Sick Frogspawn

[johnsutter71]

I need help with my frogspawn...He started out very happy and over time has lost several tenticles. I due by weekly to monthly water changes and my perameters are
nitrites-0
ammonia .25
nitrtates 40ppm
phosphates 0
salinity 1.026
PH 8.0

I dose daily with iodine 1 cap
tech CB A/B 10mg
pro buffer dkH 10mg

dose weekly with
strontium& Molybdenum 10mg
coral vite 10mg
I only feed my fish 1-2 times per week brine shrimp

My tank size is 55 gallons with 20 gallon fuge half to 3/4 full
I also included a pic of a toadstool. that has refused to open his tenticles. Not sure why.
Any help is appreciated.
TY

[allan]

Hey John,

Welcome to MAAST!

What kind of flow do you have over the frogspawn? Is your clown attempting to host it behind your back?

The ridges of a frogspawn can sever tentacles, so turbulent flow or a ambitious clown may be at fault.

Not sure what lights you're running, but the toadstool may be a bit high. That aside, I've irritated my toadstool on occasion and it will hide for a week or two. Flow is important too.

[hobogato]

if your test kit is correct, i would bet this is your issue. first, you may want to take a sample to a fish store to have that value verified. if those results are correct, you may want to get some ammo-lock (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4019) to add to the tank while you do some water changes to get that down to zero.



ammonia .25

[Sherita]

What Ace said. There should be no detectable ammonia in your tank. Has something died recently?

And also what Allan said. I used to have a clown, it harassed every coral in my tank, including my frogspawn and my huge toadstool. Constantly beating on them or biting them. He don't live here anymore.

If you do have ammonia in your tank, lock it up with some Prime or Ammo-lock. Then figure out why it is there.

How long has your tank been set up? And have you recently added anything like sand or rock?

[allan]

Sorry, I don't know how I missed the ammonia.

[johnsutter71]

Thanks for the responce. I am using coralife dual output T5's. I am using reef master test kits and usually test the water every other week. I have moderate current in my tank. enough to see the tenticles sway in both directions. After I posted my question I raised my frogspawn 10 more inches and made sure to give him a 9 inch buffer zone from other corals. for my filtration I have a reef octopus Recirculating Skimmer rated up to 125 gallons. For chemical filtration I have 2 media reactors with phosguard in one and biopellets in the other for nitrates. In the refugiam section of my fuse I have live rock and lots of chaeto. I also have 2 bags of chemi pure in the skimmer section which i havnt switched out for the last 3 months but will very soon because my ammonia was 0 up until 3 weeks ago. I have been spending most of my budget getting ready for a 90 gallon upgrade. I was lucky enough to snag a reef ready tank with pine stand less then a year old for 275.00 on craigslist last week.

[johnsutter71]

Oh I forgot to mention that I do have a Ocellaris but he rarely leaves his bubbletip and has shown very little interest in anything else. I did dose the tank with 4 capfulls of prime yesterday but havn't checked the parameters today to see the result.

[Sherita]

If you have had ammonia in your tank for three weeks, stop and think back of ANYTHING that happened just before the ammonia showed up. New rock/livestock/live sand/missing fish. Your filtration sounds to be adequate, but I seem to remember a mention somewhere about tissue recession when using biopellets. Maybe Karin will chime in, I know she did run them for a while.

The ammonia is coming from somewhere, either something died, old/dead rock was added, old sand. Something happened, just need to figure out what it is. With the level you are getting, it almost sounds like something set off a mini-cycle in your tank. I would take a water sample to your lfs and have them test it. The best test kits in the world sometimes just roll over and die right when you need them the most.

I went back over your original post again. 1 cap of iodine daily seems to be an awful lot. Are you testing your iodine levels to see where they are? And is there a particular reason you are dosing iodine? Many folks will tell you to never supplement anything that you are not testing for. Normally regular water changes will keep levels strontium and moly where they need to be. I don't dose iodine, so I can't offer much help there, but the folks I know that do dose don't use anywhere near a capful a day.

