Reef Parameters - I need some help understanding

[dvgyfresh]

My nitrate is 40 ppm and phosphate is .09 ppm lol I have the opposite problem but corals not showing any issue

 

[Lavey29]

After adding neo nitrate

.11 phos
1.3 nitrate
8.9 alk

Not bad just raise nitrates a little more and your phosphate should come down a bit also.

 

[Lavey29]

My nitrate is 40 ppm and phosphate is .09 ppm lol I have the opposite problem but corals not showing any issue

I don't think Slightly elevated nitrate affects fish or coral. Refugium would balance that well probably and of course making sure your not overstocked or over feeding.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Torches are certainly not happy retracted still. Hoping to maintain the correct levels and see a change in next couple weeks

 

[Lavey29]

Torches are certainly not happy retracted still. Hoping to maintain the correct levels and see a change in next couple weeks

Good idea, if the other corals seem healthy then maybe try them in another spot or inspect for pests after you are sure your numbers are good.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Ano

Good idea, if the other corals seem healthy then maybe try them in another spot or inspect for pests after you are sure your numbers are good.

Another question … raising nitrates wouldn’t that fuel algae growth again?

feels like I’m going to go through another ugly stage

 

[Lavey29]

Ano

Another question … raising nitrates wouldn’t that fuel algae growth again?

feels like I’m going to go through another ugly stage

Possible if you have excessive high nitrates but everything seems to depend on balance. If you have enough corals in the tank and they consume your nitrates then this out competes the algae. Lot of people use refugium to out compete algae in their DT to and manage their nitrate and phosphate if levels are high. This is a nice natural approach. My tank is 6 months old and I battled some uglies but nothing to extreme. Now that I'm really focused on my nitrates and phosphate numbers along with other stuff of course the tank has cleared up. The sand is almost all white again. Corals are thriving, etc... oh I'm sure some new disaster will unfold for me. My gramma is MIA now for 2 days. Hope I don't get an ammonia spike if he died under a rock cave.

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

Possible if you have excessive high nitrates but everything seems to depend on balance. If you have enough corals in the tank and they consume your nitrates then this out competes the algae. Lot of people use refugium to out compete algae in their DT to and manage their nitrate and phosphate if levels are high. This is a nice natural approach. My tank is 6 months old and I battled some uglies but nothing to extreme. Now that I'm really focused on my nitrates and phosphate numbers along with other stuff of course the tank has cleared up. The sand is almost all white again. Corals are thriving, etc... oh I'm sure some new disaster will unfold for me. My gramma is MIA now for 2 days. Hope I don't get an ammonia spike if he died under a rock cave.

@Lavey29 my gramma would go missing for WEEKS on end. They just like to hide!

 

[Rmckoy]

parameter data

i have been testing calcium because that stays constant, PH i do not test either

Alk seams to be jumping a little …..

Jumping enough to make things a little upset

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 my gramma would go missing for WEEKS on end. They just like to hide!

Yes I was aware of that but he is new to the tank and appeared to be struggling with heavy breathing and not eating the past 4 days so I think he may be a gonner. My other gramma before was totally active and out all day long and would hide at night. I hope he makes is but it seems like it wont happen unfortunately.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Green torch seems to be recovering quite quickly gold torch is now going through what green did. But they may make it!

some algae is coming back and some cyano, that’s why I originally lowered nitrates to zero. What keeps cyano away with nutrients raised? I have chemiclean and good flow so I don’t think it will take as much hold , but it’s on glass in a small patch

 

[Lavey29]

Green torch seems to be recovering quite quickly gold torch is now going through what green did. But they may make it!

some algae is coming back and some cyano, that’s why I originally lowered nitrates to zero. What keeps cyano away with nutrients raised? I have chemiclean and good flow so I don’t think it will take as much hold , but it’s on glass in a small patch

If you get your parameters solid then perhaps a light adjustment for a period of time less hours and duration. No whites, use blue. At 6 months I'm finally seeing some stability and everything in the tank seems to be balancing out and responding but the key seemed to be nitrate and phosphate for me but each tank is different. Your cyano may just be a phase that the tank goes through as it matures but if your parameters are solid you should be able to get it to slowly leave the tank.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Here’s the most heavily affected area. So I should let it run course , continue microbacter 7, manual removal and maintain nitrate phos

