Struggling with my WB Cube20

[LagunaGlide]

I've had this tank setup since November. At first the coral in the tank were doing really well, but in the past 2 months or so I am really struggling to get things under control. I did the battery of tests today, and they are as follows.
Salinty - 1.025 Phos - 0.02ppm Nitrate - 2.5ppm Alk - 9.8dKH
Cal - 490 Mag - 1600 PH - 8.0 Ammonia - 0
Temp - 78

These parameters have stayed pretty stable. dKH was higher, but has come down. Cal and Mag have gone up. I think Phos and Nitrate are false due to algae growth.

I just recently switched the tank over to an Intank chamber 1 with currently just coarse sponge in top, and floss in middle chamber. Plan to put chemibure blue in bottom chamber. Middle chamber of sump section has 6 block of marine pure cubes, and some live rock rubble. Light is AI prime HD, and flow is nero3. I have been attempting to get the flow and lights dialed in, but nothing I do is making coral happy.

My maintenance includes a weekly 5gallon water change with includes a cleaning of the sand due to algae accumulation and issues exporting waste from the sand. Currently the flow is set at random up to 15% and bottom of 5%. Nightly the flow goes up to 60% wave mode to try and export junk off the sand.

I have lost snails, 2 sexy shrimp, 2 fish, and a couple corals. One chalice, that was doing really well and growing for the first time in the 2 years I have had it died in 2 days. Yet, a favia that I have had for the same amount of time is growing and showing colors I have never seen it show. Another chalice I have had for a few years has grown, and colored up in ways I was unaware it could. It suddenly has started to look like it is bleaching. Many of the corals were very happy early on in this tank, but no longer.

I have been battling algae. A decent portion of it was hair algae, and what I assume was/is diatoms. The only fish to still be surviving, a tail spot blenny, eats some of the algae, but not enough, and avoids some areas. I have 2 emerald crabs, but I haven't seen them much in awhile and they were out and about with reckless abandon for some time in the beginning.

I am at a point that I don't know how to get things back on track or what is wrong.

Suggestions, thoughts, questions for more info all welcome and will be appreciated.

 

[Casper12065]

Sorry to hear. Sounds like a mystery. Wonder if something funky somehow got into your tank (sunscreen/moisturizer on your skin, kids throwing stuff in the tank, corals releasing toxins). I would try the chemipure blue like you mentioned. I've heard of that turning tanks around when there seems to be an unknown issue with the water.

 

[LagunaGlide]

Sorry to hear. Sounds like a mystery. Wonder if something funky somehow got into your tank (sunscreen/moisturizer on your skin, kids throwing stuff in the tank, corals releasing toxins). I would try the chemipure blue like you mentioned. I've heard of that turning tanks around when there seems to be an unknown issue with the water.

I am hoping that will do it. I can't imagine what may be causing the issue if it's chemical. We don't burn candles or use aerosols etc, and always do my best to make sure my hands are super clean when putting them in the tank. Thanks for the reply

 

[nanonøkk]

that’s what happened to me i just ended up putting a refugium in the second chamber

 

[LagunaGlide]

that’s what happened to me i just ended up putting a refugium in the second chamber

Can you elaborate on that? How did you set up a refugium in the second chamber? I would like to make that happen for pods which is why I placed all the live rock rubble in there.

 

[MarkyMark_]

can I ask why you turn your nero up to 60% at Night? I have the same tank and the same pump and that seems like way too much flow.

idk if thats the cause of your issues but it's something I would look into

Could you post your light settings?

 

[nanonøkk]

Can you elaborate on that? How did you set up a refugium in the second chamber? I would like to make that happen for pods which is why I placed all the live rock rubble in there.

for mine it’s a layer of different media i have as many marine pure cubes at the bottom

then i have a bag of bio balls then i have the sponges that came with the tank which one i cut in half to work as a baffle to catch all the little pieces of cheato that fall off so they don’t get stuck in the pump

and then at the top i fill the middle sponge with rock rumble and then have a cheato max light for light and then i have the cheato in there

do be warned that light passes through the back glass so if you don’t want any light bleed you can cut out a piece of acrylic

and if you have any questions or confused i can take pictures of it and i can show you how i built mine if that helps

 

[LagunaGlide]

can I ask why you turn your nero up to 60% at Night? I have the same tank and the same pump and that seems like way too much flow.

idk if thats the cause of your issues but it's something I would look into

Could you post your light settings?

I turn it up at night to try and export all the waste that isn't making it out during the day. The junk sitting on the sand and rocks. I am unsure as to the amount of flow I should be running in this little tank. Certainly open to suggestions here. I have turned all my flow down since posting. Normal flow is now min 3% up to 8% on random, and then 20% pulse for 45 minutes 1second on, and 1 second off.

Lighting is below. I have been playing with it. When I first set the tank up and set my lighting up I put in acclimation mode for 30 days @ 50%. Everything went really well, all corals were happy. I do remember at a certain point everything was super happy. I reset to original settings and have restarted acclimation mode. Maybe when it hits that really happy point again I will just do the math and set them there.

 

[MarkyMark_]

How far above the water line is your light situated? I run the Saxby schedule turned town slightly, I'm not familiar with your lighting schedule but it looks like it shouldn't be causing issues. However, if your light is very close to the water surface, it could be too intense for some coral.

Regarding the flow, I think running the nero at 60% at night is entirely too much for this size tank and that could be causing stress to both you fish and your coral. Kicking up dirt and detritus all night could aggravate your coral and also make it difficult for you fish to sleep causing stress.

I'm a new reefer so definitely do your own research. If you're interested in how I run my cube 20 feel free to check out my build thread!

 

[LagunaGlide]

How far above the water line is your light situated? I run the Saxby schedule turned town slightly, I'm not familiar with your lighting schedule but it looks like it shouldn't be causing issues. However, if your light is very close to the water surface, it could be too intense for some coral.

Regarding the flow, I think running the nero at 60% at night is entirely too much for this size tank and that could be causing stress to both you fish and your coral. Kicking up dirt and detritus all night could aggravate your coral and also make it difficult for you fish to sleep causing stress.

I'm a new reefer so definitely do your own research. If you're interested in how I run my cube 20 feel free to check out my build thread!

Light is 10" above the water. I was only running the 60% for 45 minutes a night. It's turned down now, so we shall see if it makes any changes. Thanks for the reply

 

[Ghost25]

I would rule out the light. I have a water box 20 cube and an AI prime HD 9 in off the surface and I blast it. New SPS go straight to the top with no issue.