Chaeto dying yet I’m reading nitrates and phosphates.

[christwendt]

. I had chaeto growing the size of two basketballs in my sump. I have a large sump 40 gallons with a large bio load. I’ll list the changes I did since my chaeto died.

1) I had white bugs and dosed interceptor
2) added magnesium
3) I changed my carbon quite a bit this last month. 5 times I’m thinking I may have stripped some micro element too much maybe iron ? I’m sending an Icp ms on Monday.

I follow RMS and dose micro elements daily including pure iron.

 

[Lavey29]

Why are you dosing trace daily? How do you test these levels?

What are your complete current parameters?

 

[christwendt]

Why are you dosing trace daily? How do you test these levels?

What are your complete current parameters?

I dose daily to prevent large fluctuations and test this with ICP. I tried chaeto grow but it would spike elements very high if not done on a daily basis so now I follow reef moonshiners and there are daily elements to be dosed. I’ve been doing this the last year. I test these dailies with ICP MS through reef moonshiners. I add 0.4 ml of iron daily and check this with the ICP MS version. I have not changed these dosages for the last 3 months. I dose manganese, iodine, iron , cobalt, chromium daily via individual pure bottles of each element. My complete params are
Salinity 1.025
Mg, 1325
Nitrate 15-18 in one day
Calcium 360
Phos jumped in assuming from my chaeto dying it was 0.2 then now 0.33 today. Two days ago it was 0.4 so I added a very small amount of lanthium chloride (3ml of tropic Marin rapid phos eliminator ) which brought it from 0.4 to 0.33 today.

I check my nutrient levels 2-3 times a week and none of these have bottomed out. My nitrates haven’t been less than 10 in months and my phosphates havent been less then 0.06 in months.

I did recently over 3 weeks treat with interceptor for white bugs which required me to change carbon after each dose to remove the meds. At no point did I starve the chaeto of nutrients. I thought maybe my chaeto light stopped working but I confirmed it’s working and turning on at the correct

 

[christwendt]

I’m so stumped but at this rate as chaeto is my main nutrient exporter ( I change water every 2 months or so to clean sand) I’m going to possible really hurt my tank. My nitrates just climbed 3 points in one day. They have stayed within 15-20 for 5 months. I’m really worried about harming my acros with high waste levels now. I have zero chaeto in sump now..

 

[Subsea]

Consider an algae turf scrubber to export nutrients using green hair algae.

 

[christwendt]

Consider an algae turf scrubber to export nutrients using green hair algae.

I figured out my problem. From replacing ROX carbon 5 times in a month to remove a medication I was dosing, I stripped the chaeto of some needed micro element. Perhaps it was iron or iodine. It was not nitrate or phosphates I had those reading good numbers. Since adding some chaeto grow it fixed it and isn’t getting worse and slowly coming around.

 

[tzabor10]

. I had chaeto growing the size of two basketballs in my sump. I have a large sump 40 gallons with a large bio load. I’ll list the changes I did since my chaeto died.

1) I had white bugs and dosed interceptor
2) added magnesium
3) I changed my carbon quite a bit this last month. 5 times I’m thinking I may have stripped some micro element too much maybe iron ? I’m sending an Icp ms on Monday.

I follow RMS and dose micro elements daily including pure iron.

Dosing chemicals and lots of carbon sounds dramatic. Maybe slow up, nothing good happens quickly. New cheato might help. Good luck

 

[christwendt]

Dosing chemicals and lots of carbon sounds dramatic. Maybe slow up, nothing good happens quickly. New cheato might help. Good luck

Thank you. I unfortunately had to dose heart worm medication for dogs called interceptor because white bugs were attacking my acropora. After each treatment ( I did 4 ) I had to run carbon to remove the med. I should have increased the trace elements during this time. Hoping this piece pulls through, chaeto was working great.

 

[Subsea]

Thank you. I unfortunately had to dose heart worm medication for dogs called interceptor because white bugs were attacking my acropora. After each treatment ( I did 4 ) I had to run carbon to remove the med. I should have increased the trace elements during this time. Hoping this piece pulls through, chaeto was working great.

Granulated activated carbon would sequester both iodine & iron. Glad you found the problem.

While I don’t grow SPS in my Caribbean mixed garden lagoon, I grow ornamental seaweed which deplete nutrients much faster than coral. Also considering that fast growing macros consume nitrogen 30 fold more than phosphate, I dose ammonia and concentrated liquid seaweed.

 

[christwendt]

Granulated activated carbon would sequester both iodine & iron. Glad you found the problem.

While I don’t grow SPS in my Caribbean mixed garden lagoon, I grow ornamental seaweed which deplete nutrients much faster than coral. Also considering that fast growing macros consume nitrogen 30 fold more than phosphate, I dose ammonia and concentrated liquid seaweed.

Yea I really think it was both iodine and iron I stripped. Rox carbon is very powerful too. I won’t ever know because my ICp test I sent in was after adding chaeto grow. But after chaeto grow which has iodine and iron in it the algae is fine. I managed to save a golf ball size. Very neat do you also dose traces to your macro tank? Any pics seems neat.

 

[Diastro]

Yea I really think it was both iodine and iron I stripped. Rox carbon is very powerful too. I won’t ever know because my ICp test I sent in was after adding chaeto grow. But after chaeto grow which has iodine and iron in it the algae is fine. I managed to save a golf ball size. Very neat do you also dose traces to your macro tank? Any pics seems neat.

Macroalgae tanks are quite popular but not as common as a reef. I dose trace elements in mine, I assume most macroalgae keepers do as well to get good growth.