Newbie PH question 20gal nano

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scramer74

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So I have 2 clowns and about 10 snails, and a small piece of GSP. I fed about 2 hours ago with some brine shrimp liquid kind of stuff. GSP keeps closing up, but when I spot feed it, it opens back up. So it seems to be hungry? Didn't feed it yesterday, but put flake food in for clowns.

Anyway, I tested the water about an hour after feeding and the Ammonia level is crazy high. Everything else is fine. I just topped the tank off with about a half a gallon of rodi.

I know I know, overfeeding?? Should I do a water change?
 
I just checked it again, and it's gone down a lot, so I guess that's just normal after feeding? The fish will tolerate that?
 
Don't spot feed the GSP, it doesn't need it. I would stick with the flake stuff, just enough for the clowns and that's it, be really cautious on the overfeeding.

BTW, my wife was into Dachshund rescue and now we just rescue all dogs! Once upon a time we had 3.
 
Ok, thanks Dave! I was going to text you too :) Oh wow!? She was? here in Atlanta? 3 doxies?? oh my, that's a handful, but they are just the sweetest dogs ever! That's great that you guys rescue though! I would get kicked out of my condo if I bring home anymore.
 
Yes here in Atlanta, then relocated to Chicago area, met me...fell in love and we both got relocated to Atlanta.
 
dball711;1020498 wrote: Yes here in Atlanta, then relocated to Chicago area, met me...fell in love and we both got relocated to Atlanta.
Click to expand...

aaaawwwwwww.........
 
Glad you finally have fish and a piece of coral in the tank! My only suggestion is not to overreact to parameter readings. Given the small size and newness of the tank, your readings are going to fluctuate. In addition, the clowns can likely handle the volatility...my two occelaris clowns did. Have fun!
 
How often do you do water changes?
That small of a tank 1 would do change twice a week.
 
KDG;1020538 wrote: Glad you finally have fish and a piece of coral in the tank! My only suggestion is not to overreact to parameter readings. Given the small size and newness of the tank, your readings are going to fluctuate. In addition, the clowns can likely handle the volatility...my two occelaris clowns did. Have fun!
Click to expand...

Yes!! I'm so glad to not be just looking at water anymore. I love my 2 clowns also. They are mated so they get along thank goodness. I just would never want them to be in any pain. I keep picturing acid burning the orange off or something from the high ammonia. ahhh!

I've tested a few times since the super high reading and it's gotten back down to a normal level, so that's a good sign that the tank is processing it. Way cool!
 
MYREEFCLUB0070;1020548 wrote: How often do you do water changes?
That small of a tank 1 would do change twice a week.
Click to expand...

You think twice? How much would you change out? Maybe a gallon each time?

By the way, I loved seeing Lil-Pig winning the rocks. He's a cutie!
 
scramer74;1020569 wrote: You think twice? How much would you change out? Maybe a gallon each time?

By the way, I loved seeing Lil-Pig winning the rocks. He's a cutie!
Click to expand...

Small tanks with the water volume go out of perimeters very easy and often and this would be the best control you can do.
One gallon would work seeing your not heavily stocked.
And thanks,lil piggy smiled all the way home with his rock...lol
 
Aw thanks Marlon! I should be giving you coral for all the help! Dave too! So does GSP close up at night? And most softies?
 
Yes, most coral will close up at night once lights go out unless they are night feeders.
 
hey Sherri i know im a little late to the party lol but i agree with both these guys, stay away from the brine and do your water changes, although i think twice a week might be a tad excessive, although there's no such thing as too many water changes you can keep a tank that size healthy on less. i had a 20 long for about 3-4 years and i was most successful with it when i was doing 5 gallon water changes every 2 weeks. are you using any kind of biomedia like matrix or marine pure? if not id highly recommend it.

obviously there are many different ways to keep a reef tank successfully so take my advice with a grain of salt, its just what worked for me.
 
Thanks Pico! I now your specialize in Nano's so I appreciate your insights very much! I do have chemipure and Purigen running in my hob filter. What are your thoughts on that?
 
ive never used chemipure so i cant comment on that but i have used purigen and it is great stuff, expensive but great stuff lol. im not sure if you know this or not but you can "regenerate" purigen. you soak it in pure bleach overnight and rinse/soak in ro/di water with a few drops of prime and you have purigen thats good as new. of course there is a limit to how many times it can be done but id say do it once a week for a year and then replace with new purigen. (pro tip. use 2 of the sealed bags of purigen that way you can have one in your filter while the other bag is being regenerated) also never let the stuff dry out, if you have to store it for a while store it in ro/di water.

oh and back to the original post, having biomedia will help reduce the spikes in ammonia. it serves as a giant appartment complex for nitrifying bacteria which is what processes out the nutrients that end up in your tank. do you plan on coming to the next meeting? im not sure when it is but if were both going to be there ill bring you some seachem matrix.
 
Pico/Brijesh, you rock!! I actually just went to get some saltwater and picked up some matrix. It was cheap enough. I just put it in a mesh bag I had and dropped it in the other side of my bak pak skimmer. Thank you for the reminder on that!

Ok, so I have Purigen, Chemipure Blue and Matrix. What are the differences between them? They all seem to do the same thing? Well for the most part.
 
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