Parameter questions

[Saltywaters]

I’m looking for some help.

My mixed reef tank has been up and running around 8 months now.
75 gallon Aqueon with a 40 breeder sump.
I have a mixed reef at the moment from softies to lps.
I just started to test my parameters to start a log to see what my elements are doing so I know when I need to start dosing and what I will be dosing. I also have been testing my Nitrates and phosphates.
I went through a crazy hair algae phase for a little over a month. I finally got some chaeto growing with a kessil light that runs from 10pm-10am.
Seems to be growing my chaeto really well however the last two nitrate tests 1 week apart roughly are at 0. Last weekend I had .06 for phosphates, and this week .03 for phosphates. Both weeks nitrates at 0.
I’ve been trying to feed more to get my nitrates up, however they have not budged.
For mechanical filtration I run filter floss in filter cups. Love them! They do a good job plus I’m not washing filter socks.
I also have an oversized bubble magus curve 7 which I’m sure the curve 5 would be more appropriate for this size tank however I got a good deal on it used.
I do have a hefty fish load as well, so I’m unsure what I need to do.
Cut my refugium light schedule down? Don’t run my skimmer 24/7?
Or dose nitrates?
The last few weeks I’ve been getting green algae all over my sand as well. I can’t tell if it’s cyano or Dino’s. Slowly growing up some rock work. I want to say Dino’s, but I most definitely could be wrong.
I have attached some photos of the Dino’s/cyano. Also have attached my parameter readings.
Let me know what you all think.

 

[Saltywaters]

Not the best photos of the algae. I'll try to get better photos or a video tomorrow when the white lights come on.

 

[Uncle99]

What test kits are you using for nitrate and phosphate.

Looks very green which makes me think of excess phosphate or zero phosphate.


Excess and zero nutrients bad numbers as they may trigger pest type stuff.

 

[Pod_01]

Based on the calcium and magnesium drop I suspect your salinity is not consistent.

I do have a hefty fish load as well, so I’m unsure what I need to do.
Cut my refugium light schedule down? Don’t run my skimmer 24/7?
Or dose nitrates?

My preferred method is to use skimmer and GAC only.
For reference some corals from my tank:

I prefer to keep PO4 at 0.1 and NO3 1-3ppm range.

Good luck,

 

[Saltywaters]

What test kits are you using for nitrate and phosphate.

Looks very green which makes me think of excess phosphate or zero phosphate.


Excess and zero nutrients bad numbers as they may trigger pest type stuff.

I have Hanna test kids for nitrates and phosphates.
I have the Red Sea foundation pro kit for Alk, calc, and Mag.

 

[Saltywaters]

Based on the calcium and magnesium drop I suspect your salinity is not consistent.


My preferred method is to use skimmer and GAC only.
For reference some corals from my tank:

I prefer to keep PO4 at 0.1 and NO3 1-3ppm range.

Good luck,

I check my salinity once every week or 2 and is always constant to be honest. 1.026 is what I run it at. I use the Milwaukee digital test kit.
Your corals are amazing looking. What’s a GAC?
I don’t have anything to test my PH, could this be an issue if it’s up and down?

 

[rishma]

I am not sure what kind of algae you have but in the past I have had the issue of relatively low nutrients and algae infestations of different types. I believe the algae was sucking up the N and P so the residual in the water was low. What solved it for me was carbon dosing, I think the bacteria out competed the algae. I did have to dose nitrogen and phosphate sources to prevent them from bottoming out. When I let it bottom out I ended up with dinos.

I’m not discouraging your current path, just sharing.

 

[LordGman76]

Cleaning your sand once in a while would be good.

 

[Pod_01]

I check my salinity once every week or 2 and is always constant to be honest. 1.026 is what I run it at. I use the Milwaukee digital test kit.
Your corals are amazing looking. What’s a GAC?
I don’t have anything to test my PH, could this be an issue if it’s up and down?

GAC - Granular Activated Carbon.

For Calcium to drop from 470 to 405 your Alk would drop by 9 dKh (there is 2.8 dKH of alk consumption for each 18-20 ppm of calcium). For magnesium the ratio is lot more.
So either the calcium/magnesium test is incorrect or salinity decreased. I should have mentioned the testing error. Calcium and magnesium test kits are notoriously inconsistent.

I used to struggle with this as well and these days use Alk to figure out how tank behaves. I tend to use ICP tests for calcium and magnesium.

