pieces of hermit crabs

twinston · August 15th, 2008

oh and siphon the sand bed. it helped with mine.

Oil_Fan · August 15th, 2008

I already do that but they come back in a couple days. I believe I do have some phosphates. The problem is that the API test for phosphates, the color chart is real subtle for the lower level of readings. Very easy to mistake one level for another. I really need to get another brand and see if it's any better.

Fishies-for-me · August 15th, 2008

My freshwater tanks had a lot of diatoms ..but that is natural in new tanks. In one it has completly cleared up and the water is now crystal. The others I am still getting diatoms in one but green algae is the problem in 2....lol ...Whaddaya do??

twinston · August 15th, 2008

that's what i'm dealing with the greens. i have my tiny regal in there and he's going crazy like i rolled christmas, birthday and thankgiving all into one and delievered it personally to him. with the diatoms, how old is the tank? it could be that you can just wait it out if your tank is only a couple of months old. like i said mine just went away on day and hasn't been back since then.

twinston · August 17th, 2008

ok i just got another spike in ammonia again. it went back up to 0.25 yesterday. this time no dead fish. i did vacuum the substrate just to make sure there was no food buildup and added more amquel+, the ammonia is back at 0 today. i don't know if this could be the source, but i had a power outage 2 days ago and there was no one to open up my canister to release any gas buildup. now the fish is back to breathing heavily even though ammonia is now back at 0. what can i do?

nemo addict · August 19th, 2008

just another point that if a hermit dont like it shell ie to small they will kill other crabs for there shell s do you have larger shells for them to move in to

?

twinston · August 19th, 2008

well being the idoit that i am i didn't know that, so i guess that is what i'll be getting tomorrow. you know i just got another ammonia spike. the strange thing is that i haven't fed frozen food, added any new fish or had any die. SO WHY AM I GETTING THESE AMMONIA SPIKES

? i'm getting really worried now. i just happen to check my tank last night. i usually do at around 1am if i'm not asleep. i saw my firefish swimming erratically, and trying to hide behind the heater. the purple firefish was laying at the bottom of the tank barely moving. ammonia was 0.25, i had to do an emergency water change 25%, dose the tank with prime since it was all i had, and add a poly filter (which by the way is awesome. my water is so clear and smells wonderful). this moring everyone looks ok. now ammonia is back down to 0. somethig is kiling off my bacteria colony and i don't know what. any ideas out there?

nemo addict · August 19th, 2008

wot water are you using ?? tap water or RO

twinston · August 19th, 2008

tap water, but how can it be the water when the spikes are happening days later.

Oil_Fan · August 20th, 2008

That's easy. Just removing the chlorine isn't enough. There could be other things in the water causing you issues. That's why I asked earlier if you used an R/O unit. They remove pretty much everything. It's very likely that you have some copper in the water.

Think about it...you do a water change. You increase the copper in the water but it will take a few days for the change to really take effect. You then have a snail die because of it. That in turn as it decays, causes an ammonia spike.

First thing is check with your water company. See if they publish a report on the water they deliver into the home. I know where I live they do. You check on the report for a number of things that could be an issue. Odds are you can check into that online.

Next would be to run a specific test for copper. If it comes back as being positive, check your water before adding it to the tank to verify the source.

Good luck.

twinston · August 21st, 2008

thanks oil_fan, i'll look into it.

NirvanaandTool · August 23rd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oil_Fan

That's easy. Just removing the chlorine isn't enough. There could be other things in the water causing you issues. That's why I asked earlier if you used an R/O unit. They remove pretty much everything. It's very likely that you have some copper in the water.

Think about it...you do a water change. You increase the copper in the water but it will take a few days for the change to really take effect. You then have a snail die because of it. That in turn as it decays, causes an ammonia spike.

First thing is check with your water company. See if they publish a report on the water they deliver into the home. I know where I live they do. You check on the report for a number of things that could be an issue. Odds are you can check into that online.

Next would be to run a specific test for copper. If it comes back as being positive, check your water before adding it to the tank to verify the source.

Good luck.

Yea this about sums up why tap water is the devil for saltwater tanks.
Not only can it introduce nitrates and phosphates into the water which can cause huge algae blooms but it can introduce copper into your tank killing your inverts and coral.

I'd try to pick up an RO/DI system asap. What a difference they make.

Mine (Typhoon III from Air, Water, Ice Inc.) came with a TDS (total dissolved solids) tester to measure when the cartridges need to be replaced. I tested my tap water and it came up to 120-128 PPM of total dissolved solids. All that junk (nitrates, phosphates, etc etc) was then being dumped into my tank daily for my evap top off.
I tested the water after it came out of the ro/di unit ..... 0-3ppm! I've noticed a big drop in algae growth with it.

nemo addict · August 24th, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oil_Fan

That's easy. Just removing the chlorine isn't enough. There could be other things in the water causing you issues. That's why I asked earlier if you used an R/O unit. They remove pretty much everything. It's very likely that you have some copper in the water.

Think about it...you do a water change. You increase the copper in the water but it will take a few days for the change to really take effect. You then have a snail die because of it. That in turn as it decays, causes an ammonia spike.

First thing is check with your water company. See if they publish a report on the water they deliver into the home. I know where I live they do. You check on the report for a number of things that could be an issue. Odds are you can check into that online.

Next would be to run a specific test for copper. If it comes back as being positive, check your water before adding it to the tank to verify the source.

Good luck.

if the water feed pipes are copper then you will have a trace of copper in water this will kill the inverts causing the ammonia spikes , if the tank wasnt fully cycled this will cause spiking too , as for the green algea this will live of the phosphates not removed from tap water and this also causes overgrowing in inverts as well

nemo addict · August 24th, 2008

also bad me on previous post for not reading your orignal post fully (well it was 3 am)

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