Marty's 8' 300g/sump room build. ~750g system

[Sallstrom]

Sorry for the losses. Just read the last two pages, hoping to find any more answers. But other than high alk and perhaps low nutrients I don't know.

I wouldn't worry too much about the copper. We've dosed a lot of homegrown phytoplankton, and my guess is that we've used a similar fertiliser as you, but never seen any signs on raising copper levels on our ICP tests. Anyway, you'll get the answer on that when you get the result.

I know it's hard to sit back and wait when these things happen. But I like to wait and see. You've corrected the KH, now try to keep the nutrient levels steady. If you do more changes now you'll risk more stress on the corals and the system.

About the KH, I prefer even lower levels when nutrient are low. I aim for 7dKH. But that's another change, and your corals are probably adapted to your level around 9. So that was just a though

If it's feels better we've lost quite a few corals lately as well, after a move. And I can't say for sure why. That's reefkeeping sometimes. It sometimes takes time to get the tanks to do their thing and just work.

Hope things turn soon! Good luck.

 

[NeverlosT]

Hi Mshort, first of all I am sorry to hear of your struggles, and I hope that time and patience will get you back on track!

The below are just opinions, and I hope they may be helpful. Best wishes and best of luck!

Regarding your Alk, especially with a new system a lot can happen with a CARX just like a lot can happen with dosing. pH probe in the reactor can wander in readings and make your effluent more/less potent, clogs or lack of clogs in effluent delivery can have an effect. Mini-cycles can impact coral growth and fluctuate your alk demand, and alk consumption is a chain reaction: growth slows causes higher alk causes more growth slowing causes higher alk....

The summary being for the first while (honestly it has been years for mine and I check every few days), measuring ALK is mandatory to avoid the rare but not unlikely spikes that you experienced. I know you were on vacation so cant really do anything about it then. Spiking to 11+ is for sure a recipe for SPS death, especially spiking that high and coming down quickly. Also, your starting alk was 9.5 dKh which is pretty high compared to the ocean (7dKh) and running in a kind of "danger zone" in my opinion.

Nutrients sound like they are from coral die-off but honestly nutrients are something that so many folks struggle with in the long term (either too high or too low).

The planaria thing stinks. Id just siphon out what you can and hit it with FWE and be done with it. Better now than when you are full of SPS in a year and it is riskier.

What I'd do, measure alk every two days, never make a change based on a single measurement, always have two or three in a row that make a trend and adjust effluent flow based on that. I'd shoot for 7.5-8 dKh which is a very safe zone. (you may increase growth with higher alk, but you may kill stuff too, plus high alk with low nutrients is a deadly mix).

So keep ALK stable around 8, check your calcium and mag every now and then to see that they are in the good range and dose if needed to balance them.

For nutrients just tweak as needed. If Nitrate is high, do water changes, use a sulfur denitrator, or carbon dose. If nitrates are low, feed more. If phosphate is high use GFO (sparingly!) or lanthanum and if phosphate is low feed more. Either way, make any changes slowly and in small measures, like if the calculators call for 2 cups of GFO, use one and see how it goes then another in a couple weeks.

TBH I only started your build thread, and ill read through the rest this weekend, but you have been off to a killer start, you had a great tank in the past, you have the passion, the support, and the skills. You will be successful, and everyone takes their lumps. Stick with it, stay strong, keep learning like we all are, and in a few months you will be more stoked than ever on your awesome system.

ps. sorry for the novel

 

[NeverlosT]

@crusso1993 Calrx question. So yesterday it was set at 6.6 ph with effluent rate of 30ml/min and 1 bubble every 1-1.2 seconds with regulator pressure of 3.5. My all went from 9 to 8.4 through day. I dosed back up and then turned effluent up to 40ml/day and my regulator pressure to 5 psi. This morning it was at 8.4 again (overnight)....(dosed back up this am) which leads me to believe it will be back to or even less than 8.4 when I get home.

Two questions, am I wrong to think the effluent increase was to increase the alk delivery? I did adjust regulator to 5 which is where I think it will stay. (Can adjust bubbles per second but I have a second question about that) with a higher effluent I understand my concentration of effluent will go down, but I did raise co2 some so I thought that would compensate. If I get home and its 8.4 or lower would it be better to SLOW my effluent rate for same co2 to attain a greater alk delivery?

