I think I give up.

[Gribbles]

My fish are long lived. They are the originals. I was given a blenny from a guy in our group that was 6 years old, so I had him for another 3 and he finally just died. It's the massive amount of wasted money on coral, just to watch it die.

I really am not sure about the live rock. I have heard horror stories. However I will still keep researching it.

I did break down and buy an algae scrubber. I might never use it. Just ordered some plumming. Will start a thread...I guess. So people can watch me fail in real time.

Link your thread bro! Wanna watch you succeed!!

Also where did you buy your plumbing from? I need metric sizes or to learn how to convert to imperial

 

[Devisissy]

Link your thread bro! Wanna watch you succeed!!

Also where did you buy your plumbing from? I need metric sizes or to learn how to convert to imperial

Aquarium Specialty. They had decent prices on plumbing colored pvc however. We have a local place called House of Hose that had gate valves MUCH cheaper than online. Really good 100 year warranty gate valves.

 

[ssster2020]

I too thought the light was too bright. I have turned it down. My local fish group has a par meter I can borrow. I will get my hands on it. Pronto.

RO/DI is a spectrapure 90gpd 5 stage unit. Last time I had ICP testing I also paid for that water to be tested. It showed higher than wanted levels of Arsenic. Both in the ro water and my tank water. HOWEVER, that company states that this is usually a false positive on their part. Weird. I am going to send in another test this week. The kit just came in. So that might shine some light on it.

Tanks has always been in the same place. It's this annoying AIO. I will NEVER EVER use an AIO again. I use foam, a skimmer, the two reactors. Running carbon and GFO. I started vodka dosing two months ago. It is destroying the algae. Since I started my phosphates and nitrates have come down quite a bit and the algae green hair, has turned red and sluffed off, this was coupled with a bunch of other crap that I wrote about in a thread. Corals were suffering but hanging on. Now most of them have died or are dying.

Tank is in proximity to the bathroom on the main floor. But Febreze and perfume are not allowed on the main floor. Since it's just the two of us with my wife being more OCD than me, I am doubting it's that. However, I do use a candle wax burner. But I am not ruling it out either.

I feed frozen and Spectra flakes. I alternate. I feed just enough for each fish to get their fill. The fat old b word of a clown is a bully so I practically hand feed everyone. It has really helped with algae.

My latest deaths were anemones. The tank was up over a year before I put them in there. They did great, then slowly shriveled, moved everywhere and died. So the acro, encrusting monti, and acans are actually doing OK. Not great but OK. Even growing. The hammers, man, the hammers. I try not to cry.

The light is down to 39% blue and 10% white. I really need that par meter. I'll get it. Oh and it's not stray voltage I dont think, nothing shocks me or anything. And nothing is rusting or hiding out in tank. Everything has been pulled apart.

So I need the par meter and the ICP test. I am on it.

I got a bunch of hermits and snails. All of them are still alive. The snails I noticed sort of hang out at the top in a group. I mean they sometimes move around, but it's odd to me because in all my years I don't recall nerites always being above the water line.

Flow is DC adjustable return pump an MP40 and an MP10.

No expert here, but my tank started to thrive when I got a PAR meter and tested my light. I couldn't figure out why most SPS didn't make it but LPS for the most part did quite well. I did PAR readings and increased my light strength and now everything is easier.

 

[Dburr1014]

Sorry to hear.

OP, one thing you wrote in post #6 stands out to me.

The tank is an AIO.

Has it always been this tank? Could it be something with this tank? Chemical? , stability with AIO?

Maybe break out the 90?

 

[Devisissy]

Sorry to hear.

OP, one thing you wrote in post #6 stands out to me.

The tank is an AIO.

Has it always been this tank? Could it be something with this tank? Chemical? , stability with AIO?

Maybe break out the 90?

It's always been this tank. It's a jbj 45 with the curved glass. I have an unfiltered pico tank with some algae in it. I took some suffering hammers and moved them over to the pico tank. They immediately improved. The kessil is a tuna sub more for plants but the coral didn't seem to care. I'm still waiting for my test to come back. It hasn't yet. Longest it's ever taken. Maybe because of all the crap happening.

 

[Jeroen1975]

A House from the 1900's. How is the condition of your piping? Especially parts in the ground since arsenic is in the groundwater in America. Do you read TDS on your RODI? Maybe send in samples of tapwater. One direct sample and the other after leaving the tapwater running for an hour or so, so it has had no time picking up stuff seeping in from groundwater and compare those.

 

[merkmerk73]

No expert here, but my tank started to thrive when I got a PAR meter and tested my light. I couldn't figure out why most SPS didn't make it but LPS for the most part did quite well. I did PAR readings and increased my light strength and now everything is easier.

