Getting frustrated... 4 Months in

[Lithoman]

Hi all, the heading some's it up.. Been at it 3 months after 1 month cycle..
Been chasing numbers up.. down.. up..
as of tonight
PH 7.9 to 8.2
Amm = 0
Calcium= 369 ppm Hanna test 4 weeks ago 512 ppm
DKH = 11.8 ppm Hanna 4 weeks ago 7.3 ppm
Mag = 1260 ppm Salifert never tested before
Phos = .123 ppm Hanna
Nitrate = 1 ppm NYOS got a hanna checker coming thurs.

Tank is a Red Sea 425XL.. been using Kalkwassher in the ATO.. also been using Marine buffer as PH swings were 7.6 to 8.2
I vented the skimmer air intake outside still have swings but better with the buffer if I keep it up.

Live stock.. 1 yellow, 1 Kole, 1 blue Tang all less than 3 inches. 2 golbys 2 shrimp 1 blenny.. lots of LPS and Leather corals
Have not lost one coral or fish but can not get my chemistry stable.. Trying to grow cheato in my refuge, that just fall apart..
Adding copepods and using oceanmagik live phytoplankton form algae barn.. feed fish one cube of frozen brine shrimp a day.

Tank had GHA on the dry rock and some on the sand not horrible so started dosing Vibrant 3 week ago. 10 ml per week
Vibrant knocked out the GHA but there is a brownish algae left on the rock and some days shows up on the sand..
If I spot feed reef roids.. next day the algae seems worst...

What the heck am I doing wrong.. how do I get the chemistry in line and stable..?

Thanks for any help

 

[Lithoman]

I left out i have 2 small clown fish and a small clean up crew.. pic attached.

 

[eggplantparrot]

stop chasing numbers? adding buffer only offers temporary 'relief', you are doing a lot of reactionary things that will only make the cycle worse. leave it alone and quit adding things as soon as you detect a 'problem'.

 

[Juniorh2r]

Don't use marine buffer the ph will steadily build just lower your alk and raise calcium a little phosphate is a little high too don't feel overwhelmed be patient are you dosing? And what salt are you using?

 

[eggplantparrot]

a stable ph will do much better than one being pushed around by knee jerk reactions

 

[Juniorh2r]

By the way vibrant kills chaeto

 

[Juniorh2r]

And try not too reef roid too often

 

[boacvh]

I'm a newbie too so take with grain of salt, but from my own starting experience all I can say is first of all I think you are doing good for 4 month tank. So don't despair. I had a lot of trouble with kalk in ato because my evaporation rate was very uneven day to day, so I would get big swings. I switched to 2 part adding manualy (then later doser) and I got a much more stable parameters. Other than that, forget about your pH for now. As long as it's not too low don't chase that one down, it will stabilize itself once your dkh is more stable.You are fighting all moving pieces at once, maybe focus on just one for now. I.e. get your alk stable first. Once that's done then nitrate, then something else. Once I did that I understood that it was my own reactions that were throwing everything off balance. Hope it helps! If I managed through it you can too!

 

[Juniorh2r]

Very well said

 

[Greg P]

Your tank is WAY too young to be worried about algae. STOP dosing Vibrant. You need to let your tank mature. All you are doing is forcing beneficial bacteria that need time to populate your tank.
You'll go through phases over the next year.
BE PATIENT

I like your skimmer air intake coming from the outside. I've been doing this for years and it helps much.

Stop using 2 different buffers. Either use Kalk or Soda Ash, but not both

 

[Daddy-o]

Your tank is still very young. There are a couple things I would change if it were my reef:
1 - Stop feeding brine and feed a cube of mysis every other day
2 - Feed a small piece of seaweed/nori on the days you dont feed a cube (tangs need this and you have killed the greenery that they would nibble on)
3 - Stop using kalk and do smaller more frequent water changes. Start using Kalk when your water changes dont keep up with calcium uptake.
4 - Forget about ph, if you are vented outside, your ph will be what it is.
5 - Most important!!! relax and enjoy your tank. make small changes only when needed. When I make a change, I think to myself where do I want this parameter to be in a month and then take a slow path that will get me there!
Cheers! Mark

