Nutrient management issues and poor chaeto growth

[Jstn]

I am having a nutrient issue in my 120 that is close to the stocking limit (6 leopard wrasse, 9 fairy wrasse 1 medium small yellow tang, a potters angel and a mandarin). Currently I feed them 2x a day with the neptune auto feeder with pellets and 1x with ~3 cube worth of LRS reef frenzy, 2 x a week some seaweed and 2x reef roids.

I have noticed a decline in my SPS and a few colonies have died (stn tip down) and my nitrates are consistently 16-32 (via red sea) with PO4 being high lately (0.1-0.2 range via hanna) despite replacing GFO (~400 mL worth) biweekly. I dose vinegar via DOS at 80 m L /day, keep my alk around 8.0 and do weekly 20 gallon (red sea pro) changes to manage the nutrient but still they remain high. Six months ago I added a marine pure block, I have not noticed any difference. Two months ago I added a kessil H80 grow and a clump of chaeto, today at the chaeto looks healthy but has not grown much if not any despite these high nutrients and 16hrs/ day light cycle. The sump is powered by a Vector L1 ~40% so plenty of turn over is not an isssue.

In the meantime I developed a cyano problem which I treated by aggressive removal and using Dr Tims waste away which worked as advertises; my sump is much cleaner but my nutrients persist.

I am kind of at my wits end with things to do, and really don't want to start rehoming my wrasse. Any ideas what I am doing wrong with the chaeto and how I could get these nutrients back under control ?


Parameters
Sa 1.025
Ca 450
Mg 1440
Alk 8.0
No3 16-32
PO4 0.1-0.2
NH4 and NO2 are undetectable

Untitled by J Bolton, on Flickr

A picture of the setup pre marine pure and chaeto

 

[glb]

Do you know the source of the no3? It is too high for sps. Could your fish get by with once a day feeding? I've heard Nopox is good for nitrate reduction. I'm getting ready to try it myself. Hopefully someone with more SPS and Nopox experience will chime in. Good luck!

 

[Jstn]

Do you know the source of the no3? It is too high for sps. Could your fish get by with once a day feeding? I've heard Nopox is good for nitrate reduction. I'm getting ready to try it myself. Hopefully someone with more SPS and Nopox experience will chime in. Good luck!

Maybe less feeding but i feel it keeps the fish happy and less likely to be aggressive; I am doing vinegar, NOPOX is basically just another carbon source although I am temped to increase my dose despite being high at 80 ml/day, thanks for your input!

 

[Jstn]

Bump?

 

[KJoFan]

According to the pic it looks like you skim fairly dry? Maybe try skimming wetter to see if that helps at all?

Other than that I'm not sure either, but I'd be leary of increasing vinegar if you've already had cyano issues.

 

[Mal11224]

I recently paused my NOPOX dosing for one particular reason, my chaeto was not growing. I have the H80 and since I stopped dosing, my chaeto was growing better in my sump. I was under the impression that the NOPOX was depleting the nutrients needed for the chaeto to grow. During this process, I have not seen an increase in nitrates (10-15 ppm) and my phosphates are always zero. So, I take it that I didn't really need the NOPOX for the most part. Plus my coral growth has improved and my sps acros have colored up nicely.