PAR meter is so critical for understanding what parts of your tank are getting what kind of light.

 

[Devisissy]

Broke down the tank tonight. Soaked all the pumps and what not. I don't normally use vinegar but I had some 30% and I was out of citric acid. When I got to the mp10 I noticed the magnet was swollen and rusty. Hard to say how long that's been that way.

 

[Someshmuk]

Sorry to hear.

OP, one thing you wrote in post #6 stands out to me.

The tank is an AIO.

Has it always been this tank? Could it be something with this tank? Chemical? , stability with AIO?

Maybe break out the 90?

100% Agree with moving on to the 90 with a sump. AIOs, although low barrier to entry, much more limited and unforgiving than higher volume sumped aquarium setups.

Broke down the tank tonight. Soaked all the pumps and what not. I don't normally use vinegar but I had some 30% and I was out of citric acid. When I got to the mp10 I noticed the magnet was swollen and rusty. Hard to say how long that's been that way.

Sounds like a great time to jump ship!

There are significant benefits you'll see if you've never ran a tank with a sump.

Better and more efficient filtration options.
Higher stability from larger water volume.
A cabinet you can store all your equipment and goodies in.
Availability of space to run all sorts of systems.

If you don't already have it, make sure you get these pieces of equipment. Some are no brain er but others are just significant improvements to quality of life.

Heater and external temperature controller.
Properly sized protein skimmer. (my 120 rated skimmer handles 3 tangs, 3 clowns, and 1 foxface beautifully)
Eheim or other auto feeder if your fish eat flake/pellets.
Auto top off. (I like avast but any will do)

Truth be told, I think most of your problems occurred due to the difficulty of keeping water stable in an AIO and less about the specific state of your parameters. The equipment available in AIOs pale in comparison to the equipment available for sumped systems. And AIO controls often are able to affect the tank so quick that it could be harming the tank in the process.

You may find that you do not need as many controls as you implemented in AIO. In my setup, I have an ATO, Protein skimmer, Calcium reactor, Kalkwasser reactor, and ATS. So far the protein skimmer is handling most of the legwork on nutrient removal and the ATS is acting as a buffer.

 

[Jeroen1975]

I see lots of nice AOI's, so I think it has more to do with watervolume and making small changes. Back when I started the advise was go big and thank me later. I don't have a kalkwasser stirrer, no calciumreactor, granted I do run chaeto and the provided skimmer and ATO floatvalve, but less controls?

 

[Someshmuk]

I see lots of nice AOI's, so I think it has more to do with watervolume and making small changes. Back when I started the advise was go big and thank me later. I don't have a kalkwasser stirrer, no calciumreactor, granted I do run chaeto and the provided skimmer and ATO floatvalve, but less controls?

He had 2 reactor running on his AIO. I'm guessing media reactors and truth be told I've never used or needed to use them.

I've got a calcium reactor and kalkstirrer because the tank is predominantly sps. With normally stocked setups, light dosing and/or water changes do the job perfectly.

Simplify, stabilize, master, then improve. Rinse and repeat.

Often times we chase multiple solutions and controls with no direct correlation to improvement. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to pinpoint the root cause or causes due to having too many things running. It could even be that the combination of 2+ controls causes a problem that wouldn't happen if ran independently. Better to reduce down and add controls piece wise to see if what you're doing is helping at all.

 

[Devisissy]

I got the results of the ATI tests. Doesn't matter now as the tank is torn down. Knowing I had a magnet rusting into the tank I have no doubt about these results. Still doesn't exactly explain why everything was dying. Oh well.

 

[Knight420]

Never give up never surrender. As for algae you don't get rid of it you manage it. Algae is an essential part. I just make sure I add a clean up crew who love algae. Do not try to add chemicals to remove the algae. You will always kill the coral. Don't forget the coral have algae that live in their cells.

Have an algae problem, add clean up crew who love that algae.

Another thing I noticed that helps is Substrate sauce. Anything that will control your Nitrate and Phosphate will keep algae in check.

After 15 years in the hobby I'd hate for you to give up. Just hang in there, this is a journey for sure and not an easy one, but it is so worth it.

 

[Knight420]

I got the results of the ATI tests. Doesn't matter now as the tank is torn down. Knowing I had a magnet rusting into the tank I have no doubt about these results. Still doesn't exactly explain why everything was dying. Oh well.

Rust is Iron Oxide. In fact Phosphate media is just iron oxide.

 

[Devisissy]

Rust is Iron Oxide. In fact Phosphate media is just iron oxide.

Yes