I would say the first things you need to do are: have your lfs test your water parms, also get a test kit for any supplements you are using and test for them as well. And think back to anything that could have happened three weeks ago.

Your toadstool looks to be shedding. Quite possibly normal (all leathers do this), or a sign of stress. Probably due to the ammonia in the water, and possibly a result of an out of whack parm (high phosphates, iodine levels, or something else that will make you nuts trying to find it).

[Europhyllia]

If I had frogspawn questions I'd probably ask Alton- he grows the stuff like weeds!

I don't think the biopellets have much to do with this. My problem was that I was feeding powdered foods to my gorgonians and filter feeders and the biopellets encouraged a permanent bacterial bloom which made everybody miserable.

I am pretty sure frogspawn actually enjoy 'dirty' water so slightly elevated nitrates shouldn't bother them.

My guess would be that the flow is still too high for it.

Also the ammonia is coming from somewhere. Any ideas what happened? How long has this tank been running?

Why are you dosing so much stuff and how are you testing for it?

I'd cut back on the stuff you are dosing that is tough to test for. You may well be adding to the pollution in your tank. Iodine for example can come in different forms and some test kits test for one but not the other I think.

Since you are buffering so much what is your alkalinity now?

And your calcium?

[Europhyllia]

oh wait... why do you feed your fish only 1-2 per week? and then only brine shrimp? (has nothing to do with your other problem - just curious)

[johnsutter71]

I haven't checked my calcium in a while but it was pretty high the last time I did.over 520ppm I was adding 10mg a week but cut that way back because of it. I'll stop dosing the iodine. I have a very healthy flowerpot that's doubled in sice since I got it 6 months ago. I read that they are very sensitive to water perameters. I also have a bubble coral that shows no signs of distress. The media reactor for the biopellets empties into the refugium and since I've had it havn't had any algae blooms out of the ordinary. As far as my livestock, I have 1 Ocellaris, 1 scooter benny, 1 watchman goby, 1 firefish, 8-10 red legged hermits. 9-10 snails, 1 pencil urchin, 1 tuxedo urchin, and a few hundred baby Ocellaris's that I need a flashlight to see at night. The baby fish have been swimming in their for the last 4 months. Not sure what happened to the mother. She just disapeared after laying the eggs. I assume she died and the cleanup crew ate her. I've had this tank for about 9 months now. With the exception of a few artificial rocks that were made local I have red, purple, and green coraline algae established on my rock. I also have it growing on my back glass. The ammonia might be attributed to over feeding. I have been using a full cube of brine shrimp once or twive a week and have noticed a lot leftover. I have been target feeding my bubbletip and he might be expelling a lot of waste. He also has trippled in size since I got him 5 months ago.
1328113282

[Europhyllia]

Hm. You may want to look for something a tad more nutritious (mysis, etc.). I don't think the amount is worrisome. To be honest I'd feel a little guilty if I put my fish on a diet like that! lol

Hundreds of 4 months old clownfish in that tank and you need a flashlight to see them? I don't quite understand what you mean with that. Can you post a picture?

[Europhyllia]

Nice bubble coral by the way! :)

[Sherita]

Oh, I missed the buffer in your additives.

You need to test your alkalinity. Since you are buffering and using two part, your alk may be too high.

Still doesn't explain where the ammonia is coming from tho.

[johnsutter71]

My PH is at 8.0 and due to water evaporation I dose 10mg pro buffer DKH as needed. seems like I add a gallon of new water a day. I can tell that the baby fish are clowns because they look like the mother. During the day they hide in the live rock and at night I can shine a led flashlight and see them swimming around. I guess clown fish grow slowly.

[Sherita]

pH and alkalinity are not the same thing. Or did you mean to say your alk is at 8.0?

