Help, I’m trying not to quit.

[Pierreb1]

Hello reefers,

I’ve been reefing for over 3 years. I’ve spent tons of time and money on equipment, fish/coral, and husbandry. After spending/wasting money to pay someone to come once a month to maintain my tank and having the worse experience ever. I finally started managing my tank myself about a year ago.

My tank is now some what stable, but I’m still struggling to manage parameters, and I just can’t seem to keep any SPS alive and struggling to keep my hammer alive. Ironically rose tip anemone’s are thriving and so are anthelia. I have one torch that’s doing ok. I do weekly 15% water changes because my mag was ridiculous (1700) and it’s taking forever to go down.

I’m really trying to create a stable thriving reef for all my animals, but just feeling defeated. Maybe you all can see something I’m not.

Here are my parameters:
3/30/24
Salinity- 1.027 (usually 1.026)
Nitrate - 15 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm (normally 0)
Phosphate - 0.09 ppm
PH - 8.1
Alkalinity - 8.1
Mag - 1595
Calcium - 410
Temperature - 77.9

Tank;
100 gal acrylic tank with built in filter loaded with dead coral for bio, then plummed down to 30 gal sump below with socks, bio block, Hydor SK-1000 skimmer, and Refugium. A Hygerr 1350gph pump at 1/2 speed. Two media reactors for GFO and carbon. Co2 scrubber when needed. Topping off RODI, only dosing Alk at this time. Lights are 3 ATI blue plus 1 purple 36”. And a cheap Amazon 600w led light 15”x8.3”. I’ve got 2 Max Spect Gyre XF330 for flow.

I feed 2 frozen brine cubes daily and 1 sheet of nori. Corals get gonipower mixed with Red Sea Coral AB+ twice a week.

I have 13 fish, a lot of anthelia and anemones. Plus a torch and a struggling hammer. And 6 or 7 other corals. Also growing gsp nicely.

Hopefully you all can help.

Thanks..

 

[Jekyl]

Have you gotten your tests double checked? Mag being high without dosing is suspect and ammonia in an established tank is very hard to do.

 

[Nano_Man]

You don’t learn anything from quitting keep going plenty of members on r2r willing too help you
Take a step back and let members help you. Good luck

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I agree with Jekyl, Ammonia in an established tank is an oddity for sure, it just should not happen. I would take a water sample to a LFS and have them check it. Don't give up. Sometimes this hobby can indeed be very frustrating, but as long as we learn from our mishaps, all is good.

 

[Freenow54]

Hello reefers,

I’ve been reefing for over 3 years. I’ve spent tons of time and money on equipment, fish/coral, and husbandry. After spending/wasting money to pay someone to come once a month to maintain my tank and having the worse experience ever. I finally started managing my tank myself about a year ago.

My tank is now some what stable, but I’m still struggling to manage parameters, and I just can’t seem to keep any SPS alive and struggling to keep my hammer alive. Ironically rose tip anemone’s are thriving and so are anthelia. I have one torch that’s doing ok. I do weekly 15% water changes because my mag was ridiculous (1700) and it’s taking forever to go down.

I’m really trying to create a stable thriving reef for all my animals, but just feeling defeated. Maybe you all can see something I’m not.

Here are my parameters:
3/30/24
Salinity- 1.027 (usually 1.026)
Nitrate - 15 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm (normally 0)
Phosphate - 0.09 ppm
PH - 8.1
Alkalinity - 8.1
Mag - 1595
Calcium - 410
Temperature - 77.9

Tank;
100 gal acrylic tank with built in filter loaded with dead coral for bio, then plummed down to 30 gal sump below with socks, bio block, Hydor SK-1000 skimmer, and Refugium. A Hygerr 1350gph pump at 1/2 speed. Two media reactors for GFO and carbon. Co2 scrubber when needed. Topping off RODI, only dosing Alk at this time. Lights are 3 ATI blue plus 1 purple 36”. And a cheap Amazon 600w led light 15”x8.3”. I’ve got 2 Max Spect Gyre XF330 for flow.

I feed 2 frozen brine cubes daily and 1 sheet of nori. Corals get gonipower mixed with Red Sea Coral AB+ twice a week.

I have 13 fish, a lot of anthelia and anemones. Plus a torch and a struggling hammer. And 6 or 7 other corals. Also growing gsp nicely.

Hopefully you all can help.

Thanks..

