Newbie help

[abong]

i am getting really confused when it comes to sw tanks...about 6 months ago i started a 29gal tank...everything seemed to be doing fine...after about 5 months i added a anenome to the tank...a few weeks later i added a fire shrimp and a royal gramma...i have had 3 damsels and 2 clownfish after a month of the tank being set up...when i added the royal gramma it took about 4 days and then it died...i ran some tests and found out my ph was extremely low...i have a few questions and i keep getting different answers from the fish experts...
1 - i have 2- 10,000K daytime lgihts and 2 420nm blue actnics...are these enough for my anenome to grow and survive?
2 - i have a carbon filter system set up on the canopy as well as a powerhead...is this sufficient filtration?

any help would be appreciated thnx

[BGJ223]

Originally Posted by abong

i am getting really confused when it comes to sw tanks...about 6 months ago i started a 29gal tank...everything seemed to be doing fine...after about 5 months i added a anenome to the tank...a few weeks later i added a fire shrimp and a royal gramma...i have had 3 damsels and 2 clownfish after a month of the tank being set up...when i added the royal gramma it took about 4 days and then it died...i ran some tests and found out my ph was extremely low...i have a few questions and i keep getting different answers from the fish experts...
1 - i have 2- 10,000K daytime lgihts and 2 420nm blue actnics...are these enough for my anenome to grow and survive?
2 - i have a carbon filter system set up on the canopy as well as a powerhead...is this sufficient filtration?

any help would be appreciated thnx

Your lighting seems fine for what you want to keep. I do have a couple questions for you first

Do you have any live rock?
What do you use for Top off water? IO or Tap?
do you add suppliments?
How often do you do water changes?
How low was your PH when you tested it?

I hate to give you the third degree, but in order to give you a good solid answer, we will need more information.

[abong]

thats alright...i have 25 pounds of live rock and i was using distilled water because i didnt know how much dechlorinizer to use for tap water...i wasnt using any supplements...i now use ph buffer...i did water changes every month roughly 25% of the water....and lastly the ph was below 7.8...everything else seemed fine so i didnt think twice b4 adding another fish...

[Geoff]

do you have a protein skimmer?

G~

[abong]

no i dont got a protien skimmer...i would of considered buying one but my amonia/nitrate/nitrite levels are all fine...actually doing really good...im just not sure what to do.

[Geoff]

LR itself will control the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. the skimmers main job is to remove detritus which can lead to phosphate problems. phosphates lead to algae problems.

it is possible to run a SW system without a skimmer, but regular water changes are a must! every week minimum with heavy siphoning of detritus.

you can prolly get away without a skimmer for about 6 months when a tank and you have a decent depthed SB. go any longer than that without heavey siphoning during regular water changes and you will start to see a large algae/cyano bloom.

if you start seeing nitrates popping up, than i would suggest removing your carbon filter. if it has anything else in there besides carbon, i would remove these extras. these include any mechanical media, floss, bioballs, anything like that. these can cause an elevation in nitrate levels as they fill with detritus.

G~

[abong]

first of all what is detritus? and what do you mean by siphoning?i just take the water out from the top and replace it...my nitrate isnt the problem...its is less than 20...thnx

[Geoff]

detritus is that grey fluffy stuff that builds up on the LR and on the SB in some places. it is pretty much anything that is not sand.

when siphoning for water changes remove this detritus. if not than the phosphates in the detritus will be absorbed into the SB. it will eventually fill up like a sponge and start releasing it back into the water column, creating algae problems.

if you bioload is matched to the amount of LR in the system than nitrates will not be a problem. phosphates are what i am trying to help you get control of.

G~

[Casey]

You might want to consider getting a protein skimmer and just using live rock to filter the water.