[johnsutter71]

The test kit states that pH is the measure of acidity of water. A pH reading of 7.0 is neutral. A pH higher than 7.0 is alkaline, and a pH lower than 7.0 is acidic. Marine fish and invertebrates require a pH between 8.2 and 8.4. I am getting a reading of 8.0. The test kit I am using is a Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Saltwater Liquid Master Test Kit.

[Sherita]

John, pH and alkalinity are not the same thing and cannot be tested or measured with the same test. Your pH is within range, but you need to get an alkalinity test kit. Alk range for saltwater tanks is 7-12 dkh, with most people shooting for 9-10 dkh. Testing your pH tells you nothing about your alkalinity. Your pH can be within normal range, and at the same time your alkalinity can be far out of range. I am betting that when you get an alk test kit you will find that your alk is very high. If you are using two part (A+B) and a buffer, you are most likely overdosing your tank, and have driven your alkalinity into the high range. Please get an alkalinity test kit and let us know what your alk is.

This will not solve your ammonia issue, but it most certainly can be the cause of your frogspawn and leather issues. My toadstool will completely close up and slough off if I allow my alk above 10. Just because your bubble coral is doing well, do not assume that all parameters are correct. Each individual coral will respond differently to out of parameter conditions.

[johnsutter71]

I have the proper test kit. It said 7-8 dkh was most like natural sea water. I'll test it tomorrow and post the results. Thanks again for the quick response.

[Sherita]

Great:) Just in case you want it, here is a chart of what are considered normal params in a reef aquarium. I found this to be immensely helpful when I was first starting out. All the information I needed, at a glance.

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt
pH 7.9-8.3
Alkalinity 8-11dkh or 2.86-3.89 meq/L (most reef aquariums average around 9.5)
Temp 78-84
Calcium 390-450
Magnesium 1350-1400 (should be 3x your calcium level)
Phosphate .03 or less
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ppm or less

[alton]

Like Karin said Frogspawn doesn't like real clean water although 40 ppm for nitrates seems a little high? With a 55 gallon tank 5 gallon water changes a week with ro/di water, Reef Salt, and cut back on your dosing your parameters will keep themselves in check. It does not sound like you have a lot that uses calcium? Lighting, if I caught you right you said you only have two T5HO lamps? Most Frogspawn is grown under MH, and although I do have one in my 29, it has 4 T5HO lamps. With your new 90 it will require a 6 Lamp T5HO, the biggest issue will be acclimating your anenomoe and corals to the new bright light. Also what type of hydrometer are you using? And please do not say swing arm?

[Texreefer]

.....and a few hundred baby Ocellaris's that I need a flashlight to see at night. The baby fish have been swimming in their for the last 4 months. Not sure what happened to the mother. She just disapeared after laying the eggs. I assume she died and the cleanup crew ate her.
You must tell me more about this.. maybe i'm not understanding... your saying you had a female clownfish lay eggs.. dissapeared and now you have hundreds of baby clowns in there that you can only see at night with a flash light? I think your seeing something else and not clownfish unless i'm just misunderstanding what you mean.

[johnsutter71]

Ok..I tested all my perameters this morning using my API saltwater master test kit and this is what I have
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
high range PH 7.8
nitrate 40ppm
calcium 540
KH 6/ 107.4
phosphate 0

I then dosed with 10ml of tech CB A and B and 20ml of pro buffer DKH
I also fed the corals with 15 ml of coral accel
I took some new pics this morning. I'm using a Canon T3i with sigma 50-200mm lens.1328813291132901329013289

[johnsutter71]

1329213293132941329513296
More pics and my bubbletip. As you can see everyone look happy except the frogspawn. Before the female Ocellaris went missing I saw her lay her eggs and a week or so later we saw the baby fish show up. At first we saw thousands then as the weeks went by most of them where either eaten by the other fish of sucked into the overflow box. The ones that are in their now mostly hide in the live rock during the day and come out more at night. The male Ocellaris has breeded with another female in the past but the babies were eaten up soon after they hatched. I have no desire of raising baby clown fish so I won't add any more clownfish.

