Scratching my head???

[czoolander]

Wondering why my tank is not thriving when by all signs it should be doing much better then its doing. My tank is 2.5 years old now . 109 gallon display with a 30 gallon sump . Started with dry rock . Used Red sea salt for first year slowly switched over 20 gallons at a time and have been using brightwell salt ever since. I have 2 - Mp40 pumps for flow and 3 - Red Sea LED 90 lights. Ill post my last peramiters below June 19 and then in brackets what my range for peramiters is over the last year

Calcium 509 ( 450-530) I seem to get a different calcium reading every week with no dosing
Magnesium 1530 (1450-1530) again seem to get a different reading every week and no dosing
Nitrates 18.1 ( 10-25 ) depending on when I do my water changes
Phosphate .03 ( 0.00-0.05) again depending on water changes
Alk 8.7 (8.5 -9.5) I started testing and dosing for this over the last 4 months and now my range is a little tighter 8.5-8.9
Tempature 78.9
Salinity 1.025

I still have corals dying once in awhile . Other corals not growing. Sometimes I see major days or weeks of growth in corals and encrusting . Sometimes I see coralline algea going crazy and I have to scrape it . other periods my coralline is retreating and dying.

The fish through all of this are happy and healthy but for the life of me I cant keep all my corals alive and growing......

What am I missing here ??? Any positive help is welcomed don't come in with sarcastic or negative comments because I am new to reefing and make mistakes

Thanks !!!

 

[czoolander]

bump......

 

[Dan_P]

Wondering why my tank is not thriving when by all signs it should be doing much better then its doing. My tank is 2.5 years old now . 109 gallon display with a 30 gallon sump . Started with dry rock . Used Red sea salt for first year slowly switched over 20 gallons at a time and have been using brightwell salt ever since. I have 2 - Mp40 pumps for flow and 3 - Red Sea LED 90 lights. Ill post my last peramiters below June 19 and then in brackets what my range for peramiters is over the last year

Calcium 509 ( 450-530) I seem to get a different calcium reading every week with no dosing
Magnesium 1530 (1450-1530) again seem to get a different reading every week and no dosing
Nitrates 18.1 ( 10-25 ) depending on when I do my water changes
Phosphate .03 ( 0.00-0.05) again depending on water changes
Alk 8.7 (8.5 -9.5) I started testing and dosing for this over the last 4 months and now my range is a little tighter 8.5-8.9
Tempature 78.9
Salinity 1.025

I still have corals dying once in awhile . Other corals not growing. Sometimes I see major days or weeks of growth in corals and encrusting . Sometimes I see coralline algea going crazy and I have to scrape it . other periods my coralline is retreating and dying.

The fish through all of this are happy and healthy but for the life of me I cant keep all my corals alive and growing......

What am I missing here ??? Any positive help is welcomed don't come in with sarcastic or negative comments because I am new to reefing and make mistakes

Thanks !!!

Not much information to go on here. One suggestive piece of information is the management of coralline growth. I would try to determine what you were doing and measuring during coralline retreat. Coralline not growing may concern element supply issues, e.g., calcium and trance element availability, but to kill coralline algae sounds almost like neglect, but what? Also, after suffering with a problem for 2.5 years might indicate the need for mentor to figuratively look over your shoulder and point out some possible areas of improvement in aquarium management. Why not post a picture. It might stimulate more ideas.

 

[Dburr1014]

Wondering why my tank is not thriving when by all signs it should be doing much better then its doing. My tank is 2.5 years old now . 109 gallon display with a 30 gallon sump . Started with dry rock . Used Red sea salt for first year slowly switched over 20 gallons at a time and have been using brightwell salt ever since. I have 2 - Mp40 pumps for flow and 3 - Red Sea LED 90 lights. Ill post my last peramiters below June 19 and then in brackets what my range for peramiters is over the last year

Calcium 509 ( 450-530) I seem to get a different calcium reading every week with no dosing
Magnesium 1530 (1450-1530) again seem to get a different reading every week and no dosing
Nitrates 18.1 ( 10-25 ) depending on when I do my water changes
Phosphate .03 ( 0.00-0.05) again depending on water changes
Alk 8.7 (8.5 -9.5) I started testing and dosing for this over the last 4 months and now my range is a little tighter 8.5-8.9
Tempature 78.9
Salinity 1.025

I still have corals dying once in awhile . Other corals not growing. Sometimes I see major days or weeks of growth in corals and encrusting . Sometimes I see coralline algea going crazy and I have to scrape it . other periods my coralline is retreating and dying.

The fish through all of this are happy and healthy but for the life of me I cant keep all my corals alive and growing......

What am I missing here ??? Any positive help is welcomed don't come in with sarcastic or negative comments because I am new to reefing and make mistakes

Thanks !!!

Have you checked your refractometer with calibration fluid? (not rodi)
I would start there.

 

[czoolander]

Have you checked your refractometer with calibration fluid? (not rodi)
I would start there.

