Tank restart ? Getting nowhere with corals

[Idech]

My tank is 3 years old. 2 years in a 75 gallons and almost 1 year in a 150 gallons (tank transfer). In those 3 years, I have had dinos about 80% of the time. I still do now. When I moved everything into the 150 gallons, I added 20 lbs of live rock (from a seasoned tank). There is no such thing as live rock from the ocean available for sale in Canada, so that was never an option.

The lights are 4 x AI Prime 16 HD. I have a skimmer, a refugium and use filter floss as mechanical filtration.

I have spent literally thousands of dollars in various easy LPs corals but I lost 99% of them. Even anemones (BTA, rock flower) don’t live for long in my tank. Fish and inverts are doing great. The only corals not dying are mushrooms, one bird’s nest and 2 Duncans. I have 2 hammers that have been surviving for a long time but look bad. Nothing is thriving.

I cannot do WC because if I do, the dinos get 10x worse. I have dosed silicate (still do), different bacteria, phytoplankton, etc. Nothing seems to work. I had a professional reef maintenance guy come over and he said everything was about fine tuning. No major problems noted. He gave me some minor tips that I followed but nothing really changed.

Right now I dose 8ml vodka and 15 ml AFR every day. I have been dosing AFR for 2 1/2 years and vodka for about 8-10 months.

Typical parameter values :

Alk : 10-11 dkh
Mag : 1400
Calcium : 460
Salinity : 1,026
PH : 8,1
Nitrates : 10-20
Phos : 0,05-0,09

Here is my question :
would a tank restart be the solution and how should I do it ? What should I change ? Should I get rid of the sand (that would mean getting rid of some fish and inverts so I would rather avoid that option) ?

If I do it, it would have to wait until next June, as winter is here and it’s just too complicated doing it all inside.

Pictures of the tank just now

Thanks !

 

[Troylee]

Stop the carbon dosing that’s what’s feeding the Dino’s! I see zero issues for you to carbon dose anyways since you don’t really have any corals anyways.. keep up what you’re doing but stop the vodka and see if the Dino’s let up.

 

[Troylee]

Btw have you really confirmed it’s Dino’s? Looks more like diatoms to me, to be honest.. microscope would confirm! The tank looks fine I wouldn’t do a reset! What’s your nitrates and phosphates sitting at?

 

[Idech]

Stop the carbon dosing that’s what’s feeding the Dino’s! I see zero issues for you to carbon dose anyways since you don’t really have any corals anyways.. keep up what you’re doing but stop the vodka and see if the Dino’s let up.

Ok, I’ll do that. Nitrates were 45 when I started though. Isn’t that too high for corals ? For when I get some ?

Btw have you really confirmed it’s Dino’s? Looks more like diatoms to me, to be honest.. microscope would confirm! The tank looks fine I wouldn’t do a reset! What’s your nitrates and phosphates sitting at?

Yes, I have checked with a microscope multiple times. I even have some videos here and it was confirmed by reefers on this forum. What you see now is the result of me dosing 2ml of silicate 1-2 days ago, so yes, probably diatoms. But they die out and Dinos come back. I haven’t checked this time; I am getting tired of it.

Nitrates and phosphate haven’t been checked recently but probably around 15 and 0,05 respectively.

 

[Patx]

Icp ?

 

[Idech]

Icp ?

I have done two on my 75 gallons, but never on this tank (set-up in January 2024). Nothing major was ever found.

 

[Patx]

Ok so no "polluants" that can harm coral.
Positive part...
1- tank look good
2- rock look good

 

[fishywishy]

Even though you can’t grow LPS I wouldn’t restart your tank. I think it looks great.

I don’t know if this will help but a few things I’ve noticed is that:

your alk is not high but I think a steady 7-8 range is better

Vodka dosing can actually increase Dino’s. So I would cut down on that.

Are you sure your flow isn’t too high? you have a ton of wave makers In there.

Have you used a par meter? Your lights seem pretty bright.

 

[Idech]

Even though you can’t grow LPS I wouldn’t restart your tank. I think it looks great as is and a lot people dont have tanks a nice as that.