[Sherita]

Thanks for the test results! I'm guessing you can't test for magnesium, since that is a separate test kit that's probably not included in your master. And one of the more expensive test kits at that :p Get one when you can and test your mag. Low mag can cause issues with difficulty in keeping alkalinity up. Take a look at this article for a more in depth explanation LINK (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/rhf/index.php#2). It is important to keep your mg levels within acceptable range in order to keep your ca and alk levels up and within range.

*Your calcium is high, back off on dosing and let it drop down to normal range
*Alkalinity is low, increase the alk part of your dosing to bring it up.(be aware, if your mg levels are low, you will find it very difficult to get your alk up to where it needs to be).
*nitrates are high, try some water changes to bring it down, this will also help with the high calcium levels.
*purchase a mg test kit and find out what your level is. Dose accordingly with something like Kent Tech M.

I got into the ca/alk trap last year, where I was using far more of my alk portion than I was my ca portion. This didn't stop until I started dosing kalk in my topoff water. Some folks go with dosing pumps, others with kalk reactors, and some do what I do, which is kalk in the topoff water. And some folks also just keep dosing with two part. There is no one right way, just try different things until you find what works for you.

Glad to see your ammonia is 0. Now, for the frogspawn. Do you have any crabs in your tank....such as emerald crabs or sally lightfoots? I wouldn't expect a sally to be an issue, but emeralds have been known to tear stuff up pretty badly. The only other suspect in your tank would be the clown, but since you said he doesn't leave his nem you can probably rule him out. Try this......wait until late at night when the house is dark and the tank lights have been off for quite a while, using a red flashlight, look in your tank. See if you see anything bugging your frogspawn. A crab, or maybe even a hitchhiker of some sort that you didn't know you had. Night time viewing is the best chance to find unknown beasties. You might consider a dip in Coral RX, just in case it has some sort of pest.

And Alton is the go-to guy for frogspawn. He can really grow that stuff. His advice is very sound.

[Europhyllia]

here's a good article on calcium and alkalinity:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.php

Is there a specific reason why you feel you need the calcium so very very high?

[johnsutter71]

I have Strontium and Molybdenum suppliment so I added 15ml. I don't have any emeralds in the tank. Just red legged hermits, Nassarius and a few turbo snails. I do have a pencil and tuxedo urchin but I havn't seen them bother any corals. I'm thinking about getting a Aquaripure Nitrate Filter based on the reviews I have seen. Looks pretty cool.

[allan]

To add onto what Sherita said about the calcium... it doesn't look as if you have a large calcium consumer in your tank, certainly not a consumption that would require dosing. Water changes will keep your stuff growing, IMO.

I'm like Sherita, I have a float tied to my top off that's tied to my RODI. I have a small pump in my top off resevoir and that keeps the kalk stirred up pretty much all the time.

Despite the lack of attention this set up requires, I find that once a week or so I tie my tank's top off float directly to my RODI for a couple of days to cleanse the lines of kalk build up. Usually at night as this results in a larger than normal dose of kalk into the system. I've got pretty decent growth, and I've got a lot of calcium consumers in there. Even then, I doubt very much that my calc is above 380-390.

I've only recently started doing regular weekly waterchanges. And I'm relying on that to take care of the majority of my trace elements... but I do toss in a small handful of epsom salt once every other week or two.

[johnsutter71]

Alton, what type of hydrometer do you use? I was looking on line and 50 dollars seems a little steep for the non swing arm variety. What do you reccomend? I

[johnsutter71]

Alton, what type of hydrometer do you use? I was looking on line and 50 dollars seems a little steep for the non swing arm variety. What do you reccomend?

[allan]

They're expensive. I waited until another member had one for sale before getting mine. Typically go for $20 here on MAAST.

