Coral issues due to Nutrients?

[arking_mark]

Background:

• Transitioned from an old 7+ year tank to a new 3+ month tank
• Old tank ran at elevated levels of NO3 (20-50ish) and PO4 (.8-.9ish)
• In the new tank, several of my newer corals are starting to brown and my zoas and cloves are not really doing well
• My Jellybean Chalice, Grandis Palys, and some mushrooms are doing great.
• My WD is doing Ok
• Additionally, my sump can't seem to grow Caulerpa Prolifera while my observation tank which gets a 10% daily water change from the DT grows it in spades
• Nutrients were increasing with heavy feeding and rose to 25ppm NO3 and .09ppm PO4; feeding includes broadcast feeding of reef chili and Reef Energy AB+
• I have been working on elevating my pH through Kalk dosing and am averaging 8.15
• My Alk has been a little unpredictable and tends to creep up and down by .5dKH, but has generally increased over the last 6 weeks from 8dKHish to 9dKHish
• Salinity and temp are locked in at 1.025 and 77 degrees
• I think lights and flow are adequate for the corals (Kessels and Gyres) as I took PAR readings for placement
• Tank has brown diatoms visible by end of the day but kept in check by my CUC as they are virtually gone by morning
• Other equipment: Roller Mat, Skimmer, Kalk Reactor
• Tank: 108gal tank with 34gal sump
• Fish: Small Clown, Large Foxface, Basslet, 2 Mollies, Bristletooth Tang, Powder Brown Tang
• CUC: Tons of snails and a bunch of hermit crabs

A couple of things I've tried:

1. For the softies, I kinda figured too much light and lowered the par over them to ~50
2. In reading about why corals lose color and brown, most agree "Corals typically turn brown as a result of the overproduction of zooxanthellae...". However, you get conflicting info on why this happens... too many nutrients, not enough nutrients, not enough PAR, too much PAR, etc... Seeing my NO3 and PO4 on the continuous slow climb, I figured I'd slow that down a little and reduce feedings down from 3 times a day to 1 time a day and start my carbon dosing (Nyos Zero). I think I want to target less than 5ppm NO3 and .1ppm PO4...just targets.

Results after about 10 days:

• Softies are looking a little better...but still worried about most of them
• NO3 has remained consistent at 25ppm (Nyos Test)
• PO4 has slowly reduced to 0.
• No changes to LPS/SPS

Questions:

1. I expected NO3 to reduce after a week of reduced feeding and carbon dosing. Why are my nitrates not coming down?
2. The PO4 dropping to 0 was completely unexpected. Why did it? (I'm guessing this is due to reduced feedings so I'll probably increase feeding again)
3. Is PO4 the limiting factor in the tank? Will the increased feeding help with carbon dosing and reducing NO3?
4. Any other recommendations? Is this a nutrient problem? Tank maturity problem? Lighting problem? Combo?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Light and flow are my suspect especially if you went to a larger tank in which the components won’t be as effective in a larger environment.
You can feed reef foods to elevate the phosphate but it may due the same with nitrates. To counter this, add a pouch of chemipure elite which will keep both levels in check and remove any toxins that may be present

 

[arking_mark]

Light and flow are my suspect especially if you went to a larger tank in which the components won’t be as effective in a larger environment.
You can feed reef foods to elevate the phosphate but it may due the same with nitrates. To counter this, add a pouch of chemipure elite which will keep both levels in check and remove any toxins that may be present

Already running Chemipure Blue...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Already running Chemipure Blue...

Blue should help. Elite has a trace of GFO.

 

[arking_mark]

Blue should help. Elite has a trace of GFO.

PO4 already dropped to 0. I'm planning on increasing feeding again to bring it back up.

 

[arking_mark]

Increased feeding got me a 0.03 PO4 reading this morning.

Nitrates seem stuck at 25ppm-ish. Still not sure why these aren't coming down.

