New to R2R needs some encouragement

[lowandslowjoe]

Hello fellow reefers my name is Joey from ft Myers Florida and I’ve been in the hobby 4 years now. I’ve been through several ups and downs over the short few years but here lately I’ve been mentally down and out… I’ve always enjoyed the ocean and having a piece of it in my home has been great but here lately I’ve been battling hard with instability in my water chemistry and it has been severely frustrating. I joined this forum in hopes to learn and better understand reefing and make it less frustrating and stressful. I hear most are positive and encouraging here so I was hoping for a little bit of that. I’ve never been one to change things up but as for the last year I’ve been keeping a mixed reef and trying to keep a more sps dominated tank. My current set up has been up and running for about 3 years now with no major issues but here lately I’ve been struggling with parameter swings and it is something I’ve never dealt with until recently. I’m very old school and do everything manually besides having and auto top off and a protein skimmer. I have a custom built 70g all in one peninsula and the reason I went all in one is because at the time my children were very young and I was worried they would get into the sump one day so I decided on the all in one. Fast forward 3 years theyre bigger and know better than to mess with daddy’s tank so I have heavy regrets on not going with a sump system. With that being said my tank went A year or so very stable growing sps dosing only fusion 1 and 2 for alk and cal and ions for mag I dosed the same every day and never had issues until the last two months I’ve started to have coral slowly die off or pale out due to swings… I’ve been dosing more but it has made it far more inconsistent than it’s ever been and I’ve been pulling my hair out. I’ve never been good with figuring out the chemistry behind it all and it’s starting to get a bit overwhelming. I don’t want to be a sis and give up because I’ve never been that type but lately it’s been giving me a run for my money. I would love some tips and positive encouragement to keep me from going mad… attached are some photos from a month or so ago will post updated photos tomorrow

70g, 2 ice cap gyres, protein skimmer, reef breeders photon v2, ato

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family!

 

[lowandslowjoe]

Hello fellow reefers my name is Joey from ft Myers Florida and I’ve been in the hobby 4 years now. I’ve been through several ups and downs over the short few years but here lately I’ve been mentally down and out… I’ve always enjoyed the ocean and having a piece of it in my home has been great but here lately I’ve been battling hard with instability in my water chemistry and it has been severely frustrating. I joined this forum in hopes to learn and better understand reefing and make it less frustrating and stressful. I hear most are positive and encouraging here so I was hoping for a little bit of that. I’ve never been one to change things up but as for the last year I’ve been keeping a mixed reef and trying to keep a more sps dominated tank. My current set up has been up and running for about 3 years now with no major issues but here lately I’ve been struggling with parameter swings and it is something I’ve never dealt with until recently. I’m very old school and do everything manually besides having and auto top off and a protein skimmer. I have a custom built 70g all in one peninsula and the reason I went all in one is because at the time my children were very young and I was worried they would get into the sump one day so I decided on the all in one. Fast forward 3 years theyre bigger and know better than to mess with daddy’s tank so I have heavy regrets on not going with a sump system. With that being said my tank went A year or so very stable growing sps dosing only fusion 1 and 2 for alk and cal and ions for mag I dosed the same every day and never had issues until the last two months I’ve started to have coral slowly die off or pale out due to swings… I’ve been dosing more but it has made it far more inconsistent than it’s ever been and I’ve been pulling my hair out. I’ve never been good with figuring out the chemistry behind it all and it’s starting to get a bit overwhelming. I don’t want to be a sis and give up because I’ve never been that type but lately it’s been giving me a run for my money. I would love some tips and positive encouragement to keep me from going mad… attached are some photos from a month or so ago will post updated photos tomorrow

70g, 2 ice cap gyres, protein skimmer, reef breeders photon v2, ato

Well I decided to take pictures tonight and post them… this is how it looks today before lights out

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[CO2TLEY]

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Welcome.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

a warm welcome! i dont have answers for you but im sure someone here does! hang in there!

 

[VintageReefer]

As corals grow, and as corals are added, the amount you dose will need to change

You may want to look into All for Reef - it’s an all in one additive that maintains / replenishes Alk, Ca, Magnesium, and trace elements, all in a single liquid

You get all your param good…then figure out your daily alk drop, then use that to figure out the AFR daily dosage

Then you just test weekly or monthly and see if your dosage is correct. If numbers are slowly going up/down you adjust the dosage and you will find your sweeet spot that keeps everything stable and good

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Welcome to Reef2reef!

 

[paragrouper]

 

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R! It would probably useful if you could post your parameters, and maybe the previous set. Along with that a little more information on what corals have been stressed/died and anything else you notice different in the tank (more or less algae, fish or invert deaths, more or less skimate, etc.). I'm sure people here can help or at least provide some insights for further exploration. We all, or at least almost all, experience set backs from time to time. Don't give up hope it does get better again.

 

[X-37B]

Hello fellow reefers my name is Joey from ft Myers Florida and I’ve been in the hobby 4 years now. I’ve been through several ups and downs over the short few years but here lately I’ve been mentally down and out… I’ve always enjoyed the ocean and having a piece of it in my home has been great but here lately I’ve been battling hard with instability in my water chemistry and it has been severely frustrating. I joined this forum in hopes to learn and better understand reefing and make it less frustrating and stressful. I hear most are positive and encouraging here so I was hoping for a little bit of that. I’ve never been one to change things up but as for the last year I’ve been keeping a mixed reef and trying to keep a more sps dominated tank. My current set up has been up and running for about 3 years now with no major issues but here lately I’ve been struggling with parameter swings and it is something I’ve never dealt with until recently. I’m very old school and do everything manually besides having and auto top off and a protein skimmer. I have a custom built 70g all in one peninsula and the reason I went all in one is because at the time my children were very young and I was worried they would get into the sump one day so I decided on the all in one. Fast forward 3 years theyre bigger and know better than to mess with daddy’s tank so I have heavy regrets on not going with a sump system. With that being said my tank went A year or so very stable growing sps dosing only fusion 1 and 2 for alk and cal and ions for mag I dosed the same every day and never had issues until the last two months I’ve started to have coral slowly die off or pale out due to swings… I’ve been dosing more but it has made it far more inconsistent than it’s ever been and I’ve been pulling my hair out. I’ve never been good with figuring out the chemistry behind it all and it’s starting to get a bit overwhelming. I don’t want to be a sis and give up because I’ve never been that type but lately it’s been giving me a run for my money. I would love some tips and positive encouragement to keep me from going mad… attached are some photos from a month or so ago will post updated photos tomorrow

70g, 2 ice cap gyres, protein skimmer, reef breeders photon v2, ato

Welcome!
What are your parameters you keep your tank at?
You need a range for each and then focus on keeping them in range.
You always dose based on your useage.
What do you test for and how often is a good place to start so we can give you better answers?

 

[Eric R.]

Welcome!

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[strich]

Welcome!

Your tank and even the room its in looks fantastic! Make sure to kick off a build thread so we can follow along.

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board. hello from PA!

 

[Nano_Man]

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome Joey!

 

[LadyMac]

Welcome!

 

[danimal1211]

Welcome!