Need a mentor

[polyppetey]

Hi all,
I don't know how to put this but I was wondering if someone local could help me out with my tank. I have had a 12 gallon nanocube for almost 3 years now and it is doing OK not thriving just OK. I have very slow growth if any. Right now I am battling small ammonia spikes for what ever reason I cannot determine. One or two have been caused by a snail and a hermit crab dying but I seem to have a series of tiny cycles lately. I test weekly and for the most part the parameters are ok except the ammonia spiking then the nitrites spike and the ALK is always super low even though I have been dosing with one part of a 2 part solution for the past 3 weeks but I cannot get any higher than 5 DKH.

Right now my params are
Ammonia .25 ppm
ph 8.2
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm
calcium 480 mg/l
temp 78 degrees
Alk 4.5 DKH
Salinity 1.027

I don't dose anything but two part I already mentioned though I have used some seachem-prime for the ammonia.

I do a 1 gallon water change twice a week now with the Catalina water. Feed sparingly (I have 1 fish- baby maroon clown) but I would like some more growth, My palythoa and zooanthid do not readily grow or just slowly die off after a few months. I just had an awesome colony of red palythoa just wither and die after tripling in size, it is very frustrating.

The tank is stocked pretty well with the usual nano suspects, mushrooms, ricordia, polyps. etc. I want a bigger tank but thought this would be a good start in the hobby. I figured I would post here after meeting some cool people before when I was giving away my frags of xenia and yellow polyps.

I do not have a great test kit and I was wondering if someone near me (Richboro, Pa.) could do a good test of the water for me, or at least take a look and give me some advice on what I am missing. It would much appreciated, I can't give you any money but I would definitely take you out for some beers and pizza, or give you some frags when I get the tank going well, I do have some interesting stuff for a little 12 gallon tank

[Jay4Robin]

Stop your feeding until you figure it out. I would use distilled water until you get an R/O di filter system. Do a water change.
Do you have a Deep sand bed?

I bet you also have high PO4. you need to get good test kits.

I would also lower that salt just a little 1.026 would be fine.
Do you have good water flow??

[firecrackerbob]

I second Jays suggestions....

Might want to test your Mg... I hear people with problems getting Alk up are often Mg deficient.

Im not a nancube guy, but if I remember correctly those are stocked wit power compact lights... I dont really know anyone who has gotten impressive results under PC.. like you said- it will sustain some stuff, but not turbo charge them. You could do a mod and install a 70MH or it might be time to upgrade. At the very least, if you havent replaced the bulbs since you got it, its about 2yrs overdue.

If you arent running polyfilter I would recommend it.. it will remove phosphates and polish anything else out...

Here is some additional info from a wikibook I am working on about some of the problems I have dealt with:
http://www.wikisift.com/wiki/index.php?structure_id=24
http://www.wikisift.com/wiki/index.php?structure_id=33
Cheers,
Eric

[MinibowMatt]

Nanocubes are not very good for reeftanks in their stock form. That is why nanocustoms was born, to supe them up to where they can actually be a reeftank.... but thats another story.

Catalina water is dangerous... I would stop using it, by Reefcrystals salt, and mix it with Distilled or RO/DI water.

What water have you been doing top offs with?

What is the total wattage of 10K (or other white) bulbs in your tank.. you cannot count the actinic, because it does not add much to your growth. Basically it is only for color.

You really need to get some test kits. API kits are pretty accurate, and are very cheap. Your current ALK is WAYYYY low. I suggest dosing baking soda , about 1 teaspoon every 2 days until you see it somewhere in the range of 9-11. If you start using reefcrystals, your ALK, Ca and trace nut. will all be in the acceptable range and stable if you do regular water changes.

im sure there is more....Basically I really want to know what your using for top off...

[polyppetey]

Right now I use bottled water for top offs, the flow of the tank is upgraded with a MJ900 pump, I ditched the bio balls and ceramic rings that came with the tank in favor of liverock rubble and I use floss in the first chamber for the filtration as well as a poly filter pad which I change out every week which I change with every water change. I usually change out the lights (2x 48 watt 50/50 bulbs) about every 6 months.

I do not have a MG test is that something I can get tested for at the LFS?

