Tank is falling apart

[Rscott]

Really starting to think I’m not cut out for this

tank is 5 months old and it’s been nothing but issue after issue

sick fish dispute QT

monti eating nudi dispite dipping and buying from reputable sources

tons of lost coral due to high phosphates

which brings me to my next new fun disaster

since my phosphates were so high and killed $300 worth of frags

I started reading about zeovit
I decided to try it and now I have a whole new mess on my hands

pretty sure these are Dino’s


Early today I was all proud of myself when I saw this purple in just rock thinking it was probably coraline algae

then I started reading and looking more and took a few pictures with my poly lab filter on my phone

then I saw these bubbles

are these Dino’s?
I really can’t handle any more disaster with this

I have $12k into the tank
Details as follows

0 on all the bad
0 nitrates
Po4 at .05

pH is 8.4

8.0
450
1300

tank is a Red Sea reefer 450
Red Sea rsk 600 skimmer
With top of the line everything
Mp40’s in nutrient export mode
Vectra m1 Turning the tank 10 times an hour easy
Auto water change system with 200 gallon tanks plumped through the wall
trident doing auto testing etc
Kessil a360x x 3
5 stage RODI

Just goes to show
Money can’t buy success in this hobby
Anyone have any advice what the heck is going on now and what this is

#reefsquad

 

[King Turkey]

first off. what are your peramiters where do you get your water? any fish. how big is the tank how fast did you add everything.

 

[kapnkush608]

Owning a reef is playing the long game bro. At 5 months old you are doing to much too fast. Pick a method and let your tank settle before adding anything else. Patience is key.

 

[kapnkush608]

Also it kinda looks like a cyano

 

[Billldg]

YOU CAN DO THIS!!! No doubt, maybe just take a step back and reevaluate, what has worked and what has not. Try and keep it simple, then build on that. If it is dinos, then lets get a game plan. Don't doubt yourself though.

What r your parameters? Leave nothing out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

To a degree this is chemistry. This can often be accomplished step by step. We are here to assist you. . . STEP by STEP.
I suspect you may have phosphate issues. WHAT WATER ARE YOU USING? (Tap, RO, ??)
What is your dsalinity level ? (should be 1.025-1.026)
Tank Temperature and PH ?

In Not starting all over, , , what test kits are you using? I RECOMMEND THAT YOU TAKE A WATER SAMPLE TO A TRUSTED LFS AND HAVE THEM TEST FOR YOU TO SEE WHERE YOU ARE AT AND FOR COMPARISON.

 

[Rscott]

All the details are above

 

[King Turkey]

do you have a skimmer? what turn over rate do you have? ( power heads pushing water). are you running any chemical filtration like carbon or gfo. we sorta just need the whole run down to pin point things

 

[Rscott]

I added all the details of the tank above

 

[vetteguy53081]

The obvious- Good water change
Before water change, grab a good sample of water. Take it to trusted LFS and have them test for you to see what Readings they get and for comparison to yours.
This is more than frustrating and I want to see you get through it like many of us !

 

[King Turkey]

do you test for silicates? when do you test alk? alk changes time of day morning/ night. how stable are the numbers. how often do you test?

 

[Billldg]

It looks like cyano to me, I have a little case of it myself, I am about to try Vibrant as I have heard good things about it. I would start to try and get those nitrates up, like @vetteguy53081 said, what are you using to test N03 and P04, and also take a sample of pre-changed water to a trusted lfs and have them test it to check.

 

[Rscott]

Like I stated above I have a Neptune trident testing the water 4 times a day And comparing with the hand tests
I know the numbers are good

 

[vetteguy53081]

It looks like cyano to me, I have a little case of it myself, I am about to try Vibrant as I have heard good things about it. I would start to try and get those nitrates up, like @vetteguy53081 said, what are you using to test N03 and P04, and also take a sample of pre-changed water to a trusted lfs and have then test it to check.

Agree on Cyano why I question Phos Level.
I had better luck battling with Peroxide that I did Vibrant for Cyano and cheaper in cost

 

[Rscott]

It looks like cyano to me, I have a little case of it myself, I am about to try Vibrant as I have heard good things about it. I would start to try and get those nitrates up, like @vetteguy53081 said, what are you using to test N03 and P04, and also take a sample of pre-changed water to a trusted lfs and have then test it to check.

I don’t want my nitrates up I just worked my butt off to get them to zero
That is what zeovit is all about
Ultra low nutrient tank

In place of the nutrients the tank is fed zeofood to keep it happy

only other thing in the tank is carbon
in a media bag

for the first time all the inhabitants which isn’t many look good
And the 5 little frags I have are doing great
Except now I got whatever This is

 

[saltyhog]

How high was you PO4 when it killed your corals? I've had PO4 as high as 0.5 without losing any corals.

Do you have access to a microscope? A picture...or better yet a video would allow a positive ID. It could be dinos, cyano, crysophytes or even diatoms.

Let's figure out what's going on and get a plan!

 

[doodledreads]

Zero Nitrates and with little Phosphates most often lead to cyano. First hand experience here.

 

[Rscott]

Phosphates were arou

How high was you PO4 when it killed your corals? I've had PO4 as high as 0.5 without losing and corals.

Do you have access to a microscope? A picture...or better yet a video would allow a positive ID. It could be dinos, cyano, crysophytes or even diatoms.

Let's figure out what's going on and get a plan!

phosphates we’re around .3 and nitrates at 25 when I was having corals brown out

Now running consistently no3 at 0-3 and .05 po4

no microscope sadly

 

[King Turkey]

well from what I have gathered from the information provided you are in the ugly stag happens to everyone at some point it gets better with time. cheers. just keep things stable and consistent thats what most importent with corals they don't like change.

 

[saltyhog]

Phosphates were arou

phosphates we’re around .3 and nitrates at 25 when I was having corals brown out

Now running consistently no3 at 0-3 and .05 po4

no microscope sadly

0.3 is high but I would be surprised if that alone killed your corals. Browning SPS can be caused by high PO4 but it doesn't usually kill them.

Even a toy microscope would probably be good enough to ID the issue. I bought a cheap ($79) student microscope and it does great.