How to stable after tank crash ( with almost everything of coral death)

NatReef

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Parm:
nitrate 20
Phosphate 0,1
Kh 12,5
Ph 8,09
Temp 25,2 Celsius
1025 / 35 sg
Mg 1400

So last June I lost over 15 Euphyllia colonies because of vacation and since then I al struggling to make my tank stable again to buy new corals special I want to start in sps but no stable tank no sps .
How can I get my tank stable again to buy coral again and not let them die
Waterbox pen 25


Diy refugium with chaeto
Silcacarbon
Cuprisorp media seachem
Fauna marine phosphate remover
2,5 ml daily NOPOX ( spread over 5 doses)
Kamoer ato 2
10% (+-) WC

Eheim heater 75w
ICE cap nano skimmer
2 kg ( 4 pound ) maxspzcr bio spheres
Red Sea reef led 50
Maxspect fx230 gyre With controller
Jebao slw 10
 

mattdg

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Start by reducing your KH, if you can. No need for 12.5 in a system with no coral. Even with coral, it is living on the edge. Aim for 8 ish. Obviously, you should not be dosing Cal / Alk at this point. If the chaeto is not growing, ditch it. If it is dying off, it will release everything back into the tank. Honestly, might be good to get rid of it even if it is growing. It is just stealing trace and nutrients from your future coral. Skimmer is fine, at this point, but not always necessary. Make sure your flow is enough to keep detritus suspended and filter out mechanically. Won't hurt to do weekly bacterial supplement, maybe a small bottle of MB7, until it is gone. Bio Spheres are not necessary, IMO. Make sure your thermometer and SG testing device are properly calibrated and aim for 1.024-1.025. Is your makeup water 0TDS? Should be, at this point, or you are just adding God knows what to your system. You may not need the absorbing media any more. IMO, carbon should only be ran a few days a month. You can see where I am going here. Let the live rock and system stabilize itself, without additional equipment and dosing. Try some easy cheap coral, but not too few. You want to add a small/medium population, to see how nutrients react. Hit up your local reef club for freebies. Test 3x a week, to suss out nutrient uptake. If things go well, add more coral and slowly transition to dosing your Alk/Cal, but only enough to keep things in the 7.5-9.5 range.. ideally tighter. Hope this helps kick things off.
 

fishyjoes

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What parameters aren't stable and what values are you seeing over time?
Do they go up, then down, then up - or constantly one way or the other?
 
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NatReef

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Start by reducing your KH, if you can. No need for 12.5 in a system with no coral. Even with coral, it is living on the edge. Aim for 8 ish. Obviously, you should not be dosing Cal / Alk at this point. If the chaeto is not growing, ditch it. If it is dying off, it will release everything back into the tank. Honestly, might be good to get rid of it even if it is growing. It is just stealing trace and nutrients from your future coral. Skimmer is fine, at this point, but not always necessary. Make sure your flow is enough to keep detritus suspended and filter out mechanically. Won't hurt to do weekly bacterial supplement, maybe a small bottle of MB7, until it is gone. Bio Spheres are not necessary, IMO. Make sure your thermometer and SG testing device are properly calibrated and aim for 1.024-1.025. Is your makeup water 0TDS? Should be, at this point, or you are just adding God knows what to your system. You may not need the absorbing media any more. IMO, carbon should only be ran a few days a month. You can see where I am going here. Let the live rock and system stabilize itself, without additional equipment and dosing. Try some easy cheap coral, but not too few. You want to add a small/medium population, to see how nutrients react. Hit up your local reef club for freebies. Test 3x a week, to suss out nutrient uptake. If things go well, add more coral and slowly transition to dosing your Alk/Cal, but only enough to keep things in the 7.5-9.5 range.. ideally tighter. Hope this helps kick things off.
First tanks for the realply
I had a major alkalinity problem after everything died it was 1 month straight 15+ and I buy my water from my lfs because I don’t have the space for my own water creating I wish I had , I am just scared that any toxics enter my syste and will kill my beloved fish
And my phosphate was also rocked high after everything died off so that is the reason for chaeto and nopox same with nitrates ( 0,9 phos , 100 nitrate ) I know it is bad
And I am unusual and old an trustworthy Manuel salt checker and
I use a reef factory thermo view
And in 1 week orso I am leaving for a week unfortunately and I need to keep my nit low so I need to keep dosing nopox until I am back
And what kind of bacteria do you mean ? Because I live in Europe and I don’t think that we have that here

Some photos of the corals left in my tank
 

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mattdg

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First tanks for the realply
I had a major alkalinity problem after everything died it was 1 month straight 15+ and I buy my water from my lfs because I don’t have the space for my own water creating I wish I had , I am just scared that any toxics enter my syste and will kill my beloved fish
And my phosphate was also rocked high after everything died off so that is the reason for chaeto and nopox same with nitrates ( 0,9 phos , 100 nitrate ) I know it is bad
And I am unusual and old an trustworthy Manuel salt checker and
I use a reef factory thermo view
And in 1 week orso I am leaving for a week unfortunately and I need to keep my nit low so I need to keep dosing nopox until I am back
And what kind of bacteria do you mean ? Because I live in Europe and I don’t think that we have that here

