So, I started my tank a long while ago (check my build thread, 08/2020 technically, ty rona). I started with what I was told (hah) was live rock, it ended up being dry rock. Anyhow, I had a long hard-fought battle with dinos. I've since battled them into submission and the tank has matured and stabilized. I have a very large UV running 24x7 on the display and I keep it well maintained. I recently added an ATS and more algae are growing in there vs the display. I have balanced & stabilized all of my nutrients too. I run an alkatronic and mastertronic. All parameters have been steady, not fluctuating. Everything I feed is weighed/measured. I did this to reduce the amount of variance introduced to the tank. I haven't added fish in a while, but when I do it's not like I'm piling them in there. I have recently been adding softies and LPS successfully. I have mushrooms growing well (duh) and now some really nice torches growing nicely and splitting. Goni's have started to spread/grow, as have some paly's. I've tried sps a few times - most times have been way too early and they all nuked. Those were my fault for sure. As of late, I tried one easy sps - a forest fire digi. This recently nuked - the tips turned brown (looked dino-ish) and the stick experienced some stn. The polyps have also sunk back in and barely show. Needless to say, it's not doing great. I got the stick from a local reefer who's been my mentor, he's helped me immensely. He has a very successful setup and beautiful acro tanks, so I trust his advice. He's also very stumped with my situation. The stick came from his tank, was encrusting on the plug, so it's not like it was freshly cut. He measured par in his tank before taking it out and I matched the same par on my tank. I've also mimic'd his dkh so I can make transfers even easier.
Flow: two mp60's & two no-name variable speed powerheads. The tank as a LOT or a little flow, essentially no dead spots and I can dial it up or down with my apex.
Lighting: 5x Kessil a360we blue's. Par is measured with a seneye, and ranges from 400 (surface) to ~100 at the sandbed. Obviously this changes around the tank but I try to par-match corals when they come in.
Parameters:
SG: 35ppt
Temp: 78* +/- .2*
dKh: 8.25 - I very seldom experience large swings. The alkatronic and carx help keep this super stable. I've made changes along the way but it's been done slowly and with good Sodium Bicarbonate and small additions. You can see the past 90 days here (green, min ~8, max ~8.6, yellow is ph):
NO3: this used to be high before the tank settled, and swung a lot. It used to sit around 30-40 and could have +/- 10 swings. As of late, the past 3mo, it's been steady, slowly coming down, from 15 and currently sitting around 10. Chart:
PO4: this was a similar pattern to no3. I started adding (and actually maintaining gfo). It's now slowly rising but stead around 0.04-0.06. Chart:
CA: its a little high but it's been sitting at 520
MG: also a little high, sitting around 1500
I2: I also have been tracking iodine as of late, sitting around 0.04
Next plan of attack is to get an ICP done. Other than that, I am out of ideas. Thoughts? Ideas?
p.s. I hate dino's, they suck and can DIAF.
Flow: two mp60's & two no-name variable speed powerheads. The tank as a LOT or a little flow, essentially no dead spots and I can dial it up or down with my apex.
Lighting: 5x Kessil a360we blue's. Par is measured with a seneye, and ranges from 400 (surface) to ~100 at the sandbed. Obviously this changes around the tank but I try to par-match corals when they come in.
Parameters:
SG: 35ppt
Temp: 78* +/- .2*
dKh: 8.25 - I very seldom experience large swings. The alkatronic and carx help keep this super stable. I've made changes along the way but it's been done slowly and with good Sodium Bicarbonate and small additions. You can see the past 90 days here (green, min ~8, max ~8.6, yellow is ph):
NO3: this used to be high before the tank settled, and swung a lot. It used to sit around 30-40 and could have +/- 10 swings. As of late, the past 3mo, it's been steady, slowly coming down, from 15 and currently sitting around 10. Chart:
PO4: this was a similar pattern to no3. I started adding (and actually maintaining gfo). It's now slowly rising but stead around 0.04-0.06. Chart:
CA: its a little high but it's been sitting at 520
MG: also a little high, sitting around 1500
I2: I also have been tracking iodine as of late, sitting around 0.04
Next plan of attack is to get an ICP done. Other than that, I am out of ideas. Thoughts? Ideas?
p.s. I hate dino's, they suck and can DIAF.