Cali Kid Corals

HELP, Frogspawn showing skeleton, water parameters

Klems

Supporting Member
Hello all, I have a BC14 I started about 6 months ago and have upgraded the lighting to trulumen LEDs, intank basket, mj900 pump and koralia 240. I have also recently started using BRS Rox .8 and their GFO in filter bags. My question is, is my water too clean. Should I run only 1/2 their recommended doses?

My parameters are all pretty stable: CA- 400, Alk- 8, Nitrate - 0,
PH- 8.1, Mag- 1300

But I have seen that my Nitrite is anywhere from 2.0-5.0....can't figure out why.... Have 2 clown fish, a tailspot blenny, cleaner shrimp and CUC (snails and crabs). Nobody has died yet. Have done lots of water changes, but cannot get nirtites to zero. It goes down to 1.0 or 2.0...then rises again.Any ideas?

Thanks
Klems
 

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Test kit could suck, you could be doing it wrong...
Or something crazy could be happening with your tank. Off the too of my head I can't think why there would be nitrite without ammonia or nitrate... Unless you are lacking some bacteria? Maybe try to boost you bio filtering bacteria somehow. Bottled bacteria or live sand etc...?
 
Hello all, I have a BC14 I started about 6 months ago and have upgraded the lighting to trulumen LEDs, intank basket, mj900 pump and koralia 240. I have also recently started using BRS Rox .8 and their GFO in filter bags. My question is, is my water too clean. Should I run only 1/2 their recommended doses?

My parameters are all pretty stable: CA- 400, Alk- 8, Nitrate - 0,
PH- 8.1, Mag- 1300

But I have seen that my Nitrite is anywhere from 2.0-5.0....can't figure out why.... Have 2 clown fish, a tailspot blenny, cleaner shrimp and CUC (snails and crabs). Nobody has died yet. Have done lots of water changes, but cannot get nirtites to zero. It goes down to 1.0 or 2.0...then rises again.Any ideas?

Thanks
Klems
I would go lightly with carbon if you intend to constantly use it. .8 stuff is very effective.
For GFO:
What's your phosphate reading? Before GFO use and after?
Do you have any algae issues? I would usually say use somewhere around the recommended amount to slightly more, building up from maybe a half dose initially.
 
I would go lightly with carbon if you intend to constantly use it. .8 stuff is very effective.
For GFO:
What's your phosphate reading? Before GFO use and after?
Do you have any algae issues? I would usually say use somewhere around the recommended amount to slightly more, building up from maybe a half dose initially.

With the API test they were always low before(used chemipure and phosguard in the media basket)

My phosphate readings are currently zero....even took to Neptune and paid $3 for them to test... Came back undetectable...
 
A nitrate reading of 2 to 5 is nothing to worry about. I start worrying about nitrates if they're higher than 20ppm, especially since I'm not doing acros.

Your frogspawn could be receding because:

1) Too much flow
2) Too much light
3) Crab/Fish is bothering it.
4) Some corals are just....unhealthy. I've had a 2 polyp torch where one head decided to slowly die. The remaining head is alive and well today.

Are any of these an issue?

I dont think your tank is too clean. I had nitrates at 0 and phosphates at 0 for the longest time and my frogspawn was doing fine.
 
Oh damn. Yeah I'm betting its a bad test kit.

Since Nitrite is something for NEW tanks. Don't waste your money on buying a new nitrite test kit unless you plan on setting up new tanks. I live in San Mateo you can have my Salifert Nitrite test kit for free.

Or I recommend bringing your water in to Neptunes and have them test your nitrites.
 
OK, will head down to Neptune tomorrow....but since the kit gives me a different reading from my tank water (purple) vs the rodi and saltwater from Neptune(light blue)...I think the API test is not the problem
 
Went down to Neptune today and the nitrite is still there...(nothing wrong with the test kit) Also tested:
Mg- 1320
Alk- 8.3

Going to do some water changes to see if that helps....
 
Nitrite indicates that the tank isn't cycled - that you're getting Ammonia building up that isn't getting processed all the way through the nitrogen cycle by your bacteria. You ay be able to dose some bacterial starter to help ease this process along.

Alternately, runnning fine-grained carbon or GFO in a filter back can be a problem if you aren't rinsing out the fines well in advance or the filter material is allowing GFO or carbon to get into the water column. These can both irritate coral or fish if you have a lot of fine grained debris in the water column or substrate from filter media.
 
Nitrite indicates that the tank isn't cycled - that you're getting Ammonia building up that isn't getting processed all the way through the nitrogen cycle by your bacteria. You ay be able to dose some bacterial starter to help ease this process along.

Alternately, runnning fine-grained carbon or GFO in a filter back can be a problem if you aren't rinsing out the fines well in advance or the filter material is allowing GFO or carbon to get into the water column. These can both irritate coral or fish if you have a lot of fine grained debris in the water column or substrate from filter media.
I did have some BRS GFO in a boyd media bag x2 because when I was rinsing it I noticed that small granules were still coming out of the bag. Maybe the two bags weren't enough? Will try to do a cleaning of the back compartment and siphon out as much as I can.
 
Looks like the big water changes are working on bringing the nitrite levels down a bunch....also noticed the saltwater I was getting from the LFS was actually lower than advertised with respect to All...which explains why I was having to dose it almost every day.

I have added some baking soda with rodi water to it and will just have to monitor it each time I fill up.(probably should have been doing that anyway) :)
 
One thing I learned is to always test your saltwater's salinity no matter where ya get it from.

Mistakes can happen even at the Local Fish Store.

Good luck and keep us updated :)
 
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