HELP! MY SPS ARE PALING AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO

[Mattrg02]

A word of warning...invest in a GOOD nitrate test kit before dosing nitrates. I kept dosing and testing with an API test. Wound up never seeing it move from light yellow to indicate nitrates. Corals began to take a downhill slide and had rampant stn. I then got a new API test and and found my nitrates off the charts. Lost every single sps coral and a fish along with all snails and hermits.

$500 in stuff dead.

I'm now on a reboot will be using a salifert or Red Sea pro nitrate test before I dose nitrates again.

Matt

 

[Mattrg02]

Well on second look its not diatoms its dinos Going to have to stop dosing the sodium nitrate as it seems to be fueling them.

Use peroxide. It wiped out my Dino's and some weird cyano type stuff. If you can dip the rocks, even better.

 

[jumplittlechloe]

Use peroxide. It wiped out my Dino's and some weird cyano type stuff. If you can dip the rocks, even better.

Thankfully it is not on the rocks just sand. My tank is ULNS and no3 is 0 and it looks like po4 is 0. Every time I attempt to raise no4 it kicks off dinos. I stopped dosing sodium nitrate before it got really going. I did start dosing h2o2 at 1ml to 10g and will see what happens. Pulled gfo and stopped dosing carbon to let no3 and po4 rise.

 

[twilliard]

Your increase of no3 started dinoflagellate cell growth?

 

[jumplittlechloe]

Your increase of no3 started dinoflagellate cell growth?

Yes happened last time I dosed (tried with potassium nitrate). It was really bad and went all over the rock killed corals and snails. I let the tank go back to 0 no3 and po4 and it died off. It's been about 3-4 months since I attempted to dose and after 2 days of dosing sodium nitrate I started getting signs of dinos.

 

[twilliard]

Yes happened last time I dosed (tried with potassium nitrate). It was really bad and went all over the rock killed corals and snails. I let the tank go back to 0 no3 and po4 and it died off. It's been about 3-4 months since I attempted to dose and after 2 days of dosing sodium nitrate I started getting signs of dinos.

Hit the tank with metronidazole and you will never see them again (well under study right now)

 

[Mattrg02]

Yes happened last time I dosed (tried with potassium nitrate). It was really bad and went all over the rock killed corals and snails. I let the tank go back to 0 no3 and po4 and it died off. It's been about 3-4 months since I attempted to dose and after 2 days of dosing sodium nitrate I started getting signs of dinos.

What ppm were your nitrates at? What was the source of your potassium nitrate?

Matt

 

[jumplittlechloe]

What ppm were your nitrates at? What was the source of your potassium nitrate?

Matt

0ppm tested and 5ppm tested 1hr after dosing sodium nitrate. When I dosed last time I used potassium nitrate and it was the Spectracide sump remover.

 

[jumplittlechloe]

Hit the tank with metronidazole and you will never see them again (well under study right now)

May try this at a later date. Excited to see what you find out. Enjoyed the chat!

 

[twilliard]

May try this at a later date. Excited to see what you find out. Enjoyed the chat!

Good talking with you!
I am digging into it now

 

[David Cher]

Thanks to this thread my ssc - strawberry short cake is showing coloring up!!!!

 

[Russ265]

i never observed an increase or decrease of dinos due to nitrate dosing.

they seemed more tied to an oil slick on the top of my water.

also anything to get co2 out of my system seemed to kick it back as well. ph increase, peroxide, aerate water, windows open.

just my observations.

 

[LakeCityReefs]

Thought I would chime in with an update on my system.
N03 is still running high. DO NOT DOSE N03 WITHOUT A GOOD TEST KIT. N03 is still running between 10-25 ppm. I've performed 1 20% WC and 2 10% WC in the last 2 weeks or so. I have another WC planned for tomorrow. I don't think the WC will drop the N03 significantly but I'm too afraid to do a really large one. I'm hoping that the corals, macroalgae, & skimmer will help to slowly reduce it over the next month or two.

