Getting tank back in shape

[TodaysTrolling]

Been having some issues with my tank recently. Always had a nutrient issue, Especially with phosphate. Thank is around 90 gallons total volume, I have a Hydros AWC that does around 1 gallon a day. Got lazy with testing. Tested today and I have the following. Just trying to get advice on where I should go from here. I was thinking Lanthanum for the phosphate, Vinegar for nitrate. And Kalk for the alkalinity. Does anyone else have any recommendations or advice on how they would approach it?


Phosphate- .90, Higher for sure. But it's the highest hannah will test. Water is dark blue after testing.
Nitrate- 46.4
Alkalinity- 6.5

Edited to fix Phosphate part******

 

[JTP424]

Which alk is correct?

Phosphates and nitrates are manageable ... (assuming the first Alk is Phosphate)

What is your feeding routine like? Maybe less input?

 

[TodaysTrolling]

Sorry I meant Phosphate- .90

I have a plank auto feeder, So I could definitely lower the feedings. I have tried Chaeto, But for the life of me cannot get Chaeto to take off. Tried dosing iron to give it a boost, No dice.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

What are your nitrates?

How frequently are you doing water changes?

 

[JTP424]

What are your nitrates?

How frequently are you doing water changes?

46.4 and he's got an AWC for a gallon daily :)

 

[TodaysTrolling]

What are your nitrates?

How frequently are you doing water changes?

46.4 on nitrates.
I do 1-1.5 gallon a day via a Hydros AWC.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

46.4 and he's got an AWC for a gallon daily :)

Ignore my question then, haha. Apparently I can't read

 

[JTP424]

Ignore my question then, haha. Apparently I can't read

Eh. It's Monday.

 

[Biokabe]

How many seconds do you run your Plank at a time, and how often are you running it per day? What are you feeding from it?

Related to that: How heavily stocked is your tank - fish? CUC? Corals?

Your ultimate culprit is probably the Plank - probably feeding more than what you really need, with the excess eventually decaying in your system and becoming phosphates and nitrates. If your test water is really dark blue, your actual phosphates are potentially closer to 3.0 PPM - when I was in a similar situation, the water was only really dark blue when it was up that high. Even getting it down to around 2.0 PPM made the water a lighter blue.

If you're using the Hanna checkers I recommend pickup up the next step up on the phosphate range - I think it tops out around 2.5 ppm rather than the 0.9 that the low-range checker tops out at.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’d dilute the tank water 1:1 or 1:3 tank water to new salt water to bring it on scale. 0.91 ppm is a different issue than 5 ppm. :)

 

[TodaysTrolling]

How many seconds do you run your Plank at a time, and how often are you running it per day? What are you feeding from it?

Related to that: How heavily stocked is your tank - fish? CUC? Corals?

Your ultimate culprit is probably the Plank - probably feeding more than what you really need, with the excess eventually decaying in your system and becoming phosphates and nitrates. If your test water is really dark blue, your actual phosphates are potentially closer to 3.0 PPM - when I was in a similar situation, the water was only really dark blue when it was up that high. Even getting it down to around 2.0 PPM made the water a lighter blue.

If you're using the Hanna checkers I recommend pickup up the next step up on the phosphate range - I think it tops out around 2.5 ppm rather than the 0.9 that the low-range checker tops out at.

25 seconds. 5 times a day. Mix of snails and hermits for CuC. Couple of conchs. No algae in main tank.

Lot of soft corals. Leathers all over the place. Lot of zoas. 4 od 5 shrooms. Large kenya tree. Etc

Engineer hoby.
(2) osc clowns
(7) blue damsels
Small sailfin tang
6 line wrasse
Coral beauty
(2) benghai cardinals

 

[TodaysTrolling]

I’d dilute the tank water 1:1 or 1:3 tank water to new salt water to bring it on scale. 0.91 ppm is a different issue than 5 ppm. :)

I diluted the test. 2 ml tank water, 8 ml fresh mixed saltwater. Phosphate still reading 0.90 and flashing.

 

[TodaysTrolling]

Also. Tested the phosphate tester on a smaller tank. Tested fine at 0.07

 

[Biokabe]

Before going further down this particular rabbit hole:

I would agree that you need to get your alkalinity up, and your phosphates are probably pretty high, but it doesn't sound like it's really negatively impacting your tank. Is there anything going on in your tank that makes you think you need to get your phosphates down? Are there any changes you want to make soon (like adding in stony corals) that make you want to get your phosphates down?

Your corals are mostly the type that can tolerate higher phosphates, and your CUC is likely large enough that algae doesn't survive long enough to become a problem in your tank, and those two things masked the buildup of phosphate in your system. Those are also usually the problems that high phosphates cause: Algae growth and coral damage. Neither seem to be a problem in your tank.

In terms of husbandry - 25 seconds, 5 a day shouldn't be enough to throw your phosphates that high, especially with how many fish you have in there. I think Avast estimates that amount as roughly equivalent to 2-3 cubes of frozen. What are you feeding your tank? Reef jerky? Pellets? Flakes? Freeze-dried? Some foods are higher in phosphates than others, so you could be effectively dosing your tank with phosphates that way. Have you ever fed heavier?

To decide if it actually is a problem you need to address, you need to figure out what your actual phosphate concentration is (because there are levels where phosphates become a different kind of problem). Based on your results with dilution, assuming you did the test correctly your phosphates are at least 4.5 ppm. So a 50-100x dilution should get you a result that is in the right range for your checker. Yes, you will lose some resolution diluting it that much, but if your phosphates are really that high I don't think it matters if you measure them at 6.73 ppm or 6.93 ppm. You're just trying to ballpark your levels so that you can figure out how much intervention you need to take.

Other than a massive water change (which still won't really impact your phosphates that much because of how phosphates bind), lanthanum is the only treatment that is going to make a meaningful difference in a relatively short amount of time. You do have a tang, so make sure you research how it can interact with tangs before you start dosing it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I diluted the test. 2 ml tank water, 8 ml fresh mixed saltwater. Phosphate still reading 0.90 and flashing.

So if that is accurate, the tank phosphate is above 4.5 ppm and I’d consider using lanthanum, although there is apparently a small risk to tangs.

 

[TodaysTrolling]

I diluted the test. 2 ml tank water, 8 ml fresh mixed saltwater. Phosphate still reading 0.90 and flashing.

So if that is accurate, the tank phosphate is above 4.5 ppm and I’d consider using lanthanum, although there is apparently a small risk to tangs.

Ive used it before without any noticeable effect on the sailfin. I mixed 100 ML of Phos-E with 1400 ML of rodi. And i plan on dosing 20 ml a day till i see a noticable result. Does that sound like a good plan?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don’t know what that volume translates too, but I would go very slow. Maybe equivalent to 0.05 ppm phosphate per day.