 

[Lavey29]

You have a decent size tank, why not add some real live rock from your LFS to help stabilize? You're not running white lights like that right? Just for the picture? Since you have minimal aquascape some people choose to do rip cleans also on their tank. If your corals are improving though you should stay the course. Most people on here seem to battle cyano for many weeks before it clears up for them. I see small red patches here and there deep in my sandbed but I'm not digging them out. Just gonna let it run its course and hopefully the inner sand layer will get back to white long the top is doing

 

[Nate Chalk]

That’s a great idea I will see if I can get some purchased!

I have a photo lens that goes on my camera, I use the default kessil tuna blue with added purple 100% green 10% red 5%.

 

[Nate Chalk]

You have a decent size tank, why not add some real live rock from your LFS to help stabilize? You're not running white lights like that right? Just for the picture? Since you have minimal aquascape some people choose to do rip cleans also on their tank. If your corals are improving though you should stay the course. Most people on here seem to battle cyano for many weeks before it clears up for them. I see small red patches here and there deep in my sandbed but I'm not digging them out. Just gonna let it run its course and hopefully the inner sand layer will get back to white long the top is doing

I just wanted to say thanks for the collaboration and help I love the help. And just someone to chat with in general about the hobby.

 

[Lavey29]

I just wanted to say thanks for the collaboration and help I love the help. And just someone to chat with in general about the hobby.

You're welcome, I'm a rookie also and appreciate the knowledge others have shared with me on here to so just trying to share what they taught me. We pretty much have similar hurdles with our tanks so just letting you know what helped me get over it and on to the next hurdle....keep us updated...good luck

 

[czoolander]

Been following this thread because literally this is exactly what I went through and am going through right now and gives me a good plan to slightly raise my nitrates and phosphates

Curretnly 0.04 phos and 12.2 nitrates

went through cyano bacteria. dosed chemiclean . skimmer went crazy for about 7 weeks and then the GHA came right after. Started dosing red sea nopox . Got my phosphate down to essentially 0.01 each test and nitrates down under 5 until my GHA died off. Now I am slowly feeding Red sea AB+ and increased fish feedings to get the the numbers back and stable. But the corals during all this have suffered . Some have died .some have retracted and some just kinda made no change .

Reefing is not easy .......... lol

 

[Nate Chalk]

Been following this thread because literally this is exactly what I went through and am going through right now and gives me a good plan to slightly raise my nitrates and phosphates

Curretnly 0.04 phos and 12.2 nitrates

went through cyano bacteria. dosed chemiclean . skimmer went crazy for about 7 weeks and then the GHA came right after. Started dosing red sea nopox . Got my phosphate down to essentially 0.01 each test and nitrates down under 5 until my GHA died off. Now I am slowly feeding Red sea AB+ and increased fish feedings to get the the numbers back and stable. But the corals during all this have suffered . Some have died .some have retracted and some just kinda made no change .

Reefing is not easy .......... lol

Exactly I hadn’t found a full thread of this issue and a resolution so I plan to document with numbers graphed and pictures

 

[Nate Chalk]

Been following this thread because literally this is exactly what I went through and am going through right now and gives me a good plan to slightly raise my nitrates and phosphates

Curretnly 0.04 phos and 12.2 nitrates

went through cyano bacteria. dosed chemiclean . skimmer went crazy for about 7 weeks and then the GHA came right after. Started dosing red sea nopox . Got my phosphate down to essentially 0.01 each test and nitrates down under 5 until my GHA died off. Now I am slowly feeding Red sea AB+ and increased fish feedings to get the the numbers back and stable. But the corals during all this have suffered . Some have died .some have retracted and some just kinda made no change .

Reefing is not easy .......... lol

I noticed the same effect, cyano, chemiclean, gha, then kept nutrients low. Corals suffered.

I like the addition of live rock to help. I'll call the coral farm near by if they can help