Coral colors and polyp extension are better than they have been in the past 2 months. I'm still looking to get N03 below 10 ppm. P03 is running .08-.1, Ca. 430-440, Alk 8-8.5

I would stand behind the advice in this thread 100%

 

[Lonny]

Not gonna lie, I didn't read all 76 pages of this post so I apologise if this question has been answered already. My tank is roughly 175gls including sump. I recently was informed about the nutrient needs and russ thank you so much for this awesome right up! My no3 is 0, po4 is a little less than .025. I dabble in pyrotechnics and have pounds of pure, finely powdered potassium nitrate. My sps look pale but good pe. But my setosa recently started stn. I haven't ran my carbon/GFO reactor for two weeks now with no change. How much potassium nitrate per gallon should I dose? Thanks!

 

[Russ265]

i use seachem's flourish nitrate, but there is a thread @twilliard made dosing the powdered stuff.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/potassium-nitrate-spectracide-stump-remover-dosing-steps.215730/

 

[Mattrg02]

Thought I would chime in with an update on my system.
N03 is still running high. DO NOT DOSE N03 WITHOUT A GOOD TEST KIT. N03 is still running between 10-25 ppm. I've performed 1 20% WC and 2 10% WC in the last 2 weeks or so. I have another WC planned for tomorrow. I don't think the WC will drop the N03 significantly but I'm too afraid to do a really large one. I'm hoping that the corals, macroalgae, & skimmer will help to slowly reduce it over the next month or two.

Coral colors and polyp extension are better than they have been in the past 2 months. I'm still looking to get N03 below 10 ppm. P03 is running .08-.1, Ca. 430-440, Alk 8-8.5

I would stand behind the advice in this thread 100%

That's how I believe that I lost everything last time. I kept adding nitrate every day, little by little, testing with an API test. Eventually stn set in and wiped out $500 corals. I got a new nitrate test and found it to be blood red. Went into Reefing hiatus for awhile, bought a house, and then am getting back into it.

Got a few corals and am back to dosing after they began to pale out. Using a Red Sea pro nitrate test now. 2ppm nitrate.

 

[malira]

Not gonna lie, I didn't read all 76 pages of this post so I apologise if this question has been answered already. My tank is roughly 175gls including sump. I recently was informed about the nutrient needs and russ thank you so much for this awesome right up! My no3 is 0, po4 is a little less than .025. I dabble in pyrotechnics and have pounds of pure, finely powdered potassium nitrate. My sps look pale but good pe. But my setosa recently started stn. I haven't ran my carbon/GFO reactor for two weeks now with no change. How much potassium nitrate per gallon should I dose? Thanks!

Make sure you have a good test kit. Something more than API. T hr end start slow. I have 125g total water volume, I was at 0 nitrates and dosed 15 ml once a day for 3 to 4 of days. When I wasn't getting a reading of nitrates I dosed 15 ml 2 times a day. Nitrates came up and I adjusted my dosing from there.

Diesel told me 0 to 2 ppm is a lot further than 2 to 4 ppm. It will take longer and more nitrate to get from 0 to 2 ppm than from 2 to 4 ppm.

Test prior to dosing and after, most wait 1 hr. If you can't test after Ok make sure you always test prior. Keep records of when & how much you dosed and what your reading is before and after. Testing after let's you know if you are dosing enough to even get a reading. Once you get a reading after dosng then testing before your next dose lets you know how much your tank is using.

Fish poop is the best nitrate booster and coral food.

 

[Lonny]

Thanks! I'm using nyos test kits. So how much powder do I dissolve in tank water to make the dosing solution?

 

[twilliard]

Thanks! I'm using nyos test kits. So how much powder do I dissolve in tank water to make the dosing solution?

It's mixed with rodi water

 

[malira]

Thanks! I'm using nyos test kits. So how much powder do I dissolve in tank water to make the dosing solution?

Russ provided the link to mixing a few post ago. I do 1 tbs per 8 Oz of Rodi water. I keep in a jar.

I believe this is twilliard's formula. But this is using spectracide.