Some photos of the corals left in my tank
I see. I kind of assumed you had implemented all of those measures, to deal with the original crash. All I am saying is, when you are ready and back from vacation, start to peel back the layers. Remove one thing at a time and let the tank come to equilibrium or at least assess where things are at, without all the bandaids. Forget the mention of bacteria. I find it useful (MB7) but understand it is not currently commonplace in Europe. Get a bit of live rock or gravel from a friend's or LFS's healthy system and use that to seed your system. Can't hurt. Best of luck with it.
 
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NatReef

NatReef

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I see. I kind of assumed you had implemented all of those measures, to deal with the original crash. All I am saying is, when you are ready and back from vacation, start to peel back the layers. Remove one thing at a time and let the tank come to equilibrium or at least assess where things are at, without all the bandaids. Forget the mention of bacteria. I find it useful (MB7) but understand it is not currently commonplace in Europe. Get a bit of live rock or gravel from a friend's or LFS's healthy system and use that to seed your system. Can't hurt. Best of luck with it.
Thanks allot , but I still need to dose iodine manganese and mag because otherwise my coral will die and my iodine and manganese where not detectable when I did my Icp test so can I still dose those then ?
 
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NatReef

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Another note: your light is fine for LPS but not SPS. You probably need two RS50 or one light that can deliver the proper PAR. You can also do easy SPS, like birds nest etc. They will help with the stability,
Yeah I wanted to do only stylos poccile and maybe 1 plating monti if the others are doing good , but I am aiming for acropora water parameters because if it good for acro it is I hope good for the other sps not that I am going to do acro
 
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NatReef

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Another note: your light is fine for LPS but not SPS. You probably need two RS50 or one light that can deliver the proper PAR. You can also do easy SPS, like birds nest etc. They will help with the stability,
But I want to buy deep water acropora so badly what would k need to do to keep because I have seen people with some sps and even 1 or 2 across under Red Sea reefled 50 single
 

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not that I am going to do acro
LOL.. you say that... But... Birds nest, Pocillopora, Stylos, are such big nutrient users, it is almost a different animal as far a husbandry. No one talks about this, but you can have a "mixed SPS reef". The take up of nutrients can be vastly different with sps. If you have a slow growth Acro and a fast growing SPS (birds nest) the birds nest will assimilate most of the nutrients and starve the Acro. So you will have to make sure the slower growing SPS have enough nutrients. It's frustrating and complicated.
 
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NatReef

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LOL.. you say that... But... Birds nest, Pocillopora, Stylos, are such big nutrient users, it is almost a different animal as far a husbandry. No one talks about this, but you can have a "mixed SPS reef". The take up of nutrients can be vastly different with sps. If you have a slow growth Acro and a fast growing SPS (birds nest) the birds nest will assimilate most of the nutrients and starve the Acro. So you will have to make sure the slower growing SPS have enough nutrients. It's frustrating and complicated.
Oh I didn’t know that thank you for learning me that :)
 

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But I want to buy deep water acropora so badly what would k need to do to keep because I have seen people with some sps and even 1 or 2 across under Red Sea reefled 50 single
I would say a PAR meter is your friend. I do have a RS50 that I used on a 10g, just a few inches below the surface it fell quite a bit. Deep water SPS at 150 or below will be good, but you have to do your research.
 
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NatReef

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And what about this kind I don’t know the name but want to do research but don’t really know hardy kind of acro or a hard one? ( the green plating one )
And I wasn’t really sure to buy birdnesr it is a bit weird growing pattern for me I personally like calendrium more and Monti fire forest

The photos are from a felllw reefer friend with budget sps prices but he isn’t a lfs

56015913-6885-4E8B-B73D-F8A176E1DE67.jpeg 53377900-827E-49A5-A4B6-A8BF329B8BA0.jpeg
 
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TangerineSpeedo

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Birdsnest or any coral really, is affected by the flow patterns and light. So the shape and color may be influenced by those factors. But to answer your question. Just ask if the coral is a fast grower or not. The faster the growth, the easier it is to take care of. But if you do give it everything it needs, be prepared to do a lot of fragging.
 
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NatReef

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Birdsnest or any coral really, is affected by the flow patterns and light. So the shape and color may be influenced by those factors. But to answer your question. Just ask if the coral is a fast grower or not. The faster the growth, the easier it is to take care of. But if you do give it everything it needs, be prepared to do a lot of fragging.
My mangrove tree has just arrived been waiting on it for 2 months in total to restock etc this will help right ?
 

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