550G Display + Fish Room Frag Tanks = 900G of Fun

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Blue Tang Clan

Blue Tang Clan

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I'm having a heck of a time with Nitrates...I think. For the last year, I haven't been able to get any reading below 25 on either the Salifert or Nyos tests. Those both seem to be reputable, but nothing has budged in a year.

I've been carbon dosing 80mL of NoPOX the last 10 days, with no drop in Nitrates, and my Phosphates have dipped down from .05 to lower (I'm dosing to keep it above 0.) I have cyano all around, but that it probably just too much lighting.

Is there any chance that the Nitrates are actually lower? I do 15% water changes once a month.

Are there any other ways I can lower Nitrates?
 

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Other nitrate reducing methods:

Algae Turf scrubber

Macroalgae refugium or reactor

Sulphur denitrator

Methanol reactor.

Hope that helps.
 

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I’m interested to see if you’re able to kick the cyano without chemicals. I’m in the same boat, everything seems to be good but it just keeps coming back. All KP rocks, TMP salt, BBK skimmer, medium fish load. I don’t get it. My nitrates are also around 25 with PO4 in the .05-.15 range depending on WC schedule. I feel like some “cycle” is stuck somewhere.
 

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Ive been in hobby 34+ years and think its safe to say ive used Every salt brand and marin pro is my favorite.
 
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I use a refugium too with a fancy Kessil grow light, but even with dosing phosphate I can’t get chaeto to grow much.

I’m going to try a 200 gallon water change to see if the readings are different. I can’t imagine both test kits are off...
 

Barnabie Mejia

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I was going to recommend an around 50% water change or more to help balance things out... I know with a 550 gallon tank, that's a hit to the wallet, but after a year of trying to figure it out, it might be worth it... have you sent in an ICP test to see where everything else that might be off. I would think that might be a viable option as well seeing that you have a large volume of tank water.

I was having an issue with my 75g and low Alk with high calcium & Mag numbers. I was doing a whole lot and it wouldn't go up. I ended up doing 20 gallon water changes every other day for 2 weeks to bring things back in order and lowered my doses. it worked well and everything is happy.

just a thought.

Barnabie
 

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I use a refugium too with a fancy Kessil grow light, but even with dosing phosphate I can’t get chaeto to grow much.

I’m going to try a 200 gallon water change to see if the readings are different. I can’t imagine both test kits are off...
Have you sent off samples for ICP testing?
 
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Have you sent off samples for ICP testing?
Everything looks good on the ICP -- and has for months. Cyano seems to be something else altogether.

I've been trying to do a 200G water change, but my wife has been in the hospital for the past week. CDC case #10 for near-fatal adverse reactions to the J&J virus. Reefing is the most amazing hobby out there, but I'm putting all my energy into getting her better, and taking care of our 7-month old right now. The fish will live through anything, and if I lose some corals, that's okay. I need my family first.
 

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Try dosing microbacter7 and microbacter7 clean. Both add the the bacterial diversity. Also look at Razor which is enzymatic. All products are from bright well.
I have used clean and 7 to eradicate cyano and hair algae
 
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I'm going with a lights off/dim approach for 3 days to get things under control. My phosphates are about 0.04 and Nitrates still at 25 so I'm not sure Microbacter7 will help since it is highly effective at reducing nutrients. I may experiment with adding other bacteria -- the tank can't look much worse!! ;)
 

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Plumbing update: I have to wait for a few more fittings (arriving Monday) before I can finish my support tank plumbing.

The issue is - I have corals and fish that really need to come over from my old house.

Are there any big downsides to filling my frag tank below the water overflow line and putting in corals? Lights are ready to go, and I could manually does ask/cal - just no plumbing.

how long do you think I could go without plumbing (filtration) before issues arise?

684B1DC6-D118-4EEA-8E92-D5633E3E0E2F.jpeg

hi, awesome build!

what racks did you use to put the frag tank and quarantine tank on? I’d like to do something similar and looks like you got some good racks.

what did you use in the bottom in between the rack itself and the tanks, just plywood?
 
