Mattgsa 315 gallon build

[mattgsa]

Perhaps some one can help me understand this, every couple of days my tank's ALK just plummets and i don't know why.

 

[mattgsa]

Sounds like time to binge watch Tidal Gardens on youtube for the species spotlight episodes!

I have watched them all, some of them twice.

 

[GBRsouth]

Perhaps some one can help me understand this, every couple of days my tank's ALK just plummets and i don't know why.

Do you have lots of people in the room every couple of days? (Maybe CO2 build up causing carbonic acid to drive down the alk level?)

 

[mattgsa]

Do you have lots of people in the room every couple of days? (Maybe CO2 build up causing carbonic acid to drive down the alk level?)

No more than usual. It happened yesterday and there was no one at the house at the time.

 

[mattgsa]

Still having a problem with nutrients. One day phosphates read .14, and the next .02. I would would think that running the calcium reactor one would not have a problem with low nutrients. I even ordered phosphate-e just because i was getting high readings, and today I'm having to dose more po4. I'm also having to dose 20mls of NeoNitrate to keep my the levels around 5.

 

[GBRsouth]

It's strange that both your alk and phosphates are both bouncing around. Is this happening with nitrates too? It might be best to leave things alone for a few weeks and see if it helps stabilise your system's levels. Maybe your adjustments are not giving a true reading before you adjust back the other way each time.

 

[mattgsa]

It's strange that both your alk and phosphates are both bouncing around. Is this happening with nitrates too? It might be best to leave things alone for a few weeks and see if it helps stabilise your system's levels. Maybe your adjustments are not giving a true reading before you adjust back the other way each time.

Yes, but I’m dosing 20ml of nitrate a day

 

[mattgsa]

I was staring at the tank today, and noticed several things some good some not so good. The first thing I noticed was my Forest fire digitada has for the most part healed from me cutting off the burnt tips.
I also found some beautiful sponges growing in my sump while I was look for more of the next thing. In addition to the ones in the picture there were some really nice green ones.

However, not everything I found was good. While I was staring at the tank, what I thought at first was a bristle worm came out, I'm sure now it's not a bristle worm. After a closer look I quickly grabbed my tongs and pulled it out of the tank. See for your self.

I'm sure you will agree that it is most certainly a fire worm. I just hope there are no more of those things in the tank.

 

[mattgsa]

After finding the fire worm in the tank, I got to thinking perhaps i should work on getting all the detritus out of the tank. I had some acrylic tubing with an ID of 1/4 inch, and I stuck that on the end of the tubing of an old CO2 scrubber, and started a siphon, I ran it down to the filter sock section, and went to town cleaning the tank, and sucking a bunch of dead algae, all manner of different things out of the bottom of the tank. The wife and I agree the tank looks a lot better, and we think we are at the end of the ugly stage. There was a lot of red that I was thing was cyano bacteria, however, to my surprise i think a lot of it is actually coraline algae.

 

[mattgsa]

My crorals started to brown, so I tested nitrates and they were at zero. Which was surprising since I dose over 20 mls of nitrates a day. So I added 20 more mls and up the daily dose to 30. I'm just wondering how long the corals will stay brown.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Sorry to hear bud. As far as how long the corals stay brown, it really depends. In my experience if you can keep things stable corals will start coloring back up in a couple of weeks to a month. That is assuming no other major fluctuations/mishaps.

I also would t worry too much about them going brown at this point. While they aren't the prettiest to look at, many corals turn brown and then slowly color back up when being introduced to a new system. Give them time to adapt to your system/lighting/nutrient levels/maintenance schedule. They will color back up in time.

 

[mattgsa]

Sorry to hear bud. As far as how long the corals stay brown, it really depends. In my experience if you can keep things stable corals will start coloring back up in a couple of weeks to a month. That is assuming no other major fluctuations/mishaps.

I also would t worry too much about them going brown at this point. While they aren't the prettiest to look at, many corals turn brown and then slowly color back up when being introduced to a new system. Give them time to adapt to your system/lighting/nutrient levels/maintenance schedule. They will color back up in time.

Thanks, I'm struggling with keeping nutrients in the tank, and I was worried that was the cause of them turning brown. As of last night have started dosing Kalk back to the tank (Just at night). The PH is dropping down to 7.4 at night and doesn't even make it to 8 during the day. I know this is due to the Calcium Reactor, however, I want to see if I can compensate for it.

 

[mattgsa]

Just some pictures of the tank. It's coming along slowly. The corals are actually looking better, so I'm hoping that they will start getting their color back. I'm dosing Nitrates like crazy. (There are no spots on the fish just the water column.)

when I took the picture above there were no polyps on the forest fire, however, later that afternoon when I dosed 40mls of NeoNitro they started coming out.

 

[mattgsa]

Tested nitrates again today, twice, the first time the test came in at zero, and the second time it came in at 2. I'm really struggling to get nutrients up. I over feed and everything, to the point where i see food sitting at the bottom of the tank. I even have my skimmer turned off. My ALK and Cal consumption also jumped today, The calcium reactor was doing a great job of keeping the tank stable until today and I had to dose two part help out.
Your going to laugh when you hear this. I bought two nero 5's a couple months ago, and today I just realized that you had to download an app to program them. I have no idea why I never considered that until today. Rather embarrassing for someone that works in IT.

 

[mattgsa]

If the trident is right, I may have over dosed ALK. I went from 8.1 to 9.7. I'm really hoping this does not cause a problem with the corals.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Sounds like you are making progress. Not sure why you are having so much trouble getting nutrients up, but keep at it. If alk/cal consumption is up, then something is using it.

Keep at it. You will get there.

 

[mattgsa]

Sounds like you are making progress. Not sure why you are having so much trouble getting nutrients up, but keep at it. If alk/cal consumption is up, then something is using it.

Keep at it. You will get there.

Thanks, I have even recruited the kids to help out with the tank. My youngest daughter does the nitrate testing with Dad's supervision, and my son feeds the fish. He now wants his own aquarium in his room with his fish. The scary thing is the wife is actually open to the idea. I told her we have the 90-gallon tank still sitting in the garage, and she agreed that would fit in his room.

 

[mattgsa]

I’m dosing 300 mL a day of nitrates, in the tank is still reading zero. I have doubled the dose to 600 mL a day, I just hope it starts to register

 

[cmaxwell39]

That is a lot of nitrate. Are you dosing neonitro? Or a different form?
Have you done a test with your nitrate additive and dosed it into a known volume of saltwater and tested to make sure it is raising it as expected?

Not sure what your total system volume is, but 300ml of neo-nitro is 5ppm in 300 gal system. Not saying it isn't using that much, just is a lot.

What export methods do you have? Fuge? Skimmer? Carbon dosing?? Maybe try turning down some of the export methods to try to bring the system back in balance.

 

[mattgsa]

That is a lot of nitrate. Are you dosing neonitro? Or a different form?
Have you done a test with your nitrate additive and dosed it into a known volume of saltwater and tested to make sure it is raising it as expected?

Not sure what your total system volume is, but 300ml of neo-nitro is 5ppm in 300 gal system. Not saying it isn't using that much, just is a lot.

What export methods do you have? Fuge? Skimmer? Carbon dosing?? Maybe try turning down some of the export methods to try to bring the system back in balance.

Yes I test the additive and it was well over 50. Right now nothing but filter socks that don’t change until they are over flowing.