Ready to Give Up!!

[wesman42]

I agree with Flippers here. The "quality" of the doser has absolutely nothing to do with it in this situation. If he said "Dang guys, my DP-4 dumped 5x the measured amount into my tank...then I'd agree with you. It has yet to happen and thousands of people run the DP-4.

 

[JMetaxas]

160ml a day of each BRS 2 part simply can't be correct.

A 75 gallon tank jammed with SPS would likely not use that much.

Otherwise, invest in an ICP test. It may tell you if you have a contaminant. I've only used the Triton ICP, but find it excellent.

 

[amazongb]

How often are you doing water changes? What kind of salt are you using?

 

[hhholds]

160ml a day of each BRS 2 part simply can't be correct.

A 75 gallon tank jammed with SPS would likely not use that much.

Otherwise, invest in an ICP test. It may tell you if you have a contaminant. I've only used the Triton ICP, but find it excellent.

Did ICP test in February and came back bad for Tin and Aluminum...took out the MarinePure block I was using. Was low on a few trace elements and started using Aquavitro "Fuel". I agree ... I feel I am dosing too much 2 part but alk and Ca tests say otherwise.

Water changes once a month about 30gal water change.

 

[saltyhog]

Lot's of good advice already. One I would repeat is don't chase pH! When my 6 foot tank was full of growing SPS I didn't used more than 140 cc of 2 part per day.

I noticed you have an Apex. Why don't you spread your dosing out throughout the day. I dose alk at the top of the hour and calcium at the bottom of the hour. With the inexpensive BRS dosers I use that means the pump only runs for a few minutes an hour. This has resulted in very stable alk for me. This is the program I have at present for alk. Calcium would be similar but first OSC would be 000:30

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/004:25/055:35 Then ON
If pH > 8.40 Then OFF
If FeedB 000 Then OFF
If FeedD 000 Then OFF



I would also lower the alkalinity gradually to about 8. Most SPS seem to appreciate alk nearer to seawater with nitrates in the range yours are.

 

[SPR1968]

I think what’s already been said, is you need to get the basic foundation elements under control and stable at whatever levels they are at and keep them there. Stability is the vital element here. Corals don’t like changes to their environment

Sort the Aiptasia out before they go rampant, I use Aiptasia X and peppermint shrimps and both work in my case. With Aiptasia X you just need to get the timing right and then blast away! Don’t let them know your coming otherwise they will close up.

On your nitrates, which is I think we’re you feel your struggling, if it were me, I would go back and try Nopox again as if you use it correctly it should work. I have used this for over 2 1/2 years and it’s a very powerful tool for nitrate reduction. I have used it with a combination of Marine pure blocks, Brightwell NO3 bricks and now and by far the best in my experience is Seachem Matrix, and in excess (and loads of it- I have 6 litres in my 650litre system). I have a massive bioload so I need lots of bio filtration.

I would go back to dosing Nopox and start at maybe 50% of the recommended dose, and then increase it by 1ml per day, per week and keep doing this until nitrates start to fall. If you get any bacteria blooms, like white slim, just back of a ml or so for a while, or increase water flow to the affected areas. You will get to a point, at whatever ml per day, when the nitrates will start to fall. I’ve even been in excesss of the recommended dose on a few occasions when necessary, but just go ‘very slowly’ until the system and bacteria adapt to the changes.

And be patient, this will probably take a few weeks before you start to notice any changes

I find I occasionally get white slim in the sump areas with low flow, but if you can make the water ‘ripple’ on the surface it stops slime forming, but this is normally only at high doses (4ml per 100 litres for example).

Just my thoughts anyway.

 

[brandon429]

My sps in my tank will bleach out if I turn the kessil all the way to white and not drop the intensity 70%
At all blue setting, I can run it full blast.
Notice how blue flippers pic is on page one that’s key here in my opinion.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Aptasia with stingers not helping. Stability is key and before attempting any changes- Take a large water sample and have salinity-Alk, CA, Mag and Phosphates tested for a comparison and take it from there. This past Saturday, I did just that and found my calcium was a little low compared to my kit and Salinity was 1.025 whereas Apex reading said 1.031 (which was my trigger for a water test from LFS
Keep lights at 90% Blue, 25-30% white and flow moderate.