Also, how do you judge how many bubbles per second you want? Is that based on how often the ph controller cycles on the regulator? It seems to be about 50% of the time its on, or delivering co2. I've read various things and seems like it's better to have it mostly on? My meter goes from .1 second to 10 seconds. (Listed as seconds per bubble) currently set a smidge over 1. I hear other people talking about it being on 2-3 even 4 but I don't under stand how they do that and deliver enough..


Sorry I guess there were more than 2 questions. Lol

My take on these:
There are kind of two ways to go.

Method A: One school has you make adjustments so that your solenoid is always open and in combo with your effluent rate, maintains a good pH in the reactor and a good alk in the system. I have never been good at finding that super balance.

Method B: So I just set my reg pressure to whatever is just slightly higher than the stall pressure (when it isnt enough to overcome reactor internal pressure). Then I set my bubble rate to something reasonable 1-2Hz so that it isnt just dumping CO2 when it turns on. Then I set the reactor pH on the Apex to be low level 6.55 high level 6.56 and it will stay near there.

Finally I just measure tank ALK like you have been doing and increase/decrease effluent rate.

Most reactors are way more powerful than most tank needs. So for example if you change your effluent rate from 30ml/min to 40ml/min I doubt your potency will change much. If you go from 30ml/min to like 300ml/min then maybe it will (BRS recently did a vid on this, and it showed that most reactors are good at maintaining potency over a wide range of effluent rates).

It sounds like your bubble rate is fine. Unless you are doing the "Method A" it isnt really that critical. Here is a video for Method A that seems to be popular:

 

[Mshort03]

Strenuous physical excersise often helps get my mind right too. Are you a road or trail or hybrid cyclist?

I may be wrong but I do not believe that any of the members that replied are part of the reefsquad. Very disappointing.

Last time I checked, a hobby is not supposed to supply more stress than enjoyment. I hope this is not the case with you but, if it is, you may want to contemplate it.

I'm a road cyclist, more specifically I ride a fixed gear...theres just something special about being in constant connection with the road. It was certainly good for the mental health.

As for the hobby and stress, over last couple days I've been relaxing the brain a lot and trying to come with best solution for this, that's why i havent answered in couple days.. I'm certainly not giving up

 

[Mshort03]

Sorry to read of your recent problems. I agree with the gang that feels like something irritated the corals which then stopped consuming as much Alk. My shot in the dark theory would be that the corals may have been starved of nutrients, either nitrate or phosphate or both and shut down Alk cosumption. The tissue on the tips either died off or couldn't keep up with the new skeletal growth. Some times running undetectable nutrient levels can put you on a razor's edge in terms of coral health/stability. I have seen it in friends tanks that run it so clean and then strip nutrients further with too much macro algae.

Again just a theory.

While it is heart breaking and a motivation killer to lose corals, keep sight that things will stabilize and recover over time with proper management. Test regularly and increase water changes for a time. The ICP test will be useful.

I would recommend not focusing on reducing nutrients from current levels and continue to feed as you have in the past.

I wish I spotted a smoking gun for you but those are tricky to come by in the reefing world.

I agree I think something irritated them, not so sure as to what but I'm making no changes as you suggested as to not further disrupt things. I dont want to start changing a bunch of stuff and then not know what change is causing what so I will be keeping everything the same as much as I can. Water changes have increased, I'm getting ready to do another one here this morning.

 

[Mshort03]

I

We dont use candle but use the little plug in warmers but not in the room with the tanks.

Glad more can be ruled out.

Waiting on the ICP results.

I will be posting the icp results the moment that I have them. I'm seriously hoping that they shed some light on what has been a quite painful couple of weeks!

 

[Mshort03]

Hi Mshort, first of all I am sorry to hear of your struggles, and I hope that time and patience will get you back on track!

The below are just opinions, and I hope they may be helpful. Best wishes and best of luck!

Regarding your Alk, especially with a new system a lot can happen with a CARX just like a lot can happen with dosing. pH probe in the reactor can wander in readings and make your effluent more/less potent, clogs or lack of clogs in effluent delivery can have an effect. Mini-cycles can impact coral growth and fluctuate your alk demand, and alk consumption is a chain reaction: growth slows causes higher alk causes more growth slowing causes higher alk....

The summary being for the first while (honestly it has been years for mine and I check every few days), measuring ALK is mandatory to avoid the rare but not unlikely spikes that you experienced. I know you were on vacation so cant really do anything about it then. Spiking to 11+ is for sure a recipe for SPS death, especially spiking that high and coming down quickly. Also, your starting alk was 9.5 dKh which is pretty high compared to the ocean (7dKh) and running in a kind of "danger zone" in my opinion.

