You mentioned GFO; have the phosphate levels been relatively stable? Larger sudden drops (typical when the GFO is replaced) can add stress and lead to issues with your corals as well.
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Good points, and I have in the past some swings of parameters and made the corrections This has been going on for about a year now. In the past two months I have added corals with the same results. The system has been pretty steady except for the phosphates for the past 4 monthsI think that our tanks are microbial and bacterial complex systems that overtime find a balance of both good and bad pathogens. If there is stress added to the system that weakens either fish or corals I believe that the negative microbial or bacterial pathogens have a greater chance to take hold and cause havoc. Periodically I would lose montis to RTN after months of solid and rapid growth. When I noticed the RTN I would inevitably find my salinity or some other parameter way off and go about to correct it and would see the corals bounce back. For the past two months I was losing corals left and right! Both LSP and SPS in large numbers. I kept checking all my parameters and everything looked great! I began to notice flatworms in large numbers and a white film around the edges of my corals develop that would slowing kill them. After dipping, dosing, and a full tank reboot with no effect I thought I should check my refractometer. IT WAS OFF BY .07! My tank was sitting at .031-.032 for months! I slowly corrected the problem and the tank is now making a full recovery...
What should I do with the rock after it is pulled??there's nothing wrong with your params, we have algae challenges that present independent of params constantly. no, standing algae doesnt just absorb all nitrate and phosphate because some algae is there.
nobody with a standing ATS is exporting waste either, they have to be actively growing and removing/regrowing in order to cycle out the wastes. this tank hasn't been manually gardened, and that can fix it. I recommend we apply what works in big tank rework threads that have pics of tanks getting fixed to completion.
you should take out one single test rock. We do our will to it.
put it back among the others, this is harmless. I get full say over the test rock, you let others choose what the water and other rocks go through, we race to best looking compliant substrate, you upscale the winner to the whole tank. we waited five pages to test params, now everyone agrees they're good. hesitation ends, we should work a test rock correctly. here's the exact job no variation:
take out rock use kitchen knife tip to debride it off, roughly, like the CUC you wanted to be doing this all along. catch up.
the whole rock is tip-debrided into clarity. no more algae. it was rinsed off in saltwater only along the way. the entire test rock has zero target on it bc you spent an hour detailing it that well, excluding all invader with steel not hopes.
on the clean surface, apply peroxide 3% out of a bottle right on target, avoiding corals, hitting former growth spots. wait 3 mins
rinse in saltwater, put back.
chart this among all the other things going on that will take days, months and years to look like the test rock. reconsider any approach that led to this takeover, dont use that alternate method for sure until you're ready to experiment again.