 

[LAReefer4Life]

4 months is very new and it takes time for aquariums to stabilize and mature. First objective is to establish what parameters you want to achieve and stay consistent with it. To understand water chemistry you need to first learn your aquariums consumption rates for ALK, CA, & MG. To figure this out you simply halt all water changes and supplement additions for approx week. Test all three elements same time every day for a week and see how much of each element is consumed. For example. My first test my ALK - 9dkh, 2nd day 8.7dkh, 3rd day 8.4dkh, etc.. so I was able to understand that my aquarium consumed .3dkh daily. I then dose 3 part even doses each to for my target alk of 10dkh.

Your phosphates are also on the high end but nothing detrimental. don't OVERFEED fish or corals as well, that causes other issues in itself. Many of the issues algae issues with ride itself out as your tank matures but using RODI water is super important as well.

 

[Daddy-o]

We also stopped using live phyto in our reefs 'cause it started to really reproduce and the reef became covered in sludge.

 

[Lithoman]

WOW!!! I didn't expect that many replies.. Y'all are great, thanks for all the advice. I will take a deep breath slow down and try and follow the advice.. I know its a new tank... I get a little OCD .....and it drives me crazy.. I will keep posting to this thread on my progress.. thanks again.

 

[old salt reefer]

stop chasing numbers? adding buffer only offers temporary 'relief', you are doing a lot of reactionary things that will only make the cycle worse. leave it alone and quit adding things as soon as you detect a 'problem'.

If i could "like" this a thousand times I would, but the forum will only allow me to do it once. I got into saltwater in 1968. I have never owned a test kit for anything. I have never added anything except trace elements when I'm battling dinos and can't do water changes. It takes time for your tank to become an "ocean" but it will. The things that are going to happen until it does are the "fun" part of the hobby. So let me repeat Eggplantparrot, Leave it alone and quit adding things as soon as you detect a 'problem'.

 

[Greg P]

WOW!!! I didn't expect that many replies.. Y'all are great, thanks for all the advice. I will take a deep breath slow down and try and follow the advice.. I know its a new tank... I get a little OCD .....and it drives me crazy.. I will keep posting to this thread on my progress.. thanks again.

We ALL get a little, or a LOT, OCD at first
It can't be helped when you're looking for that perfect tank

I'm on my third build in almost 8 years. This one was started in August with new, wet man-made rock cured for months with ammonia dosing and then a huge saltwater rinsing, new dry sand that took HOURS to wash, and a whole bunch of SPS colonies I wanted to keep from my last build.
I'm going through all the uglies everyone else does ... diatoms, cyano, bacterial blooms, hair algae, can't keep snails alive ...
It'll come. Just keep up your maintenance to remove the uglies and it'll get there.
Scrub your rocks with a nail brush and filter out all the muck.
Keep your sandbed clean with siphoning. Eventually it'll come

 

[Lithoman]

Don't use marine buffer the ph will steadily build just lower your alk and raise calcium a little phosphate is a little high too don't feel overwhelmed be patient are you dosing? And what salt are you using?

I am not dosing, just using Kalk in the ATO.. Salt I'm using Tropic Marin Pro-Reef

 

[Greg P]

I am not dosing, just using Kalk in the ATO.. Salt I'm using Tropic Marin Pro-Reef

Kalk is considered dosing

 

[Greg P]

Others to note - your tank is too young to support Chaeto so remove it as you see it is falling apart/dying off, even though you have some nutrients.
Stop dosing the reef roids and phytoplankton - it's just algae fuel at this stage in your tank's life.

Keep the fish happy with foods and their poop will feed the coral; turkey baste the LR and gently stir the sand during WCs then clean your sock if you have one/some; stay on top of keeping the LR and sand clean for now

 

[Lithoman]

Kalk is considered dosing

You are correct.. I was thinking about dosing 2 or 3 part.. Also I am using RODI as I bought the 75 gal per day 5 stage from BRS.