Help on nutrient levels.....

[Amtaylor417]

Hey everyone,

So I need a bit of help and guidance. I run a 110 gallon tank it's about 4 months old but had other tanks the is the now established upgraded tank. My tank is lps/soft corals and fish. I just did a 45 gallon water change on Sat. 2/5. Here is what my levels tested at today 2/9:
Nitrate: approx 15
Nitrite: 0
dKH: 11.2
Calcium: 485
Mag: 1680
Haven't dosed since before the water change.

One of my zoas just isn't looking good at all and I have a splatter green branching hammer that one of the heads isn't fully opened. And seems unhappy.

Not sure what to do.....can you guys give me suggestions please!!!!!!! Thank you in advance!

 

[Spare time]

Those numbers are fine. The only things missing are phosphate and pH. What light do you have?

 

[Jekyl]

Mag of almost 1700 is a little crazy. Guessing faulty testing? I don't think it can get that high without dosing or salinity being way too high.

 

[paulgriffin971]

Just throwing a dart here because your parameters look spot on. Maybe check your water temperature. It's still winter so your heater(s) might be on the way out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone,

So I need a bit of help and guidance. I run a 110 gallon tank it's about 4 months old but had other tanks the is the now established upgraded tank. My tank is lps/soft corals and fish. I just did a 45 gallon water change on Sat. 2/5. Here is what my levels tested at today 2/9:
Nitrate: approx 15
Nitrite: 0
dKH: 11.2
Calcium: 485
Mag: 1680
Haven't dosed since before the water change.

One of my zoas just isn't looking good at all and I have a splatter green branching hammer that one of the heads isn't fully opened. And seems unhappy.

Not sure what to do.....can you guys give me suggestions please!!!!!!! Thank you in advance!

To start with - What test kits are you using? What is your salinity?
Nitrite- Do not worry about this one unless sky high
Mag quite high
DKH at max
CA a bit elevated

Use these numbers as a guide to where you want to be:

Temp 77-79
ph 8.1-8.3
salinity 1.025
nitrate < .10
phos < .04
Ammonia < .03
mG 1300
Alk 8-11
CA 400- 440

 

[mdb_talon]

Based off your numbers i would be seriously concerned your salinity is too high. I know some said they were fine. They are all however on the upper end of fine and unusual without dosing. The MG if accurate is way above the normal target (though is unlikely to be cause of your issues)

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Are you running it at 1.025?
Mag seems high
Dkh seems a bit high but some ppl like it that way, rember tho natural seawater has a dkh of 7 most ppl I know including myself keep parameters at Salinity: 1.025
Temperature: 78*
Alkalinity: 8.4-8.6
Calcium: 420-440
Magnesium: 1400

The main thing is stability you can run high dkh as long as the ph is consistent
For uptake

Rember high light low nutrients

Low ligh medium high nutrient

It may also be time to take corals out for a dip in revive or coral rx

You may also wanna practice doing a 35% wc every wendsday and sunday
2x a week

And test salinty 2x a day in morning and b4 lights out

And test the cal alk mag water change day

If u have a good skimmer n or p shoulndt be a problem if u keep up on a good water change regimen
Sucking out all the poop and food waste the skimmer misses when doing wc check all the rocks too


And lay off the food feed 2 x a day mysis shrimp no reef Roids no aminos

And I guarantee the n will go down

Rember rythm and flow flow like water be the water and keep up on a good schedule

If rocks are dirty take them out to bake under the sun or light in your house exposed to air then scrub with a toothbrush and put back in

 

[bruno3047]

In this situation, the numbers as they were before your water change are almost as important as the numbers after. That’s because it’s important to know the level of shock that was imposed upon your animals. If your alkalinity is now 11 point something and it was seven before the water change, that would not be very good. Maybe if you have them it might be a good idea to post the “before“ numbers and maybe some of these fine learned people can help you.

 

[Amtaylor417]

Thank you all! I do have a skimmer, but my rocks are dirty. I'll take them out and clean them. I only feed every other day with mysis shrimp. My temperature is about 78.5, ph roughly 8, and my salinity I will check when I get home and get back to you all.

How do I bring down my magnesium?

Oh and I'm using the red sea test kits.

 

[Amtaylor417]

Those numbers are fine. The only things missing are phosphate and pH. What light do you have?

I use fluval and only have it on the sunrise to sunset over 6hrs. So 3 hours of sunlight and 3 hours of moonlight. Both have blue in the light.

 

[Dakota_reef]

I've used water changes to bring high parameters back into check and dilute nutrients. Do you have a refugium? Sandbed?

