Trying to not give up!

[racsoh]

Hi everyone,

I've been in the hobby for about a year and a few months, and I'm at a point that I feel like giving up a just throw the towel.

I've followed every single advice. Test my water every week to be sure that everything is in order. I've been doing my 10% water changes every single week and the system seems to be fine for a while just to crash again after a few weeks. At this point I've been through several crashes already and lost a ton of nice pieces.

The last crash was a cascade of events that I can't seem to put an end to it.

I had/have a phosphate spike that no matter what I do, PhosGuard, GFO, Phosphate-E, I can't seem to get under control, and the phosphate is measuring 0.58 ppm as I'm writing this post.

In addition about two weeks ago, I had a freaky accident with a power head that fell on my sandbend in the part of the tank where detritus accumulate the most and it is difficult to siphon out (the powerhead was on), so everything got blasted across the tank. Since then I lost A LOT, and I have a high nutrients imbalance that's also contributing to my Phosphate issue.

I'm honestly tired, and I'm no longer know what to do. I see all this beautiful systems and people talking about how beautiful and how many heads their hammers and torches have grown in a year, among other stuff and all I see in my system is death and decay.

I'm in love with my hammer corals and torches and I hate to keep losing them.

I'm I the only one facing this king of situations? Any advice is more than welcome.

The only thing I think I have left a full system reboot, but in all honesty, I don't even know what to do.

Here are values at the moment in case that help, both of my Tridents are calibrated and the values compared to my Hanna Checkers as well.

Thanks in advance

 

[ndrwater]

Your water params aren't that far off honestly.. And here is some very simple advice... Step back and let it be.. seriously.. do your water changes etc, but try less to chase numbers and spend more time trying to enjoy your tank.
There is a very old saying ,"Nothing good happens fast in reefing" its very true
Most of the great tanks you see here are YEARS old... It just takes time

 

[ndrwater]

To follow up with what I mentioned above, LPS like a bit of a "dirtier" tank anyway...
Not to say DIRTY, just higher Nitrate and Phosphate..

 

[racsoh]

To follow up with what I mentioned above, LPS like a bit of a "dirtier" tank anyway...
Not to say DIRTY, just higher Nitrate and Phosphate..

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.

 

[DietDr.Kelp]

Absolutely agree with the above advice! Take a breath, step back, and don't beat yourself up too badly!

As far as your parameters go, I also don't find them too problematic. I know lowering phosphates can be super frustrating, but it's a process. Change your media regularly, do your water changes, maybe cut back a tiny bit on feedings. Now that you have discovered the "dead zone" where the powerhead fell, I would consider adding a small (even something cheap) powerhead that you can attach down in that area to direct debris away from collecting there.

 

[racsoh]

Absolutely agree with the above advice! Take a breath, step back, and don't beat yourself up too badly!

As far as your parameters go, I also don't find them too problematic. I know lowering phosphates can be super frustrating, but it's a process. Change your media regularly, do your water changes, maybe cut back a tiny bit on feedings. Now that you have discovered the "dead zone" where the powerhead fell, I would consider adding a small (even something cheap) powerhead that you can attach down in that area to direct debris away from collecting there.

Thanks !

 

[ReefTankENG]

Agree with the others. I also love hammers and torches and struggled with those early on. If they don’t make it, I would replace them with softies like sinularia, leathers, and toadstools that also show some flow. Hang in there!

 

[Arthacker87]

This is my tank and here my honest schedule, water changes bi monthly at best, heat and salinity spot on, couldn't tell ya other parameters, light ar 2 xr30 running at about 35-40% as you can see from the glass i keep my hands out a lot. I would do water changes, for you, monthly i think you might be starving your system i dunno. Hand washing and throwing hands in the tank isnt good either. I will say, I have been battling bryopsis for a few months now that's caused mini crash, make sure your corals are clean when buying them, and if you can swap plug woth new ones so you dont get any unwanted pest. Got lazy and it bite me lol.

