675 gallon glass display / 1,100 + gallon system in LA

[PSXerholic]

Unfortunately I’ve been dealing with a tank crash [emoji24][emoji24]

My tank was at .03 phosphate and 32 nitrates and things seemed “okay” until I bumped up my lighting (15 radions) and my phosphate dried up inadvertently and my corals were starved of phosphate and started dying! I’m now taking measures to bring the nitrates way down from where they were and to raise my phosphate to 0.15 and 10 nitrates (at the beginning of the light cycle).

I also bought a pair of super sized sulfur reactors from Coraline to try to get my nitrates under control...I lost like 75% of my Acros! [emoji24][emoji24]

Let me know if you guys have any ideas or advice.

Man sorry to heat that !!!

Go ahead and check my built thread and see what small and easy footprint Nitrate reactor I'm using.
It would easily handle your tank ;-)

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/andre’s-full-blown-300gallon-sps-reeftank-up-within-a-week.339591/

However, check out my "Andre's Reef Guide Part1" where I'm talking about how to re establish a good bacterial biology.
Trust me it's worth a try especially in your situation on that tank system. Your bacterial biology is out of whack.

Good luck!!!

 

[Dogtown]

Get yourself a jar of PO4. It will last a for years. http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/mono-potassium-phosphate.html. I can give you the recipe and dosage if you want it.

You dose it, along with vinegar, to get your tank in balance. Corals will be happier and bacteria will consume your nitrate. Bring your NO3 levels down with control.

 

[Pmj]

Get yourself a jar of PO4. It will last a for years. http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/mono-potassium-phosphate.html. I can give you the recipe and dosage if you want it.

You dose it, along with vinegar, to get your tank in balance. Corals will be happier and bacteria will consume your nitrate. Bring your NO3 levels down with control.

I was going to suggest the same. Dose PO4 and the nitrate will come down if you have a macroalgae or you carbon dose.

 

[hafer12]

Amazing thread and tank! Sorry to find out your having issues with this small inland ocean of yours!!

 

[Kinggeorge818]

Thanks for the advice guys, I think it was just too impatient and added coral before the tank was truly stable and aged. I started with all dry rock and dry sand so the full “ecosystem” wasn’t quite ready

 

[Kinggeorge818]

There were two very serious buyers for the old house and I would say the fish tank was definitely a point of shock and awe for prospective buyers....from the two top contenders one didn’t mind keeping it and the other asked to have it removed. Unfortunately the buyer we choose was the one who wanted it removed.
Good news is that I got to bring a lot of my equipment into my new build!

It was a selling point for some people and a detractor for others...at the end of the day the man who had the highest offer wanted the tank removed... which helped me because I salvaged a lot of my old equipment!

It was definitely something that drew people in but didn’t necessarily make it!

 

[Skep18]

Wow. Amazing build. Def went all out with both size and equipment. Followed!

 

[aquavista99]

It took me over two years after we moved to our new house to get my grow-out system mature enough to keep SPS happy. Amazing build by the way!

Thanks for the advice guys, I think it was just too impatient and added coral before the tank was truly stable and aged. I started with all dry rock and dry sand so the full “ecosystem” wasn’t quite ready

 

[Kinggeorge818]

So it’s been about six weeks since my sps coral seemed to start dying and my assumption was that it was solely due to the low phosphate and high nitrates. As the coral started going south I noticed white circular marked all over the corals skeleton where the “skin” was missing and I wasn’t sure if it was a chemical problem but that’s what we attributed it to...but yesterday we finally got the phosphate to .08-.1 and nitrates to 5-10.
So we put a couple sps into the tank to see how they would do and to my surprise...my 3” sailfin Blenny comes by and starts chewing on all the newly placed coral (leaving white circular marks)!!!
So I think I found my culprit because I bought this blenny only one week or so before I noticed my sps were dying but I would never have guessed a little blenny could/would do that!
It took me hours but I finally caught him with a fish trap...using coral as bait!!!
Thank God he’s out now!!!
Hopefully I can get back on track now!

 

[Kinggeorge818]

 

[reef_ranch]

Great pic! What's the fish?

 

[Second Shot]

Well that’s a shame because it’s a really nice looking fish. Acros are better though lol

 

[dragon99]

Great pic! What's the fish?

Exallias brevis

https://www.freshmarine.com/leopard-blenny.html
"A 50 gallon or larger reef aquarium with small-polyped stony corals as a food source is ideal." "Doesn't eat prepared foods well in captivity, but will eat corals."

Sounds like someone sold you the wrong sailfin blenny.

 

[Kinggeorge818]

OMG [emoji44] I never thought a Blenny could/would do that...I assumed they were all reef safe!

 

[Salty.Reefer]

That is such a shame! What a beautiful fish. Glad you were able to catch him. Sorry to hear about your SPS.

 

[dragon99]

So what tempted him into the trap? A nice morsel of homewrecker? Or did he have a more pedestrian palate?

 

[Kinggeorge818]

I actually had to place a couple of frags inside of the fish trap in order to tempt him to get caught.

He is a beautiful fish but he loves eating coral.

 

[Kinggeorge818]

Luckily I did not have to put high-end coral for him to get tempted to go into the trap!

I am so happy I found out what was one of the big causes of my struggles.

 

[Bob E]

It's good you found out the reason in a relative short time. To bad the fish looks good. Now that the issue is solved you can get that coral you really want

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

People are so hyped on dosing phosphate and nitrate and thinking that is such an issue on this forum. Basic reefing hasn't change much in ten years and we NEVER used to have to dose nitrate or phosphate. Sunny-X, one of the popular reefers who helped popularize Vodka dosing and bacteria driven low nutrient systems never dosed nitrate of phosphate. Even in Zeo-vit, a truly low nutrient system, corals lighten in color but do not die or bleach out completely. Zeo Vit does not include nitrate or phosphate dosing. But it does include feeding your fish and corals. Phosphate is bad for corals and that is a proven fact. It inhibits calcification and leads to algae growth. Your corals in a tank with high phosphate will have very porous and brittle skeletons compared to a wild coral. It's not good. Don't believe me? Read it from R2R own expert:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/o...-reef-aquarium-by-randy-holmes-farley.173563/

In freshwater planted aquariums it is an established fact that phosphate and nitrate fuel algae growth and there is a fine balance between co2, light and nutrients. Get a slight imbalance, and you've got green water and a mess of a tank. However, plants absorb nitrate and phosphate for their actual growth. They need it and it is a limiting factor in plant growth. Nitrate and Phosphate are not limiting factors for coral growth and elevated levels are not needed for healthy corals. Corals don't need it to grow. It is true however, that if Nitrate or Phosphate dip below natural NSW levels that this can stress the coral leading to bleaching. However, this does not kill the coral outright and can easily be prevented, slowed, or reversed with good feeding habits.
So, what happens if nitrate and phosphate drop so low that you suspect it is stressing out the zoaxanthelle in the coral? Feed your fish more and feed your coral appropriate coral foods. If you are totally against feeding your fish more, then dose Amino Acids and feed the coral at the very least. This will go a long way further in helping you have a healthy tank with happy and healthy fish and coral including improved coral growth. Much better than dumping planted aquarium fertilizers in your tank.