Expensive Aquarium Maitenance Keeps Killing My Tank!

chrishk · Oct 30, 2014

Hey Guys I am in need of some advice. I have been in this hobby for 3 years now and my aquariums always seem to have a few issues. I realized that as much as I thought I knew and the effort I put in, I could never stay on top of things and my aquariums never looked as good as I hoped. Ich, Aptasia, coral dying. After moving my 250 Gal to my new house I decided to hire "professionals" to take care of everything around two years ago. This was not cheap with people coming every week, but my tank was looking great for a period of time. Since then I have been through 2 different companies. I have run in to the same issue with each company, I am not strict enough with them and they start missing appointments and there are issues. After an issue with Ich a few months back I tested my aquarium which I was told was (doing fine) and my nitrates were off the charts (200+!) I doubt they have been doing much for 6 months other than billing me and cleaning the glass.

Finally I decided I am the only one I trust with my aquarium! It is time for me to get educated, stop flushing money down the toilet literally

and take over! I have some of the "best" equipment an Apex controller, UV sterilizer, big new skimmer and nice pumps all at the advice of my "professionals." I even recently bought a denitrator (this has been a mess) and was more of an impulse buy (oh **** my nitrates are crazy)

What I need to do now is get my Nitrates under control! Even with a denitrator it would take years to cycle my 250 Gal- 75 Gal sump. With only a few drops per second. I have been doing weekly water changes (30%), gravel vaking but I think I need to do something more aggressive.

I stumbled your vodka thread and was hoping to get some advice. What can I do to drop Nitrates down enough to start enjoying my aquarium again? All of my nice things are dead, I have a few fish, mushrooms and a few rose anemones but my once glorious aquarium now makes me sad. I need advice before I just give up and sell the thing

All my other basic tests (PH, Nitrite, Amonia) are good.

How can I drop these nitrates to non-toxic levels? What would you guys recommend? Any help would be much appreciated as I am at the end of my rope. I hope to get levels down so that after Christmas (an an education) I can start rebuilding what I have lost.

J Rog · Oct 30, 2014

Just curious but where is your PO4 at? Do you have a refugium?

Bouncingsoul39 · Oct 30, 2014

If you already have a fluidized media reactor out there the easiest way to get your phos and nitrate under control would just start running the appropriate amount of the new NP ALL-IN-ONE Biopellets. Or setup one of those Santa Monica Algae Turf Scrubbers.
Also, if you have a lot of live rock, just make sure your not overfeeding the tank and do good size 25% water changes and the nitrate will come down naturally. The solution to pollution is dilution as they say.

tigerdragon · Oct 30, 2014

For a simpler and more natural method go with an algae turf scrubber

mcarroll · Oct 30, 2014

Vodka boosts denitrification, so it would help with nitrate control in the longer term.

The problem I have recommending that is that neither ich nor 200ppm nitrates are a solitary issue. Sounds like overcrowding was probably the root cause.

Can you give more details about the current state of the tank?

-Matt

chrishk · Oct 30, 2014

I have a refugium with cheato and have recently added red mangroves. I have never had many fish in my tank in fact my tank has looked pretty empty (something I complained about a lot to my aquarium guys) for a long time so I'm not sure over crowding was the main issue as I had less than 20 inches of fish in a 250 gallon tank. I just realized I don't have PO4 tests so I will need to get some and check. I didn't test my tank as I was paying people to run it for me. I will come back with more information and pics soon so you guys will know exactly what I am dealing with. Sorry I didn't have more of this at the start.

Spinner · Oct 30, 2014

The best tools for a healthy aquarium are knowledge and good husbandry

If your adding more stuff to your aquarium to fix other problems you will never be on top of your system. ATS is a filtration method not considered stuff like say VODKA....
Your system is out of balance and it didn't happen over night so it won't be fixed overnight but with some research(forums are not research) and dialing down your husbandry will go a long way to help you get back on track.
Once you LEARN how to keep a system healthy the rest of the hobby is a piece of cake!
Good Luck,

lolgranny · Oct 30, 2014

My question would be... Are you using RO/DI water with 0TDS when you do water changes?

abinder · Oct 31, 2014

Red Sea has something that I've only heard good things about:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Red_Sea_...or_Additives-Red_Sea-RS22203-FIADSAWE-vi.html

chrishk · Oct 31, 2014

So I'm not sure how I slaughtered the word "Maintenance" Thanks everyone for the tips so far! I have a RO top off and have been changing the water with RO water since I started running things a month ago. I am just not sure what was skipped by the companies as I assumed they were doing all the "right stuff." I agree poor husbandry was the issue here, but since I wasn't the one running things for two years I can only go forward. I am hoping I can get my water in check soon so the aquarium can become a joy again. Below I have included Pics.

I have been dosing with the RedSea NO3-PO4X for two weeks but no changes yet. Maybe I need to double up or use more then the recommended dose? The dosing schedule is for over or under 10PPM. As I am more the 10X that I think i may need to use more.