Getting discouraged

[Kittypowpow]

I know it seems overwhelming, but dont give up! Take all this great advice here and "one step at a time" it. Once you get it right you will probably get such a sense of accomplishment and be that much more attached to your tank. YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The biggest red flag I see is that you don't make your own water. If you are not controlling your own water then its always a big question mark. You don't know how often then change their filters, or what those bored teenagers can do. You don't even know what salt they use, coral pro salt should mix at much higher than 7, it doesn't make sense.

 

[rja]

Start by getting a phosphate test. As long as testing and dosing as needed, water changes aren't that big of a deal. I've only changed water in my tank twice in the last year or

The biggest red flag I see is that you don't make your own water. If you are not controlling your own water then its always a big question mark. You don't know how often then change their filters, or what those bored teenagers can do. You don't even know what salt they use, coral pro salt should mix at much higher than 7, it doesn't make sense.

I have a bucket of Reef Crystals but my LFS uses Coral Pro. so would making the abrupt switch disturb anything further?

 

[rja]

I know it seems overwhelming, but dont give up! Take all this great advice here and "one step at a time" it. Once you get it right you will probably get such a sense of accomplishment and be that much more attached to your tank. YOU CAN DO IT!

i mean hey.. its not like my tank is a total loss, here’s the current state:

RFAs doing amazing, fish doing amazing, softies.. besides zoas doing amazing.

 

[rja]

If this is your first system I wouldn't get discouraged. It is a bummer to lose corals and fish but it is going to happen even in the most dialed in systems. If you're asking about doing set weekly water changes I think you already know the answer is yes. Some folks can maintain larger systems with minimal to no water changes and there are plenty of novel examples of this in practice however in your situation with a 29g IMO I would start doing 10% changes weekly and test your salinity in the tank first and if your salinity is low, start mixing up salt in relation to that and bring it up. If its high bring it down etc. If indeed you have a bacterial issue this will help and you might even start with a larger water change at first. Check you sump section and clean that if necessary. Once a month media change and sump cleaning in my AIO works for me. Test your no3 and po4 and address those. Having some phosphate reducing media in a tank that size is probably necessary at this point. Frogspawn and Duncans are some of the hardiest corals around but in my experience do not agree with the use of algaecides especially chemiclean I would stay away from any of this stuff and deal with any algae blooms you get manually. Lastly, levels are low, after the water changes you might look into dosing something, easiest thing to dose would be AFR. After a month or so send out a test like ATI for example.

I actually have AFR, should I dose 1ml a day until my params are elevated to where they need to be then do a 5g WC? After that I can graph my trending over the course of a week in all the major parameters then set my WC schedule accordingly?

 

[Jekyl]

I have a bucket of Reef Crystals but my LFS uses Coral Pro. so would making the abrupt switch disturb anything further?

As long as you're not doing huge water changes, switching salts won't be a problem. Just keep an eye on parameters that are being changed.

 

[nothing_fancy]

I actually have AFR, should I dose 1ml a day until my params are elevated to where they need to be then do a 5g WC? After that I can graph my trending over the course of a week in all the major parameters then set my WC schedule accordingly?

I would try to test as much as you can before dosing anything and same before the water change. But yes, if you have AFR go ahead and use that but 1ml isn't going to do much of anything. Follow the directions for starting dose per your sized aquarium and increase from there depending on where things go with your tests

 

[MrGisonni]

alk/ca/mg are all too low IMO.

 

[MrGisonni]

I am at 3.8 mls of All For Reef spread out over 4 doses a day on my 30 gallon mixed reef. My DkH is 8.8 - 9.1 calcium 400- 420 my mg fluctuates most but I add Brightwell mag supplement twice a week to keep it at 1350 or better. FWIW

 

[rja]

I am at 3.8 mls of All For Reef spread out over 4 doses a day on my 30 gallon mixed reef. My DkH is 8.8 - 9.1 calcium 400- 420 my mg fluctuates most but I add Brightwell mag supplement twice a week to keep it at 1350 or better. FWIW

can i see a pic of your tank? also, do you use the powder or liquid?