 

[Arthacker87]

Sometimes we over think and overdue things to try to make the best product when sitting back and letting nature make its move works well too. I dont recommend being as lazy as me, but people run successful tanks with no skimmers or water changes, others run tank with scheduled water changes.

 

[Arthacker87]

Also if your around indiana I have some torch heads I could give ya after the bounce back from this crash, lost my hammers unfortunately. Plus some zoa, singulara, mushrooms, whatever I have really

 

[ReefTankENG]

Racsoh - I just looked at you tank. That is an insane amount of hammers for a 40 gallon tank. Looks awesome, but I can see how that would be difficult to maintain. Maybe get down to 3 - 5 and let them grow into their space.

 

[zheka757]

Is trident the only source of phosphate measurement you have?
...Just thinking out loud here, if your trident is acting up and your reading actually wrong, like close to 0 phosphate, that will kill your lps.
Also brown jelly disease (BJD) will kill your torches and hammers. So check to make sure you dont have that.

 

[Jimbo327]

Send out an ICP and confirm your parameters before tweaking.

 

[Sam7]

Dont give up.....you already have the hard part behind you. Dont sweat it.....enjoy the new year your tank will only get better

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Can we see a tank pic?

When I get frustrated I bring everything back to basics.... light flow and feeding the fish is all your corals need.

Hope you don't quit. Good luck

 

[racsoh]

Agree with the others. I also love hammers and torches and struggled with those early on. If they don’t make it, I would replace them with softies like sinularia, leathers, and toadstools that also show some flow. Hang in there!

Thanks for the advice !

 

[racsoh]

This is my tank and here my honest schedule, water changes bi monthly at best, heat and salinity spot on, couldn't tell ya other parameters, light ar 2 xr30 running at about 35-40% as you can see from the glass i keep my hands out a lot. I would do water changes, for you, monthly i think you might be starving your system i dunno. Hand washing and throwing hands in the tank isnt good either. I will say, I have been battling bryopsis for a few months now that's caused mini crash, make sure your corals are clean when buying them, and if you can swap plug woth new ones so you dont get any unwanted pest. Got lazy and it bite me lol.

Thanks, I don't have any pests at the moment ( thanks God) but I've dealt with aiptasia, bubble algea and GHA in the past year, and so far I was able to eradicate all of them. However, right now I'm facing and invisible threat that's causing my system to go crash once again, besides the obvious high phosphate. Thanks

 

[racsoh]

Also if your around indiana I have some torch heads I could give ya after the bounce back from this crash, lost my hammers unfortunately. Plus some zoa, singulara, mushrooms, whatever I have really

Thanks a lot for the offer. I'm in South Florida, tho. I'm going to work on trying to get things back to its former glory and be a little bit more hands-off for a change. Hopefully that will help. Thanks !

 

[racsoh]

Racsoh - I just looked at you tank. That is an insane amount of hammers for a 40 gallon tank. Looks awesome, but I can see how that would be difficult to maintain. Maybe get down to 3 - 5 and let them grow into their space.

Hi, thanks for the compliment on the tank, I just wish that was my tank at the moment. However, my current system is not even close to what it just to be.
You are right tho, at the moment I think I'll stick to whatever survives after the tank stabilizes just let them grow. Thanks

 

[racsoh]

Is trident the only source of phosphate measurement you have?
...Just thinking out loud here, if your trident is acting up and your reading actually wrong, like close to 0 phosphate, that will kill your lps.
Also brown jelly disease (BJD) will kill your torches and hammers. So check to make sure you dont have that.

Hi, thanks. No, as I mentioned above in my original post, I also have Hanna Checkers which is what I used to measure and calibrate my Tridents.
Definitely been having a lot of BJD. I've been cutting of infected heads and dipping in 3% peroxide and iodine in the hope to safe the remaining ones, however, they look fine for a few days just to get infected again.