Help...ready to give up on reefing

[Afoer499]

Current setup: innovative marine 40 gallon aio. Reef octopus hob skimmer. Tunze algae reactor. Carbon reactor. Auto water change and top off. Radion xr15 pro. 4 stage rodi. Aragonite sand and 30 to 40 pounds of live rock.

Tank history: this setup has been running for a year, I set this tank up to be a low maintenance mixed reef. The first 4 to 5 months went pretty well. Was adding corals and they were surviving but never seemed to grow much. At about 6 to 8 months I started seeing a decline in coral health. Then everything except for my zoas, a green star polyp, and a goniopora died. I lost beautiful big hammers and a Duncan that had grown a lot, along with mushrooms, a rbta, birds nest, too many to list.
My rocks were completed covered in coralline algae but the color is now fading on that as well.

I feel like this should be a perfect setup but just can't seem to get it doing well.

Current tank parameters tested last night:
Ph: 8.2
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0. Both of these have been undetectable since month 1 and never spiked even during cycling
Ammonia: 0
Alk: 7 to 7.5
Calcium: 500
Magnesium: 1600
Salinity: 1.26

Fish have always done well, I have a powder brown tang, I know it's too small of a tank for this but my 10 year old daughter bought it for a gift so it had to stay. 2 clowns besides that as well as sea star, multiple snails, hermit crabs, and a shrimp. I get green algae and some cyano here and there but no huge blooms.

The only thing I can think of is that my rodi filters were bad earlier than I thought and I was putting contaminated water into the tank. I changed these out this week and will be doing a large water change.

Any help to get this thing going well is much appreciated. I have been debating on switching to a zeovit system and getting rid of the algae reactor to try something different but not sure I want to keep up with daily dosing. Thought I had a perfect setup but it just seems to keep failing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MONTANTK]

One thing that sticks out is your nitrates are zero. I would test phosphate as well and I would suspect that it is 0 as well. I would definitely try to get those up as it could easily solve your problems. I definitely would not recommend zeovit if you’re looking for a low maintenance tank

 

[zalick]

Did you test your water for chlorine?

 

[gideon2086]

Are you supplementing coral food? If not, your corals starved because of the 0 no3.

 

[LDog74]

Zero Nitrates was a coral killer for me. I would also check PO4. Mag & CA are high IMO for 7-7.5 ALk range

 

[Joeg]

I agree with what others have said so far and would add that you should probably have a phosphate kit so you know where that stands as you start to raise nitrate.

You also might want to test your freshly mixed salt to see if the CA and MG are that high in a fresh batch. If you're dosing then brining them down will be easy but if that's the baseline for your mix you may want to switch salts.

My guess is that you can turn this around pretty easily.

 

[Alvaro_Spain]

"Then everything except for my zoas, a green star polyp, and a goniopora died."
[...]
Current tank parameters tested last night:
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0. Both of these have been undetectable since month 1 and never spiked even during cycling

It´s extrange that zoas are doing good with 0 nitrates.
It would be important to know where is your PO4 at. If everything has died you may have dinos. Do you see stringy brown filaments in the glass or bottom that appear during the day and seem to go away at night and the next morning appear again?

 

[Dom]

The first thing I notice is that you set this tank up to be a "low maintenance" mixed reef. In my experience, there really isn't any such thing.

And if I am understanding, the issue with your setup isn't keeping fish alive, but corals don't survive. And if they do, they don't thrive.

This directs me to two things; light and flow.

With corals, it isn't always possible to rely on your return pump to provide the necessary flow that keep corals healthy and thriving. Usually, you add supplemental flow in the form of power heads. The other thing to remember is that flow needs to be "chaotic".

This means that your supplemental power heads should not be pointing in the same direction to create a whirlpool effect. They should be pointed at each other and in various directions to create random flow currents.

The other important factor is lighting. And with lighting, you need two things; spread and penetration.

It isn't enough to have a light that lights the tank and allows you to see. Typically, that light is inadequate for coral growth.

Tell us about your lights. Also, what is the size and frequency of your water changes?

The light spread is how much of the tank bottom is covered in light. You can adjust the light spread by raising and lowering the light from the tank. Think of a flashlight. If you turn it on and place it face down on a table and then slowly lift it, the area the light covers will increase the further you lift it from the table.

Penetration is the amount of light you measure at the point furthest from the light (tank bottom). The industry tends to measuring light with a PAR meter. But I use a LUX meter and find it best when my LUX meter measure 8000-10000 LUX at the bottom.

I would make the following suggestions:

1. Increase flow.

2. Experiment with coral positioning in the tank. Unlike Anemones, which can move about the tank to find suitable light and flow, corals rely on you moving them into favorable conditions. When the respond positively, leave them where they are placed. Corals will let you know when they are happy.

3. Get the nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) up in the tank. You can do this by overfeeding the tank and turning off the protein skimmer. After a while, you can put the protein skimmer on a timer and run it on a part time basis.

Dom.

PS - Please don't rely on your local fish store for advice.

 

[Afoer499]

I forgot to add that I have an mp 10 powerhead for flow. Been thinking of adding another. I don't see any dinos in it.

Any recommendations for testing chlorine? I would have tested phosphate but can't find my stand to measure the phosphate that came with my red sea pro test kit. Must have been moved by the wife.

