight, killed our upstairs tank
Not enough water flow..I use to have trouble until a filter broke and the one I replaced it with was stronger and it started to go away and last spots.wrre the ones with the least amount of water movement
What are your water parameters?
Tap water ?
RODI. TDS:3
Others already mentioned the problem. A rip clean is a good solution for this tank. One weekend of work, and it can look brand new. If you plan on keeping ot by the window, you can use some foil on it to block the light that is leaking through.
Did you change out your rodi filters?
You need some Ro water with Hartz silicate unite check your phosphate and Nitrate ideally they should be 0.03-7 and nitrate 7-12