Parameters out of wack and tank is failing

[MACHO]

Guys I need help very badly my parameters I don’t even know what to do here they are

Salinity-1.025
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate->50
Ph-8
Calcium no clue the Red Sea test kit won’t change colors so idk it might be lower than 200 same with magnesium and dkh also my yellow tang has these white blotches on it kinda like how the naso tang whenever it’s stressed has dark spots it’s a 200 gallon aquarium with sump it starts with 4 filter socks then goes to a refugium then the next baffle is where the sump and media reactor is the reactor is running carbon and gfo then the next baffle has filter pad in it then the return pump there is 3 tangs 5 clownfish 3 cardinals a royal gramma a wrasse and a damsel it’s around a 2 inch sand bed I just did a water change a day ago with fritz aquatics salt most of my corals are open and happy as well as the fish my gorgonian is not open and my gsp has a hard time being open all the way then some of my acros aren’t open I have trouble taking the nitrate down with water changes I do a 40 percent water change most weeks probably every Friday or so the temp is 77 and that’s all I got the tank is around a year old so I thought it would stabilize by now but no
Please help idk what to do anymore it’s been months of water changes and nothing idk what else to do the nitrates won’t go down no matter what I do.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Do you know what your PO4 is? It’s dangerous to run GFO without monitoring your Phosphates. Also running GFO and a refugium with macro is probably overdoing it. The algae/bacteria that consume nitrates need PO4 to process Nitrates. Does your macro algae in your refugium actively grow or does it just exist or slowly waste away? Also if your run undetectable PO4 with high nitrates your corals can and will suffer permanent damage to their tissues. If it were me, and you don’t know your phosphate levels I would stop running GFO.

I’m not a big fan of giant waterchanges especially with acros, I find it’s too much change too quick. I realize you’re trying to lower your nitrates, but It would be better to figure out the source of them or the cause of why they aren’t going down.

 

[Uncle99]

Nitrates of 50ppm is not a major issue, but, you can start to reduce this number by carbon dosing.
You need to get a handle on your phosphates, too much stunts growth, too little starves corals.
It does not appear you have many stony corals so the values of CA, MG, ALk are a bit irrelevant.
Your water changes are way to high, 10% weekly, every week is much better. When you say your yellow has blotchy type marks, is this seen under blues....if so that’s quite normal, mine sometimes looks whitish under blues, how does he look under straight whites.

I might recommend nitrate in the 2-10ppm range and phosphates in the 0.03-.2 range and get them stable.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Also if your Ca test isn‘t changing at all, then that’s a sign that it’s higher than the scale and not lower, you should continue the titration with more reagent and calculate when the change occurs.

 

[MACHO]

Do you know what your PO4 is? It’s dangerous to run GFO without monitoring your Phosphates. Also running GFO and a refugium with macro is probably overdoing it. The algae/bacteria that consume nitrates need PO4 to process Nitrates. Does your macro algae in your refugium actively grow or does it just exist or slowly waste away? Also if your run undetectable PO4 with high nitrates your corals can and will suffer permanent damage to their tissues. If it were me, and you don’t know your phosphate levels I would stop running GFO.

I’m not a big fan of giant waterchanges especially with acros, I find it’s too much change too quick. I realize you’re trying to lower your nitrates, but It would be better to figure out the source of them or the cause of why they aren’t going down.

last time i tested it it was at 1

 

[MACHO]

Nitrates of 50ppm is not a major issue, but, you can start to reduce this number by carbon dosing.
You need to get a handle on your phosphates, too much stunts growth, too little starves corals.
It does not appear you have many stony corals so the values of CA, MG, ALk are a bit irrelevant.
Your water changes are way to high, 10% weekly, every week is much better. When you say your yellow has blotchy type marks, is this seen under blues....if so that’s quite normal, mine sometimes looks whitish under blues, how does he look under straight whites.

I might recommend nitrate in the 2-10ppm range and phosphates in the 0.03-.2 range and get them stable.

whenever i see him under whites which is very rarely i only see his previous hlle marks and when its under the blues i see the white blotches all over his body

 

[Uncle99]

Phosphate of 1 would be a real bad number....it should be 0.03. -.2 max

 

[MACHO]

Nitrates of 50ppm is not a major issue, but, you can start to reduce this number by carbon dosing.
You need to get a handle on your phosphates, too much stunts growth, too little starves corals.
It does not appear you have many stony corals so the values of CA, MG, ALk are a bit irrelevant.
Your water changes are way to high, 10% weekly, every week is much better. When you say your yellow has blotchy type marks, is this seen under blues....if so that’s quite normal, mine sometimes looks whitish under blues, how does he look under straight whites.

I might recommend nitrate in the 2-10ppm range and phosphates in the 0.03-.2 range and get them stable.

by carbon dosing do you mean vodka im relatively new in the hobby so i dont know everthing

 

[MACHO]

Phosphate of 1 would be a real bad number....it should be 0.03. -.2 max

thats why i have the gfo running

 

[Rick.45cal]

What’s your alkalinty?

I’ll also call in #reefsquad to help out

 

[MACHO]

Do you know what your PO4 is? It’s dangerous to run GFO without monitoring your Phosphates. Also running GFO and a refugium with macro is probably overdoing it. The algae/bacteria that consume nitrates need PO4 to process Nitrates. Does your macro algae in your refugium actively grow or does it just exist or slowly waste away? Also if your run undetectable PO4 with high nitrates your corals can and will suffer permanent damage to their tissues. If it were me, and you don’t know your phosphate levels I would stop running GFO.

I’m not a big fan of giant waterchanges especially with acros, I find it’s too much change too quick. I realize you’re trying to lower your nitrates, but It would be better to figure out the source of them or the cause of why they aren’t going down.

also its hard for me to see any real growth to my refugium im not sure if its even working i added more sea lettuce to the refugium but idk if its helping or not if it is it isnt pulling out enough nitrates

 

[Uncle99]

whenever i see him under whites which is very rarely i only see his previous hlle marks and when its under the blues i see the white blotches all over his body

Mine looks the same, is three years old and completely healthy.
Other than the this, dies he eat well,and act normal.

 

[MACHO]

What’s your alkalinty?

I’ll also call in #reefsquad to help out

i think it was almost at 14 whenver i tested it a couple minutes ago all the parameters are out of wack and idk why

 

[Uncle99]

What and how much are you feeding.
What type of fishy toy have
I see some big poppers in the pic
How many tangs in there

 

[Uncle99]

What salt are you using?

 

[MACHO]

Mine looks the same, is three years old and completely healthy.
Other than the this, dies he eat well,and act normal.

he seems scared almost he just sits in his cave and doesnt come out much my tangs are picky with food some of them like pellets rather than frozen and some the other way around he used to like pellets but i dont see him coming out much whenver i feed he maybe will get 1 or 2 pellets he nibbles on the sheets i put out for them but all the tangs have a hard time coexistiing so its hard for everyone in the tank to come out and eat

 

[Rick.45cal]

i think it was almost at 14 whenver i tested it a couple minutes ago all the parameters are out of wack and idk why

How do you maintain your alkalinity and calcium, do you dose 2 part? Kalkwasser?

 

[MACHO]

What and how much are you feeding.
What type of fishy toy have

i feed once a day and switch out what i feed every 4 days from pellets mostly to frozen every 4 days i said in the original post what fish i have and what salt i use

 

[MACHO]

How do you maintain your alkalinity and calcium, do you dose 2 part? Kalkwasser?

i only dose ph nothing else

 

[Rick.45cal]

i only dose ph nothing else

What are you using to change your pH?