Tank was great, now it’s going downhill fast.

[laguest]

Hi all, I am not sure what to do next, but here is what I have going on.
Any help would be great, it feels like I am watching a slow death.

75 gallons with a 20-gallon sump, it’s about 3 years old, figure its 75 gallons of water with rock, etc
2 x Kessil Tuna Blues
Skimmer
Refugium with Chaeto
2 x MP10’s
Simple LPS and Softies with some fish.
Dose ESV Alk and Calc
Now and then feed Reef Chili and some Red Sea Energy
Was running carbon and GFO in a dual reactor / now just carbon in the sump / no GFO
Feed fish Marine S in the morning and Mysis in the evening

Everything was great, good coral growth and color since February (7 months strong)
Alk was steady at 9.4 – 9.6
Calc was steady at 420
Salinity at 1.026
Temp 77 – 78
Nitrates 5-10
Phosphates 0
8 gallon water change per week, sometimes I get busy and can’t get to it but it never goes longer than 2 weeks. Did start to fight some algae around August but hey the tank looked good, so I let it slide.

Fast forward to September and all my zoas started to close, didn’t think much of it but after a few days I tested and found….

Nitrates 40 (think this was from too much Marine S for a few weeks with an auto feeder)
Phosphates 0.13
Calc 467 (seems like a big jump here)
Alk 9.4

Decided to just do my normal 8 gallon water change and stopped dosing Calc. At the same time I removed the GFO and Carbon reactor and just started to run Carbon in the sump, I very rarely changed the reactor media, too hard to mess with and thought it could be adding to the Nitrates

Took 8 gallons out, pumped back in new water and when I turned the pump on everything closed in about 3 min. I store my water in the garage in a 15 gallon glass tank with a top, pump and heater. I get my water from a LFS who stocks natural sea water. I have used this water from the start, nothing else has been used. I tried not to panic, after about 2 hours some corals started to open but not all, by the next day things looked better, but they have never got back to what it was a few weeks before.

Continued to do 8 gallon water changes once per week for 3 weeks while cleaning the gravel and sump. Started to blow the rocks at night with a turkey baster to get the detritus off the rocks and clear some algae.

A few weeks later I was still fighting Nitrates (40+) Phosphates (.015) and algae, figured I take the chemical way to reduce and start to use Red Sea NoPox at ½ does. First week…
Nitrates dropped to 10
Phosphates to .06
Some of the corals didn’t like this so they closed and don’t look to hot. I stopped for a week, no change, then did dose 2 more time….
Nitrates dropped to 5
Phosphates to 0.09.
Corals still don’t look that hot. Got a decent bloom of Cyno that I have to deal with now.
Stopped NoPox, still have other algae (Red and GHA) but its getting less

Retested
Calc went up to 495
Alk to 9.7
Corals still don’t look too good. Shut down Alk also so not adding anything.

This weekend I figure I am going to do my normal water change but up it to 10 gallons
Before I do I test the tank water, this is what I have
Calc: 534 (going up)
Alk: 8.4 (going down)
Nitrates: 5
Phosphates: .09

I take water out of the tank, pump the new water in and when I turn the pump on everything closed, not very happy corals at all. They still don’t look good 24 hours later

Then the light goes off, test the water you use for your water change, duh.

So when doing so I notice water inside the heater I use in my storage tank, not sure if that can leach anything into the water but it was still working.

Tested the water from my LFS and this is what I have.
Calc: 462
Alk: 8.4
Phosphates 0.29
Nitrates: 0
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78

I feel like I am chasing something around, I just don’t know what. All I can say is a few months ago it was great, now it seems unbalanced and not healthy.

Any help would be great, its very upsetting to see an unhealthy tank.

Thank you

 

[reeferfoxx]

I feel like I am chasing something around, I just don’t know what. All I can say is a few months ago it was great, now it seems unbalanced and not healthy.