Still looking for answers to:

1. I expected NO3 to reduce after a week of reduced feeding and carbon dosing. Why are my nitrates not coming down?
2. Is PO4 the limiting factor in the tank? Will the increased feeding help with carbon dosing and reducing NO3?
3. Any other recommendations? Is this a nutrient problem? Tank maturity problem? Lighting problem? Combo?

 

[Cory]

If your increasing feeding to increase phosphate you wont get down nitrate with your current system without adding something to remove it. Macroalgae or dsb or sulphur denitrator.

 

[arking_mark]

If your increasing feeding to increase phosphate you wont get down nitrate with your current system without adding something to remove it. Macroalgae or dsb or sulphur denitrator.

So my refugium is really not working yet (Calerpa Prolifera not growing) and I do have a deep sand bed ~ 3+ inches. I haven't tried sulfur denitrator.

 

[Cory]

So my refugium is really working yet (Calerpa Prolifera not growing) and I do have a deep sand bed ~ 3+ inches. I haven't tried sulfur denitrator.

Sulphur denitrator works really well but has its complications. A little Nitrite can produce a lot of nitrate on your test kit too and may be a false reading of 25ppm no3.

 

[arking_mark]

Sulfur denitrator is not for me.

 

[Pistondog]

Did you run the AB+ in the old tank?
Lost polyp extension with ab+.

 

[Pistondog]

Carbon dosing takes a few weeks to start reducing, ime.

 

[arking_mark]

Did you run the AB+ in the old tank?
Lost polyp extension with ab+.

I'm not that familiar with Reef Energy AB+. I started using it in the old tank and have continued using it in the new tank. I can't say it had a positive impact yet.

 

[arking_mark]

Carbon dosing takes a few weeks to start reducing, ime.

I've only been carbon dosing for a little over two weeks. I'll be automating it if I end up getting positive results.

 

[Pistondog]

I've only been carbon dosing for a little over two weeks. I'll be automating it if I end up getting positive results.

Vodka, vinegar or what?

 

[arking_mark]

Vodka, vinegar or what?

Nyos Zero

 

[vetteguy53081]

Add a pouch of chemiPure elite which will reduce nitrate and keep it and and phosphate in check

 

[Pistondog]

Nyos Zero

Had luck with vodka and vodka with vinegar (nopox).

 

[arking_mark]

So PO4 seems to be doing well, I'm getting a consistent 0.03ppm (Hanna). I not sure the carbon dosing is doing anything, but I do believe that the reduced feeding is about right for the tank.

Nitrates have not moved and are very steady at 25ppm-ish (Nyos).

I'm beginning to suspect my lighting as a possible issue. My Kessil setup (1 x ap9x and 2 x a360x) has a relatively moderate schedule of about 11:30am - 8:30pm with only about 1pm - 7pm being higher lighting with a max intensity of about 20%. My PAR readings at 20% give me 350 at the upper 3rd of the tank and 150 at the bottom 3rd of the tank as measured by my Seneye.

In looking at other people's Kessil setups, it seems most people use triple my settings and for a longer higher intensity period.

I'll probably do some more PAR testing later this week. However, if I double my intensity, I kinda think I'll be blowing out the tank. For now, I'll slowly increase the intensity by a couple of % a week and see how the corals respond.

 

[arking_mark]

So I lost my Pink Floyd mini colony.

My bubble gum digi and Pearlberry are on their way out.

Fireworks Clove Polys aren't looking good.

Zoas seem to be improving.

Since getting my pH up over the last couple of weeks, my Alk is steadily falling and I have been upping my Kalk dosing.

Still looking for thoughts on:
1. I expected NO3 to reduce after now 3 weeks of reduced feeding and carbon dosing. Why are my nitrates not coming down?

2. Is PO4 the limiting factor in the tank? Will increased feeding help with carbon dosing and reducing NO3?

3. Any other recommendations? Is this even a nutrient problem? Tank maturity problem? Lighting problem? Combo?