Ich,low calcium, hair algae
- Thread starter Goldmoon
- Start date
Odie,
I think you're okay keeping the sand. Make sure there are no dead bodies, then refill.
This is just my opinion, others may know better.
BTW, do you have any Southdown left over? If so, you could go the conservative route and start from scratch. But I don't think it is a must-do.
I think you're okay keeping the sand. Make sure there are no dead bodies, then refill.
This is just my opinion, others may know better.
BTW, do you have any Southdown left over? If so, you could go the conservative route and start from scratch. But I don't think it is a must-do.
Just start over with the same sand. You're going to have to go through the whole cycling process again. If you have dead bodies in the tank, leave'em. They're going to be a good source of nutrient for the nitrogen cycle to get restarted.
Leave the lights off for the first couple of weeks, nothing in the tank will require light, just algae. Monitor your water conditions and when the Nitrogenous values fall to zero, you will be ready to start stocking the tank again. I don't know where your rock is, but get it in the tank at the same time as you when you restart.
Add snails slowly to the tank, keep the salinity at a MINIMUM of 1.023. Below this and the snails will not live very long.
The LFS was wrong, (sort of) kalkwasser can raise your calcium levels in the beginning of a tank. However, once you start adding corals, etc. It will only serve to maintain it, not bring it up. I would still recommend topping off with kalk 50% of the time in the initial stages of the tank. Just to get a good base from which to build.
Leave the lights off for the first couple of weeks, nothing in the tank will require light, just algae. Monitor your water conditions and when the Nitrogenous values fall to zero, you will be ready to start stocking the tank again. I don't know where your rock is, but get it in the tank at the same time as you when you restart.
Add snails slowly to the tank, keep the salinity at a MINIMUM of 1.023. Below this and the snails will not live very long.
The LFS was wrong, (sort of) kalkwasser can raise your calcium levels in the beginning of a tank. However, once you start adding corals, etc. It will only serve to maintain it, not bring it up. I would still recommend topping off with kalk 50% of the time in the initial stages of the tank. Just to get a good base from which to build.
I'd keep lights over the rock to minimize the amount of dieoff.
I've read through this whole thread again and my guess of what may have happened to your snails is that the salinity was too low. Inverts do best with the salinity in the 1.025 range. If you got a batch of snails that had been in water at that SG and put them in your tank at 1.021 without slowly drip-acclimating them, then it's very possible they died from the shock and the sharp increase in osmotic pressure they experienced when going in the tank. The fact that they all died over the course of a few days after being added to your tank is consistent with this diagnosis. Snails can be pretty touchy when it comes to acclimation and are more delicate than you might think.
I've read through this whole thread again and my guess of what may have happened to your snails is that the salinity was too low. Inverts do best with the salinity in the 1.025 range. If you got a batch of snails that had been in water at that SG and put them in your tank at 1.021 without slowly drip-acclimating them, then it's very possible they died from the shock and the sharp increase in osmotic pressure they experienced when going in the tank. The fact that they all died over the course of a few days after being added to your tank is consistent with this diagnosis. Snails can be pretty touchy when it comes to acclimation and are more delicate than you might think.
Ok, Sorry to be back again with the same question. You said you are starting all over again. What brand of salt are you using?
The Q&A I posted earlier were answered by either Bob Fenner or Michael Paletta. Authors of well known books as The New Marine Aquarium (Paletta) and one of the most popular book The Conscientious Marine Aquarist (Fenner) So I guess they really know what they are talking about. I just would not want you to start over for nothing. I know I was totally off when I asked you if you used copper in my earlier post. That was the first thing that came to my mind.
I also found on the same Q&A (Fenner & Paletta) this thread about low calcium. Again I am not sure it will help you but I am adding it here just in case:
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Q: I have a calcium question. I have had this problem before and it just went away. Every thing is fine, Kh, pH, Ca, so I don't check for Ca for a while. Then I checked the Ca and its about 150. I was using Reef-Complete, so I switched to C-Balance and was up to about 275 in 2 weeks. I don't know if I should add a bunch of additives. I'm only using half the maximum dosage. I still seem to see growth in coraline and corals and snails for that matter. Could it be getting used faster that it goes in? I haven't ever had much luck with kalkwasser. I'm don't want to overdose on liquid suppliments. Anyway, what do you think? Can I mix brands (Sea-Chem and C-Balance and Turbo-Ca)?
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A: This is a BIG issue. You do need BOTH calcium (and traces of other biominerals) AND Alkalinity to sustain biomineralizing life forms (like coralline algaes and corals). There are a few ways to supply both. Most folks do a dismal poisoning job of this. For one, get and use both calcium and alkalinity test kits and try to gain an understanding of what are in the products you're pouring your money into, before you pour them in your tank. I would not mix the chemicals above. C-balance by itself should get you where you want to go. However, do check your alkaline reserve. It may well be worth your while at this point to do a large water change to reduce the amount of negative chemical interactions in your system. In the short term, once your calcium is nearer to 350+ ppm, consider adding simple baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) if your alkalinity is below 3-4 milliequivalents per liter.
