chris_kerryn

I tested the water again tonight and my nitrites have dropped right off finally down to about 0.35 from about 6+. The system is now about 6 weeks old so it seems to be going to schedule. The coral still seems ok. the tentacles are still out and I prodded it to check for movement and it is still alive. Some of the tentacles have a brownish tinge to them, but this could be due to the proliferation of brown algae I had. Most of the algae is green now and it is growing less rapidly. Hopefully the worst is over, until I start buying fish! :oops:

Just after I posted this problem, the coral opened up to a fully bloated state and looked like exploding, then it went back to normal. It appears to be back to normal during today. I will keep an eye on it and if it goes bad again, I may need to try to get someone to look after it. Thanks for the offers. With regards to the dead coral stuff, I meant that I brought dead coral rock for the aquascaping and it still has some stuff on it, although it would be impossible to scrub off. May be better to just leave it. It doesn't appear to be doing much. the algae seems to be making more mess.

I suspect I have added this coral a bit early in my new system. I added this coral just over a week ago and it seems to have remained shut all today. Is this ok? It appears to have been doing ok for the last week though. I have tested the water and everything seems ok apart from the nitrites which are still high. My system is about 5 weeks old now. I have a bubble, a few mushrooms, polyps and a feather duster which all seem to be doing fine. Some of these have been in longer. I had been told it was ok to start adding stuff like this earlier than the fish. As I have no fish yet I am not feeding and the algae is running rampant.I am doing water changes weekly with a big algae clean and started adding the bacteria in a bottle to help cycling. The Ammonia has been at zero for about 1 week and quite low for about 2-3 weeks, but nothing is happening with the nitrite. Do I need to be feeding these corals separately before fish being added? Won't this make the ammonia shoot up again. Is the Elegance coral doomed? I have also noted from reading the recent posts that maybe the dead coral that I have in my tank should have been fully stripped of the existing stuff on it (which I had not been told!) could this be breaking down and stuffing up everything. I added about 1 kg of live rock from jetski steve about 2-3 weeks ago and thats when the ammonia dropped right off. from here though nothing is happening with the nitrite, which is holding up getting fish in there. Tank is 75l and has an external skimmer and trickle filter. Anyone got any ideas. At the moment I seem to learn everything when it is too late. Please dont tell me to throw all the coral out and strip it. Cheers Chris

Hi I have just started a marine tank a week ago. it is only small 75 L as we are moving soon. I have the coral and coral sand and everything going. I hear that live sand or rock from another aquarium is the best way to get cycling started and growth happening . The system is tropical. we will probably only be able to have 2-3 small fish and some mushrooms?. Anyone know where I can get some sand or rock, or has some to sell. I should not need much.

Hi I just started up my first marine system a week ago. it is only a 75 litre set up as we want to move house soon. we have coral and coral sand set up and I hear that the best way to get it all going and cycling the best is to get some live sand or similar in there from another tank. Unfortuntely, shops don't sell that stuff. Would it be wise to get some from the beach? I am not too keen on doing that as Auckland beaches are not too healthy. I have put some fish pieces in there but it is not doing much. Is there anywhere you can get some live sand in central auckland so we can get some decent stuff growing?