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- Mar 3, 2017
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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
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