Struggling

[dvgyfresh]

Any recommendations for doing this?

No dosing, maybe water changes every other day or so with a salt that makes low alk. Take it slow, in the meantime - if you have a skimmer be dumping the cup back into the tank, feed more, add more cuc

 

[MajorDad74]

Very high alkalinity / calcium but no phosphate / nitrate is not a good combo. I would recommend lowering alk while boosting nitrate / phosphate.

How about removing half of my sea lettuce?

 

[dvgyfresh]

How about removing half of my sea lettuce?

You can, you definitely need a big upsize on the clean up crew, use reef cleanres rec size for 90 gal

 

[TheNative192]

How about removing half of my sea lettuce?

That pH swing seems way too large for just a couple of days. Since both readings were taken at a similar time of day, it’s strange for it to drop from 8.4 to 7.8 in such a short window. I understand that the water change affected alkalinity, but typically if my pH shifts more than 0.1–0.2 within a few days, I can see it reflected in the corals. A 30% water change normally wouldn’t cause such a drastic change unless the replacement water had a particularly low pH.

As others mentioned, your nitrate-to-phosphate ratio looks off, and your nitrates are very low. A nitrate level of 5 ppm is fine and wouldn’t usually trigger an algae bloom unless your lighting schedule is too long, or there’s too much white, red, or green light in the spectrum.

The corals you’re keeping—zoas, gonis, mushrooms—generally thrive in higher nitrate environments, often closer to 10 ppm. Depending on how established your system is, I’d recommend dosing a product to bring nitrates up while leaving phosphates where they are (you don’t want those to bottom out) but I would say have Nitrates around 50 times to 100 times higher than phosphates 0.1 PPM Phos to 10 Nitrates. I wouldn’t lower alkalinity or calcium either, since both are currently fine, provided your nitrate-phosphate balance needs to be corrected.

I keep my Calc around 450, Mag around 1450, Alk around 11, Ph 8.1, Sal 1.025, Nitrates around 5-10, & Phosphates around 0.1 to 0.2 & I do not have issues with Algae and my Torches, Zoas, Duncans, Hammers, Favia are growing like crazy. You will notice that our parameters are near identical other than PH and Nitrates which is why I would say those are likely your issues.

From your photos, it doesn’t look like you have a heavy coral load for such a large tank as well, this suggests you may have been dosing far too much if you did recommended dosing based on tank size. Try running the tank for a week with no dosing, then re-test alkalinity and calcium to get a better sense of your actual consumption before resuming any supplementation. Stability is key but letting the parameters drop naturally is totally fine since yours were a bit high.

 

[MajorDad74]

How about removing half of my sea lettuce?

That pH swing seems way too large for just a couple of days. Since both readings were taken at a similar time of day, it’s strange for it to drop from 8.4 to 7.8 in such a short window. I understand that the water change affected alkalinity, but typically if my pH shifts more than 0.1–0.2 within a few days, I can see it reflected in the corals. A 30% water change normally wouldn’t cause such a drastic change unless the replacement water had a particularly low pH.


As others mentioned, your nitrate-to-phosphate ratio looks off, and your nitrates are very low. A nitrate level of 5 ppm is fine and wouldn’t usually trigger an algae bloom unless your lighting schedule is too long, or there’s too much white, red, or green light in the spectrum.


The corals you’re keeping—zoas, gonis, mushrooms—generally thrive in higher nitrate environments, often closer to 10 ppm. Depending on how established your system is, I’d recommend dosing a product to bring nitrates up while leaving phosphates where they are (you don’t want those to bottom out) but I would say have Nitrates around 50 times to 100 times higher than phosphates 0.1 PPM Phos to 10 Nitrates. I wouldn’t lower alkalinity or calcium either, since both are currently fine, provided your nitrate-phosphate balance needs to be corrected.

I keep my Calc around 450, Mag around 1450, Alk around 11, Ph 8.1, Sal 1.025, Nitrates around 5-10, & Phosphates around 0.1 to 0.2 & I do not have issues with Algae and my Torches, Zoas, Duncans, Hammers, Favia are growing like crazy. You will notice that our parameters are near identical other than PH and Nitrates which is why I would say those are likely your issues.