Nutrients sound like they are from coral die-off but honestly nutrients are something that so many folks struggle with in the long term (either too high or too low).

The planaria thing stinks. Id just siphon out what you can and hit it with FWE and be done with it. Better now than when you are full of SPS in a year and it is riskier.

What I'd do, measure alk every two days, never make a change based on a single measurement, always have two or three in a row that make a trend and adjust effluent flow based on that. I'd shoot for 7.5-8 dKh which is a very safe zone. (you may increase growth with higher alk, but you may kill stuff too, plus high alk with low nutrients is a deadly mix).

So keep ALK stable around 8, check your calcium and mag every now and then to see that they are in the good range and dose if needed to balance them.

For nutrients just tweak as needed. If Nitrate is high, do water changes, use a sulfur denitrator, or carbon dose. If nitrates are low, feed more. If phosphate is high use GFO (sparingly!) or lanthanum and if phosphate is low feed more. Either way, make any changes slowly and in small measures, like if the calculators call for 2 cups of GFO, use one and see how it goes then another in a couple weeks.

TBH I only started your build thread, and ill read through the rest this weekend, but you have been off to a killer start, you had a great tank in the past, you have the passion, the support, and the skills. You will be successful, and everyone takes their lumps. Stick with it, stay strong, keep learning like we all are, and in a few months you will be more stoked than ever on your awesome system.

ps. sorry for the novel

These are a few things I've come to terms with. This was first time using reactor and I got it set up pretty quick and it "seemed" to be holding steady, however as I look back on things it did actually start in the 9 area and then slowly creep up over courses of the last few months. I used to have reactor at 40ml/min and that ultimately was too much I think. My target dkh would be 8-8.5. Currently running 24ml/min. I check all 3-4 times a day, 3 times each and get average of 8.7-9 for last two weeks now. Still a bit higher than I'd like but I was trying to "catch" the bottom swing of the drop and this is where i leveled out. With my nutrients now being higher i hope this number will be good until i can naturally (through growth) drop it to the 8-8.5 I'd ultimately like.

As for nutrients I'm going to be doing another full test of parameters tonight and will post them. Lots of people have mentioned the nutrients coming from dieoff.. which I understand but just seems like a lot of nutrient spike for some coral tissue loss.. considering how many big fish I have in there, the way I feed, and 600 gallons to dilute into, but I'm all ears for anything.

One thing I did find is that I had a gyre in the cryptic tank, which has exposed magnets! I'm sure they are "sealed" but I still removed it because it made me nervous. Can running cuprisorb or something similar do harm if it isnt needed? Or should I wait for icp test before running any metal removing media?

 

[crusso1993]

These are a few things I've come to terms with. This was first time using reactor and I got it set up pretty quick and it "seemed" to be holding steady, however as I look back on things it did actually start in the 9 area and then slowly creep up over courses of the last few months. I used to have reactor at 40ml/min and that ultimately was too much I think. My target dkh would be 8-8.5. Currently running 24ml/min. I check all 3-4 times a day, 3 times each and get average of 8.7-9 for last two weeks now. Still a bit higher than I'd like but I was trying to "catch" the bottom swing of the drop and this is where i leveled out. With my nutrients now being higher i hope this number will be good until i can naturally (through growth) drop it to the 8-8.5 I'd ultimately like.

As for nutrients I'm going to be doing another full test of parameters tonight and will post them. Lots of people have mentioned the nutrients coming from dieoff.. which I understand but just seems like a lot of nutrient spike for some coral tissue loss.. considering how many big fish I have in there, the way I feed, and 600 gallons to dilute into, but I'm all ears for anything.

One thing I did find is that I had a gyre in the cryptic tank, which has exposed magnets! I'm sure they are "sealed" but I still removed it because it made me nervous. Can running cuprisorb or something similar do harm if it isnt needed? Or should I wait for icp test before running any metal removing media?

I do not believe it would be harmful but, being so close to the ICP results, I would simply wait.

BTW - did you test for any stray voltage?

 

[Mshort03]

My take on these:
There are kind of two ways to go.

Method A: One school has you make adjustments so that your solenoid is always open and in combo with your effluent rate, maintains a good pH in the reactor and a good alk in the system. I have never been good at finding that super balance.

