So I got to thinking about flow with TokenReefer talking about that and thought I would check by return pumps flow. I set it at 40% as its oversized for my tank and lo and behold it was at 100%. I am wondering if that may be part of the issue. Not having proper filtration happening would definitely raise phosphates. Thank you all for your help. I have felt like I am fighting a losing battle.
Please keep us informed. I am sorry to piggyback your post, OP. I'm having similar issues and am now at my wit's end - I hope we'll find something we both need.
I've been battling high PO4 and low NO3 for almost a year now after a terrible feeding mistake (that went on for weeks). GHA is out of control. Dinos go away at night and return during the day. I've tried most of the remedies suggested over longer periods not to shock the system, but I can't get the tank back to balance. I've been reading and watching anything I can. Unlike you, I have lost several of my favorite corals during the highest of the PO4 periods. My rocks soaked up a bunch of PO4 and are still leeching it back out since I've addressed the feed issue and started trying to pull it out of the water. I am still fighting it and the low NO3. I feed dehydrated foods (mostly Reef Jerky blended with TDO and algae pellets). But am now hesitant to change/introduce anything since I'm unsure how to proceed.
A few things off the top of my head I've tried over this period with a "slow and steady" approach:
- Reduced feeding
- Introduced fleece filters
- Introduced refugium macroalgae
- Introduced and replaced TWICE two CUC sized for a 250-gallon tank (hundreds of snails/crabs per order)
- Most snails keep dying off/being eaten with no clear sign of a predator. I've tried moving the medium/large hermits to the refugium, so I'm assuming they're being poisoned/knocked over/died, and crabs eat remains.
- No fish casualties.
- Flow hasn't changed between the golden period of my tank and its present state. Increasing flow at this point would annoy my LPS tank inhabitants and sand, but I'm open to it. I think the pumps could use some cleaning as I noticed dinos in areas of the tank where it never had a foothold before.
- I introduced a 40 W Pentair UV - flow rate of 650 GPH may be too low, though.
- I increased the tank temperature to 84 degrees over a week with zero observable impact.
- I've since reduced it to 81 degrees since most inhabitants seem happiest at this temperature.
- I removed as much of the GHA as possible from DP and refugium.
- I tried blackouts for three days. That made the dinos disappear for up to a week. It also appeared to have weekend the GHA as I began to detach and allow urchins to make some headway.
- I began dosing nitrate and MB7.
- The last three items seemed to help. The GHA wasn't growing for about two weeks, and the remaining snails and urchins were mowing what was left down. GHA was getting caught in the filtration (fleece) and even the weirs of the overflow. I removed that manually.
What else I've done and happenings since the last point above:
- I eased up on dosing MB7 and nitrates, but PO4 wouldn't go down.
- I finally introduced TM Elimi-Phos and began manual dosing. That brought down PO4 to lower levels consistently and is now in the stage of lower dosage and monitoring, and repeated PO4 testing.
- Cyano has returned.
- GHA is regrowing.
- I plan on doing the following this weekend
- round of GHA regrowth removal
- siphon sandbed
- clean out refugium as my beautiful macro and glass are now being covered in some green dusty-like algae - I think it is decaying GHA, except that it is not easy to shake/wash off.
Should I:
- Resume dosing Neo Nitro?
- Should I consider any specific brands/foods instead of my dehydrated/pellets?
- I do feed frozen PE Mysis on occasion.
- I'd rather not have to dose nitrates.
- Resume dosing MB7?
- Enable more bypass for fleece rollers (w or w/o food changes above)?
- Put skimmer on a schedule rather than always-on (except during feeding/maintenance/MB7/ TM-EP dosing)?
My most recent (and now typical) are undetectable nitrates and PO4 of about 0.25 (from the all-time high of 0.74 and an average of 0.45 during the sustained peak periods).
I welcome a recommendation for new NO3 test kits. I use both Hanna PO4 (regular/ULR) testers. I understand that my "low" NO4 may be misleading due to the GHA that may be uptaking it all.
I'm not sure what else to do. But at this point, I'm ready to remove every coral and anemone I can and replace all the rock/sand with new, clean, cured rock and sand. I'm reluctant to do this because we're planning on selling our home, and that would be a big undertaking that I could do if we do buy a new home in the spring.
I've attached morning and evening pictures from this week.
Cheers folk and thanks for reading:
