Please help me save my tank.

[Kaludar]

Hello Again,

I had a thread previously about acros dying in my tank. I thought I had the issue fixed but I believe my whole tank is still in a slow decline. I'll post a link to the other thread and then give you my parameters and some pictures.

Previous thread:

My sps frags are dying..

Hi guys, as title states I have some new sps frags on a drag rack about half way up my glass with some zoanthids frags which are doing great. The sps has started to recede from the tips and there is minimal if any polyp extension. I’m going to post my parameters first then some photos of the...

www.reef2reef.com

Current Parameters (tested 3/8):
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: .05ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm
Phosphate: .04ppm
SG: 1.025
Calcium: 425ppm
Alk: 8.10 dKH
Mag: 1480ppm

Livestock:
1 flame angel
1 midas blenny
2 clown fish
1 firefish
1 royal gramma




I am having major tissue recession on my lps and sps. Currently effected are my Scolyimia, Acans and Acro Frags. I also have zoanthids, blastos, hammers, torch and frogspawn, all of these seem to be doing fine.

From the other thread it was suggested that my phosphates were too low and my corals were being starved, I have tried to get my phosphates up, I was at between .01 and undetectable when i made my first thread. I started using nopox early on in the life of the tank which stripped almost all of my nutrients, I stopped nopox a few weeks ago and have been feeding more heavily. I have not had much luck getting my phosphates above .04ppm, the highest I have gotten them is .07ppm. I also have an ICP test that I sent off a few days ago and have no recieved results for yet.

Every Acro i put int he tank dies within a week, previously everything else seemed to be doing okay but I am having major tissue loss now on my scolymia and acans as well. It seems like the only thing that has happened since stopping no-pox is increased algae growth.

Photos below were taking under full white setting for clarity:

I also rented a par meter from BRS to test my peak par with current lighting settings, i'll post that below:

Any help is appreciated, this has really been a struggle so far. I did not realize how difficult this hobby actually is until i was already thousands of dollars deep into it, and I'm not going to give up at this point.

 

[rastareefs]

The acros should be place in the 300-400 par range, but your nitrates are pretty high. Although you want some nutrients in your tank I would recommend trying to get that 20ppm lowered to about 2-5ppm. Do you have a refugium?

 

[Kaludar]

The acros should be place in the 300-400 par range, but your nitrates are pretty high. Although you want some nutrients in your tank I would recommend trying to get that 20ppm lowered to about 2-5ppm. Do you have a refugium?

No refugium, I'm currently just skimming and filter socks.

 

[rastareefs]

How often are you doing water changes?

 

[Kaludar]

How often are you doing water changes?

I was doing about a 20% water change weekly. I haven't done one in the past two weeks to try to get my phosphate to come up a bit. I'm planning on doing around 10% tomorrow. Is .05ppm nitrite a concern? To me that is the only parameter that seems off, shouldn't that be zero ?

 

[GSnake]

I use a HOB refugium with chaeto that is not super green anymore, cause im also carbon dosing with biopellets, both work for me, my nutrients are ~3ppm nitrate <.05 phos. im wondering why I see so much green algae and not any purple. how old is your tank?

 

[DeniableArc]

No refugium, I'm currently just skimming and filter socks.

Are you sure you have measurable nitrites?

 

[CuzzA]

How often are you changing filter bags? They should be changed every day to every other day to prevent high nitrates. See the popularity of filter rollers.

You have an angel in your tank though with little frags and LPS. My guess is the angel is keeping itself well fed.

 

[rastareefs]

Preferably it should be undetectable, you could try dosing a booster amount of nitrifying bacteria if you have some on hand.

 

[Kaludar]

I use a HOB refugium with chaeto that is not super green anymore, cause im also carbon dosing with biopellets, both work for me, my nutrients are ~3ppm nitrate <.05 phos. im wondering why I see so much green algae and not any purple. how old is your tank?

Tank is about 11mo old. I have a few spots of coraline, but not much. I started running no-pox very early on in the life of the tank and stopped a few weeks ago. My theory is that maybe i stunted the normal development cycle of the tank by running no-pox so early?

Are you sure you have measurable nitrites?

I could retest but it definitely looked like it.

 

[Kaludar]

Preferably it should be undetectable, you could try dosing a booster amount of nitrifying bacteria if you have some on hand.

I have some microbacter 7 on hand that I haven't used yet. I was worried its going to tank my nutrients down to near zero again. I don't really know what the problem is at this point, I'm not sure if my nutrients are too low or if they are too high, or if my tank never cycled properly or what.

 

[WallyB]

I don't agree with anyone who say's your nitrates should be near undetectable. Maybe for someone wanting an SPS only tank, and feeding corals artificially.

Your nitrates are Fine. 20 is perfectly Fine. Especially if you want nutrient Demanding Corals.
I used to run at 50, and my tank was best ever (no sps). Lowest I've every gotten is 20, and nitrate is the least of the concerns in my LPS/Mixed Tank.

Bottoming out on Phosphates could be an issue, but don't mess around with Phosphate swings, that can be really damaging. Let phosphate come up SLOWLY with Extra Feeding Fish. Never let phosphate drop drasitically (ie adding GFO)

Did you actually STOP NoPox 100%, or slowly wean the tank off it?

 

[fishguy242]

how has your skimmate looked and changed over last month?

 

[Kaludar]

I don't agree with anyone who say's your nitrates should be near undetectable. Maybe for someone wanting an SPS only tank, and feeding corals artificially.

Your nitrates are Fine. 20 is perfectly Fine. Especially if you want nutrient Demanding Corals.
I used to run at 50, and my tank was best ever (no sps). Lowest I've every gotten is 20, and nitrate is the least of the concerns in my LPS/Mixed Tank.

Bottoming out on Phosphates could be an issue, but don't mess around with Phosphate swings, that can be really damaging. Let phosphate come up SLOWLY with Extra Feeding Fish. Never let phosphate drop drasitically (ie adding GFO)

Did you actually STOP NoPox 100%, or slowly wean the tank off it?

I stopped it 100%. I was dosing 7ml daily. One of the things that has been the most confusing to me is there seems to be two main camps when it comes to nutrients, people at my LFS and some on here say my nutrients are way too high and that i want to shoot for just trace of nitrate and phosphate, and then others say nutrients aren't the enemy. I went with the trace nutrient camp right off the bat, and was convinced i was starving my corals, and now i stopped nopox and my corals are still dying but instead im starting to get algae growth.

Do you think its possible that I never created a suitable bacteria biome in my tank by using nopox so early on in the tank life ?

 

[WallyB]

Also how does your Richordia Mushroom look? It's health is a good indicator of water quality (Nutrients/Lighting/Water Parameter Stability)
It is open? Shrunken? or no changes from before.?
Acans are touch and go, and sometimes it's anything.

 

[Triggreef]

I was doing about a 20% water change weekly. I haven't done one in the past two weeks to try to get my phosphate to come up a bit. I'm planning on doing around 10% tomorrow. Is .05ppm nitrite a concern? To me that is the only parameter that seems off, shouldn't that be zero ?

It should be zero. How old is the tank?

So many factors here. Honestly I'm not going through the other thread at least right now. But I'll list a few things of concern.

#1 the flame angel. I'm sure others mentioned and you probably already ruled out but... They pester everything. Especially in a small tank like that. Probably not while you're around as fish are like dogs and come around begging for food when opportunity arises. Meaning when you are there. Try looking around a corner when it can't see you.... when you have not been around for a half hour or so. To see what it's really up to when you aren't around.

#2 Peppermint shrimp, they can destroy coral especially if they are already into eating aptasia.

#3 ro/di water... Is your unit hooked up correctly? Are you getting 0 tds with a trusted meter? How long in use? Last filter change? If sourcing water from somewhere else look into those things. Some stores have been known to give out bad water or not even use an rodi system. If your using pre mixed water, well that's your problem.

#4 time.... This one gets everybody. Sometimes people just cannot wait and think they can fool time. If your tank is under 6 months old which it looks to me die to color of rocks and sand, then you really shouldn't have any of the corals you have listed... For this reason.

#5 lighting... If it's nothing above then this is the next place I'd look. Type, duration, spectrum are all very important. Any more than 6 hours per day is really just for you. Coral don't benefit after 6 hours, which has been scientifically proven. So after 6 hours your only growing algae.

Hope some of that helps.

 

[WallyB]

Also how does your Richordia Mushroom look? It's health is a good indicator of water quality (Nutrients/Lighting/Water Parameter Stability)
It is open? Shrunken? or no changes from before.?
Acans are touch and go, and sometimes it's anything.

 

[Kaludar]

how has your skimmate looked and changed over last month?

I'm producing much less skimmate now that I stopped nopox, it also smelled awful when i was using nopox ( strong rotting egg smell) that is gone now. Im assuming the smell was from the dead bacteria.

 

[WallyB]

It should be zero. How old is the tank?

So many factors here. Honestly I'm not going through the other thread at least right now. But I'll list a few things of concern.

#1 the flame angel. I'm sure others mentioned and you probably already ruled out but... They pester everything. Especially in a small tank like that. Probably not while you're around as fish are like dogs and come around begging for food when opportunity arises. Meaning when you are there. Try looking around a corner when it can't see you.... when you have not been around for a half hour or so. To see what it's really up to when you aren't around.

#2 Peppermint shrimp, they can destroy coral especially if they are already into eating aptasia.

I agree with the above two points. Angels can pick at your Acans, Same for Peps, but not as much (BEHIND YOUR BACK).
They won't pick at the Richordia's (as much), so again. How is your's doing?

 

[fishguy242]

is it coming dark/ kinda watery clear?