Method B: So I just set my reg pressure to whatever is just slightly higher than the stall pressure (when it isnt enough to overcome reactor internal pressure). Then I set my bubble rate to something reasonable 1-2Hz so that it isnt just dumping CO2 when it turns on. Then I set the reactor pH on the Apex to be low level 6.55 high level 6.56 and it will stay near there.

Finally I just measure tank ALK like you have been doing and increase/decrease effluent rate.

Most reactors are way more powerful than most tank needs. So for example if you change your effluent rate from 30ml/min to 40ml/min I doubt your potency will change much. If you go from 30ml/min to like 300ml/min then maybe it will (BRS recently did a vid on this, and it showed that most reactors are good at maintaining potency over a wide range of effluent rates).

It sounds like your bubble rate is fine. Unless you are doing the "Method A" it isnt really that critical. Here is a video for Method A that seems to be popular:

My method of running my reactor is:
-20lb co2 tank with carbon doser set to 5psi and 1bubble per second
-milwakee ph controller set to 6.6ph which controls the carbon doser being on or off.
-paristaltic pump set up PULLING through reactor and currently set to 24ml/min.

I'll admit I've been testing alk way more this go round of changes than when I first set it up, and that's obviously s good thing. I'm confident that my current settings are holding stable as I check 3 to 4 times a day, every day, and get same results each time over last two weeks.

About your mention of the planaria, I agree I've been sucking them out and then I figured like you that better now than later about running FWE, this however gets hindered by something else I have brewing in the mind which I will elaborate on later.

Tonight I will post more pictures of the current shape of the tank and my test results and provide a more in depth update to things currently on my mind, and future planned changes in the sump room.

For now it's time to ride dirtbikes n shoot some targets to get that last bit of lingering stress out

Thank you ALL so much, you guys seriously have helped me turn my stress around and realize that this isnt the end of the world and I can just take a deep breath and take some methodical steps to correcting what IS a truly gorgeous tank. I'm confident I will have a stunning reef in here in time!

 

[Mshort03]

I do not believe it would be harmful but, being so close to the ICP results, I would simply wait.

BTW - did you test for any stray voltage?

That's kind of what I was thinking. Not to make another change till I atleast have some more info on hand.

No I have not checked for stray voltage, I will bring my meter home tomorrow and do that.

 

[Mshort03]

So fun list of events over last 3 days.. first let's start with sunday night, I get home decide were gunna do a water change for well...obvious reasons. So I go to do that and find that my water station pump has siezed up. It's an eflux 3100 which is supposed to be able to run externally but i guess that coupled with the 90 degree, or slightly under garage temp, may have pushed it over the edge.
I bring it to work tuesday and take it all apart and am able to free it up, so i clean it and get it all back together and come home to install it. Get it installed, doesnt wanna start right away but after a few angry smacks to the back of it it finally fires up. Sweet! Let's get that water change going!
Except for when I go to test the salinity I find that my milwakee refractometer is no longer working. It had been giving me some issues recently and i Tried multiple times and it just was toast. Great, kick me while I'm down. Now I have to wait to order a new one before I can proceed any further on the Hope's for a water change.
As I clear the glass on the display, which I dont even want to look at, I find that I'm now up to 90% sps affected and I'd say about 30% have completely finished dieing. Sweet.

Tonight my buddy comes over for us to discuss this weekends planned move... I need to get the water storage into the room. The garage is simply too hot to have them out there and also in the winter I'm gunna be running heaters non stop to keep them from freezing and up to temp...this just adds to the power that I'm already using too much of. So plan is to raise the 125 frag system up higher and I'll get the 165 tote and a new 105g tote in room under 125 so now all water and fish stuff will be in one place. This will also free up that cubby at the front of the room in the garage for more storage since uk..I took up half my garage almost with this giant sump room build. -__-

Then I come in and say ok well let's go ahead and test see where we are at. Check alk and it has jumped back up to 10. AWESOME. Obviously this is due to the corals dieing off but geez it gets quite difficult trying to decide on changes with this reactor. I really miss the simplicity of 2 part. My frag system is on it and it's doing great and I havent touched the thing since it started running.. the reactor on the other hand seems to be needing "constant" tweaking.

The paristaltic pump is also found to be defective so I'm starting a warranty claim with that but with my method of purchase (got it brand new at cost through lfs as part of a trade deal we had worked out..long story) I'm wondering if I'm gunna have any luck even tho its 5 months old. What's happening is over time it will creep up in setting. Normally it would sit fine but noe its creeping up in dose...like I set it to 24 and it bumps to 25, bump it back down then it bumps back up after a bit. Yesterday I got home it was at friggin 28! Certainly not helping things and I'm sure that also contributed to the spike of 10dkh this second time.