[alton]

I use the old fashion glass hydrometer, most use a refractometer. Nice post Karin, think of calcium and alkalinity as a bowl of marbles. You can only put so many in, add more of one kind and some of the other kind will fall out. Right now you have too many calcium so what I did in the past when the salt I was using had too much calcium and my levels went over 600 with low Alkalinity I did 5 gallon water changes on my 75 gallon tank with Instant ocean salt which is low in calcium until everything got back in check. Just remember not to get in a big hurry. FYI some parts of San Antonio tap water contains 10ppm of Nitrates straight from the faucet.

[Bill S]

OK, I've read this thread, and I think you need to stop the bus... You are taking a shotgun approach to testing and dosing.

1) Assume that your test kits are WRONG (they often are, even the good ones).

2) Cardinal rule: Never dose something you don't test for.

**************************************************
Take a sample of your water in a sealed ziplock with no air AND your test kits and hydrometer, and take them to a LFS. Have them test your water while you also test it. You can then eliminate testing as a problem. This includes your hydrometer. Glass floating hydrometer (the tall ones) are about $15. NEVER use a swing arm.

[CoryDude]

Since we all seem to be guessing here as to the problem (including myself), I'd recommend a large water change.

Doing a large 50% water change is the best "reset" button for a fish tank. It will help reduce your iodine, calcium, and ammonia levels. It will also help to restore the proper alk levels. Plus it will reduce your nitrates to a more managable 20ppm. I've maintained tanks at 40+ ppm of NO3, but there always seemed to be problems with unhealthy fish, corals, and the ever looming threat of a nasty hair algae outbreak.

There's very little stress on the tank as long as you let the new salt water mix for at least 24 hours. Try and vacuum out as much gunk as you can from the substrate in the display tank. Also swirl up the sump water and vacuum as much crud as you can out of that.

[johnsutter71]

Bill, do you have any recomendations as to which LFS because I have seen at least one use the exact same reef master test kit I have. I'm not a lab tech but I am a medic and know how to properly follow directions. I use a 10ml saringe to add water to the test vials and rinse out everything with fresh H2O after I'm done. In the past I have used the test kits that come in the powder form and found them to be a royal PITA. Before I made a decision as to which one to use I read up on a few and purchased the one seemed to have the best reviews.

[allan]

I had a problem where my nitrates kept going up. Did some massive water changes to keep on top of it. Turned out my test kit for nitrates expired or went bad.

It isn't following directions, not all the time. It's about bouncing your results off another's test. The LFS do so many more tests, I'm assuming, that they tend to replace their reagents more often.

[Bill S]

I had a problem where my nitrates kept going up. Did some massive water changes to keep on top of it. Turned out my test kit for nitrates expired or went bad.

It isn't following directions, not all the time. It's about bouncing your results off another's test. The LFS do so many more tests, I'm assuming, that they tend to replace their reagents more often.

What Allan said. Reagents don't last that long, and you never know how old the box is that's on the shelf. As well, even the best companies occasionally get things wrong. We have to remember that this hobby is filled with "cottage companies" that are really very small. The API kits are known for false positive traces of ammonia.

[johnsutter71]

I think a big problem I have with my nitrates has to do with 4" sandbeads that haven't been cleaned in months. I have a lot of live rock that makes it very difficult to get around it. Today I removed about 30 pounds of sand and did a 50% water change. At the moment I'm working on aquascaping to make cleaning easier later on. I'm looking forward to upgrading to the 90 gallon for the extra space. I'm going to boil the sand I removed to get rid of impurities. I had ick several months ago thanks to a hippo tang and after a while it just cleared up on it's own. I'm going to add a sheet of acrylic on the bottom of the 90 gallon and put the base rock directly on that. When I set up my 55 gallon I was very new to the hobby and put the sand in first with everything else thrown on top. My current stand allows me to look at the underside of the aquarium and I see a lot of black sand mixed with coraline. Lately it's been turning more black then coraline. I'd bet my next paycheck that it is the scource of my high nitrates since I only feed my fish twice a week and I only have 4 small fish.