 

[MrGisonni]

Liquid AFR. It took a few months to really get it dialed in....now I make .1ml adjustments as my corals and clams grow.

 

[rja]

Liquid AFR. It took a few months to really get it dialed in....now I make .1ml adjustments as my corals and clams grow.

looks amazing! i think i am going to begin dosing it at some point. i think my tank makes big swings every WC if i dont.

I used AFR all week to elevate my elements.

Today:
Ca: 400
Mg: 1320
Alk: 8.5
Ph: 8.0
Nitrate: 5-10ppm
Salinity 1.025

Also just got a phos test in the mail.. i think it’s 0.03 but could be 0… for a while i was afraid to check because i thought it would be high… maybe too low PO4?

Regardless everything seems okay..
I fragged my dying frogspawn and im hoping the final heads make a comeback. my one duncan out of 3 colonies is still not doing well i found a head of it trapped in my RFA today. I think perhaps I was blasting the side with missing heads with flow so I moved my powerhead higher up. considering just removing the powerhead all together though.

 

[mike550]

@rja First off, don’t get discouraged! Ive had a tank for a few years now, and because I “burned out” on maintaining the tank, I’m going through a reboot as well. So you’re way better off trying to control this sooner rather than later.

I think the biggest issue people are pointing out goes back to your LFS water. You have no control over their water, their salt, or how they store it. So you might be putting yourself at a disadvantage that’s not even your fault. Two thoughts. First, if you can get a small rodi and make your own water thats a huge move towards getting control and keeping things consistent in your tank. Second, if you don’t want to get a rodi unit maybe your LFS will sell you clean water from their rodi system. I realize it’s not a perfect solution and their rodi might not have the same quality as your own, but at least you’ll have control over the salt and saltwater. I’d even bring my own container to the LFS

Good luck!

 

[rja]

@rja First off, don’t get discouraged! Ive had a tank for a few years now, and because I “burned out” on maintaining the tank, I’m going through a reboot as well. So you’re way better off trying to control this sooner rather than later.

I think the biggest issue people are pointing out goes back to your LFS water. You have no control over their water, their salt, or how they store it. So you might be putting yourself at a disadvantage that’s not even your fault. Two thoughts. First, if you can get a small rodi and make your own water thats a huge move towards getting control and keeping things consistent in your tank. Second, if you don’t want to get a rodi unit maybe your LFS will sell you clean water from their rodi system. I realize it’s not a perfect solution and their rodi might not have the same quality as your own, but at least you’ll have control over the salt and saltwater. I’d even bring my own container to the LFS

Good luck!

Good luck to you as well!

I did ensure the LFS water at least had correct salinity and of course temperature. I would always let it mix in a bucket with a heater and pump for at least 5 hours before introducing it into my tank just to ensure the water wasn’t made only hours before I bought it.

I do have an RODI system (amazon) that has worked for me in the past but i am utterly impatient and easily distracted to continue to check on it and make sure it hasn’t overflowed. Also, the back pressure seems to make my sink leak. Which makes no sense to me because I would assume the RODI unit would be less pressure than having the handle on the sink completely closed in the first place. So, I plan to make use of a spigot that’s in my garage at some point.

I was planning to just use LFS RODI water. I think investing in a cheap TDS meter would help too. So I can pretty much ensure that the water is good. My LFS uses a massive RODI system that has the membrane replacement dates right on the canisters. It’s self serve and can fill a 5 gallon bucket in 30 seconds!

I think just using LFS water and coupling that with a TDS meter eliminates all issues on the salt end. The peace of mind really is a game changer. I do not know why I was not doing this to begin with. I have 160gal worth of Reef Crystals that a local guy just gave me.