Why is the catalina water bad?
Also 1 question, where can I buy a 5 gallon or so jug to use for getting water from the LFS.

I use a turkey baster to twice a week blow off the detrius on the rock to get it into the filter and have a 2 inch deep sandbed.

I was considering getting the nano customs 4.25 mod which gives you 2 more 24 watt bulbs for a total of 96 watts and upgraded fans too. I would like to go with a 70 watt MH but I would like to build a better canopy first, right now I don't have the time for that with a baby due at any minute.

[EMBRYOGUY]

i would change your pump to to mj1200 and add two chemipure bags. more flow is never a bad thing.

no floss , add live rock in first chamber and half of second. than chemipure bags on top.

use ro/distilled water for top off.

i would not consider upgrading for now. additional lighting mod. will not solve your issues. they will only increase with more algae, temps etc.

nanocustoms is great and you definetly should consider them after you figure out your water issues.

cut back your lighting down to 6-8 hrs, feed every other day. NO LIVE OR FROZEN FOODS> flakes and pellets only. in a nanosystem, your goal is to keep fish healthy not fat. you do not want them to grow , like in a typical large system.

testing is pointless in nano systems.the parameters fluctuate way too much. keep with your water changes, but you do not need to blast with turkey baster all the time. only if your rock looks dirty.

do not dose anything. its too difficult to keep the water stable. you are prob causing more issues from doing that than any good. the fact that your doing alot of water changes is better than any additive.

cataline is not your problem.

go to nano-reef.com . there experts over there for nano systems. im sure they can help you further.

ive had over 8 ncs since its conception. i even have clowns breedin a 12 gallon nc.

[GettingFiesty]

I just went through this and couldn't get my alkalinity to rise no matter what I did and water changes which normally increase your magnesium weren't helping. Get a test kit and test both your tank and your water change water. I found my salt was low in Magnesium. Was able to get it up and then was able to raise my alkalinity up without any further problems.

Good luck!

[GettingFiesty]

Also, before you decide to buy the upgraded nano, give me a shout. My husband just bought me one for my new office, but have put it on hold. If I haven't put it into use yet, we may be able to work something out.

[MinibowMatt]

Catalina water is harvested offshore, and from what I have read, it isnt filtered much or even tested. I have read a few stories about how bad the water is.
I would seriously think about switching to RO/DI or bottled Distilled water. I reccomend Reef Crystals, for nanos (or any tank 100g or less)
because it seems to have enough of all the right stuff to maintain very good levels in smaller volumes of water. there should be no need for dosing ANYTHING in a nano if your using RC. I used it for 3 years with a 7g nano, and NEVER saw a fluctuation of anything to worry about.

[Jay4Robin]

Okay now you need to pick a mentor 5 veterans responded
All I can add to this thread is move slowly and do one change at a time. You really need to start at the odvious. You need really good water quality. If you use ocean water test it for p04 and nitrates.

[GettingFiesty]

polyp--I was looking at your stats again. How old is your test kit for alkalinity? Your calcium is really high for a magnesium problem. In my experience, I couldn't get either my calcium or alkalinity to rise--not matter how much I was adding because of the low magnesium. Try getting another inexpensive kit (API is good, I agree on that) and retest. Or, take our water in somewhere to be tested.

The ammonia and nitrates should be zero and that can be helped with water changes, but if your alkalinity is truly that low, you might be experiencing some die off.

Just more food for thought...

[polyppetey]

The alk test is about 3 months old, the ammonia is getting lower so I do believe I had some sort of die off, the tank is looking a little better and I will get some of the recommended salt and try that for a while as soon as I can get a suitable container for some RO water.

Would continual die off lower the ALK to that degree?
I think for now I will begin with some small water changes every other day until I see some stabilization.

Where would a good place to go for a water test? The closest place for me is the pets plus in Oxford Valley though the last time I went the employee was not all that helpfull with testing my water, but that was a while ago.

Thanks for the advice so far.

[GettingFiesty]

sorry, I wasn't clear. The die off would be from the low alk, it wouldn't cause it, but it would cause high ammonia, phosphates and nitrates.

If it makes you feel any better, I tested my 120 last night and my alk was at 5 dkH as well.