Help?

[Rgarcia80]

I just did my water test and here are my results:

Ammonia.2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Phosphate .31
Calcium 500
Alkalinity 9
Magnesium 1320
Salinity 1.024
PH 8.0

I do my water changes Sundays and change 5 gallons on a 13.5 gallon system.

I don’t see any growth and my zoas don’t open for the most part.

What can I do to get them happy again?

 

[JaimeAdams]

How old is the system? You should NOT have any ammonia. Your phosphate is WAY too high. If I were you I would immediately do some 50% water changes 2 days apart using RODI water as my starting source.

 

[Rgarcia80]

Tank has been running since May.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Tank has been running since May.

If you really do have ammonia in your tank that is very bad. You could take your water to your LFS have them test it as well. Are you using tap water or filtered water?

 

[count krunk]

To build, ammonia is toxic and that is the big red flag with those numbers. The phosphate is too high, but that is not nearly as serious as the ammonia. Water changes will get both down. If there is not an LFS close enough to you, distilled water works well as a substitute.
The ammonia should be 0, with the tank being setup in May raises questions. Could you post a full tank shot of your tank?

 

[Rgarcia80]

If you really do have ammonia in your tank that is very bad. You could take your water to your LFS have them test it as well. Are you using tap water or filtered water?

I use RODI water. It measures 0 tds when I make it.

 

[JaimeAdams]

I use RODI water. It measures 0 tds when I make it.

Well, thats good. I would do several big water changes. 50% every other day until there is zero ammonia. The phosphate should be like .03 not .3, you can deal with that using GFO or other phosphate absorbing media, but the ammonia is the big thing that you should not be seeing any in a cycled tank.

 

[Rgarcia80]

To build, ammonia is toxic and that is the big red flag with those numbers. The phosphate is too high, but that is not nearly as serious as the ammonia. Water changes will get both down. If there is not an LFS close enough to you, distilled water works well as a substitute.
The ammonia should be 0, with the tank being setup in May raises questions. Could you post a full tank shot of your tank?

 

[DLHDesign]

You would also want to try and find out where the ammonia is coming from. Over-feeding that results in left-over food breaking down, too small of a CUC, not enough/improper/dirty filtration - these can all lead to ammonia building up in the tank. And if something died in the tank and wasn't removed, of course.

How much/often are you feeding the tank, and what fish do you have in it?
I can see several good sized snails in the pic, so I think your CUC should be okay...
How often do you clean/change your filters? Looks like you should have enough flow, so I doubt it's that detritus isn't getting extracted from the water...

 

[Rgarcia80]

You would also want to try and find out where the ammonia is coming from. Over-feeding that results in left-over food breaking down, too small of a CUC, not enough/improper/dirty filtration - these can all lead to ammonia building up in the tank. And if something died in the tank and wasn't removed, of course.

How much/often are you feeding the tank, and what fish do you have in it?
I can see several good sized snails in the pic, so I think your CUC should be okay...
How often do you clean/change your filters? Looks like you should have enough flow, so I doubt it's that detritus isn't getting extracted from the water...

I probably do over feed. I feed northfin USA marine pellets mixed with omega one flakes. I’ve been feeding every day but will probably cut back to every other day.

I feed reef roids 2x a week. It’s a very small amount (less than a .5 tea spoon)

 

[DLHDesign]

I probably do over feed.

Don't know what's in your tank and you didn't provide quantities, so can't really say whether this is too much or not, sorry. Note that some species of fish (some wrasse, for example) are better served - due to the size of their digestive systems - with several smaller feedings than they are with one big meal.

 

[LuizW13]

I just did my water test and here are my results:

Ammonia.2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Phosphate .31
Calcium 500
Alkalinity 9
Magnesium 1320
Salinity 1.024
PH 8.0

I do my water changes Sundays and change 5 gallons on a 13.5 gallon system.

I don’t see any growth and my zoas don’t open for the most part.

What can I do to get them happy again?

There's a few things to consider here, hopefully i can help a bit- i have 17gal of water in my system and it has been up since June.

Like, the others have said, you should not have any Ammonia ( i never saw ammonia in my system, even when cycling). Starting with dry rock might be what's causing those Phosphate readings, although I too, started with dry rock and haven't had phosphate issues. I also didn't properly cure them, i only soaked them in distilled water for a week or so- maybe i just got lucky with those rocks.

Up until a little over a month ago, i was struggling to keep my corals happy. I came to the conclusion that my water was too clean (not necessarily your case) and my white light spectrum was far too bright, and my blues may not have been strong enough.
After you clean up your water from the ammonia, nitrate and phosphate, you still see no progress, try experimenting with your lights, maybe turn them down, especially the whites. Also, 5gal water changes every week on 13gal system might be too much. That's how much i was doing on 17gal, and i have since scaled that down to half. Less water changes, reconfigured light intensities and more food added to the system seems like it's really helping my corals.

A bacteria additive might help with the ammonia and after ammonia and nitrates have been cleared and your still having high Phosphates, maybe a bit of GFO could help.