From your photos, it doesn’t look like you have a heavy coral load for such a large tank as well, this suggests you may have been dosing far too much if you did recommended dosing based on tank size. Try running the tank for a week with no dosing, then re-test alkalinity and calcium to get a better sense of your actual consumption before resuming any supplementation. Stability is key but letting the parameters drop naturally is totally fine since yours were a bit high.

That’s the strange part. Ph never changed after water change. And I’ll double check the ph of the new water tomorrow. I have about 20 gallons left for culturing phyto and zooplankton.

This is the first time I’ve ever been below 5.0 nitrates. I used a Hanna.
I’ll check for specific spectrum.

The tank is 17 years old. I’m just getting into a more diverse aquatic life after it crashing 10 years ago. It’s been on cruise mode since until this past March.
I did stop dosing kalk and builder bc recently I’ve been thinking that, exactly what you observed, I have a very small load in this size tank. It was seriously like an epiphany happening. Sometimes you have to reset to go forward.

Your reply was exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you very much!

 

[CHSUB]

Continue with maintenance and weekly WC. Stop adding stuff: fuel, dosing, chemicals, Dr t, nutrients etc, etc. feed the fish and wait, that alone is more than enough, your tank is not filled with corals. Do the basics, no need to “balance” nutrients. Continue testing Alk and it will come down over time, and resume kalk. You should be able to run your tank with flow, light, WC, feeding fish. Dialing in nutrients, pH, Alk, comes with a highly stocked tank where the natural process cannot be controlled because it moves to unbalance ….you are not even close to that! Do the basics…

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How's the flow in your tank? It sounds like detritus just settles on the rocks and sand, higher flow will keep everything suspended in the water so the filtration system can filter it out.

 

[MajorDad74]

How's the flow in your tank? It sounds like detritus just settles on the rocks and sand, higher flow will keep everything suspended in the water so the filtration system can filter it out.

3 power heads. Right side 1600, 2100 wave maker and a 600 on the left. I’m still tying to get the best positioning for them.

 

[MajorDad74]

How about removing half of my sea lettuce?

That pH swing seems way too large for just a couple of days. Since both readings were taken at a similar time of day, it’s strange for it to drop from 8.4 to 7.8 in such a short window. I understand that the water change affected alkalinity, but typically if my pH shifts more than 0.1–0.2 within a few days, I can see it reflected in the corals. A 30% water change normally wouldn’t cause such a drastic change unless the replacement water had a particularly low pH.


As others mentioned, your nitrate-to-phosphate ratio looks off, and your nitrates are very low. A nitrate level of 5 ppm is fine and wouldn’t usually trigger an algae bloom unless your lighting schedule is too long, or there’s too much white, red, or green light in the spectrum.


The corals you’re keeping—zoas, gonis, mushrooms—generally thrive in higher nitrate environments, often closer to 10 ppm. Depending on how established your system is, I’d recommend dosing a product to bring nitrates up while leaving phosphates where they are (you don’t want those to bottom out) but I would say have Nitrates around 50 times to 100 times higher than phosphates 0.1 PPM Phos to 10 Nitrates. I wouldn’t lower alkalinity or calcium either, since both are currently fine, provided your nitrate-phosphate balance needs to be corrected.

I keep my Calc around 450, Mag around 1450, Alk around 11, Ph 8.1, Sal 1.025, Nitrates around 5-10, & Phosphates around 0.1 to 0.2 & I do not have issues with Algae and my Torches, Zoas, Duncans, Hammers, Favia are growing like crazy. You will notice that our parameters are near identical other than PH and Nitrates which is why I would say those are likely your issues.

From your photos, it doesn’t look like you have a heavy coral load for such a large tank as well, this suggests you may have been dosing far too much if you did recommended dosing based on tank size. Try running the tank for a week with no dosing, then re-test alkalinity and calcium to get a better sense of your actual consumption before resuming any supplementation. Stability is key but letting the parameters drop naturally is totally fine since yours were a bit high.

That’s the strange part. Ph never changed after water change. And I’ll double check the ph of the new water tomorrow. I have about 20 gallons left for culturing phyto and zooplankton.

This is the first time I’ve ever been below 5.0 nitrates. I used a Hanna.
I’ll check for specific spectrum.

