Are we being peddled BS?

[maxs]

Hello everyone. My reef tank is currently 7 months old and I still feel like I haven’t gotten any stability yet. Last month my nitrates were at 11ppm and currently they are sitting at 1.1ppm. Phosphate fluctuates just as much. I’ve had nothing but problems with brown hair algae, Dino’s, cyano, you name it. Believe it or not my husbandry is clock work. A weekly 10% water change and a glass cleaning is all I do. Also changing out my filter floss when necessary. Am I lacking a basic understanding of reef chemistry here? This stuff is beyond frustrating. Am I being peddled complete BS with the weekly water changes. Who knows? If anyone can chime in here I’d love their opinion. My coral seems decently happy however my nutrients can’t seem to balance out. I’ve had better luck balancing a seesaw! Dropping a picture of my tank for reference. Thank you for reading

 

[me & my baby]

Did you use live rock , live sand , bacteria in a bottle how did you cycle the tank ?

 

[SeaWolf95]

Am I being peddled complete BS with the weekly water changes. Who knows? If anyone can chime in here I’d love their opinion. My coral seems decently happy however my nutrients can’t seem to balance out.

Yes you are . If you have your nitrates at 1.1 or at least under 20 and you dose with chemicals to restore Alk/MG/CA and trace there is zero need to do water changes. Its echoed chambered to do water changes as thats all people know how to parrot . Just like the ones that say I dip all my corals or I QT all my fish.

I do those things too but with my eyes. if the fish looks sickly id hate to say it but im not putting that in my tank. If the coral has things on it pull it off. Dips dont kill eggs. Then the gloves ***** from SWA.

 

[maxs]

Live sand, dead rock, seeded the tank with real live rock from gulf live rock. Used bottled bacteria. Watched the ammonia spike then go to zero. Nitrite spike then zero. And then got a reading for like 40ppm nitrate which eventually bottomed out aswell

 

[slingfox]

If you used only dry rock and zero sand from the ocean then what you are experiencing is to be expected. That is how I started my first tank as well. Lots of ups and downs. After two years of struggling I did a tank reset. I used 100% ocean live rock the second around. It has been 9 months now and mostly smooth sailing!

 

[maxs]

Am I being peddled complete BS with the weekly water changes. Who knows? If anyone can chime in here I’d love their opinion. My coral seems decently happy however my nutrients can’t seem to balance out.

Yes you are . If you have your nitrates at 1.1 or at least under 20 and you dose with chemicals to restore Alk/MG/CA and trace there is zero need to do water changes. Its echoed chambered to do water changes as thats all people know how to parrot . Just like the ones that say I dip all my corals or I QT all my fish.

I do those things too but with my eyes. if the fish looks sickly id hate to say it but im not putting that in my tank. If the coral has things on it pull it off. Dips dont kill eggs. Then the gloves ***** from SWA.

Totally starting to feel this way

 

[maxs]

Did you use live rock , live sand , bacteria in a bottle how did you cycle the tank ?

Live sand, dead rock, seeded the tank with real live rock from gulf live rock. Used bottled bacteria. Watched the ammonia spike then go to zero. Nitrite spike then zero. And then got a reading for like 40ppm nitrate which eventually bottomed out aswell

 

[slingfox]

Live sand, dead rock, seeded the tank with real live rock from gulf live rock. Used bottled bacteria. Watched the ammonia spike then go to zero. Nitrite spike then zero. And then got a reading for like 40ppm nitrate which eventually bottomed out aswell

Which live sand did you use? At least you used some gulf live rock which helps. 7 months is not long. Just keep at it and things will stabilize.

 

[maxs]

Live sand, dead rock, seeded the tank with real live rock from gulf live rock. Used bottled bacteria. Watched the ammonia spike then go to zero. Nitrite spike then zero. And then got a reading for like 40ppm nitrate which eventually bottomed out aswell

Which live sand did you use? At least you used some gulf live rock which helps. 7 mknths is not long. Just keep at it and things will stabilize.

Fiji pink live sand from Carib sea

 

[me & my baby]

What is your P04

 

[slingfox]

Fiji pink live sand from Carib sea

Unfortunately that is just dry sand with some saltwater and bottled bacteria poured in. Very different from live sand from the ocean and therefor not particularly helpful in increasing stability.

 

[maxs]

What is your P04

0.03 as of today

 

[me & my baby]

I reset my 150 up back in October . I started with dry rock and dry sand and bottle bacteria . Went through the cycle when I was done . I started turning on my light got the ugly algae bloom . It wasn’t till I started dosing neophos that things started to change . Dry rock will soak up po4 and it has taken me almost 5 months of feeding heavy and dosing for my po4 to start showing up in my test kits .

 

[rtparty]

Water changes won’t make them magically go away. Dry rock and dry sand tanks take at least 12 months to settle in. Yes, bagged “live sand” is a gimmick. It’s not actually live and brings no diversity or organisms to the tank that we need.

 

[me & my baby]

I will say the ocean direct sand does have live bacteria in it . I set up a 40 for my daughter use dry rock ocean direct sand and it worked very well

 

[oakcityreefer]

I’m at the 6 month mark and started with the same as you. Except mine is 180 gallon tank. I’ve gone through having to add nitrates and remove phosphates. Now nothing has changed in 30 days. I’m dealing with diatoms on the sand. Making sure I have plenty of pods and dosing MB7 to battle them. Things are finally leveling off. 10% water change every week is keeping me from dosing. Alk staying between 8.9 and 9.2 just with water changes. All that to say don’t give up. Those of us who used dead rock and sand just need a little extra time.

 

[maxs]

I reset my 150 up back in October . I started with dry rock and dry sand and bottle bacteria . Went through the cycle when I was done . I started turning on my light got the ugly algae bloom . It wasn’t till I started dosing neophos that things started to change . Dry rock will soak up po4 and it has taken me almost 5 months of feeding heavy and dosing for my po4 to start showing up in my test kits .

A couple months ago both my nitrate and phosphate were bottomed out so I was doing the same. Dosing neo nitro and neophos from brightwell. It definitely worked but that’s when brown hair algae started getting a good foot hold on my tank. The algae was consuming the nitrates, therefore keeping it low while I was trying to raise the nitrates by dosing. Horrible vicious cycle and the algae wouldn’t stop growing until I stopped dosing. I wasnt keeping the numbers high either. Maybe 5-6ppm was my goal. It’s getting to the point where I’m gonna have to start dosing and do that alllll over again.

 

[maxs]

I’m at the 6 month mark and started with the same as you. Except mine is 180 gallon tank. I’ve gone through having to add nitrates and remove phosphates. Now nothing has changed in 30 days. I’m dealing with diatoms on the sand. Making sure I have plenty of pods and dosing MB7 to battle them. Things are finally leveling off. 10% water change every week is keeping me from dosing. Alk staying between 8.9 and 9.2 just with water changes. All that to say don’t give up. Those of us who used dead rock and sand just need a little extra time.

Thank you for the words of wisdom and encouragement

 

[me & my baby]

Have you added any lids to your tank . Some will eat that stuff

 

[W31Olds]

One thing you mentioned is that you change Filter Floss as needed. When we change Floss or Socks it is an immediate nutrient export. You may want to consider the frequency and reduce it.