I don't know what to do! I didn't listen but I will now I promise!

[Alberta79]

I have ruined my reef by trying to make it better.

Tank - Reefer 350 - filter socks
Media - reefspec carbon & rowa floss
cal - 460
alk - 9.0
mg - 1440
temp 78
no3 - 35ppm
po4 - 0.04
Age - 17months
Feeding Fish half a cube of mysis and blood worms daily with 1/3 sheet of Nori
Coral - 2.5ml of reef energy A&B daily, Reef roids weekly day before water change.

1.5 months ago my tank first reef tank was turning into a master piece. Then I tried to make it better by upgrading the equipment. I was running 4 AI Primes and wanted to reward the tank for doing so well. Lots of people told me to leave the tank alone but I know better than these experienced reefers! Clearly I do not. I upgraded to (3x) radion xr15 g4 pro's with diffuser. I was running the BRS AB+ schedule on the primes. I selected the Ab+ sps schedule on the radions with same ramp up times. I set the radions at 50% with a 6 week acclimation mode set at 50%. Start the chain of bad events and decisions here.

A few days later I did my usual water change and testing and noticed my monti caps fading. Nitrates jumped from 15ppm to 35ppm. I tested my fresh saltwater RSCP and was getting 25ppm nitrates. I changed out all my RODI media and re tested to have the same result. I then decided to switch salts from RSCP to fritz RPM and have been doing 10g water changes weekly to this point. I was getting good results from RSCP but was concerned with the nitrates and what the salt was doing to my mixing station containers. A short time later I lost 2 acro frags that basically bleached out and the monti caps looking worse each day. At this point I stopped feeding amino and reef roids about 4 weeks ago

At this point I then turned the lights down to 22% with the acclimation mode still on. Still getting high nitrates so I upgraded my skimmer from the curve 5 to the redsea rsk300. Green hair algae patches starting to grow in spots but not taking over at this point. ALK jumping around a bit from 8.0 - 9.5. Lost a couple more acros and on the verge of losing all my sps it seems. I just added a Reef Octopus macro reactor with cheato. Now I cant tell if I starved the corals of light or giving them to much or what the heck to do.

Do I put the lights back at 45% and then just ride this out till my nitrates come down and the tank settles down and stabilizes and then try again? Should I go back to the rscp salt? Should I sell these lights and go back to AI?

I do not have access to a par meter and dont really want to buy one for a 1 time use. I will add some pictures in the following comments.

Thank you for reading this and your advice is welcomed and appreciated.

 

[Alberta79]

 

[Alberta79]

 

[Alberta79]

 

[Alberta79]

 

[Mikedawg]

You certainly haven't "ruined" your tank, just moving too fast in terms of making significant changes IMHO and it will "settle in" in time. Given that it has only been running a few months, I doubt if certain biological processes are fully established and stable. And, as you suspect, this has probably resulted in some high nitrate readings, coral bleaching, etc. In simplest terms, I would focus on making sure your bio-filtration is stable and sufficient, stick to a lighting schedule which is appropriate for the corals you have, make sure your test kit readings are valid and reliable and, most importantly, be patient.
Good luck; you've got some great equipment (and your corals other than acros look good in pic) - you just need to let the tank's biology better use it.

 

[Tamberav]

Can't say I have been through this as I have pretty much kept the same lights/flow type for years (hey if it isn't broke?) but I will say you made a lot of changes, probably out of panic. Saw something bad happening and changed one thing after another hoping for new results.

Be sure to monitor alk... when coral starts to go downhill, consumption will change and it may start to rise. This is also probably the source of your Nitrates since the coral is no longer consuming them for growth.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

You haven’t ruined the ot sure looked good and you should’ve left it alone though. I would rent a par meter and get those numbers. Xr15’s are ALOT brighter then the primes. Just wait for your nitrates to come down.

 

[Tyler Miceli]

I have ruined my reef by trying to make it better.

Tank - Reefer 350 - filter socks
Media - reefspec carbon & rowa floss
cal - 460
alk - 9.0
mg - 1440
temp 78
no3 - 35ppm
po4 - 0.04
Age - 17months
Feeding Fish half a cube of mysis and blood worms daily with 1/3 sheet of Nori
Coral - 2.5ml of reef energy A&B daily, Reef roids weekly day before water change.

1.5 months ago my tank first reef tank was turning into a master piece. Then I tried to make it better by upgrading the equipment. I was running 4 AI Primes and wanted to reward the tank for doing so well. Lots of people told me to leave the tank alone but I know better than these experienced reefers! Clearly I do not. I upgraded to (3x) radion xr15 g4 pro's with diffuser. I was running the BRS AB+ schedule on the primes. I selected the Ab+ sps schedule on the radions with same ramp up times. I set the radions at 50% with a 6 week acclimation mode set at 50%. Start the chain of bad events and decisions here.

