SeaDweller
2500 Club Member
So there are a few issues I'm battling and need help.
My 240 tank is well over 2.5-3 years old, the rock is anywhere from 10-14 years old (my own rock from 2005 on up). It's an upgrade from my old 125 into a 240, which began in 2016. It was a mixed reef but sps dominant and was on cruise control for about 8-10 months before a crash in 2017 and then life happened and became tang tank mainly. There are 8 tangs in there amongst some other smaller fish. So some water changes were done here and there but not as consistent as when it was in its prime. So in order to get it ready for SPS again, it's going to get a mini revamp to get the parameters back on par:
1) Alk is consistently 11.2, obviously with no sps nothing is really using up Alk and Ca, and it's been like this for a good month. What can I do to lower the Alk WITH fish in it?
2) NO3 is at least 100 on salifert. I have a sulfur denitrator hooked up, getting sulfur media delivered today from BRS. So will set this up. What else can I do to lower my nitrates, besides a huge water change? Or will the sulfur reactor take care of this?
I plan on doing another 40-50 gallon water change using fritz salt this week.
I blame my crash on my filter media being depleted quicker than I knew of as the ASO valve to my BRS unit wasn't shutting off the RODI unit, maybe lack of pressure, so water was constantly circulating thru the system, topping off with that water maybe lead to my crash in 2017.
Those are the two main things I see affecting my tank. I have a 60 cube set up for some acro frags and using old tank water to achieve 5 ppm NO3 in the frag tank and the rest being new water and some LR, all the frags are doing well.
Any help is appreciated.
My 240 tank is well over 2.5-3 years old, the rock is anywhere from 10-14 years old (my own rock from 2005 on up). It's an upgrade from my old 125 into a 240, which began in 2016. It was a mixed reef but sps dominant and was on cruise control for about 8-10 months before a crash in 2017 and then life happened and became tang tank mainly. There are 8 tangs in there amongst some other smaller fish. So some water changes were done here and there but not as consistent as when it was in its prime. So in order to get it ready for SPS again, it's going to get a mini revamp to get the parameters back on par:
1) Alk is consistently 11.2, obviously with no sps nothing is really using up Alk and Ca, and it's been like this for a good month. What can I do to lower the Alk WITH fish in it?
2) NO3 is at least 100 on salifert. I have a sulfur denitrator hooked up, getting sulfur media delivered today from BRS. So will set this up. What else can I do to lower my nitrates, besides a huge water change? Or will the sulfur reactor take care of this?
I plan on doing another 40-50 gallon water change using fritz salt this week.
I blame my crash on my filter media being depleted quicker than I knew of as the ASO valve to my BRS unit wasn't shutting off the RODI unit, maybe lack of pressure, so water was constantly circulating thru the system, topping off with that water maybe lead to my crash in 2017.
Those are the two main things I see affecting my tank. I have a 60 cube set up for some acro frags and using old tank water to achieve 5 ppm NO3 in the frag tank and the rest being new water and some LR, all the frags are doing well.
Any help is appreciated.
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