I had a real tough time with SPS. You did not mention what your PAR is. Ask an expert but I think lighting is key. I bought an Apogee meter, Bulk Reef Supply, and others will rent them. Maybe look into that.

 

[Pierreb1]

Have you gotten your tests double checked? Mag being high without dosing is suspect and ammonia in an established tank is very hard to do.

I have not gotten my test double checked. I think that’s a good idea. I’m gonna send in it in for an analysis.

 

[Pierreb1]

I had a real tough time with SPS. You did not mention what your PAR is. Ask an expert but I think lighting is key. I bought an Apogee meter, Bulk Reef Supply, and others will rent them. Maybe look into that.

I’m not sure in the par, the meters are expensive however I think renting it would be a great idea. Thank you

 

[Pierreb1]

I have not gotten my test double checked. I think that’s a good idea. I’m gonna send in it in for an analysis.

Thank you

 

[Pierreb1]

I have not gotten my test double checked. I think that’s a good idea. I’m gonna send in it in for an analysis.

I agree with Jekyl, Ammonia in an established tank is an oddity for sure, it just should not happen. I would take a water sample to a LFS and have them check it. Don't give up. Sometimes this hobby can indeed be very frustrating, but as long as we learn from our mishaps, all is good.

thank you

 

[texasreefer92]

Your LFS may rent you a par reader to check your lighting! Good Luck!

 

[chip shop]

Always found getting the right flow more important than light with sps,sometimes hard to judge what’s wrong or going wrong with a tank unless actually seeing it upfront can be to many variables, but good look and hope you get there

 

[Troylee]

Your numbers look good… from what I’ve read in your post I’d lose the bio blocks they’re known to leach stuff out. Really no need for them unless you don’t have a lot of live rock. Lighting seems good and flow so it’s gotta be chemistry… what kind of sps have you tried and where are you sourcing them from?

 

[kevgib67]

This can be turned around, Im cheering for you.

 

[PharmrJohn]

If I'm not mistaken SPS should have a PAR level of at least 200 (some say 250 at the minimum) LPS 75 to 150. Echoing an above post, check your PAR level.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello reefers,

I’ve been reefing for over 3 years. I’ve spent tons of time and money on equipment, fish/coral, and husbandry. After spending/wasting money to pay someone to come once a month to maintain my tank and having the worse experience ever. I finally started managing my tank myself about a year ago.

My tank is now some what stable, but I’m still struggling to manage parameters, and I just can’t seem to keep any SPS alive and struggling to keep my hammer alive. Ironically rose tip anemone’s are thriving and so are anthelia. I have one torch that’s doing ok. I do weekly 15% water changes because my mag was ridiculous (1700) and it’s taking forever to go down.

I’m really trying to create a stable thriving reef for all my animals, but just feeling defeated. Maybe you all can see something I’m not.

Here are my parameters:
3/30/24
Salinity- 1.027 (usually 1.026)
Nitrate - 15 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm (normally 0)
Phosphate - 0.09 ppm
PH - 8.1
Alkalinity - 8.1
Mag - 1595
Calcium - 410
Temperature - 77.9

Tank;
100 gal acrylic tank with built in filter loaded with dead coral for bio, then plummed down to 30 gal sump below with socks, bio block, Hydor SK-1000 skimmer, and Refugium. A Hygerr 1350gph pump at 1/2 speed. Two media reactors for GFO and carbon. Co2 scrubber when needed. Topping off RODI, only dosing Alk at this time. Lights are 3 ATI blue plus 1 purple 36”. And a cheap Amazon 600w led light 15”x8.3”. I’ve got 2 Max Spect Gyre XF330 for flow.

I feed 2 frozen brine cubes daily and 1 sheet of nori. Corals get gonipower mixed with Red Sea Coral AB+ twice a week.

I have 13 fish, a lot of anthelia and anemones. Plus a torch and a struggling hammer. And 6 or 7 other corals. Also growing gsp nicely.

Hopefully you all can help.

Thanks..

I highly suggest an ICP tests which will break down your total water and identify problem areas

 

[Formulator]

Hello reefers,

I’ve been reefing for over 3 years. I’ve spent tons of time and money on equipment, fish/coral, and husbandry. After spending/wasting money to pay someone to come once a month to maintain my tank and having the worse experience ever. I finally started managing my tank myself about a year ago.