I've also noticed that my chaeto is REALLY dying back.. it's like 1/4 of what I used to have. The display fuge seems to have slowed down growth as well over last month or so but it is still growing.

Seems like no matter what I do or what steps I try to take, every single thing is completely fighting me and I dont know why. I took my method I used on my 90 and basically super sized it. Tried to be simple as possible. (Besides switching to reactor) used to have a tank I was crazy proud of, and now I'm searching for even a thread of happiness from a tank that was supposed to be my "dream build"

More like a 25k dollar grey hair producer.

 

[Mshort03]

Enjoy..

 

[crusso1993]

So fun list of events over last 3 days.. first let's start with sunday night, I get home decide were gunna do a water change for well...obvious reasons. So I go to do that and find that my water station pump has siezed up. It's an eflux 3100 which is supposed to be able to run externally but i guess that coupled with the 90 degree, or slightly under garage temp, may have pushed it over the edge.
I bring it to work tuesday and take it all apart and am able to free it up, so i clean it and get it all back together and come home to install it. Get it installed, doesnt wanna start right away but after a few angry smacks to the back of it it finally fires up. Sweet! Let's get that water change going!
Except for when I go to test the salinity I find that my milwakee refractometer is no longer working. It had been giving me some issues recently and i Tried multiple times and it just was toast. Great, kick me while I'm down. Now I have to wait to order a new one before I can proceed any further on the Hope's for a water change.
As I clear the glass on the display, which I dont even want to look at, I find that I'm now up to 90% sps affected and I'd say about 30% have completely finished dieing. Sweet.

Tonight my buddy comes over for us to discuss this weekends planned move... I need to get the water storage into the room. The garage is simply too hot to have them out there and also in the winter I'm gunna be running heaters non stop to keep them from freezing and up to temp...this just adds to the power that I'm already using too much of. So plan is to raise the 125 frag system up higher and I'll get the 165 tote and a new 105g tote in room under 125 so now all water and fish stuff will be in one place. This will also free up that cubby at the front of the room in the garage for more storage since uk..I took up half my garage almost with this giant sump room build. -__-

Then I come in and say ok well let's go ahead and test see where we are at. Check alk and it has jumped back up to 10. AWESOME. Obviously this is due to the corals dieing off but geez it gets quite difficult trying to decide on changes with this reactor. I really miss the simplicity of 2 part. My frag system is on it and it's doing great and I havent touched the thing since it started running.. the reactor on the other hand seems to be needing "constant" tweaking.

The paristaltic pump is also found to be defective so I'm starting a warranty claim with that but with my method of purchase (got it brand new at cost through lfs as part of a trade deal we had worked out..long story) I'm wondering if I'm gunna have any luck even tho its 5 months old. What's happening is over time it will creep up in setting. Normally it would sit fine but noe its creeping up in dose...like I set it to 24 and it bumps to 25, bump it back down then it bumps back up after a bit. Yesterday I got home it was at friggin 28! Certainly not helping things and I'm sure that also contributed to the spike of 10dkh this second time.

I've also noticed that my chaeto is REALLY dying back.. it's like 1/4 of what I used to have. The display fuge seems to have slowed down growth as well over last month or so but it is still growing.

Seems like no matter what I do or what steps I try to take, every single thing is completely fighting me and I dont know why. I took my method I used on my 90 and basically super sized it. Tried to be simple as possible. (Besides switching to reactor) used to have a tank I was crazy proud of, and now I'm searching for even a thread of happiness from a tank that was supposed to be my "dream build"

More like a 25k dollar grey hair producer.

Whoa! Some bad luck going on. Hang tough as tough times don't last but tough people do.

 

[NeverlosT]

I'd stop dosing anything immediately. Just do water changes. Bring your water to a shop to have SG tested and do water changes or buy water from a shop to do water changes to get it done sooner.

Your SPS will not be growing right now so your tank does not need dosing until growth resumes (the coral growth tips are dead). Whether dosing 2 part or using a calcium reactor isn't the problem, dosing alkalinity into a tank not consuming alkalinity is the problem.

When you buy a new refractometer buy a backup as well (ideally a different one) to check your first tester. (even if it is just a cheap amazon manual refractometer)

Bummed to hear about your water station pump! Agh that is un-needed stress, but it sounds like you got through it.