The tank is 17 years old. I’m just getting into a more diverse aquatic life after it crashing 10 years ago. It’s been on cruise mode since until this past March.
I did stop dosing kalk and builder bc recently I’ve been thinking that, exactly what you observed, I have a very small load in this size tank. It was seriously like an epiphany happening. Sometimes you have to reset to go forward.

Your reply was exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you very much!

I meant to say dkh never changed

 

[MYACROS.WONTGROW.504]

I have a 90 as well I recently changed my lights and didn’t par match them a had a swing luckily everything is fine only lost a small Acro frag. Kalk has been my go to for alk & cal, co2 scrubber for PH. Mag I dose esv bionic mag I’m currently having a problem with my nutrients I did to many weekly water changes

 

[wickedxreef]

Looking over things, I agree with others that your alk is high along with other items. kind of leads me to wonder if your salinity is truly reading accurate. have you double checked against a buddies test kits or even better a ICP test? before chasing down a rabbit hole, I certainly would get a second opinion on things. You could be changing your water with more bad water if you're reading incorrectly on salinity. That'll just make a bad problem worse.

 

[MajorDad74]

Looking over things, I agree with others that your alk is high along with other items. kind of leads me to wonder if your salinity is truly reading accurate. have you double checked against a buddies test kits or even better a ICP test? before chasing down a rabbit hole, I certainly would get a second opinion on things. You could be changing your water with more bad water if you're reading incorrectly on salinity. That'll just make a bad problem worse.

I actually have 4 testers for salt. All within range. +\- 2. Mixes are mixed 24 hours ahead and checked. Rodi.
I’ve started dosing ammonium bicarbonate. 5ml four times a day via dosing pump. It went up yesterday to 3 ppm back to .4 today. Just going to let it cruise for a few days.
Also beefed up the cuc crew.

 

[MajorDad74]

Wanted to give an update on the tank just in case anyone has a similar issue.
I’ve fine a ton of research and things are finally progressing. I started dosing 20ml of ammonium bicarbonate spread out over a few hours. Still adding fuel. So far Goni looks amazing, Kenya is bigger than before and overall all other corals are doing well. Algae growth is receding. The only unhappy inhabitant is my rbta.
Dkh is still 12, nitrates 3, ammonia.2, phosphates are at .03. I will be getting in urea in a couple days to work with the bicarbonate.

This has been one painful journey but finally seeing some hope.

Thank you all for you help!

 

[MajorDad74]

Wanted to give an update on the tank just in case anyone has a similar issue.
I’ve fine a ton of research and things are finally progressing. I started dosing 20ml of ammonium bicarbonate spread out over a few hours. Still adding fuel. So far Goni looks amazing, Kenya is bigger than before and overall all other corals are doing well. Algae growth is receding. The only unhappy inhabitant is my rbta.
Dkh is still 12, nitrates 3, ammonia.2, phosphates are at .03. I will be getting in urea in a couple days to work with the bicarbonate.

This has been one painful journey but finally seeing some hope.

Thank you all for you help!

I also beefed up the cuc!

 

[MajorDad74]

How about removing half of my sea lettuce?

You can, you definitely need a big upsize on the clean up crew, use reef cleanres rec size for 90 gal

I looked up reef cleaners and they recommended $200 in inverts. That’s insane and overkill. They could end up dying off due to lack of food and ammonia would skyrocket.
I went to my lfs, awesome people, and spent about $40 on a bunch. They have great deals and I had rewards.

 

[Staghorn]

Based on the different parameters and the info above. I would focus on getting your parameters to normal seawater levels or levels you at least are happy with a try to maintain them. Don’t let them swing. Also I know you said you’ve been changing your light settings, pick one you like and leave it that way. Once your parameters have been stable for a while and everything seems to be looking better for at least a month then try making another change, and then wait at least three or four weeks before making another change. Take your time you want to have a healthy reef for years to come, no need to rush.

 

[CHSUB]

Based on the different parameters and the info above. I would focus on getting your parameters to normal seawater levels or levels you at least are happy with a try to maintain them. Don’t let them swing. Also I know you said you’ve been changing your light settings, pick one you like and leave it that way. Once your parameters have been stable for a while and everything seems to be looking better for at least a month then try making another change, and then wait at least three or four weeks before making another change. Take your time you want to have a healthy reef for years to come, no need to rush.

Yikes…..common sense? No one likes that here!