Admitting I need help!!!

[Saltgator]

I usually try to offer help to others, but recently (ok, the last few weeks) have lost my grip on my DT and I'm paying for it. My DT is covered in brown algae (the rocks and walls), I've lost every piece of SPS (frags to small colonies) with exception of 2 unknown frags (but no PE). All my pieces either RTN'd or just turned to bleached white or super brown. I had noticed an increase in algae earlier in the past week, so as I assumed, it was phos and nitrates creeping up. Well, creeping went and now running skyward is more like it. I've cleaned the sump, cleaned the top layer of LS with a vac, multiple water changes, and wet skimmed as much as I thinnk I can, only fed every other day,and added more powerheads for flow. Still, my phos is 15ppm and my nitrates are 20ppm!!! I can't seem to beat these into reducing. I recently added BRS GFO to assist the phos, but my main concern was the nitrates. During all this, my 2 part BRS dosing went crazy (hose on alk wasn't working) and I had a Alk swing from 10 to 6. My cal increased up to 550 though. So in my conclusion, I think the ALk swing caused the RTN, but the nitrates and phos levels didn't help. The weird thing to me is all my softies, lps, and 2 clams are extremly happy. Usually when my phos started creeping up, my softies (xenia mainly) would shrivle up, but they're out and pulsing great. I sitting here looking at my reef and had to type this up, reguardless of admitting I turned my back on my reef for a few and now have issues. Any thoughts would be great.

BTW, I've considered a turf scrubber, a couple reactors (yeap, I'm rocking mesh bags in the sump), or just adding more pods to assist along with the others.


240 DT with a 55 sump, swc cone 230, LED lighting (a few weeks old, turned down for acclimation),3 tangs under 5 inches, 2 clowns, 1 neon gobie, 1 brittle star, numerous snails, a few hermits, tropic eden reef and mini flakes for the LS, roughly 15k of flow in DT, let me know what else you need.

 

[3Twinklets]

Dont panic. (Stupid thing to say I know) Keep doing water changes until your Nitrates come down. Buy yourself a reef cleaning crew and some Ruby emerald crabs. I am sorry but I do not use the dosers so I cant help there. Is your temp OK?

 

[Aquaph8]

I would bet the alk swing caused most of your SPS issues. Slowly bring your alk up and your calcium will fall back into place. Try doing water changes weekly for a while and some GFO in a reactor. Manually remove what you can of the algae and stay on top of things and you'll be back on track. Be patient with it, sometimes it takes a while to beat.

 

[Saltgator]

Dont panic. (Stupid thing to say I know) Keep doing water changes until your Nitrates come down. Buy yourself a reef cleaning crew and some Ruby emerald crabs. I am sorry but I do not use the dosers so I cant help there. Is your temp OK?

More frustrated (wife says it's something like roid rage, but she calls it coral rage, lol). Yeah, I know my CUC is slacking. I intend on getting a better pack this week. My temp is solid 78 24/7

 

[Saltgator]

I would bet the alk swing caused most of your SPS issues. Slowly bring your alk up and your calcium will fall back into place. Try doing water changes weekly for a while and some GFO in a reactor. Manually remove what you can of the algae and stay on top of things and you'll be back on track. Be patient with it, sometimes it takes a while to beat.

Thanks Brett. Seeing my DT like this is just a thorn in the side, or more to my pride for allowing it to happen. Thanks for the responce. The ALK is slowly coming up already.

 

[ritter6788]

Phosphates 15ppm? or .15ppm? What kind of skimmer are you running and is it working well? What kind of algae are you talking about? Hair algae, diatoms, cyano?

 

[Saltgator]

.15ppm, SWC 230 cone working like a champ, diatoms and cyano

 

[reefpeeper]

water change, water change, water change....

 

[ritter6788]

.15ppm, SWC 230 cone working like a champ, diatoms and cyano

Have you considered hitting the tank with Chemiclean? I don't usually recommend it but I went through a cyano outbreak a few months back and it was so thick it was killing my sps. My skimmer impeller went bad and I never could get the tank back in order once I fixed the skimmer. Even GFO and heavy water changes didn't help. I dosed half the recommended amount and it knocked out the cyano in 1 day. My tank has been sparkling ever since and my sps growth has taken off. I always advised against Chemiclean but after using it on a recommendation from a local reefer friend it was a good move for my tank.

Just a thought anyways. Maybe a last resort thing. Best of luck with the tank and I know you'll get it figured out in time.

