Parameter issues

[FishShed]

Hello we have a 80 gal peninsula display tank with a 20 gal sump. It has been set up and running since last August. In February we had some major pump issues that caused a crash in the system. Since getting the pumps fixed and letting the tank cycle we have been having issues getting our alkalinity and calcium back into ideal parameters. Some of our corals are super happy and others are not. The ones unhappy are our pulsing xenia, kenya tree, some mushrooms and some zoas. Other zoas and mushrooms are super happy. Our frogspawn, hammer, acan, galaxia, and blastos were unhappy for about a week but have been happy since. We had a minor battle with cyano but solved that as well. We have no ammonia, nitrite, or phosphate in the tank . Our Nitrate is reading at 10ppm, Alkalinity is at 7.29, Calcium is at 315, and Magnesium is at 1363. We dose kalkwasser and esv b-ionic calcium buffer. Attached a few photos... warning they are very blue. We didn't have our photo filters at the time.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

i think you will have problems with no phos. have you checked your temp and salinity too?

 

[Screwgunner]

Calcium is to low 400 to 450

 

[Shirak]

I agree with @smitten with ocean life to confirm your salinity before you make changes. With low alk, Ca and Mg it could be low salinity. No phosphate and low nitrates will not help either.

 

[FishShed]

Salinity has been stable @ 1.025 temp between 77.5-78.6

 

[Uncle99]

When the tank crashed, it would take many months of stability to return to normal.

Some concern of “letting the tank cycle” which is an initial stage…..did the crash put you that far back?

Or was the pump problem more like a small hiccup?

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Nitrate and phosphate will be your issues with soft corals here. They need nutrients in the system and without it will start shrinking and dying. Showing 0 phosphate will for sure affect your corals and id recommend dosing or feeding a food with phosphate such a pellet or flake foods to assist.

 

[FishShed]

When the tank crashed, it would take many months of stability to return to normal.

Some concern of “letting the tank cycle” which is an initial stage…..did the crash put you that far back?

Or was the pump problem more like a small hiccup?

The pump problem happened during some deeper tank maintenance (while using chemiclean treatment to help with lingering cyano) I believe since it happened during that process it simply killed all the bacteria in the tank good and bad instead of what it was ment to do. We very quickly after saw all small life (copepods, and small snails) die in the tank and sump. We have been in the recovery process since then. In the beginning after the small life dropped out the only coral that was quickly affected was our one frag of pocillopora, all the lps and soft stuff was fine and then slowly started going the other way. Now the only things that look ok are the lps (acan, hammer, and octospawn) it was more concerning cause the simple stuff started getting worse (xinia, Kenya tree, and Zoa’s) though most of the cycling stage is done once again.

 

[Uncle99]

The pump problem happened during some deeper tank maintenance (while using chemiclean treatment to help with lingering cyano) I believe since it happened during that process it simply killed all the bacteria in the tank good and bad instead of what it was ment to do. We very quickly after saw all small life (copepods, and small snails) die in the tank and sump. We have been in the recovery process since then. In the beginning after the small life dropped out the only coral that was quickly affected was our one frag of pocillopora, all the lps and soft stuff was fine and then slowly started going the other way. Now the only things that look ok are the lps (acan, hammer, and octospawn) it was more concerning cause the simple stuff started getting worse (xinia, Kenya tree, and Zoa’s) though most of the cycling stage is done once again.

I agree 100% with your assessment.
It should come back more quickly this time.

 

[Shirak]

Salinity has been stable @ 1.025 temp between 77.5-78.6

How are you measuring and calibrating?

 

[FishShed]

How are you measuring and calibrating?

Hanna salinity checker, and apex pro for the temp plus basic thermometer in the display and sump to confirm

 

[Shirak]

Hanna salinity checker, and apex pro for the temp plus basic thermometer in the display and sump to confirm

I threw my hanna salinity checker out. It was all over the place even after calibrating with the solution. Can you confirm some other way? Or LFS? Really odd to have alk, Ca, Mg low when I don't see a lot of stony corals. How often are you doing water changes and which salt?

 

[Shirak]

Here is an idea to at least confirm your Hanna is working correctly. DIY conductivity standard with table salt, RODI, and an electronic scale. Scroll down to almost the bottom to get the recipe for the conductivity standard.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/reef-aquarium-salinity-diy-calibration-standards.956/ You can also use it to calibrate. Much cheaper than buying commercial solutions which I have found to be questionable at times.

 

[FishShed]

I threw my hanna salinity checker out. It was all over the place even after calibrating with the solution. Can you confirm some other way? Or LFS? Really odd to have alk, Ca, Mg low when I don't see a lot of stony corals. How often are you doing water changes and which salt?

I’ve checked it against my refractometer and hydrometer and all three read the same. Doing water changes once a week about 10-15g

 

[Shirak]

I’ve checked it against my refractometer and hydrometer and all three read the same. Doing water changes once a week about 10-15g

Have you ran tests on some recently mixed saltwater?

 

[FishShed]

Have you ran tests on some recently mixed saltwater?

When mixing yes, its checked near 1.024-1.025 before performing water changes. However we have not checked other parameters in fresh mixed salt before water changes. However we did recently change from using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt to the regular Red Sea Salt mix in the blue bag, for storage purposes, premixed for multiple tanks.

 

[FishShed]

Small update.... our parameters are staying level for not but we have this buildup in the sump. It's almost like a hardened film on the walls and some of our pumps. We have been cleaning the pumps more frequently but we are unsure where the build up is coming from.