Palys Not Looking Good, Hhheeeellllppp!!!!

[b0bby1]

my RPE are turning bell shaped and not looking too good. yesterday two of them were bell shaped and two were fine, now their all bell shaped. how do i fix this and what caused it?

[Sk8r]

Test your alkalinity and ph: s/b 8.3 or close on each. Also run carbon.

[b0bby1]

y run carbon? i took my carbon pack thing out of my aquaclear filter and replaced it with a phosphate bag.

[gflat65]

Carbon helps keep the water a lot cleaner than without. It can add PO4, but IMO, the benefits far outweigh the detriments. I run it 24/7 in all tanks...

[b0bby1]

so what would you do, run use the phosphate bag or the carbon bag?

[Sk8r]

Well, both could be useful if you can at all fit them in: one won't hurt the other. If both won't fit, just put your phosphate bag aside in saltwater for a few hours and run the carbon and see if you can't get some improvement.

Softies give off chemicals when they're not happy, and carbon removes those so they don't touch off other softies into a temper tantrum: you replace carbon about every 5 days, and you don't have to run it all the time.

Another benefit of carbon is that if you do have any ammonia present, it will sop it up.

If you have any suspicion that there's something amiss with your nitrates, or if your softies have just started a spitting war, a 10% water change is a good thing. Keeping salt and ro/di on hand is a good idea: things like this usually happen at some time the fish store is closed for 2 days.

[b0bby1]

just topped off the tank about 2 gallons, i do that about once a week with distilled water. but do you think that is the problem. where should my RPE be placed? currently they are on the bottom of the tank with little flow.

also should i run the phosphate bag at all times? i could prolly fit both phos. and carbon in there if i took out this other bag thats full of cardboard like little cylinders, but i dont no wut those do.

[Slakker]

Get rid of the other bag...that's a "biological filter." In a reef tank, your rock and sand should take care of all of that, and the little rings and such tend to cause nitrates to build up.

Run your phosphate and carbon media instead...your inhabitants will thank you.

[gflat65]

Seachem makes a combination of the two. Any kind of floss is going to build up with nitrates quickly.

I would look into an auto top off. I use one from autotopoff. com that has worked like a champ for me for years. I built one for the other large tank and it works great. Switch, powerhead, and a small Rubbermaid container and life gets at least 50% easier on tank maintenance:). At 10% water reduction, you may be seeing a large salinty swing, which usually won't make too many to happy. Just adding more frequently to reduce the swing will make everything happier.