Feedback on ICP Results

[Jgoal55]

Hi. Looking for feedback on my results. I know NO3 was high and I’ve slowly brought them down to about 12 and raised PO4 to .05, which I’m happy with.

Still, I’ve always struggled with corals in this tank. While I know a few things are out of range, I don’t see anything in the results that would indicate corals doing poorly, however, I wanted to get the community’s thoughts.

Thanks in advance!

 

[am3gross]

How long has the tank been set up?

 

[Jgoal55]

How long has the tank been set up?

Going on 2yrs now. Rocks covered in Coraline. Fish doing great. Dosing only AFR for now

 

[Jgoal55]

bumpity bump

 

[billyocean]

Looks OK to me. If you got phosphate up and are keeping it up that's good. Calcium is getting a little high..which can cause alk to drop if over 500. Aluminum seems on the high end but I don't know what a safe limit is..mine is usually 4-8. Iodine can be raised up..I use seachem iodide...in my 125 a few drops in a dropper goes a long ways. Silicon is up there which you may dose or it's getting through your rodi? I know ati tests rodi..how were those numbers? Not much info on the age of tank and corals your trying..that will help too.

 

[Jgoal55]

Thanks for the reply.

Looks OK to me. If you got phosphate up and are keeping it up that's good.

Was at .05 but tested today and am at .12 . I'm struggling to get a hold on my carbon dosing. NO3 also went up to 37.5

Calcium is getting a little high..which can cause alk to drop if over 500.

Never seen it above 500. I currently does AFR and don't have much coral demand but am covered in Coraline. Last reading was ~460 on Salifert.

Aluminum seems on the high end but I don't know what a safe limit is..mine is usually 4-8. Iodine can be raised up..I use seachem iodide...in my 125 a few drops in a dropper goes a long ways.

after reading randy's AL article I'm not overly worried about aluminum and as for Iodine, I could begin that, but would either of these indicate poor coral health?

Silicon is up there which you may dose or it's getting through your rodi? I know ati tests rodi..how were those numbers? Not much info on the age of tank and corals your trying..that will help too.

This is odd. I tested both the holding tank that my RODI filter feeds (in my garage) and the holding tank under my aquarium. RODI water is pumped directly from the garage holding tank into the holding reservoir under my aquarium.

The test for the garage holding tank showed silicone at 13.55 and Zinc at 12.73 - the reservoir under my aquarium showed zeroes across the board.

I have a frag and invert QT where all my corals flourish and grow. Kessil A360x's instead of A500s that I have on main tank. Much shallower tank. Par (after par testing) is equal to Display.

I am attaching those QT results. AL was even higher and the biggest difference was NO3 and PO4. But again, corals flourish.

As for info on my display tank:

- Age: Just over 2yrs and covered on Coraline for what that's worth (no nuisance algae issues shockingly)
- Total water volume including sump and displacement is approx. 200g. in a 96 x 24 x 22 tank
- Sump: Royal Exclusiv dream box with fleece roll (no refugium)
- Skimmer: Bubble King Double Cone 180 with an RD3 pump.

Current stock is:

- Gold Spot Rabbit
- Foxface
- Achilles Tang
- Gem Tang
- Powder Brown Tang
- Blue Hippo Tang
- 2 Yellow Tangs
- Red Firefish
- Royal Gramma
- Coral Beauty Angel
- Midas Blenny
- Ocellaris Clowns
- cleaner wrasse
- A somewhat basic CUC and very few corals that are truly not happy at the moment

 

[billyocean]

I would say just stay up on your rodi media...better to change before it's needed than too late. One of the most,.if not the most, important aspect of it. Even if tds reads zero it can still pass stuff through. Keep that phosphate above zero and your corals will like it. .12 isn't bad...mine goes from .07ish to .12ish depending on the day. I dose 33ml a day on a doser. Double check all magnets and make sure there's nothing leeching like those or any cut wires sending voltage in the tank. That's all I can really advise based on what I see..but I'm no master by any means. Something may stand out to someone who is more knowledgeable.

Tank FWIW

 

[Jgoal55]

wow. you're tank looks insane! Thanks for sharing.

Idk what it is about this tank that things just won't work out. I've been at this 25yrs and have never struggled this much. I have had many successful tanks. Nothing quite like yours, but heavy SPS growth in many of them going back to the halide days. I can't even keep an LPS in my tank right now. Im not far away from throwing Xenia, GSP and toadstools in there and calling it a day.

Thank you for the feedback. Much appreciated.

I do change out my DI resin as soon as color changes and before I see a single TDS. That said, I'll go ahead and test TDS after the membrane next time I make water to see how the membrane is doing. It's also about 2yrs old so maybe getting close. I've run about 7500 gallons through it, but luckily my incoming water is only at about 15-160 TDS. I also flush the membrane after every fill.

I checked all magnets and cables and everything looks great. All equipment is only two years old and maintained well. I also have a grounding probe in the tank that is still in great shape. Heaters are in good shape as well. Salinity, Temp, PH, and ALK are the definition of stability.

Only thing that I've struggled with mightily is keeping NO3 and PO4 stable. I know that can cause major issues, but nothing like what I'm seeing IME.