 

[BostonReefer300]

Lots of good questions and some good preliminary advice already. One thing I'd add is that a 35% water change is a very big water change usually reserved for if things are really wrong. Per an earlier post, would be interesting to know the parameters before the water change. In any case, I usually do a 10-15% water change twice a month in my 300G DT (net water volume incl sump and removing rock, etc.). Your big water change may have been enough to shock coral in and of itself

 

[MaxTremors]

I use fluval and only have it on the sunrise to sunset over 6hrs. So 3 hours of sunlight and 3 hours of moonlight. Both have blue in the light.

I would run at least an 8 hour photo period, if not 10-12. Have it ramp up and down for 2 hours and then full intensity (whatever percentage that is) for 4-8 hours (depending on the total photo period). Those are not very intense lights, so a 6 hour photoperiod is inadequate (though probably not the cause of your problem). Doing half day light and half moonlight is a weird schedule and not really natural.

As far as your parameters, what are your phosphates? That could be the issue. Mag at 1700 is high, but not the cause, I know a lot of people that intentionally run their mag at 1500-1600. The Alk is kind of high, I would try to maintain it wherever your salt mixes to, so if your salt mixes to 11.2, just keep it stable.

If you want to clean your rocks, wait until you do a water change and rinse, scrub them in the tank water, don’t dry them out or rinse them under tap.

And lastly, one thing to keep in mind is that sometimes corals just look sad for a few days or even weeks with no discernible cause. So long as you’re not seeing any tissue recession and all of your test results are good (and stable over time), sometimes you just need to give them time. If after a few weeks they don’t improve and all test results are still in range and stable, then maybe do an ICP test.

 

[Amtaylor417]

Just throwing a dart here because your parameters look spot on. Maybe check your water temperature. It's still winter so your heater(s) might be on the way out.

I'm in fl we don't have winter. lol. And the heater is 3 months old. Stays consistent between 78.2-78.6

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you all! I do have a skimmer, but my rocks are dirty. I'll take them out and clean them. I only feed every other day with mysis shrimp. My temperature is about 78.5, ph roughly 8, and my salinity I will check when I get home and get back to you all.

How do I bring down my magnesium?

Oh and I'm using the red sea test kits.

Dont add any mag until numbers drop to normal level

 

[vetteguy53081]

I use fluval and only have it on the sunrise to sunset over 6hrs. So 3 hours of sunlight and 3 hours of moonlight. Both have blue in the light.

Add more light times/ 6 hours is insufficient and fluval is not very supportive for many coral.
Run 8-10 hours per day.

 

[Amtaylor417]

Lots of good questions and some good preliminary advice already. One thing I'd add is that a 35% water change is a very big water change usually reserved for if things are really wrong. Per an earlier post, would be interesting to know the parameters before the water change. In any case, I usually do a 10-15% water change twice a month in my 300G DT (net water volume incl sump and removing rock, etc.). Your big water change may have been enough to shock coral in and of itself

I never knew the water change could shock them. The main reason I did it was because i dosed two weeks before my water change and the calcium was wayyy too high and well, yea. My tank was not ok ..

I would run at least an 8 hour photo period, if not 10-12. Have it ramp up and down for 2 hours and then full intensity (whatever percentage that is) for 4-8 hours (depending on the total photo period). Those are not very intense lights, so a 6 hour photoperiod is inadequate (though probably not the cause of your problem). Doing half day light and half moonlight is a weird schedule and not really natural.

As far as your parameters, what are your phosphates? That could be the issue. Mag at 1700 is high, but not the cause, I know a lot of people that intentionally run their mag at 1500-1600. The Alk is kind of high, I would try to maintain it wherever your salt mixes to, so if your salt mixes to 11.2, just keep it stable.

If you want to clean your rocks, wait until you do a water change and rinse, scrub them in the tank water, don’t dry them out or rinse them under tap.

And lastly, one thing to keep in mind is that sometimes corals just look sad for a few days or even weeks with no discernible cause. So long as you’re not seeing any tissue recession and all of your test results are good (and stable over time), sometimes you just need to give them time. If after a few weeks they don’t improve and all test results are still in range and stable, then maybe do an ICP test.

Can you tell me what you mean by photo period? Lol. I've never heard of that before.....

 

[vetteguy53081]

I never knew the water change could shock them. The main reason I did it was because i dosed two weeks before my water change and the calcium was wayyy too high and well, yea. My tank was not ok ..

Can you tell me what you mean by photo period? Lol. I've never heard of that before.....

Photo period is the amount of time light is provided as I just mentioned

 

[Amtaylor417]

Add more light times/ 6 hours is insufficient and fluval is not very supportive for many coral.
Run 8-10 hours per day.

That's interesting you say they aren't supportive of most corals. They bleach out all my sponsor corals. So u gave up on them.

 

[Amtaylor417]

Photo period is the amount of time light is provided as I just mentioned

Gotcha. Thank you!