 

[mstockmaster]

When was the last time you checked your sand bed? I was in the same situation you were still one point, just straight dumping 2 part into my system, unstable kh, etc. I was vacuuming my sand bed one day and hit what I thought was a rock. Nope, cemented my sandbed. I turned off all dosing for a while measured what the tank was uptaking as far as cal and alk and slowly eased back into dosing. I still can't grow acros for crap but they aren't dying and that's a start. At least my montis, pavona, etc are doing alright.

 

[Tamberav]

I would think if nitrates were the issue your coral would brown. Bleaching or stn sounds like light or stability issue.

 

[corky1966]

Not really....but extremely frustrated. My system is a 75gal with 40gal sump. I have struggled with high nitrates since day 1 (February 2017). I have tried every thing under the sun to lower nitrates below 25ppm but have been unsuccessful in my attempts. I have used NO3PO4-X, Bio-Pellets, and of course a Refugium loaded with Chaeto, live rock and Dragon's Breath. Soft coral and LPS seem to do fine in my aquarium. They do not seem to grow very fast but don't die either. Coralline algae is very slow to grow, it is hardly present on back glass and rocks. My goal is to do SPS but everytime I place one in the tank it lasts a few weeks and completely bleaches. My assumption is the nitrates but I am at a loss.

Tank Parameters as of 11/09/18
NO3 25ppm (Nyos kit)
Ca 420 (Red Sea)
Alk 9.1 (Hannah)
Mg 1400 (Red Sea)
PO4 .04ppm(Hannah ULR)
Salinity 35-36
Temp 78-80
Ph 8-8.15

I dose BRS 2 part (160ml/day of Soda Ash and 160ml/day CaCl). Doses are spread out on overlapping time schedules for 18hrs at 9ml/hr. I also use Kalk in my top off water.

I also dose once per week Aquavitro "Fuel" and CaribSea "Purple-Up"

My lighting consists of 2 Kessil A160 and 4 t5 ATI bulbs (2 Actinic and 2 Aqua Blue Special)

I use a Reef Octopus 150 Skimmer

I took Biopellet reactor offline 2 weeks ago after running it approximately 1yr. I will occasionally use carbon to polish water if it appears dirty.

I am attaching pics to show current condition of tank with a close up of a Monti frag that was added 1 week ago. Until yesterday it was deep red in color. You can see in the pic how it is starting to fade.

Please help .... any logical advice would be appreciated.

PS...Aiptasia are crazy bad .... tried filefish, peppermint shrimp and now Copperband...no luck. Berghia Nudibranchs due to arrive next week...let the battle commence.

 

[corky1966]

Weekly 10% water change for a short time should drop them pretty quick.

 

[LDH]

Also! don't give up on peppermint shrimp if what you're trying next doesn't work. I went through 2 batches before I found the third that was ravenous for aptasia. Keep your head up. If this hobby wasn't challenging it wouldn't be fun!

 

[jda]

25 nitrate is not the end of the world, but I would not let it get much higher. If you are struggling with shrimp, then 25 N is not helping anything... or coralline which does not want to grow too fast with elevated N or P. Add another inch or two of sand if you want the tank to handle these on it's own in a few months. The deeper sand will get anoxic regions that chew up nitrates for the oxygen and release nitrogen gas as a byproduct. If do decide to do this, then stop with any organic carbon since you will starve the bacteria of fuel.

 

[oceanrider]

Agree with the lighting. It is too white for too long
When I scuba after few feet all white spectrum is lost. All underneath appears blue. And sub directly shines above a certain area no more than a few hours

I use same two part dosing now.
But also when I used the Caribsea coralup. I got great results. My green acroporas grew like wildfire. You can almost see the daily growth. Lol.

Each tank will be different. Try to keep parameters approx stable.

Try to add a bit more light intensity to your sump. Maybe white red and blue spectrums for about 10 hours. Thst should absorb lots of nitrate and phosphates. That’s what I do.

 

[Paul J]

Get those nudies in asap.
You have a lot of softys in there. Just saying, I hear that lots of softys with sps don't go so well?
Lighting I no longer use the red and greens just blue and whites 100% with 43% intensity.
Alk yep you need to get that steady. I check it almost every day.

 

[Dburr1014]

I also dose once per week Aquavitro "Fuel" and CaribSea "Purple-Up"

I'm not saying this is it but stop dosing and see what happens after a few weeks.