Sorry you are having troubles. Not to be completely direct here but you are chasing every number we can test for. I think for now you need to slow down if not eliminate the nutrient testing. You keep alternating between gfo(target po4 only) and nopox(targets more nitrates) and then going back and forth with it. I think you need to sit back, remove the gfo, stop carbon dosing, test N and P from your water change source(natural sea water has nutrients), reduce or cut back on feedings and just let the tank be. All this testing and parameter changes is eliminating our goal of stability.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Let the tsnk be stable. Allow the tank to take its course rather than stress iver numbers. Yes, do water changes As needed snd dose Ca, Mag and Alk but at small quantity and focus on filters with the nitrates/nitrite readings you’re getting.
Lower feeding amounts which also contributes to the readings you’re getting

 

[Erica-Renee]

If you are sure nothing has been added to the tank or water polluted I would say Stop chasing numbers and Disturbing the tank so much . Let it settle and do bigger water changes with RO/DI Water it should at least improve in slow amounts..

be sure to check your testing equipment and maybe get a second opinion with LFS Testing. Make sure you have no voltage leaks and temp and salinity is stable
GOOD Luck

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

What they said

 

[laguest]

Thank you everyone for the feedback.
I will take a step back and see how things go, I do tend to over analyze sometimes (just ask my wife)
I like the idea of reducing alk, calc and feedings.
I may also start to do my water changes with RO/DI and salt mix and move away from the natural seawater

 

[reeferfoxx]

I like the idea of reducing alk, calc and feedings.

You don't need to reduce alk and ca, just monitor the consumption and dose accordingly. For me, I hooked up an autodoser and now its something that really really helps with stability. As far as the natural sea water and feedings, if nutrients are building, reduce the feeding. If nutrients are still building, add a refugium. If nutrients are still building, look into carbon dosing. Just take things in steps and allow a few weeks between each change. That will guve you an idea of when to move forward or to ask for more advice.

Happy reefing!

 

[rushbattle]

I

Thank you everyone for the feedback.
I will take a step back and see how things go, I do tend to over analyze sometimes (just ask my wife)
I like the idea of reducing alk, calc and feedings.
I may also start to do my water changes with RO/DI and salt mix and move away from the natural seawater

If you aren’t going to switch to mixed salt (I like tropic marin but most others are fine), I would run the GFO on the water change reservoir. 0.29 PO4 is quite high. I wouldn’t run it on the tank, as others have said.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

As others have stated chasing numbers is not a very good idea. Your tank needs to stabilize, most tanks will do better with out our hands in them. Your corals are talking to you now as they close up. By closing up there is something wrong that your doing. If you change one thing give it a weeks etc to see if things get better. Changing more than one is hard because you don’t know which one helped.

The problem is, you have to act quick because it doesn’t take long to kill coral, and it’s expenive. You have a small tank so these things will affect it more. Even my 240which is more stable because of sheer size, but changes still happen rapidly.

One item not mentioned is have you changed anything on your lights? If so that very easily could be the problem. I added a third light to mine, and wow did I upset the whole tank. In that dumb moment of mine I lost for sps acros within short time frame, and also because my salinity went way to high on accident. But even know reducing my light period has shown to be better than the 12 hour photo period.

I would also make sure you don’t drop your phosphates and nitrates too low. That will cause even more problems and will be quick. In my experiments on this I have found that corals get use to and adapt to their environment same as humans (not as extreme though). For example when I had my corals baby sat where I use straight leds, they hated t5 and MH. After moving what was left back into my new tank they perked right up.

The same with alk and calcium, they get use to a certain spread and if you change that it makes them mad. For example my fish know when I home and they literally know when dinner is. They will all stay in the same spot where I feed as soon as they see me. They know when it’s dinner time and they say mum please feed us. Your corals are the same they are talking to you, but you need to listen and understand what they are telling you. (Yes they don’t speak English but the way they react to changes says if it’s goks or bad. As much as people like automation, I have none and have less problems. Do I have problems yes of course I do, but tanks do not like changes unless it’s good (obviously).

Spend more time with your tank, and you will have less problems and understand it more. I (will be hated for this but) I would go away from everything being automated. If it fails (as in your case) things die. I have a crazy busy schedule so I know what it’s like, but I make time for my tank because I want it to do well.

I wish you well and will help if needed.

Sincerely
Sarah