Nano Tank Struggles

[Gk5321]

I have a 9 gallon reef tank that I obsess over a bit too much. I have dumped way too much money into the thing (although I know I could do more if I had the space). I’ll try and keep this brief but basically I need some pointers getting to the next level with sps. Personally, I think my numbers are spot on (see below) and there’s very little if any significant fluctuations. I think, if anything, my biggest issue is low nutrients. I have a lot of corals in the tank and the most sensitive by far is a green planet acro. Initially it grew well, then receded. I thought it was STN but it’s stopped. The coral though still goes through some tissue loss on the tip’s occasionally and hasn’t really grown since the big loss. Everything else is doing okay minus a bit lackluster colors on a few. The tank has been setup with coral for about 9 months and things are starting to mature (tons of coralline growth and healthy/stable populations of copepods and amphipods). There are no swings and I test ~2-3 times a week (Ca, Alk, Mag, NO3, PO4, salinity). I’m very scared to change anything and have a disaster. I believe it is just a nutrient issue but I feed what I believe is already way too much and I don’t want to change my cleaning routine and mess something up.

Equipment and Filtration:
Powerhead: 2 nero 3’s
Return pump: 500 gph
Lighting: XR15 blue set to 48% running 8 hours
Dosing: Red sea 4x dosing pump
Skimmer: Reef glass (running 24/7)
Filter media: filter floss (changed 3x per week), bio balls, carbon (changed monthly)

Levels:
Calcium: 450 ppm (Salifert)
Magnesium: 1300 ppm (Salifert)
Alkalinity: 8.3 dkh (+/- 0.3 throughout the day) (Salifert)
PO4: 0.00 ppm - 0.03 ppm by the time I change water (20% weekly with Red Sea pro salt) (Salifert)
NO3: 0 ppm - 0.06 ppm (Salifert and Hannah)
Salinity: 1.025-1.026 (fluctuates a bit becuase the float switches suck for tiny tanks)

Also, I’d be happy to fill in any blanks if I’ve left anything out. I’m just frustrated and want some input. Apologies for ranting.

I should also add that the tank is approximately 7 gallons of water.

 

[Hairyteeth]

How old is the tank?

 

[Gk5321]

How old is the tank?

It’s been running a little over a year and had coral for about 8 months and I added most in the last 5 or so.

If it helps conjure any ideas, I started everything from dry rock and the tank is barebottom. I added all the micro critters myself (copepods, amphipods, micro stars, bristle worms) slowly. Everything gets dipped before going in the tank and I’ve never seen signs of any bugs.

 

[Gk5321]

One more thing I left out, I had ICP testing done and the only thing off was iodine. I haven’t dosed it though becuase I have no idea how to test for it.

 

[Hairyteeth]

I run a very similar system, just slightly bigger. From what I’ve noticed the low nutrients don’t help and make things more susceptible to dying with slight water changes which can be easy with miss dosing, large water changes or just about anything else that creates a slight parameter shift…
Lately I’ve been dosing nutrients to try and get away from my ulns ways…but I’m new to this and my tank is as well so I wont speak to this.
I will say that you system is one year old and probably just getting to that sweet spot for biodiversity so sps and harder corals will suddenly become much easier, but maybe not all the way there
I also went to much smaller water changes as they can shock the system
Just remember is a nano and it’s easy to tick off, and **** happens lol am we see a pic?

 

[Gk5321]

I run a very similar system, just slightly bigger. From what I’ve noticed the low nutrients don’t help and make things more susceptible to dying with slight water changes which can be easy with miss dosing, large water changes or just about anything else that creates a slight parameter shift…
Lately I’ve been dosing nutrients to try and get away from my ulns ways…but I’m new to this and my tank is as well so I wont speak to this.
I will say that you system is one year old and probably just getting to that sweet spot for biodiversity so sps and harder corals will suddenly become much easier, but maybe not all the way there
I also went to much smaller water changes as they can shock the system
Just remember is a nano and it’s easy to tick off, and **** happens lol am we see a pic?

I may start dosing nutrients as well I’m just nervous to do anything different. I’ll try smaller water changes though that sounds like a safe suggestion.

Yeah of course! Your tank looks great. I don’t have many pictures. One of these is before I placed some stuff permanently. The problem acro (my canary I guess) is glued to the back wall of the tank. The fastest growing coral I have is the green digi. Everything else besides that green planet seem okay beyond maybe color. It definitely puts me off getting more acros though.

Also, I upgraded (back to) the Nero’s. I pulled them out becuase they were very glitchy and I decided to mess with them again and they seem to be working.

 

[V A R I A N T]

pH fluctuations? Do you carbon dose or add any bacteria supplements like MB7? Do the corals look fluffy/full/wet with polyps extended, or pale/dry with little polyp extension? P04 and N03 are lower than I like but every tank is different.