My tank is now some what stable, but I’m still struggling to manage parameters, and I just can’t seem to keep any SPS alive and struggling to keep my hammer alive. Ironically rose tip anemone’s are thriving and so are anthelia. I have one torch that’s doing ok. I do weekly 15% water changes because my mag was ridiculous (1700) and it’s taking forever to go down.

I’m really trying to create a stable thriving reef for all my animals, but just feeling defeated. Maybe you all can see something I’m not.

Here are my parameters:
3/30/24
Salinity- 1.027 (usually 1.026)
Nitrate - 15 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm (normally 0)
Phosphate - 0.09 ppm
PH - 8.1
Alkalinity - 8.1
Mag - 1595
Calcium - 410
Temperature - 77.9

Tank;
100 gal acrylic tank with built in filter loaded with dead coral for bio, then plummed down to 30 gal sump below with socks, bio block, Hydor SK-1000 skimmer, and Refugium. A Hygerr 1350gph pump at 1/2 speed. Two media reactors for GFO and carbon. Co2 scrubber when needed. Topping off RODI, only dosing Alk at this time. Lights are 3 ATI blue plus 1 purple 36”. And a cheap Amazon 600w led light 15”x8.3”. I’ve got 2 Max Spect Gyre XF330 for flow.

I feed 2 frozen brine cubes daily and 1 sheet of nori. Corals get gonipower mixed with Red Sea Coral AB+ twice a week.

I have 13 fish, a lot of anthelia and anemones. Plus a torch and a struggling hammer. And 6 or 7 other corals. Also growing gsp nicely.

Hopefully you all can help.

Thanks..

Don’t give up! Remember the beautiful SPS tanks that some of our members keep and that you see in magazines took years of learning just as you are now. Success often requires us to fail first. I agree with others that it would be worthwhile to check the PAR, but I would look into the chemistry a bit more also. A few questions and comments below.

What are you using as a fresh water source to mix your salt in?

Do you have an ATO system or manual top off? If manual, how often and how much water are you adding.

Your mag is not really that high. Many successful SPS aquariums intentionally run in the 1700’s, often close to 1800. It can be helpful with hair algae and helps stabilize Alk and keep it balanced with your Calcium. Not saying you can’t keep lowering, but I don’t think it is a primary concern.

You should almost never need to dose Alk without equal part Calcium. If your Alk is decreasing and Calcium is stable, something has gone wrong, often the test kits are the culprit for this.

If you don’t want to go all out on the mail-in ICP testing, you can try a poly filter to see if there are any detrimental metals in there. Just drop the filter pad into a high flow are of your sump and look for color change in the filter. It changes different colors for different metals/impurities and can at least give you a lead to follow up on.

Get yourself a confidence booster and pick up a frag of pavona or anacropora. They do well in moderate lighting, grow relatively fast, and give you “sticks” to look at, much more easily than acropora in my experience.

 

[Dom]

When I see an ammonia of .25, I immediately think API.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Don't be me!!!! I had a 90G crash and burn years ago and it's only now that I'm getting back into it. I use the excuse that the kids needed me more than my tank mainly to make myself feel better about quitting. But truth be told, I could have managed both just fine. Worst mistake I have made in the past 30 years. And to think what my tank would have rebooted into!!!! Formulator pretty much said it all. Follow the advise and just move ahead slow and steady.

 

[AC1211]

One thing here and I see it a lot is:
So, you have some cool soft corals and a torch and an anemone all doing well.
You have a decent number of fish all presumably doing well.

You are placing your success on how well you do with SPS and LPS and yet you have a decent amount of success already.

First thing is to note that the problem is likely fixable since you have other livestock doing well.

3 years ago my reef crashed and I lost about 30 corals and 15 fish.

The tank was empty for about a month.

I just left it there. Auto top off was still running and all but that was it.

I still had some freshwater tanks that I took care of but I mostly left my saltwater tank alone.

Then one day about a month after the crash, my yellow coris wrasse turned up alive although I had assumed he died even though I never found a body. Apparently he hid in the sand bed and survived the whole ordeal. I instantly gave him some food then did a water change and turned back on the light.

The tank went from a barren graveyard of dead corals to suddenly having a bright yellow fish moving around.

That fish is the reason why I rebuilt that tank and the whole reason why I kept my saltwater tank as a reef instead of switching that tank to freshwater.

Sometimes you just have to take stock of what is going well because if something is going well then you have a start towards the tank you want.

 

[Spare time]

What light is it from amazon? How high off the water is it and what are the settings?