All my LPS are retracted!

[Uncle99]

I see green on your rocks, can you confirm current levels of NO3 and PO4?
How long has your setup been running with stable chemistry?

Just want to rule out high nutrients and age as causes...

 

[Boochika]

Current No3 and Po4 has been .5ppm and .06 respectively. Very solid. But I'm expecting it's typically higher since I have repeated algae growth. Some of it is from the NSW I used some weeks ago that was collected right before the red tide.

I've done several water changes since then, however, I still get algae. Maybe I need to switch up my food. PE mysis and life nutrition red is what I feed.

I'm looking into making a refugium to help me out on that end.

I still don't think it's my nutrients that would be the cause for my coral to be stressed do you?

 

[Retro Reefer]

What are you testing your Alk with? My advice is get your alk down in the 7's .. keep working on getting your NO3 up, dose if you have to. Its a possibility you also may have introduced a pathogen with the NSW, something going around Fla thats killing corals.

 

[Uncle99]

Forgive me but you stated you used NSW?
These days, if you do not collect water from miles out, it’s not good for your tank.
And even if you do, great potential of including things you don’t want.

You may have introduced something into your system directly from the live SW, things we can’t see by eye, maybe a pollutant of some type, an algae, a bacteria, heavy metal, we just don’t know.

I would not recommend using natural seawater ever. Try an ICP on local seawater, you will be totally surprised what comes back.

YOU can make the best SW ever, use 0TDS water (so we know all else is out) and using a salt to put back only what we want, better than Mother Nature can make.

Employ activated carbon 24-7 and continue with water changes.

Your parameters are fine, maybe a tad increase on No3 but don’t chase it.

NSW.....that’s my guess....

 

[Boochika]

What are you testing your Alk with? My advice is get your alk down in the 7's .. keep working on getting your NO3 up, dose if you have to. Its a possibility you also may have introduced a pathogen with the NSW, something going around Fla thats killing corals.

That's what I'm concerned about is some sort of toxin. I have a poly filter in there.

I've almost turned over my entire water volume and I've even removed my rocks scrubbed em down and used hydrogen peroxide on them. Algae still coming back in force.

I don't want to use additives anymore really, as I feel like I have excess nitrate already it's just getting consumed.

My levels have been stable for about 5 weeks now.

 

[Boochika]

Forgive me but you stated you used NSW?
These days, if you do not collect water from miles out, it’s not good for your tank.
You may have introduced something into your system directly from the live SW, things we can’t see by eye, maybe a pollutant of some type.

I would not recommend using natural seawater ever. Try an ICP on local seawater, you will be totally surprised what comes back.

Employ activated carbon 24-7 and continue with water changes.

The NSW I collect is from a spigot at the Scripps institute of Oceanography. It's collected and piped in from off shore for use in research and local aquariums. I've been using it for a while, but this time specifically something was off. It wasn't until after I used it I noticed it was a pending red tide that was coming. I've never had issues until now.

My plan now is to make everything at home and get everything perfectly stable from a chemistry and cleanliness perspective. I ran carbon for 1 week and my ICP didn't show anything abnormal, however, that doesn't account for organics.

 

[Retro Reefer]

That's what I'm concerned about is some sort of toxin. I have a poly filter in there.

I've almost turned over my entire water volume and I've even removed my rocks scrubbed em down and used hydrogen peroxide on them. Algae still coming back in force.

I don't want to use additives anymore really, as I feel like I have excess nitrate already it's just getting consumed.

My levels have been stable for about 5 weeks now.

your nutrients are not balanced.. PO4 is being consumed also right? with your PO4 at .06 your NO3 needs to be between 5-10 minimum. Also with your NO3 being so low your alk should also be lower to keep things happy.

 

[Boochika]

your nutrients are not balanced.. PO4 is being consumed also right? with your PO4 at .06 your NO3 needs to be between 5-10 minimum. Also with your NO3 being so low your alk should also be lower to keep things happy.

So it sounds like you want me to dose nitrates to balance out with P04? I've always had very low nitrates compared to phosphates. When phosphates go to .03 nitrates become undetectable.

My current alk is right around 8 and I'm trying to keep it lower to not promote rapid growth (which is something very helpful I've learned here).

 

[Retro Reefer]

So it sounds like you want me to dose nitrates to balance out with P04? I've always had very low nitrates compared to phosphates. When phosphates go to .03 nitrates become undetectable.

My current alk is right around 8 and I'm trying to keep it lower to not promote rapid growth (which is something very helpful I've learned here).

Of course everyone has their own opinions and every tank is different but its been my observation that nitrate deprivation in relation to phosphate levels will quickly makes things angry in my system. I'm also unintentionally running a ULN tank (similar numbers to yours) and if my Alk gets much above 8 things go south fast so I try to keep it In the mid 7's max.. I dose 10ml neo-nitro daily trying to maintain nitrate balance with my phosphate of .06

If you do a little searching around the forum or web you will find countless threads discussing nitrate to phosphate ratios in a reef tank.. makes for some interesting reading

 

[Uncle99]

Of course everyone has their own opinions and every tank is different but its been my observation that nitrate deprivation in relation to phosphate levels will quickly makes things angry in my system. I'm also unintentionally running a ULN tank (similar numbers to yours) and if my Alk gets much above 8 things go south fast so I try to keep it In the mid 7's max.. I dose 10ml neo-nitro daily trying to maintain nitrate balance with my phosphate of .06

If you do a little searching around the forum or web you will find countless threads discussing nitrate to phosphate ratios in a reef tank.. makes for some interesting reading

+1
Is excellent advice, balanced nutrients not lowest nutrients.

 

[Boochika]

I dosed 5 mil of NeoNitro yesterday and my phosphates have dropped to .04 as of this morning.

Should I wait a week before I dose again like the bottle says or try again to see if I can get them lower?

 

[Retro Reefer]

Even though dosing nitrates may effect your phosphates look at them separately.. test your nitrates and dose Neonitro to get to your preferred NO3 level (dose daily if necessary) .. worry about phosphate separately, if it drops below .01 feed a little more to maintain your preferred level.

 

[Uncle99]

You would dose slowly until your Nitrate reaches say 2-5ppm, and then keep it there.
Lots of testing till you get the feel. With running a 2-5ppm nitrate, your phosphate seems fine at 0.04 and anywhere in the range of 0.03-.1 ppm will be fine. See what phosphate runs at naturally.

 

[Boochika]

I'm going to check nitrate levels right now, but I'd be doubtful it's 2-5. I measured .5 yesterday and only added enough neonitro to increase it by .5 (I didn't want to overdose).

If it looks to increase slowly I'll add the same amount. If it doesn't look like it increased at all (or was already consumed) I'll try adding double.

 

[Boochika]

I've gone with a couple weeks of nitrate around .5-1.5 ppm and phosphate right at .06-.08. I've retrofit my sump for a refugium and performed enough water changes that it's completely turned over my water 105% including sump volume. I've added chemipure for carbon filtration to high flow area in sump and things are looking much better. Unfortunately in the meantime I lost all my LPS. All my softies survived but I have a new duncan that is thriving so I'm taking that as a small victory.

Chaeto is arriving today and I'm hoping that will help with algae issues and limit my reliance on chemicals for nutrient control. Also hoping to add pods for natural food source.

More to follow in the next month when I plan to try euphyllia (sigh again) after fuge is up and running. Hoping this is the start of good things to come and my tank is turning the corner for the better.

 

[LiftinTheVeil]

@Boochika,
I've had a eerily similar issue. I know it's been a while now, but I wanted to see how you made out with everything?
Also do you mind sharing what you feel contributed the most to overcome this issue?