[johnsutter71]

Yesterday I completely reaquascaped and removed half the sand. I also cleaned out the refugium and media reactors and did a 50% water change. This morning a added 2 powerheads to increase water flow and spent the better part of the morning aranging my corals. I reran all my tests and this is the result
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
ph 7.4
nitrate 30 using reef master and 10 using Instant Ocean
KH 7/ 125.3
calcium 420
phosphate 0

I dosed 10 ML of Kent marine tech CB/A & B and 10 ML of Kent marine pro buffer DKH and 5 ML of Coral-Vite.

[Sherita]

Your pH is low, so is your alk. You need to test for mg levels. Low mg will make it impossible to get your alk up, and can affect ca as well. Low mg can also have a negative effect on corals and inverts.

You can't fix the problem until you have all of the information. And you don't have all of the information. And since your ca was at normal levels, and you don't have anything in your tank that is a heavy ca user, why did you dose for ca?

[johnsutter71]

I tested this morning and just retested a few minutes ago. Ph is now 8.0 and KH is now at 142. I added the coral-vite because it does contain some magnesium. Yesterday when I did my water changes I ensured my salinity was at 1.026. I'll add another 10ml of pro buffer DKH and retest tomorrow.

[Bill S]

John,

How do you KNOW your test kits are right? I'm serious - I had one of the best Alk test kits out there. I was a BAD KIT. The manufacturer even let it slip to me that he'd let a group of bad reagents out. I chased an Alk problem in a system with 250 gallons of water, before I figured this out. It was a REAL mess.

And, one more time: If you dose, you MUST test. Period.

[cbianco]

Hi John,

I thought I'd chime in here.

I find something disturbing about this thread. You keep adding supplements to your tank, repeatedly, as an attempt to fix your "problem." I think this is the wrong way to go about things. You currently don't have anything in your tank that really requires 2 part dosing, iodine is unnecessary and buffer is rarely needed in a reef tank. A good salt mix will supply all these things for you without the need for supplementation, at least in your case.

As stated earlier, multiple large water changes as well as a detritus siphoning will help to get your tank back in order. It will take some work to do all this but it is the appropriate start when your parameters are out of whack. Also, I would ditch the current test kits. Buy a good ammonia test kit and ph test. These are your two most important parameters to measure at this point.

This is just my $0.02.

Christopher :)

[johnsutter71]

Well up until my frogspawn started displaying stress the rest of my corals were very happy. Some of which are very delicate. I have a flowerpot and bubble coral which are thriving. My toadstool is bouncing baack and today my frogspawn is growing new tenticles. I will agree that no test kit is 100% accurate but if your corals are thriving then that should be a good indication that they are close. The only test I saw a major difference in when I used different kits was my nitrates which dropped from 30 to 10 when I used the powder test. That makes sence because I've been using biopellets in a media reactor for the last 3 months. I haven't added any more iodine sence doing the 50% 2 days ago. The big things I worry about being ammonia nitrite and phosphate are at undetectible levels because I use phosguard in a second media reactor and I put chemipure in the sump. The indication that it's working is the coraline growth I have all over the glass and rock. Later on I'll post some new pics showing my progress but now I'm off to get stocking stuffers for the kidlets.

[Bill S]

Well, you asked for advice, and got a LOT of it, from folks who have been in the hobby for many years. I'm not trying to be ugly, but if you think what you were doing was right, why did you ask for our advice?

[Regric25]

I have been following this thread since it started and I hope everything bounces back and is happy again. I used to have a 100g tank and dosed 2 part, had bio pellets, dosed fuel and other stuff. My tank did really good for a long time but I realized that I didnt really need all that stuff if I was doing weekly water changes.

NOW I have a 10 gallon tank. It have lots of softies and LPS with a RBTA and a Clown fish. It's the most simple set up. The filter consists of 2 HOB filters with chemipure elite. I have a koralia 1 and PC lights. I don't even have a heater! I do bi-weekly water changes of 1 gallon and I top off warer with RO water 2 times a week about 3 cups each time. EVERYTHING is thriving and doing great and I hardly ever have to mess with it.

