Tank Update

Scott Blackburn · 07-18-2001, 01:42 AM

I wanted to give everyone an update on my 12 gallon reef tank. So far it has been up for 1 month and no cycle. I used fully cured LR and LS so I didnt really expect a cycle. I have 15lb of FIJI LR and a 3in DSB. I did lose 2 fish 1 percula and 1 damsel but if you read my earlier posts this was a problem with the health of the fish from my LFS. I have since went to another FS and purchased a Royal Grammas which is doing well. I also got a small piece of Xenia and two 3 mushrooms which were all unattached. Everything is doing well and my Xenia is growing. The other inhabitants of my tank are a small brittle star and a peppermint shrimp. My LR had a large infestation of aiptasia (20 or so) which the peppermint shrimp is taking care of nicely. The only real problem I have had is phosphate which is feeding a rather inpressive cyano outbreak. I started using Phosguard a few days ago and this seems to be helping. I appologize for rambling but you guys have been so helpful that I wanted to share. The only other problem I am having is with patience waiting for my new house to be built (should be done January 2002) so that I can set up my 90 gallon reef.

Doug1 · 07-18-2001, 10:58 AM

Kewl on tank progress, bummer on fish loss
Are you using RO/DI water for salt mix and top off? Most of the anti phosphate stuff on the market is aluminum oxide based and can be detrimental in the long run, a lot off leathers esp will react to it negatively.
Better to deal with PO4 at the source i.e. tap water and flake foods are major culprits.
Are you running a skimmer on this tank and do you drip kalk, it helps bind phosphate somewhat

jegel · 07-18-2001, 11:15 AM

I'll second the motion for the RO/DI, I have an 80 gallon reef which had a huge cyano breakout. I got an RO/DI unit, left the lights off for 3 days and did a few extra water changes and bam!!! no more cyano. since then I've never seen any cyano except once when I ran out of RO/DI top off water and was forced to use a bit of tap water... I could see a few specs of cyanoo but it quickly died off. I just wish I had started my tank off with RO/DI.

FishDaddy · 07-19-2001, 01:28 AM

Sdbdrz,
Good news is always welcome; glad your tank is doing well!

"Soft Cycling" with live rock doesn't always produce the dramatic spikes in Ammonia and Nitrites as with cycling with fish (A practice that is not recommended). I cycled both my tanks with live rock/sand and got low readings during the cycle. Had I not tested regularly, I might have missed the spikes.
What are your Nitrate readings? It would be unusual to not have some significant readings at this point in the maturation process. Excess Nitrates can also fuel the algae/cyano blooms that go along with a developing tank. Hobby kits test only for inorganic Phosphates but it's the organic Phosphates that cause most of the problems. These are commonly introduced via source water and feeding.
I once tried a Phosphate Sponge in my 55 and the corals, especially the Sarcophyton, reacted almost immediately. I pulled the sponge and did a water change and haven't used these types of remedies since.
What are you using for source water?
Dick

Scott Blackburn · 07-19-2001, 01:30 AM

Since it is a small tank I am using RO/DI water in 2.5 gallon containers from the grocery store for water changes and top off. I have not tested it do you think this could be my source of phosophate?. As for the Phosguard I am not planning on using it for more than 3 or 4 days, hopefully this will help. I am running a CPR skimmer on my tank and I feed sparingly with frozen food. Thank you for the reply and the advice.