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[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: Goldmoon ]
The Q&A I posted earlier were answered by either Bob Fenner or Michael Paletta. Authors of well known books as The New Marine Aquarium (Paletta) and one of the most popular book The Conscientious Marine Aquarist (Fenner) So I guess they really know what they are talking about. I just would not want you to start over for nothing. I know I was totally off when I asked you if you used copper in my earlier post. That was the first thing that came to my mind.
I also found on the same Q&A (Fenner & Paletta) this thread about low calcium. Again I am not sure it will help you but I am adding it here just in case:
------------------------------------------
Q: I have a calcium question. I have had this problem before and it just went away. Every thing is fine, Kh, pH, Ca, so I don't check for Ca for a while. Then I checked the Ca and its about 150. I was using Reef-Complete, so I switched to C-Balance and was up to about 275 in 2 weeks. I don't know if I should add a bunch of additives. I'm only using half the maximum dosage. I still seem to see growth in coraline and corals and snails for that matter. Could it be getting used faster that it goes in? I haven't ever had much luck with kalkwasser. I'm don't want to overdose on liquid suppliments. Anyway, what do you think? Can I mix brands (Sea-Chem and C-Balance and Turbo-Ca)?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A: This is a BIG issue. You do need BOTH calcium (and traces of other biominerals) AND Alkalinity to sustain biomineralizing life forms (like coralline algaes and corals). There are a few ways to supply both. Most folks do a dismal poisoning job of this. For one, get and use both calcium and alkalinity test kits and try to gain an understanding of what are in the products you're pouring your money into, before you pour them in your tank. I would not mix the chemicals above. C-balance by itself should get you where you want to go. However, do check your alkaline reserve. It may well be worth your while at this point to do a large water change to reduce the amount of negative chemical interactions in your system. In the short term, once your calcium is nearer to 350+ ppm, consider adding simple baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) if your alkalinity is below 3-4 milliequivalents per liter.
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[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: Goldmoon ]
Just thought I'd pipe in w/ two tidbits.
I use the B-Ionic in my tank also. As they suggested, increasing your salinity may affect the Calcium but I have found that when I use IO's reef crystals salt mix during water changes that it can keep your calcium up until you add corals and such. Before I added corals to my reef, just doing the water changes w/ that salt mix kept my calcium around 350-400. I only started w/ the B-Ionic once there were corals in there as they use up the calcium faster than I do water changes.
Also, I can vouch for the effect on snails if you keep using different salts. I lost 2 of 3 Trochus snails because I was trying to use up two different bags of salt before buying the kind I now use.
Good luck with everything!
I use the B-Ionic in my tank also. As they suggested, increasing your salinity may affect the Calcium but I have found that when I use IO's reef crystals salt mix during water changes that it can keep your calcium up until you add corals and such. Before I added corals to my reef, just doing the water changes w/ that salt mix kept my calcium around 350-400. I only started w/ the B-Ionic once there were corals in there as they use up the calcium faster than I do water changes.
Also, I can vouch for the effect on snails if you keep using different salts. I lost 2 of 3 Trochus snails because I was trying to use up two different bags of salt before buying the kind I now use.
Good luck with everything!
No problem Odin, sorry if I repeated myself.. Just wanted to make sure that was not the problem and that you were not going to go through it all over again.
As for the salt we use Instant Ocean too. And no snail or hermit loss to report. There could be better brand as there was a discussion about that on some other board but this brand is used by many aquarists with no problem. I guess the brand of salt was not an issue here. I feel a little dumb but I still think it was better to be safe (and dumb) then sorry.
As for the salt we use Instant Ocean too. And no snail or hermit loss to report. There could be better brand as there was a discussion about that on some other board but this brand is used by many aquarists with no problem. I guess the brand of salt was not an issue here. I feel a little dumb but I still think it was better to be safe (and dumb) then sorry.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by odie:
<STRONG>while the lights are off should i keep the live rock out of the tank.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
It won't make a difference where the rock is while the lights are off. The point is that you can minimize the die-off by keeping lights over the rock. If you don't keep light over it, there is going to be more die-off and the rock is still going to end up in your tank at some point. Unless you're doing water changes and using a skimmer with the rock in the rubbermaid tub, the rock would probably be better off in your tank if it's not going to have light.
<STRONG>while the lights are off should i keep the live rock out of the tank.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
It won't make a difference where the rock is while the lights are off. The point is that you can minimize the die-off by keeping lights over the rock. If you don't keep light over it, there is going to be more die-off and the rock is still going to end up in your tank at some point. Unless you're doing water changes and using a skimmer with the rock in the rubbermaid tub, the rock would probably be better off in your tank if it's not going to have light.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR> The only thing that does come to mind is the fact that never flushed the new RO/DI unit pror to installation. I simply hooked it up and let fill the tank...Could that have let some type of chemical into the tank....
thanks <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I think this may be your problem. New RO membranes are packed with preservatives to prevent bacterial growth. You are supposed to discard all the product and waste water for about 24 hours.
thanks <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I think this may be your problem. New RO membranes are packed with preservatives to prevent bacterial growth. You are supposed to discard all the product and waste water for about 24 hours.
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