IME if you are going to dose suppliments into the tank then you MUST use a tesdt kitbecause everything will look good to the eye until one day you dose something again and that tips the scale and your tank crashes.. The main point of using a test kit is if you are constantly testing (which you should be if dosing something like 2 part) you will be able to track the levels of that suppliment and monitor your tanks consumption rate so you know what your tank needs. NEVER follow the dosing instructions to a T on suppliments because what they reccomend might not be what your tank requires. Someone who has a tank full of SPS would need more CA and ALK than someone who has a few SPS corals.

Good luck to you on your awesome tank! Have a safe Christmas Holday!

[KING]

HI JOHN..
I HOPE THE BEST FOR UR TANK..
AN THIS THREAD IS THE CRAZY-ES 1 IV READ..I TRY TO READ THEM ALL FOR INFO.. AN ON POINT ..I AM THE ROCKY OF THE YEAR ON MAAST..LOL
I WOULD GO SIDE BY SIDE WITH (( CORY )) 50% OR EVEN 30% WATER CHANGE.. AN HOLD UP ON THE DOES ING..LOL AT LESS A WEEK
JUST SO U CAN SEE WHATS GOING ON..AN LET A LIL NATURAL NATURE RECOVER ..
I STARTED MY FIRST SALTWATER TANK EVER,,ITS A 135 GALLON..IV HAD IT UP FOR 5 MONTHS NOW AN THIS IS THE 1ST MONTH I WILL START DOES B-IONIC 2 PART..I HAVE SPS AN LPS..AN NEVER HAD A PROBLEM...JUST TRYING TO GET FASTER GROWTH..
BUT THATS MY 2CENTS.. GOOD LUCK FRIEND..

[johnsutter71]

I appreciate the advice. I just finished siphoning sand and performed a 5 gallon water change. I will take a more conservative approach to chemicals from now on. Funny you mention the heater. I haven't had one in my tank in months. My tank is in my bedroom and we keep our thermostat at about 76. even at that temp my tank runs at around 80. Rick I do test my water. The issue that seems to have the readers of this thread is I haven't tested for magnesium. My PH is 8.0 and I added 10ml of pro buffer DKH this morning. I'm using Kent Marine reef salt and make sure to keep my salinity at 1.026. When I can afford it I'll get a refractometer.

[allan]

John, with such a light bio-load you shouldn't be dosing anything if you're staying on top of your water changes. The salt that you're replacing with the water changes will easily keep your trace minerals in check.

I like to keep things simple and it shows in my approach. The dosing you're doing reminds me of the higher end tanks I've seen where two dozen sps species are in full colony mode.

I did try running bio pellets awhile back and my lps weren't happy with me. I bailed after a couple of months because I found that I had to feed more to stay ahead.

King is right, and even Bill hit the nail. Stop doing everything. Keep doing the waterchanges and give it a few weeks to a month for things to even out.

Testing and adding all the time and you'll never pinpoint exactly the cause.

[Regric25]

John, with such a light bio-load you shouldn't be dosing anything if you're staying on top of your water changes. The salt that you're replacing with the water changes will easily keep your trace minerals in check.

I like to keep things simple and it shows in my approach. The dosing you're doing reminds me of the higher end tanks I've seen where two dozen sps species are in full colony mode.

I did try running bio pellets awhile back and my lps weren't happy with me. I bailed after a couple of months because I found that I had to feed more to stay ahead.

King is right, and even Bill hit the nail. Stop doing everything. Keep doing the waterchanges and give it a few weeks to a month for things to even out.

Testing and adding all the time and you'll never pinpoint exactly the cause.

:thumbs_up:Like:thumbs_up:Like:thumbs_up:Like:thum bs_up:Like

[johnsutter71]

13403134041340513406I took some updated pics this morning. The frogspawn is showing new tenticle growth and my toadstool looks great. 13402