Good Afternoon fellow reefers. I have been reading the threads and can't see to locate my scenario.
2 year old 125 gallon system with dual 30 gallon sumps - Roller Mat in one and Chaeto, live rock, shrimp (because the Wrasses eat them if put in DT) and some hermit crabs along with the snails that find their way down the overflows
Roughly 100lbs of live rock in DT and 2-3" sand bed
20ish fish - ranging from clown gobies to an 8" Sailfin Tang
66 varieties of corals (all frags and mini colonies) - most demonstrating growth
0 coralline algae
Feeding the fish 5 cubes frozen daily plus Nori
Feeding the corals Red Sea AB+ twice a week, phytoplankton and zooplankton 3 times a week, target feed mysis and brine once a week (just took the reef roids out the mixture because I know they can elevate Phosphates)
Dosing ATI Essentials PRO with additional magnesium via dosing pump
Dosing Kalkwasser via dosing pump
ATO adds about 2 gallons of RO/DI water daily via drip set-up
25 gallon water change once a month
Lights are Qmaven ii LEDS mounted 15" above the water surface
2 Maxspect Gyres running OGC at max of 50%
Both return pumps are 1200 GPH
There is alot of turbulent water flow in the tank
Testing as of 5/15/21
Temp 77.9 (it's 81 today)
Salinity 1.025 (refractometer - verify calibration weekly)
ph 8.0 (Hanna)
Calcium 489 (Hanna)
Magnesium 1320 (Red Sea)
Alk 9.072 (Hanna)
Nitrate 2.41 (Hanna)
Phosphate .1 (Hanna)
Iodine .06 (Salifert - brand new kit)
Strontium undetectable despite dosing 1 cup total per week (Salifert - brand new kit)
Nitrates were around 23 before adding the roller mat and switching from ATS to Chaeto - we made the changes because despite regular harvesting of the ATS (every 2 days) and changing filter socks every 2 days also the nitrates continued to climb
My corals are mostly happy except the Trachy which has not inflated since the Nitrate drop - I try feeding it after lights out and still nothing. We lost a Symphillia after the nitrate drop - the skin just started disintegrating off of it.
5/21 Nitrates 1.25 Phosphate .21 dosed NeoNitro to (supposedly) raise Nitrates by 5ppm
5/22 Nitrates 2.07 Phosphate .20 - test done exactly 24 hours after 1st test
I get some film algae on the glass but other than that no discernable algae growth anywhere in the DT or sumps.
We have never been able to keep Xenia, toadstools, Kenyas, sinularia, etc alive. The GSP has barely grown.
We had an ATI test done just over a month ago and nothing hollered out as being a problem.
Any thoughts would be appreciated in regards to getting some nitrates back into the tank and getting the phosphates to go back down a bit.
2 year old 125 gallon system with dual 30 gallon sumps - Roller Mat in one and Chaeto, live rock, shrimp (because the Wrasses eat them if put in DT) and some hermit crabs along with the snails that find their way down the overflows
Roughly 100lbs of live rock in DT and 2-3" sand bed
20ish fish - ranging from clown gobies to an 8" Sailfin Tang
66 varieties of corals (all frags and mini colonies) - most demonstrating growth
0 coralline algae
Feeding the fish 5 cubes frozen daily plus Nori
Feeding the corals Red Sea AB+ twice a week, phytoplankton and zooplankton 3 times a week, target feed mysis and brine once a week (just took the reef roids out the mixture because I know they can elevate Phosphates)
Dosing ATI Essentials PRO with additional magnesium via dosing pump
Dosing Kalkwasser via dosing pump
ATO adds about 2 gallons of RO/DI water daily via drip set-up
25 gallon water change once a month
Lights are Qmaven ii LEDS mounted 15" above the water surface
2 Maxspect Gyres running OGC at max of 50%
Both return pumps are 1200 GPH
There is alot of turbulent water flow in the tank
Testing as of 5/15/21
Temp 77.9 (it's 81 today)
Salinity 1.025 (refractometer - verify calibration weekly)
ph 8.0 (Hanna)
Calcium 489 (Hanna)
Magnesium 1320 (Red Sea)
Alk 9.072 (Hanna)
Nitrate 2.41 (Hanna)
Phosphate .1 (Hanna)
Iodine .06 (Salifert - brand new kit)
Strontium undetectable despite dosing 1 cup total per week (Salifert - brand new kit)
Nitrates were around 23 before adding the roller mat and switching from ATS to Chaeto - we made the changes because despite regular harvesting of the ATS (every 2 days) and changing filter socks every 2 days also the nitrates continued to climb
My corals are mostly happy except the Trachy which has not inflated since the Nitrate drop - I try feeding it after lights out and still nothing. We lost a Symphillia after the nitrate drop - the skin just started disintegrating off of it.
5/21 Nitrates 1.25 Phosphate .21 dosed NeoNitro to (supposedly) raise Nitrates by 5ppm
5/22 Nitrates 2.07 Phosphate .20 - test done exactly 24 hours after 1st test
I get some film algae on the glass but other than that no discernable algae growth anywhere in the DT or sumps.
We have never been able to keep Xenia, toadstools, Kenyas, sinularia, etc alive. The GSP has barely grown.
We had an ATI test done just over a month ago and nothing hollered out as being a problem.
Any thoughts would be appreciated in regards to getting some nitrates back into the tank and getting the phosphates to go back down a bit.