I came home from work today and noticed that my rose bubble tip anenome had shrunken down. There was a layer of red algae on the live sand and I knew I had a problem. I did a immediate 30% water change on my 100 gallon tank. The bubble tip came back, but my Blue Hippo is acting pretty stressed since the water change. The nitrates were at 80 ppm. Should I do another 20% water change tomorrow or wait for the tank to settle down? I think I had a huge spike because I bought some silversides to feed my anenomes and I think I've been over feeding my fish.
I have a 6 inch Blue Hippo, 4 inch Yellow Tang, 4 inch sailfin tang, 3 inch Maroon Clown, cleaner wrasse, two damsels, 1 cleaner shrimp, and a fire shrimp. 30 blue leg hermits and various other cleaning crew.
I've been feeding them two cubes of Brine shrimp, seaweed on a clip, and a silverside every other day to my two anenomes. Plus some phsytoplankton and algae mix for a few of my corals. I think this may have caused the problem. How much would you guys feed them and how often?
Nitrate level through the roof am I over feeding my tank?
5 posts
-
snowboss - Posts: 458
- Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:53 pm
that does sound like a lot of food to me.....BUT.......... i have a samll tank compared to yours..............i've read and im not sure i agree 100% but i don't disagree either that a fishs' stomach is about the size of it's eye...........so yeah i would cut your feeding in hlaf for a week or two and see what happens.............also look at your cleaner crew a little better ...i have a 20 gallon long {semi-reef} and i have 8 algae hermits {blue legs and yellow banded leg} and a large anemone hermit crab along with 15-20 nassarius snails and thats just to clean up after 3 clowns .......so i think you could use a lot more ceaning type creatures which might help
i would also cycle your feeding if your not doing that already ........I.E. feed the fish one day then feed the nems a day or two later and then the corals a day later yet - - that way your only adding a little food every day or so rather than dumping a large amount at once ...............also - -unless your in crisis i would only do water changes every other day at the most .....................
keep us posted
Snowboss
i would also cycle your feeding if your not doing that already ........I.E. feed the fish one day then feed the nems a day or two later and then the corals a day later yet - - that way your only adding a little food every day or so rather than dumping a large amount at once ...............also - -unless your in crisis i would only do water changes every other day at the most .....................
keep us posted
Snowboss
-
newbie916 - Posts: 375
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:12 pm
Hey Snowboss,
Thanks for the info and it looks like everyone survived and my bubble tip is back to normal. I definitely agree about adding a larger cleaning crew. I will probably pick up another 20 scarlett hermits, 12 turbos, 10 astrea snails, and a few peppermint shrimp. I've only had the tank for a week and I got a screaming deal on e-bay. It was already established for 18 months and came with all of the animals except the bubble tip and maroon, but I noticed during the move that he didn't have a very sufficient cleaning crew. Until yesterday, I thought I was doing a decent job until that nitrate spike. I will bump the team up and they could help me out a little. I haven't checked the nitrate level, but I ended up doing a 35 gallon water change last night. It's a 100 gallon with a 25 gallon sump. I will probably wait until tomorrow to do another 10-20% water change if needed. Also, I think your right about changing the feeding schedule instead of dumping so much food into the tank at once. I will change it up a little. Appreciate the help and I'll keep you posted.
newbie916
Thanks for the info and it looks like everyone survived and my bubble tip is back to normal. I definitely agree about adding a larger cleaning crew. I will probably pick up another 20 scarlett hermits, 12 turbos, 10 astrea snails, and a few peppermint shrimp. I've only had the tank for a week and I got a screaming deal on e-bay. It was already established for 18 months and came with all of the animals except the bubble tip and maroon, but I noticed during the move that he didn't have a very sufficient cleaning crew. Until yesterday, I thought I was doing a decent job until that nitrate spike. I will bump the team up and they could help me out a little. I haven't checked the nitrate level, but I ended up doing a 35 gallon water change last night. It's a 100 gallon with a 25 gallon sump. I will probably wait until tomorrow to do another 10-20% water change if needed. Also, I think your right about changing the feeding schedule instead of dumping so much food into the tank at once. I will change it up a little. Appreciate the help and I'll keep you posted.
newbie916
-
snowboss - Posts: 458
- Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:53 pm
very good to hear...............lets see some pics of that bad boy................
also was thinking the move itself will set things off a little, you know? stiring sand moveing rock etc etc etc and in such a large system it could take a couple weeks to get to detectable levels ...................couple good things to be thankful for.....1. it took a couple weeks to get there and in a couple weeks it should be gone, ....and 2. be thankful its a larger system, less violence in changes, in nano tanks {under 25-30 gallons} a change like that can happen in hours and the tank goes into melt down .................been there done that, total lose on my first go round last year in a matter of 2 days .................. i love my nano tank but can't wait to get my monster tank built again glad to hear you have a handle on things, sounds like a beautiful set up and a good deal too.................
Boss
also was thinking the move itself will set things off a little, you know? stiring sand moveing rock etc etc etc and in such a large system it could take a couple weeks to get to detectable levels ...................couple good things to be thankful for.....1. it took a couple weeks to get there and in a couple weeks it should be gone, ....and 2. be thankful its a larger system, less violence in changes, in nano tanks {under 25-30 gallons} a change like that can happen in hours and the tank goes into melt down .................been there done that, total lose on my first go round last year in a matter of 2 days .................. i love my nano tank but can't wait to get my monster tank built again glad to hear you have a handle on things, sounds like a beautiful set up and a good deal too.................
Boss
-
newbie916 - Posts: 375
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:12 pm
I will try to get some picks in the next few days. It's coming along and I did another 10% water change and bought a bigger cleaning crew. I bought a tiger brittle star, large blue leg hermit, 6 more scarlet hermits, 12 astrea snails, 5 sand sifter snails. Hopefully, they are able to help keep the tank a little cleaner. The move definitely probably caused a spike, but everyone seems pretty happy. Thanks for all of the help.
newbie916
newbie916