RhiD08
Community Member
Hi everyone!
I have a 1.5 year old Fluval Evo 13.5 gallon mixed reef tank. I’ve been having issues from the start and more so over the past year with corals not growing and dying over time, especially lps and sps corals.
I’ve always had low nutrients and my phopshates and especially nitrates usually bottom out. I’ve been dosing consistently for the past few months to keep them around 0.05 ppm and 5 ppm respectively. Although my corals looked better, it didn’t solve my issues so I decided to switch salts from Red Sea Coral Pro to Instant Ocean (purple) about a month ago as I thought the higher alkalinity and swings in alkalinity were affecting the corals. Again, the corals look much better overall but I’m still struggling with my corals. My parameters always measure within the normal range, sometimes slightly higher for nutrients, so I’m not sure what’s causing the issues. I’ve tried dosing all sorts (pods, phyto, beneficial bacteria), smaller/less frequent water changes, feeding corals (brine shrimp, reef roids), etc., but nothing seems to work.
Recently out of frustration and lack of other ideas, I tried an ICP test. A few things stuck out to me. One was slightly higher salinity even though my Hanna checker shows 35 ppt. I recalibrate it once a month using the packets and clean with RODI water after use however I think I’ll invest in a hydrometer or refractometer, any recommendations on brands? Another thing is high silicon in my RODI water. I think I just need to switch the DI resin as it’s been some time even though my TDS meter reads 0 tds. But I think the super high aluminum is what’s causing the coral issues and I’m not sure where it’s coming from. It’s not present in my RODI water so it’s coming from the tank. I’m going to take all my equipment apart and inspect it but any ideas where this would be coming from and how to lower it?
Also, I’ve been having issues with my filter floss clogging multiple times a day even though it doesn’t look too dirty which causes my filters to lower and my ato to go off prematurely. I’ve had my ato turned off for months now since I can’t seem to solve the issue and it was messing with my salinity a bit. Any ideas for this? I’m thinking maybe the high silicon is causing bacteria/algae to clog up the floss.
Any advice and insight is much appreciated, thank you in advance!
*Note, this is an older photo of my tank from almost a year ago. I’ve now lost most of the torches, hammers, and sps.*
I have a 1.5 year old Fluval Evo 13.5 gallon mixed reef tank. I’ve been having issues from the start and more so over the past year with corals not growing and dying over time, especially lps and sps corals.
I’ve always had low nutrients and my phopshates and especially nitrates usually bottom out. I’ve been dosing consistently for the past few months to keep them around 0.05 ppm and 5 ppm respectively. Although my corals looked better, it didn’t solve my issues so I decided to switch salts from Red Sea Coral Pro to Instant Ocean (purple) about a month ago as I thought the higher alkalinity and swings in alkalinity were affecting the corals. Again, the corals look much better overall but I’m still struggling with my corals. My parameters always measure within the normal range, sometimes slightly higher for nutrients, so I’m not sure what’s causing the issues. I’ve tried dosing all sorts (pods, phyto, beneficial bacteria), smaller/less frequent water changes, feeding corals (brine shrimp, reef roids), etc., but nothing seems to work.
Recently out of frustration and lack of other ideas, I tried an ICP test. A few things stuck out to me. One was slightly higher salinity even though my Hanna checker shows 35 ppt. I recalibrate it once a month using the packets and clean with RODI water after use however I think I’ll invest in a hydrometer or refractometer, any recommendations on brands? Another thing is high silicon in my RODI water. I think I just need to switch the DI resin as it’s been some time even though my TDS meter reads 0 tds. But I think the super high aluminum is what’s causing the coral issues and I’m not sure where it’s coming from. It’s not present in my RODI water so it’s coming from the tank. I’m going to take all my equipment apart and inspect it but any ideas where this would be coming from and how to lower it?
Also, I’ve been having issues with my filter floss clogging multiple times a day even though it doesn’t look too dirty which causes my filters to lower and my ato to go off prematurely. I’ve had my ato turned off for months now since I can’t seem to solve the issue and it was messing with my salinity a bit. Any ideas for this? I’m thinking maybe the high silicon is causing bacteria/algae to clog up the floss.
Any advice and insight is much appreciated, thank you in advance!
*Note, this is an older photo of my tank from almost a year ago. I’ve now lost most of the torches, hammers, and sps.*