A few days later I did my usual water change and testing and noticed my monti caps fading. Nitrates jumped from 15ppm to 35ppm. I tested my fresh saltwater RSCP and was getting 25ppm nitrates. I changed out all my RODI media and re tested to have the same result. I then decided to switch salts from RSCP to fritz RPM and have been doing 10g water changes weekly to this point. I was getting good results from RSCP but was concerned with the nitrates and what the salt was doing to my mixing station containers. A short time later I lost 2 acro frags that basically bleached out and the monti caps looking worse each day. At this point I stopped feeding amino and reef roids about 4 weeks ago

At this point I then turned the lights down to 22% with the acclimation mode still on. Still getting high nitrates so I upgraded my skimmer from the curve 5 to the redsea rsk300. Green hair algae patches starting to grow in spots but not taking over at this point. ALK jumping around a bit from 8.0 - 9.5. Lost a couple more acros and on the verge of losing all my sps it seems. I just added a Reef Octopus macro reactor with cheato. Now I cant tell if I starved the corals of light or giving them to much or what the heck to do.

Do I put the lights back at 45% and then just ride this out till my nitrates come down and the tank settles down and stabilizes and then try again? Should I go back to the rscp salt? Should I sell these lights and go back to AI?

I do not have access to a par meter and dont really want to buy one for a 1 time use. I will add some pictures in the following comments.

Thank you for reading this and your advice is welcomed and appreciated.

Honestly I think the only fault you had was doing too much at once. You went from a stable system and routine, to changing the lights and intensity, and the salt used. When dosing, always test! The bleaching could've came from many things. It sucks to hear this as it sounds like the tank was running great. I'm fairly new to the hobby I only 2 years in, but I've been lucky with my biocube 32 and have always just been patient. The tank is running amazing and everything is thriving. I just kept things simple and consistent. I think everyone always tries to find answers for problems when the key is really consistency. I would drop the light intensity immediately and try not to take drastic measures. The system is probably shocked from all the changes after a year and a half of what it was used to

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Honestly I think the only fault you had was doing too much at once. You went from a stable system and routine, to changing the lights and intensity, and the salt used. When dosing, always test! The bleaching could've came from many things. It sucks to hear this as it sounds like the tank was running great. I'm fairly new to the hobby I only 2 years in, but I've been lucky with my biocube 32 and have always just been patient. The tank is running amazing and everything is thriving. I just kept things simple and consistent. I think everyone always tries to find answers for problems when the key is really consistency. I would drop the light intensity immediately and try not to take drastic measures. The system is probably shocked from all the changes after a year and a half of what it was used to

But You just told him to change it again lol

 

[Tyler Miceli]

But You just told him to change it again lol

Just the light intensity! Lol

 

[Alberta79]

Just the light intensity! Lol

The intensity is at 22% plus on 50% acclimation. I dont think I can drop it anymore lol. I think I should put them back at 45% and reactivate the 6 week acclimation and then leave everything alone till the tank recovers. thoughts?

 

[45ZoaGarden]

The intensity is at 22% plus on 50% acclimation. I dont think I can drop it anymore lol. I think I should put them back at 45% and reactivate the 6 week acclimation and then leave everything alone till the tank recovers. thoughts?

I think you should leave it alone.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I think you should leave it alone.

3 15’s at 45% isn’t too much for that tank. My buddy has 2 15’s over his 45 gallon cube set to 100%. Just leave it and let the corals acclimate. It’s more the nitrates bothering your corals

 

[Alberta79]

3 15’s at 45% isn’t too much for that tank. My buddy has 2 15’s over his 45 gallon cube set to 100%. Just leave it and let the corals acclimate. It’s more the nitrates bothering your corals

Especially with the diffuser's. That is my thought too.

 

[Alberta79]

The other advice I am looking for is the feeding aminos and reef roids with the high nitrates. I have not been feeding those for 4 weeks now but thinking I should start again.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

The other advice I am looking for is the feeding aminos and reef roids with the high nitrates. I have not been feeding those for 4 weeks now but thinking I should start again.

I would wait it out and get the nitrates lower first

 

[LC8Sumi]

I have a feeling this would have happened even without touching the lights

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I’ve heard of people having success with high nitrates and low phosphates. My tank is at 15ppm of nitrate and .1 ppm of phosphate and doing well.

 

[Fla04gbf]

3 15’s at 45% isn’t too much for that tank. My buddy has 2 15’s over his 45 gallon cube set to 100%. Just leave it and let the corals acclimate. It’s more the nitrates bothering your corals

Agree. I am also quite new to this hobby but I think it’s the high Nitrate that’s causing the problem. That would mean that your waste export is messed up. Is your algae reactor still running properly? Getting decent cheato growth? Maybe cut down in the feeding a bit to reduce nutrient input. Patience is the key. Keep reefing!