 

[Mike&Terry]

I would bet the alk swing caused most of your SPS issues. Slowly bring your alk up and your calcium will fall back into place. Try doing water changes weekly for a while and some GFO in a reactor. Manually remove what you can of the algae and stay on top of things and you'll be back on track. Be patient with it, sometimes it takes a while to beat.

Have you considered hitting the tank with Chemiclean? I don't usually recommend it but I went through a cyano outbreak a few months back and it was so thick it was killing my sps. My skimmer impeller went bad and I never could get the tank back in order once I fixed the skimmer. Even GFO and heavy water changes didn't help. I dosed half the recommended amount and it knocked out the cyano in 1 day. My tank has been sparkling ever since and my sps growth has taken off. I always advised against Chemiclean but after using it on a recommendation from a local reefer friend it was a good move for my tank.

Just a thought anyways. Maybe a last resort thing. Best of luck with the tank and I know you'll get it figured out in time.

+1 to both of these responses. Chemiclean will knock it out, but you will definitely need to reduce your phosphates to ensure it doesn't come back.

-M&T

 

[Saltgator]

Thanks M&T and Gabriel. I love Clemiclean Elite. Used it on my 125 and couldn't have been happier. I used a simple method my LFS store advised of and cyano gone in less than a week. I mean it was almost black colored cyano. Never stopped feeding or turned lights out either. Anyway, I have tried it in the past, but thought I'd try something else this time (the bulk supply gfo) due to the overwhelming responces of reefers who had no concern for it.

 

[Aquaph8]

I agree, don't hesitate on the chemiclean. Sometimes it nessasary to get things back on track.

 

[robf]

Had a friend lose all livestock after using chemi clean tank will have huge oxygen debt with the die off. Be ready for dealing with it. He had a big tank (300 gal) just wanted you to be aware.

 

[ritter6788]

Had a friend lose all livestock after using chemi clean tank will have huge oxygen debt with the die off. Be ready for dealing with it. He had a big tank (300 gal) just wanted you to be aware.

You have to follow the directions exactly. You have to run air stones during the treatment. You also cannot overdose. Water volume factoring in live rock displacement is a must. I've used it twice without any losses at all. We can start a new thread debating chemi clean since the OP hasn't asked for this info.

 

[Saltgator]

Well... More issues keep coming. My alk is rising back up to OK levels (8 last night), Cal is still high @ 500, but all my other issues are rising for unknown reasons. My nitrates came down to 10 and jumped up to 20 ppm, nitrates and ammonia stayed at 0. My phosphate is reading 0 ad well and no signs of cyano, but HA has begun it's crazy growth! All my fish have been in the qt and are all good (red sea regal, black tang, 2 picassos), but I've lost every sps coral, all lps and and coral has retracted (closed up) and my inverts have passed away. I'm getting frustrated because 10 % wc have been done each day (yes using ro/di water reading 0 tds) and I've cleaned the sump and top 1/4 of substrate to remove any nitrates, ammonia, phosphates, etc! Skimmer is plenty big and pulling like a champ too! Lights are turned down led fixtures only a couple months old.

Country Boy using tapatalk on his EVO

 

[Saltgator]

Bump for evening crew's thoughts or .02

 

[ShawnSaucier]

I'm truly feeling for you. Just walk in from work with a complete crash.

 

[Aquaph8]

Brad, are you running carbon? It sounds like your getting things back on track but it might just take a while to get things stable again. I would run some carbon just incase of some foreign pollutant (you never know). Since your seeing hair algae Id say there is some phosphate in there too. Maybe some GFO would be a good idea as well along with some manual removal. Has your refractometer been calibrated recently, just another thing that could cause you issues thats easy to check. Otherwise just keep that ALK stable and you'll be OK.

 

[Saltgator]

Brad, are you running carbon? It sounds like your getting things back on track but it might just take a while to get things stable again. I would run some carbon just incase of some foreign pollutant (you never know). Since your seeing hair algae Id say there is some phosphate in there too. Maybe some GFO would be a good idea as well along with some manual removal. Has your refractometer been calibrated recently, just another thing that could cause you issues thats easy to check. Otherwise just keep that ALK stable and you'll be OK.

Thanks Brett, your comments are always on point. Yes I'm running new carbon and just started some brs gfo. I appreciate the kind words too.

Country Boy using tapatalk on his EVO

 

[Saltgator]

I'm truly feeling for you. Just walk in from work with a complete crash.

Sorry to hear that. Keep your head up.

Country Boy using tapatalk on his EVO