 

[Gk5321]

pH fluctuations? Do you carbon dose or add any bacteria supplements like MB7? Do the corals look fluffy/full/wet with polyps extended, or pale/dry with little polyp extension? P04 and N03 are lower than I like but every tank is different.

I don’t test ph often (maybe once every 2 weeks) every test it comes out to 8.3 though. I have been wanting add some smart controllers to the tank so I can monitor those things continuously but I honestly have no more space.

I don’t dose carbon beyond putting in chemipure blue once a month. I also haven’t used any bacteria supplements before. Polyp extension is good even on the acro with burnt tips. Hopefully you can see on my horrible pictures. I added a picture of a green slimer experiment. I’m seeing if it’ll grow on the bottom glass. So far it’s doing okay. It also did a weird tissue thing (see bluish spot) the other day but everything grew back already. I added this coral about a month ago so I don’t know if it’s really anything to look into. The green planner has been in the tank since May.

 

[Hairyteeth]

Everything looks really good in your tank!! Great job!!

 

[Gk5321]

Everything looks really good in your tank!! Great job!!

Thank you! I think it’s okay, could be better but maybe it’s just a time and patients thing. I wish that dang acro would stop burning its tips though lol.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Your parameters are not spot on. Your alk is too high for 0.00-03 po4. Stop the chemi pure blue. It is over stripping your water for what I can only assume is a very low bio-load. Do you have any fish in there? Stop using Red Sea pro. It has an alk of 11-12. Switch to the RS blue bucket. Have you checked your par? 48% on a xr 15 sounds high for a less than 10g nano.

 

[Gk5321]

Your parameters are not spot on. Your alk is too high for 0.00-03 po4. Stop the chemi pure blue. It is over stripping your water for what I can only assume is a very low bio-load. Do you have any fish in there? Stop using Red Sea pro. It has an alk of 11-12. Switch to the RS blue bucket. Have you checked your par? 48% on a xr 15 sounds high for a less than 10g nano.

Oops, I use blue, I have a clown (yes I know it’s too small of a tank) and a blood shrimp. I’ll stop using the chemi pure. I’ve checked the par. It ranges from 150-300 and the highest is 450 on the very bottom with how I have the light placed. That’s why I have the green slimer on the bottom of the tank. What should I run my alk at?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Oops, I use blue, I have a clown (yes I know it’s too small of a tank) and a blood shrimp. I’ll stop using the chemi pure. I’ve checked the par. It ranges from 150-300 and the highest is 450 on the very bottom with how I have the light placed. That’s why I have the green slimer on the bottom of the tank. What should I run my alk at?

6.5-7.
I would only run my skimmer for 12 hours if I were you. Leave the skimmer off when the lights are ON

 

[Gk5321]

6.5-7.
I would only run my skimmer for 12 hours if I were you. Leave the skimmer off when the lights are ON

Try one thing at a time? Lower alk slowly the. Start some skimmer of time? Thank you by the way. I’m trying to get to the next stage of reef keeping. I feel like I’m almost at the next step.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Try one thing at a time? Lower alk slowly the. Start some skimmer of time? Thank you by the way. I’m trying to get to the next stage of reef keeping. I feel like I’m almost at the next step.

I’m not a believer in don’t “correct” too much too fast. Change it if it needs to be changed. Don’t worry about “alk swing”paranoia, especially if you’re lowering it.

 

[Gk5321]

I’m not a believer in don’t “correct” too much too fast. Change it if it needs to be changed. Don’t worry about “alk swing”paranoia, especially if you’re lowering it.

Your tank looks great. I wish I had room for a Neptune. I’ve tried convincing my wife to let me put it on a shelf above the tank but that was a no go.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Your tank looks great. I wish I had room for a Neptune. I’ve tried convincing my wife to let me put it on a shelf above the tank but that was a no go.

I have mine in a side cabinet that “kinda matches the tank. I think it was meant to be a medicine/bathroom wall cabinet. I’ll send a pic later

 

[Gk5321]

I have mine in a side cabinet that “kinda matches the tank. I think it was meant to be a medicine/bathroom wall cabinet. I’ll send a pic later

Thank you!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Your tank looks great. I wish I had room for a Neptune. I’ve tried convincing my wife to let me put it on a shelf above the tank but that was a no go.

Just in case you’re thinking “ hey…. your alk is higher than 8”. You can run higher alk with higher nutrients

 

[Gk5321]

Just in case you’re thinking “ hey…. your alk is higher than 8”. You can run higher alk with higher nutrients

yeah, I have been slowly trying to increase nutrients but I’m honestly more scared of that then lowering alk. I’m going to try both in concert I just feel like I’m feeding the tank a **** ton of food and nothing happens. I add around 1/4 of a cube of frozen mysis, ~2 ml of phyto daily and a small amount of reef roids and some other powdered food I can’t remember 3 times a week. I was dosing amino acids too but I forgot to keep up with that.