Corals require PO4 and they are only able to get it from water column. If you drive your PO4 too low algae wins, algae can get PO4 from substrate and rock while corals starve.

Also corals love fish poop, so I like to keep it in the water column as long as possible and why I don’t use extensive filtration. My corals are the main filter.

Good luck,

 

[LordGman76]

GAC - Granular Activated Carbon.

For Calcium to drop from 470 to 405 your Alk would drop by 9 dKh (there is 2.8 dKH of alk consumption for each 18-20 ppm of calcium). For magnesium the ratio is lot more.
So either the calcium/magnesium test is incorrect or salinity decreased. I should have mentioned the testing error. Calcium and magnesium test kits are notoriously inconsistent.

I used to struggle with this as well and these days use Alk to figure out how tank behaves. I tend to use ICP tests for calcium and magnesium.

Corals require PO4 and they are only able to get it from water column. If you drive your PO4 too low algae wins, algae can get PO4 from substrate and rock while corals starve.

Also corals love fish poop, so I like to keep it in the water column as long as possible and why I don’t use extensive filtration. My corals are the main filter.

Good luck,

corals poop too! I agree with the algea feeding off the substrate that’s why you gotta clean the sand every once in a while, but I do believe you need good filtration also because corals also poop out the food they take in.

 

[Pod_01]

but I do believe you need good filtration also because corals also poop out the food they take in.

GAC with skimmed is good to a great combination of filtration.

In my opinion many people over filter the water column and corals tend to suffer:

Since you mention it I don’t recall reading any studies on coral poop and its impact on the other corals. Soft corals that I have do shed and GAC is ideal tool to deal with it…

There are many ways to be successful, I tend to favour methods that follow the KISS principle. When ever I over complicate things, coral suffered. But that is just my opinion.

Good luck,

 

[Saltywaters]

Wow, thank you for all the input.

So it sounds like potentially ditch the filter floss.
Keep my skimmer going, and use GAC.
-
Is GAC something you just have in a bag in a high flow area?
Or do you out it in some type of reactor?

 

[Pod_01]

Wow, thank you for all the input.

So it sounds like potentially ditch the filter floss.
Keep my skimmer going, and use GAC.
-
Is GAC something you just have in a bag in a high flow area?
Or do you out it in some type of reactor?

I use 2 tablespoons for 60 gal total volume change every 4 weeks. I keep it in a bag, in Red Sea filter media cup (it replaced the socks).
You could put it anywhere in a sump that you have calm flow. You don’t want to tumble the GAC and break it apart. Reactor will work but it can become too effective and corals may not be happy, again slow flow.
In my 10gal tank I keep a bag in one of the back chambers.

 

[rishma]

@Pod_01 has some beautiful healthy corals and I generally agree that simpler is good.

Long term it’s more sustainable for me to have fewer things to maintain so I also don’t run floss or socks. Actually my only filter is a skimmer and rarely use GAC. I will share that in my experience, very mature tanks do well with less filtration, while newer tanks have tended to do better more filtration and other intervention. It might have to do with tanks having more and bigger corals as they get older or maybe it’s something else. There is a local guy with a beautiful mixed reef with huge corals and all he has is a power filter. I would never recommend someone set up a new tank with just a power filter, but his results are undeniable. He advocates to keep it simple too, but I don’t think his is the right approach for a new tank.

WWC feeds heavy, changes floss daily, and definitely prioritizes coral health. Many ways to keep a good reef.

 

[Uncle99]

I have Hanna test kids for nitrates and phosphates.
I have the Red Sea foundation pro kit for Alk, calc, and Mag.

They are fine.
Nitrate at zero may trigger that stuff.
System starved at zero.
Bump to 5-10pm nitrate.

 

[Saltywaters]

I appreciate you all.

I just left yesterday for a family trip down to SC until Friday.
Before I left I pulled the filter floss. Just have empty socks with rubble at the bottoms.
I performed a 30% mile water change Sunday night.
Cleaned the glass skimmer.
When I get back home I will look into picking up some GAC.
I’ll also run a full set of tests again, I’m excited to get a series of test results every week so really see what my water is doing.
I hear about ICP tests all the time in this hobby.
Where do you go about getting one of these?
Also is the image attached what carbon people are using?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, that's a good choice of GAC.

I have confidence in Oceamo ICP-MS testing. Maybe not the cheapest, but it is what I would use.

https://andremueller.e-junkie.com/product/1758008/Reef-Moonshiner26230393Bs-ICP-MS-Test