First API test- 1 year old tank

[ragincajun907]

Hello everyone. I have a 190 gal mixed reef that is heavy on the LPS. I’ve noticed some tissue loss recently and sent in my first water batch to see what’s goin on. There are a few elements out of whack but the main one that stumps me is the strontium. Other than the obvious of over dosing, how would one get such high levels? Also I’ve heard many different trains of thought on Alk and what a good target/stability area to maintain. Many recommend around 8.5 to mimic natural and others around 9.5-10. Some recent changes. Switched from BRS two part to B-Ionic. The B -Ionic was not dosing in equal parts , but that has been fixed. I had a Dino outbreak so I cut down on skimming and let the roller overflow for a few weeks. Getting my PO4 back down. Was at 1.7 yesterday. Thanks for your time. Cheers.

Here is a link to the test.

https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/share/fed8620611a8c9ea32d1

 

[Fish Fan]

Please be patient, I'm sure that Randy will have some comments for you soon

Bump for @Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Garf]

Hello everyone. I have a 190 gal mixed reef that is heavy on the LPS. I’ve noticed some tissue loss recently and sent in my first water batch to see what’s goin on. There are a few elements out of whack but the main one that stumps me is the strontium. Other than the obvious of over dosing, how would one get such high levels? Also I’ve heard many different trains of thought on Alk and what a good target/stability area to maintain. Many recommend around 8.5 to mimic natural and others around 9.5-10. Some recent changes. Switched from BRS two part to B-Ionic. The B -Ionic was not dosing in equal parts , but that has been fixed. I had a Dino outbreak so I cut down on skimming and let the roller overflow for a few weeks. Getting my PO4 back down. Was at 1.7 yesterday. Thanks for your time. Cheers.

Here is a link to the test.

https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/share/fed8620611a8c9ea32d1

A quick google suggests that 10 ish mg/L is not critically high, quite normal in fact. Perhaps they have you barking up the wrong tree. Good luck.

 

[ragincajun907]

A little more info and a pic. Tank normally runs around.08 po4.
The tank is heavily stocked with coral and fish and according,I feed on the heavier side. Filtration wise, I run GFO, Carbon, CO2 scrubber, and UV.
60 gal breeder custom sump.-
Overflow to a 1200 reefmat,section for chaeto, section for live rock which is now my mushroom grow out, and then the protein skimmer in the return chamber.
This is what I think occurred-
Everything was doing alright until I had a Dino outbreak. I believe my Chaeto ball got to big from not pruning and it stripped my nitrate and phosphate to nothing. I battled Dino by no light for three days and then a reduced lighting intensity, raised nutrients by reducing skimming time, and letting roller overflow and only toggling once a day, dosed microbactor and reduced water changes. My calcification and coral growth has always been not the best if I’m honest and I believe that Strontoum
Is just not being consumed adequately.
It just built up over time. I typically do a 20gal water change every 7-10 days. Sometimes a 40gal. I’ve done 2
20 gal changes over the past week and will be sending in for a test nest Monday.
Another question- I m battling this stingy sandy buildup on my frags. I moved a cucumber to another tank and it’s still happening. You will see it in the pictures. Snails shells have stringy sand strand and it’s a constant pita. It’s driving me nuts.

 

[slingfox]

Hello everyone. I have a 190 gal mixed reef that is heavy on the LPS. I’ve noticed some tissue loss recently and sent in my first water batch to see what’s goin on. There are a few elements out of whack but the main one that stumps me is the strontium. Other than the obvious of over dosing, how would one get such high levels? Also I’ve heard many different trains of thought on Alk and what a good target/stability area to maintain. Many recommend around 8.5 to mimic natural and others around 9.5-10. Some recent changes. Switched from BRS two part to B-Ionic. The B -Ionic was not dosing in equal parts , but that has been fixed. I had a Dino outbreak so I cut down on skimming and let the roller overflow for a few weeks. Getting my PO4 back down. Was at 1.7 yesterday. Thanks for your time. Cheers.

Here is a link to the test.

https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/share/fed8620611a8c9ea32d1

The primary long term Issue is finding a way to measure salinity correctly. I assume you are using some cheapo refractometer or other unreliable way to measure salinity which is causing you to run the tank too low in salinity. Invest in a reliable instrument such as the Tropic Marin Hydrometer or the VeeGee Stx-3 refractometer.

If I was you I would focus on 1) getting salinity to the right level, 2) gradually being down nitrates and phosphates to the steady levels before your dino outbreak, 3) do larger water changes for a few weeks to dilute down the strontium, and 4) redo the ICP in 4-6 weeks but use the ATI ICP-MS and use the package which also tests your RODI water quality as well as tank water quality (helps make sure no contaminants are in your RODI containers).

 

[slingfox]

For the stringy sand, do you blow off your drag rack and rocks every week when you do a water changes? If you are just letting detritus sit on your drag rack and rocks it can build up biofilm. I take a powerhead and blast these areas every week. You may want to siphon your sand bed to clean it up a bit. It is possible that the stringiness is a result of your recent Dino battle, high nutrients, and consistent dosing of bottled bacteria. I assume the microbiome will get back into balance if you give things more time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't think strontium has any benefit to most organisms we keep and I think it is extraordinarily unlikely to be the cause of tissue loss.

There is no alkalinity between 6.5 and 12 dKH that is going to cause tissue loss unless it is jumping around wildly due to dosing large amounts at once.

The phosphate is quite high, if accurate. I don't know if that causing apparent issues, but it is worth lowering it slowly.

Do you still have dinos?

 

[ragincajun907]

 

[ragincajun907]

Thankyou for everyone’s responses. I uploaded a few videos with dialogue that should answer most of the questions.
I haven’t been able to clean my sand very well manually with it being so packed but I have a bunch or Tonga and narssisus snails. I’ve been slowly removing sand when I do clean it with the desire to go bare bottom to help with my phosphate issue. I know it’s from feeding heavy but I dont see that changing. There are 2 mp40s on opposite sides of the tank and 2 mp10s on the on the lower back glass facing the front glass. There is plenty of flow to discourage buildup but it still occurs. The sand is the ocean direct which is a mix of super fine to coarse. That may be part of it but nothing is really stirring up the sand. I don’t know, but it’s obliviously the least of my issues atm.

 

[ragincajun907]

Here is a link to the RODI test

Analysis result

ATI Aquaristik - Lab

lab.atiaquaristik.com

 

[slingfox]

It looks like you are growing coral overall without issue so you probably just want to battle the Dinos and get nutrients closer to target ranges. If you have adequate flow what could be happening for the sand is you have livestock kicking up the sand and it sticks to bacterial film or something similar in the rock surfaces. In my tank I have a leopard wrasse which dives into the sand and kicks up a cloud into the water column every so often. If you have a similar fish the same thing could be happening but the sand is getting stuck on the surfaces.

 

[ragincajun907]

Correction on phosphate. The reading was .28

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Correction on phosphate. The reading was .28

That value is fine and is within my recommended range.