Hi All
Sorry for the long background post. But it may give you some insight.
I have been in this hobby since 2019, things were going OK initially but things started going awry with GHA. I was given advice that my rocks were leaching phosphates and went into a hard regime of Rowa Phos with Vibrant to beat the GHA reducing nitrate and phosphate as much as possible, (Don't beat me up I am still learning), I could never test any Nitrate or phosphate but was told they were locked up in the GHA and excess nitrates were the problem from over feeding, I feed the minimum as possible. After discovering Ich in my tank I removed all of the live stock and target feed the shrimp (ever 4th day) for 3 months and still went hard with Vibrant and also Fluconazole for what looked like Bryopsis. The tank ended up being over taken by what looked like Green Slime Algae and bryopsys or turf algae seemed to die off.
Since early 2020 I have lost 70% of my corals to what I believe was either Cyano or Dinos covering them, Maybe Cyao and then Dinos, also had one of my Radions fail and it took 6 weeks to get a replacement which didn't help the situation. In the display I have a BTA, some sad looking Zoas, 3 very large Toadstools and a Goniopora. Apart from the Zoas which get overgrown by algae the others are growing well. (I have two nano tanks full of rescued corals which are doing fantastically including a trochus snail and pod breeding program)
I am pretty sure I currently have Dinos taking over the tank. My PH Goes from 8.2 at night to 8.75 during the day with lights on. I assume this is something to do with the photosynthesis of the Dinos and their release of O2?. I worked to get my nitrates up and got it to 0.6 (Hanne low range and confirmed by Hanna High Range checker) and my Phosphates were .02 (Hanna Checker). The Dinos slowed down but the GHA was coming back which i though would be easier to deal with. Last Sunday after a big clean, removed top layer of sand, and removed as much algae/Dinos as possible. PH was swinging from 8.2 to 8.5 Things were looking better. I dosed Vibrant again at 1ml per 10 gal to try and get the GHA under control. Today Nitrates are 0 again, Phosphates are .02 and the Dinos are definitely regrowing fast, brown covering on the sand and glass with little bubbles in it. My PH is 8.73 at 6 pm (close to end of light schedule) PH has been checked by Hanna checker but goes out of range at 8.6. The Apex probe seems to be accurate compared to the Hanna.
I don't know what to do, I have been feeding heavy to raise Nitrates but the GHA takes over (and the population of Bristle worms explodes), if I attack that with Vibrant the nitrate bottoms out and the Dino come back, which I think killed all of my snails, I have no snails currently, I understand they die quickly with the Dinos. Snails here are $27 each so i don't want to add more until I know they will survive. Tank has a Yellow Tang, Limerick Angle, 2 firefish, Melanurus Wrasse, 1 banggai cardinal and 1 clown plus a Boxer Shrimp. Tank is 350 lt plus sump.
What should I do to try and get on top of this besides starting over. Also in addition I will be moving in April next year to a temporary house while my future house is built, so will be doing a full tankdown and re-setup so want to get this back on track before then and especially before my new house is built.
Cheers
Al
Sorry for the long background post. But it may give you some insight.
I have been in this hobby since 2019, things were going OK initially but things started going awry with GHA. I was given advice that my rocks were leaching phosphates and went into a hard regime of Rowa Phos with Vibrant to beat the GHA reducing nitrate and phosphate as much as possible, (Don't beat me up I am still learning), I could never test any Nitrate or phosphate but was told they were locked up in the GHA and excess nitrates were the problem from over feeding, I feed the minimum as possible. After discovering Ich in my tank I removed all of the live stock and target feed the shrimp (ever 4th day) for 3 months and still went hard with Vibrant and also Fluconazole for what looked like Bryopsis. The tank ended up being over taken by what looked like Green Slime Algae and bryopsys or turf algae seemed to die off.
Since early 2020 I have lost 70% of my corals to what I believe was either Cyano or Dinos covering them, Maybe Cyao and then Dinos, also had one of my Radions fail and it took 6 weeks to get a replacement which didn't help the situation. In the display I have a BTA, some sad looking Zoas, 3 very large Toadstools and a Goniopora. Apart from the Zoas which get overgrown by algae the others are growing well. (I have two nano tanks full of rescued corals which are doing fantastically including a trochus snail and pod breeding program)
I am pretty sure I currently have Dinos taking over the tank. My PH Goes from 8.2 at night to 8.75 during the day with lights on. I assume this is something to do with the photosynthesis of the Dinos and their release of O2?. I worked to get my nitrates up and got it to 0.6 (Hanne low range and confirmed by Hanna High Range checker) and my Phosphates were .02 (Hanna Checker). The Dinos slowed down but the GHA was coming back which i though would be easier to deal with. Last Sunday after a big clean, removed top layer of sand, and removed as much algae/Dinos as possible. PH was swinging from 8.2 to 8.5 Things were looking better. I dosed Vibrant again at 1ml per 10 gal to try and get the GHA under control. Today Nitrates are 0 again, Phosphates are .02 and the Dinos are definitely regrowing fast, brown covering on the sand and glass with little bubbles in it. My PH is 8.73 at 6 pm (close to end of light schedule) PH has been checked by Hanna checker but goes out of range at 8.6. The Apex probe seems to be accurate compared to the Hanna.
I don't know what to do, I have been feeding heavy to raise Nitrates but the GHA takes over (and the population of Bristle worms explodes), if I attack that with Vibrant the nitrate bottoms out and the Dino come back, which I think killed all of my snails, I have no snails currently, I understand they die quickly with the Dinos. Snails here are $27 each so i don't want to add more until I know they will survive. Tank has a Yellow Tang, Limerick Angle, 2 firefish, Melanurus Wrasse, 1 banggai cardinal and 1 clown plus a Boxer Shrimp. Tank is 350 lt plus sump.
What should I do to try and get on top of this besides starting over. Also in addition I will be moving in April next year to a temporary house while my future house is built, so will be doing a full tankdown and re-setup so want to get this back on track before then and especially before my new house is built.
Cheers
Al