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what racks did you use to put the frag tank and quarantine tank on? I’d like to do something similar and looks like you got some good racks.

what did you use in the bottom in between the rack itself and the tanks, just plywood?

I used two 77" wide steel racks from Home Depot. They sometimes go down to $149/each - and you can use a common middle vertical support to save room. I added some spare PVC boards to the front so I could nail/screw things to the rack itself.

Those racks come with wire supports, but for the heavy stuff I used 5/8" plywood. If you wrap the side edge of the plywood in white tape, it makes it look like it's a sheet of white pvc.
 

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I used two 77" wide steel racks from Home Depot. They sometimes go down to $149/each - and you can use a common middle vertical support to save room. I added some spare PVC boards to the front so I could nail/screw things to the rack itself.

Those racks come with wire supports, but for the heavy stuff I used 5/8" plywood. If you wrap the side edge of the plywood in white tape, it makes it look like it's a sheet of white pvc.
A local guy had two 40g breeders literally break the steel pin that attaches the shelf to the uprights- the little weird shaped ones that fit in the holes. They were 2 different racks, 3 weeks apart. I was all set on getting a few of those to hold 40bs and 20longs for various reasons until
I heard that. I unpacked one, checked out the supports and noped out. Built wooden stands instead.

glad they are working out for you.
 
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I decided to use some ChemiClean before doing my water change, as Cyano had become a nuisance for weeks, and blowing a turkey baster over 10 feet of reef every other day was getting old.

Before ChemiClean:
  • Nitrates: 25
  • Phospates: 0.02

After ChemiClean:
  • Nitrates: 25
  • Phosphates: 0.0

Within 36 hours the tank was spotless. Sandbeds, rocks - everything was pristine. I know that the reefing community has commonly said Cyano was the result of nutrients that were too high or too low, but there has to be something more. For algae -- I get it, but Cyano seems to have some other element besides Nitrate/Phosphates driving it. My system has reasonable nutrient levels, checked with good instruments (Hanna for UL Phosphorus, Nyos & Salifert for Nitrates) - and multiple ICP tests show nothing out of the ordinary. The tank is 14 months old, so while somewhat young, it should be passed the breaking in phase.

Does anyone have any @Randy Holmes-Farley level type of research showing more of what may cause this annoying bacteria to appear? And more importantly, any scientifically proven ways to fight it off?
 
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What does a year worth of detritus from water changes look like? My floor drain had a small blockage in it that let the water through, but kept the sediment from going down -- so it just sat around.

I collected it together in a pile and put a Hanna checker next to it for scale. That's a lot of dried nasty!
 

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Blue Tang Clan

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I decided to use some ChemiClean before doing my water change, as Cyano had become a nuisance for weeks, and blowing a turkey baster over 10 feet of reef every other day was getting old.

Before ChemiClean:
  • Nitrates: 25
  • Phospates: 0.02

After ChemiClean:
  • Nitrates: 25
  • Phosphates: 0.0

Within 36 hours the tank was spotless. Sandbeds, rocks - everything was pristine. I know that the reefing community has commonly said Cyano was the result of nutrients that were too high or too low, but there has to be something more. For algae -- I get it, but Cyano seems to have some other element besides Nitrate/Phosphates driving it. My system has reasonable nutrient levels, checked with good instruments (Hanna for UL Phosphorus, Nyos & Salifert for Nitrates) - and multiple ICP tests show nothing out of the ordinary. The tank is 14 months old, so while somewhat young, it should be passed the breaking in phase.

Does anyone have any @Randy Holmes-Farley level type of research showing more of what may cause this annoying bacteria to appear? And more importantly, any scientifically proven ways to fight it off?

Follow-up: a week later, my tank is still spotless with no signs of Cyano. Nitrates and Phosphates are the same they have always been, but the bacteria is gone like the wind. Some day I'm excited to find out what really contributes to this bacteria - because in my case, it's not Nitrates and Phosphates!
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 63 36.6%
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    Votes: 24 14.0%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

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