I will start additional feeding to help raise nitrates in the system. I thought it was weird that I was still getting some algae growth though. Should I remove the algae reactor and keep the protein skimmer running?

I figured that light would be plenty of par for this setup. I only run it about 75% because my research seemed that it would be too much light at full power for that tank. I do not have a par meter to test but I get full coverage and it seemed like adequate lighting.

Thanks for the responses. Maybe it's time to tear this down and set up a 150 lagoon with a huge sump. Lol

 

[MONTANTK]

I forgot to add that I have an mp 10 powerhead for flow. Been thinking of adding another. I don't see any dinos in it.

Any recommendations for testing chlorine? I would have tested phosphate but can't find my stand to measure the phosphate that came with my red sea pro test kit. Must have been moved by the wife.

I will start additional feeding to help raise nitrates in the system. I thought it was weird that I was still getting some algae growth though. Should I remove the algae reactor and keep the protein skimmer running?

I figured that light would be plenty of par for this setup. I only run it about 75% because my research seemed that it would be too much light at full power for that tank. I do not have a par meter to test but I get full coverage and it seemed like adequate lighting.

Thanks for the responses. Maybe it's time to tear this down and set up a 150 lagoon with a huge sump. Lol

I would probably remove the algae reactor. More filtration isn’t alway better. It is possible to still have algae when nutrients are not showing up on tests. That just means the nutrients are being absorbed by algae and coral right away

 

[gideon2086]

I forgot to add that I have an mp 10 powerhead for flow. Been thinking of adding another. I don't see any dinos in it.

Any recommendations for testing chlorine? I would have tested phosphate but can't find my stand to measure the phosphate that came with my red sea pro test kit. Must have been moved by the wife.

I will start additional feeding to help raise nitrates in the system. I thought it was weird that I was still getting some algae growth though. Should I remove the algae reactor and keep the protein skimmer running?

I figured that light would be plenty of par for this setup. I only run it about 75% because my research seemed that it would be too much light at full power for that tank. I do not have a par meter to test but I get full coverage and it seemed like adequate lighting.

Thanks for the responses. Maybe it's time to tear this down and set up a 150 lagoon with a huge sump. Lol

Don't remove the reactor, the last thing you want is a spike in the opposite direction. The fact that you're getting algae in the tank is usually an indicator that you do have detectable po4.. start feeding a bit heavier. Test no3 daily. Try to get it up to like 1-5 PPM. Recommend the Red Sea Pro nitrate kit.

 

[Afoer499]

Don't remove the reactor, the last thing you want is a spike in the opposite direction. The fact that you're getting algae in the tank is usually an indicator that you do have detectable po4.. start feeding a bit heavier. Test no3 daily. Try to get it up to like 1-5 PPM. Recommend the Red Sea Pro nitrate kit.

That's what I have for a nitrate kit.

I will order a new phosphate kit, keep testing nitrates, start overfeeding, and see what happens. Probably add an extra mp10 on the opposite side to get more flow as well.

 

[zalick]

Use these to test for chlorine

Insta-Test Free & Total Chlorine & Chloramine Strips (Fresh Water)

Why does BRS recommend this? The easiest way to know if your city uses chlorine or chloramines is by using the LaMotte Test Strips for Free and Total Chlorine. Water Treatment facilities can change their treatment process without notice and usually change the amounts of disinfectants used...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Afoer499]

Will my rodi remove chlorine? I'm sure there is chlorine in my water. I can smell it while I shower.

 

[zalick]

Will my rodi remove chlorine? I'm sure there is chlorine in my water. I can smell it while I shower.

Yes, the carbon block removes it. But if your city has chloramine, like mine does, carbon is exhausted much faster. Once the carbon is exhausted, the chlorine/chloramine destroys the RO membrane.

The carbon block is mostly there to protect the RO membrane from chlorine damage.

I don't necessarily think this is your issue, but it could be. I mention it because you said you may have waited too long to change cartridges.

 

[Screwgunner]

I have the ro buddy with di cartrige my tds out of my tap is 380 with chlorine my di filter only lasts 100 gallons of good water.then I change everything else is good for 400 gallons. TDS meter is cheap and good to have.

 

[Afoer499]

I will replace my membrane as well just to be safe. The timeline of corals dying off would seem to coincide with exhausted rodi. I will be doing at least a 20% water change tonight and again this weekend to hopefully clear things out. Overfeeding and some more flow should hopefully help as well.

 

[zalick]

I will replace my membrane as well just to be safe. The timeline of corals dying off would seem to coincide with exhausted rodi. I will be doing at least a 20% water change tonight and again this weekend to hopefully clear things out. Overfeeding and some more flow should hopefully help as well.

No need to change the membrane unless you are not rejecting enough TDS. This is separate from chlorine/chloramine.

Your membrane is rated for a certain rejection rate. If you measure TDS before and after the membrane and the rejection rate is lower than the rating, it's time to replace.

 

[gideon2086]

That's what I have for a nitrate kit.

I will order a new phosphate kit, keep testing nitrates, start overfeeding, and see what happens. Probably add an extra mp10 on the opposite side to get more flow as well.

I'd start feeding the corals too. Reef Roids, Reef Chili, etc.. even phyto will help.

 

[Afoer499]

I'd start feeding the corals too. Reef Roids, Reef Chili, etc.. even phyto will help.

I do add reef roads to the water column pretty regularly.