Simplify everything and you'll be right as rain in no time. Just run filter socks, skim, do water changes, and let the system recover. Once your daily testing shows that alkalinity is dropping a lot every day (below 7dKh) then consider very limited manual kalk dosing to buffer it up. Once the need for buffering becomes regular, fire the CARX back up.

 

[Mshort03]

So some things are happening..

Will update later with full pics and description of sump room redesign. Display is still doing bad, but I've accepted it and look at it as a reason to change a few problems I've noticed with rockwork and such..that will be coming over the next couple weeks. It will be kind of a "restart" without a full blown rebuild if you get me..I will also be downsizing my water station and moving it in the room so heating/cooling issues solved and plus more storage in garage. The more I think of it I really dont need 500gallons of extra water on hand...200 should suffice for my needs. I'm getting my my icp results are scanned and says I should have them in a day or two.

For now it's back to work gunna be a long day but I'm excited with the positive changes that are being made so I look forward to showing you all what I've decided later when its finished

 

[Mshort03]

Few updated pics of the room. Still not complete but will be finished by end of weekend. Spent a lot of time thinking of things as to how I can move this around for the LAST and most efficient time. I raised 125, turned and modified sump, and plumbed in a 40b tank for frags eventually. I will also have the water containers in room under 125. Will post more pics up when I'm totally done. I ordered new ocean revives for over the frag tank and 125, the t5 was nice but just too much heat in this room. I've already noticed the ac is on wayyy less than before.

Temp using reefbrite strip till revives come in

Now about the more serious note.. I got my icp back. I have high tin and aluminum...but from where????? No mariepure in system, did have a gyre 3k in cryptic tank that I took out after realizing they have exposed magnets..but I read something about them that they dont corrode? Idk.. I'll be ordering a ton of cuprisorb I guess right?

Triton Lab Showroom - Explore this water test results and click on the image above.

Someone wants to show you the water test results and shared this link to the evaluation. Click on the image above to explore the water test results.

www.triton-lab.de

 

[crusso1993]

Few updated pics of the room. Still not complete but will be finished by end of weekend. Spent a lot of time thinking of things as to how I can move this around for the LAST and most efficient time. I raised 125, turned and modified sump, and plumbed in a 40b tank for frags eventually. I will also have the water containers in room under 125. Will post more pics up when I'm totally done. I ordered new ocean revives for over the frag tank and 125, the t5 was nice but just too much heat in this room. I've already noticed the ac is on wayyy less than before.

Temp using reefbrite strip till revives come in

Now about the more serious note.. I got my icp back. I have high tin and aluminum...but from where????? No mariepure in system, did have a gyre 3k in cryptic tank that I took out after realizing they have exposed magnets..but I read something about them that they dont corrode? Idk.. I'll be ordering a ton of cuprisorb I guess right?

Triton Lab Showroom - Explore this water test results and click on the image above.

Someone wants to show you the water test results and shared this link to the evaluation. Click on the image above to explore the water test results.

www.triton-lab.de

High tin and aluminum? How high are they? As you know, I've followed along since you started this build and I'm also trying to figure out where the tin and aluminum could be entering your system.

 

[Mshort03]

High tin and aluminum? How high are they? As you know, I've followed along since you started this build and I'm also trying to figure out where the tin and aluminum could be entering your system.

My lab results are linked at the bottom of my comment I posted (prob looks like an ad on new R2R) AL was 118 Sn was 27.. I dont know what these numbers mean but it says they were elevated. I too am wonder where it could have come from.. I am reading that pvc can leach these when new as they are used as a stabilizer during pvc pruduction..with how much pipe I have on this system (prob about 200 pipe feet) I guess that's a possibility? Only thing questionable found was the magnets on the gyre but I'm pretty sure they dont contain those metals..but again I dont know. I ordered a ton of cuprisorb and will do massive amounts of water changes over next moth and see if we can turn this around..

I'm glad to have gotten an answer...kinda.. but still scratching my head as to how..if I dont find anything else I'll chalk it up to the pvc thing and send another test in 2 months to see where it sits. Hopefully someone else can chime in and offer some better insight than I've come up with on my own.

 

[Mshort03]

My only thing with the pvc theory is why 4-5 months later? Took that long to leach out to these levels? Hmm..

 

[vetteguy53081]

Oh no/ a lot of loss. ……………………………… but where there is loss, there is rebound.
I would do a Major water change allowing new salt and elements to replace addiitives and CA dosing until things get tweaked and figured out.