Thank you ! I will take that into consideration. :-)

your alk is not high but I think a steady 7-8 range is better

It went higher when I changed Red Sea or Aquaforest Salt for Instant ocean. I will change it when I finish my bucket but for now I can’t do WC or dinos hit me hard.

Vodka dosing can actually increase Dino’s. So I would cut down on that.

I just learned about that. I will stop for a while to see how it improves things.

Are you sure your flow isn’t too high? you have a ton of wave makers In there.

I just added a second cross flow pump on the left side because there is always a spot of dinos in the back corner next to it. Maybe I should dial it down a bit but it’s only been there for about 3 weeks.

Have you used a par meter? Your lights seem pretty bright.

Not on this tank. Not yet. But I did on the 75 gallons, which was shallower and the par values weren’t very high.

 

[Patx]

Even though you can’t grow LPS I wouldn’t restart your tank. I think it looks great as is and a lot people dont have tanks a nice as that.

I don’t know if this will help but a few things I’ve noticed is that:

your alk is not high but I think a steady 7-8 range is better

Vodka dosing can actually increase Dino’s. So I would cut down on that.

Are you sure your flow isn’t too high? you have a ton of wave makers In there.

Have you used a par meter? Your lights seem pretty bright.

I would personally start by.
1/2 dose the vodka.

And wait.

 

[Troylee]

Have you tried a uv sterilizer? What exact strain of Dino’s do you have?

 

[Idech]

I would personally start by.
1/2 dose the vodka.

And wait.

Nitrates went up to 24 with a half dose. Is that too much for LPS ?

 

[Idech]

Have you tried a uv sterilizer? What exact strain of Dino’s do you have?

I forgot to mention I have one that runs 24/7. Dinos are mostly Prorocentrum.

 

[Troylee]

I forgot to mention I have one that runs 24/7. Dinos are mostly Prorocentrum.

Do you ever stir the sand up at night to get them in the water column? That would help ya a lot! A piece of filter floss in the sump baffles with a light at night will help also! Let it fill up and then toss it in the morning! I fought those and that was my best battle honestly!

 

[radfly]

I can understand why a WC would be bad, but only with low nitrate and phosphate issue. As this is not your case, a 50% WC is in order. Cease vodka. Monitor weekly, rent a par meter.

A restart would be the definition of insanity, expecting a different result when repeating the same mistakes.

Good luck.

 

[Reefering1]

I agree, that's not that bad, i wouldn't start over. Filter floss is incredible! I use the blue/ white mat, draped over a powerhead(get it between the magnet and glass so the powerhead holds it on), the dinos just stick to it. Keeps the dinos off the corals immediately. With n/p like yours, daily cleaning of floss, occasional stirring of sand/ blowing rocks- I imaging it being under control in a month; likely less.

 

[Idech]

Do you ever stir the sand up at night to get them in the water column?

I do sometimes but not routinely. I will try it. I do have filter floss in the sump.

I can understand why a WC would be bad, but only with low nitrate and phosphate issue. As this is not your case, a 50% WC is in order. Cease vodka. Monitor weekly, rent a par meter.

As mentioned, dinos will take over if I do that. They need to go before I try (I did it twice and it was a disaster everytime and corals weren’t even happier for it).

I will test my par soon.

 

[Idech]

I agree, that's not that bad, i wouldn't start over. Filter floss is incredible! I use the blue/ white mat, draped over a powerhead(get it between the magnet and glass so the powerhead holds it on), the dinos just stick to it. Keeps the dinos off the corals immediately. With n/p like yours, daily cleaning of floss, occasional stirring of sand/ blowing rocks- I imaging it being under control in a month; likely less.

Do you have a picture of your floss on the powerhead ? Not sure I can picture it.

 

[Reefering1]

Do you have a picture of your floss on the powerhead ? Not sure I can picture it.

 

[Reefering1]

Just pick up powerhead, stick a corner behind the magnet, and drape over the powerhead. High flow/ high light seems most effective. As you notice less sticking to it, stir sand/blow rocks to get it in the water column. Filter sock is useful at this time,too.