At my wit's end!!!

[Perry]

My guess is first off, your alk is way too high for this program, and yes, the corals will lose tissue. I am recovering myself from an alk spike, which caused tissue necrosis from the tips, then spread to a few other corals. My alk was stable at 7.5, however when I saw some tips on my Red Robin necrosing, I immediately checked alk, my level was at 8.5-8.7. This is the absolute threshold for my tank. Your bioload is fairly low, so I have to agree that maybe a decrease in Pro Bio S and NP Pro is where I would start. That and begin to feed your fish heavily, the corals need nutrients, so each feeding will extend the fish waste to the corals. Also, what percentage of water are you changing, please keep in mind that the salt has bacteria and carbon source, so each time you change, you may want to only do so at around 10% or so. Anything more than 20%, you run the risk of a bacteria bloom. So, I would discontinue dosing until we can get some tests veryifying at least 1-2ppm NO3 and 0.02-0.04 on PO4. Keep in mind, siporax will bottom our you nutrients, especially with the use of NP Pro and Pro Bio S, so you have to compensate by feeding more food to the fish, or increasing the fish population. Also, please set the skimmer to more dry, the skim should look more like dark coffee, so make a few adjustments, and let us know the results. Cheers

 

[Vaughn17]

If you're dosing NO3 you will need to add PO4, as well. Also, dosing potassium nitrate may eventually raise your K too high (did in my tank after 4 months). Now, I dose sodium nitrate, which is also food grade and therefore less likely to contain impurities.

 

[mwilk19]

If you're dosing NO3 you will need to add PO4, as well. Also, dosing potassium nitrate may eventually raise your K too high (did in my tank after 4 months). Now, I dose sodium nitrate, which is also food grade and therefore less likely to contain impurities.

One of my issues with low nutrients is that my tank has been fallow since September after an ich outbreak that killed all but three of my fish. I just added my 2 clowns and a goby back in the tank a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, as my fish population grows my need for dosing KNo3 will subside.

 

[-Logzor]

Hi jsker,

I have been dosing components 1,2,3 previously (100ml of each)... but noticed my Alk was racing through the roof. It hit a peek of 10 last week, and I immediately stopped dosing... parameters have settled down well... I'm honestly just trying to get things dialed in and stable... but seem to have no luck here

Good thing you caught it! I was lazy and let mine climb to 13 while my nutrients dropped. Some of my Acropora literally began to dissolve. It was crazy.

 

[BigDog008]

Folks, just wanted to give a quick update... I've adjusted my skimmer to be a bit dry, stopped dosing np pro and pro bios, stopped dosing component 1,2,3 to allow the alk to come down, and have begun feeding heavier.... it's only been 24 hours but I've already seen polyps opening up slightly! I am still dosing a,b,v,e so the corals are fed... i may have lost a few frags, but hoping things will improve from here. Additionally I've ordered a Hanna alk tester so I can stay on top of my alk and have better control when I do start dosing components 1,2,3... also fwiw, my alk is registering at 8.38 this morning... so getting better

 

[Perry]

Good to here, sorry for the woes. This system while advanced is to me more forgiving than others I have used in the past. I do however highly recommend using 1/2 dose or less when trying any of the supplement, or Pro Bio S and NP Pro. The key is to really watch the corals and look for how the corals respond. I have been using the full system for almost a year, and still am learning every day

 

[john.m.cole3]

I agree with the other posts. In addition, your setup is so complicated...probiotics, GFO, carbon, siporax, etc. Then all the dosing on top of that. I don't think this is AF's fault but you have turned your reef into a hospital ICU.

Try maintaining Alk/Calcium at normal levels with Randy's Two-Part. Run a skimmer and then carbon when you're water isn't clear. Leave your pH alone and turn off your scrubber unless it's going below 7.9. Stop running GFO and only it run a tiny amount of your PO4 goes through the roof. Siporax is probably fine but not necessary. But you have Zeo as well? IMO turn all that crap off and keep your reef simple and watch it flourish.

I did this back in July and the positive changes happened. Nitrates went from 5 to 40 and back down to 5 over a 5 month period. I have small algae outbreaks here and there but no biggie. No more daily drops, changing out media, or freaking out when my nutrients went above 5 and .93. Have faith in nature. Test often and react less often. I like to think about reefing like steering a huge cruise ship, don't yank on the wheel but make smaller corrections to stay on course. Good Luck!