I dont know man everyone uses water . but feel free to use calibration fluid if you want

A: To calibrate a saltwater refractometer, you should first fill it with distilled water. You then need to set the desired range for your refractometer on the side of the device. Once this is done, you can start measuring salinity levels in your sample. How do you use a refractometer in a marine tank?

 

[JimWelsh]

^^^ Dunning-Kruger peak.

 

[MERKEY]

Do you monitor ph?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

What kind of salt mix do you use. Based on the reading you have it looks like possible over salinity from testing error and low relative alk.

Verify by checking your refractometer against 35ppt standard or making your own http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php

If you find your salinity high as I expect, the fix is to slowly let the salinity lower by removing small amounts and at the same time dose your preferred alkalinity supplement to keep it stable at 9 and keep calcium stable around 425 to 450.

 

[Dburr1014]

I dont know man everyone uses water . but feel free to use calibration fluid if you want

A: To calibrate a saltwater refractometer, you should first fill it with distilled water. You then need to set the desired range for your refractometer on the side of the device. Once this is done, you can start measuring salinity levels in your sample. How do you use a refractometer in a marine tank?

Nope, 99.9% people I know use calibration fluid. You are the 0.1% that don't.
It wouldn't hurt to try it. Your slope may be off and you don't even know it. Calibrating with fluid will take the slope out of the equation. I really think your sg is off. It would explain a bunch of your problems.

 

[mehaffydr]

I dont know man everyone uses water . but feel free to use calibration fluid if you want

A: To calibrate a saltwater refractometer, you should first fill it with distilled water. You then need to set the desired range for your refractometer on the side of the device. Once this is done, you can start measuring salinity levels in your sample. How do you use a refractometer in a marine tank?

Funny how you would ask for help and them kinda beat down some one who trys to help??
I calibrate my Refractometer with Calibration fluid and sure don't think everyone uses water or they would not have the calibration fluid for sale.

Have you done an ICP test maybe that would be a good next step

 

[Dburr1014]

Funny how you would ask for help and them kinda beat down some one who trys to help??
I calibrate my Refractometer with Calibration fluid and sure don't think everyone uses water or they would not have the calibration fluid for sale.

Have you done an ICP test maybe that would be a good next step

It's okay, this is a continuation from another thread.
He can't wrap his head around that the directions are wrong for his refractometer.

 

[Lavey29]

What are your par numbers? So you have any leather corals in the tank. Stability is key. If you are at a point where weekly water changes don't keep numbers stabil its time to start dosing.

 

[Thor2j]

I would say you have some testing issues. No way calcium or magnesium is over 500and 1500 without dosing. Brigheell salt is around 410 and 1290. Nitrates are a little high at 18. My guess if those 2 tests are that far off you may have a few others off.

 

[Dburr1014]

I would say you have some testing issues. No way calcium or magnesium is over 500and 1500 without dosing. Brigheell salt is around 410 and 1290. Nitrates are a little high at 18. My guess if those 2 tests are that far off you may have a few others off.

But if his sg was high......

 

[IslandLifeReef]

But if his sg was high......

I would say you have some testing issues. No way calcium or magnesium is over 500and 1500 without dosing. Brigheell salt is around 410 and 1290. Nitrates are a little high at 18. My guess if those 2 tests are that far off you may have a few others off.

This is exactly right. If the OP is calibrating his refractometer with RODI water, then his SG could indeed be high. If he thinks he is mixing his salt to 35 ppt, but in reality it is 40+ ppt, then that would explain his higher Mag and Calc numbers. This could also explain why his tank isn't thriving.

 

[Cell]

Focus on stabilizing your parameters first. You may need to dose.

 

[czoolander]

This is exactly right. If the OP is calibrating his refractometer with RODI water, then his SG could indeed be high. If he thinks he is mixing his salt to 35 ppt, but in reality it is 40+ ppt, then that would explain his higher Mag and Calc numbers. This could also explain why his tank isn't thriving.

You guys are insane. Not sure what the hate is against rodi calibrated refractometer it’s literally in the instructions that came with it lol . Also if it’s so inaccurate then why is my salinity verified at two other sources at 1.025 ????

plus I measure my salt exactly when I mix to give me 1.025 salt so testing on the refractometer is just a back up plan . Then I test at other sites from other people. There is a 0.00002 % chance my salt is not 1.025

anyway moving on to my post as to thriving. To me thriving is perfection . So is my tank looking really good yeah it is . Is it perfect and thriving? Not really.

but I’m getting literally zero advice on this site and the worst is from the apparent chemistry guru or mister vague and cryptic responses. You don’t go to a dentist for a knee injury. Yeah thanks for that gem of advice.

do you calibrate your scale at home to 250 lbs before you weigh yourself? Do you set your odometer in your vehicle to 100mph before you take it on the highway as well ?

how about some actual advice from my OP instead of questioning my test results. They were verified many times against separate testing from two people with 60+ years reefing . One works at the local aquarium and one owns a very successful fish store. Their tanks are “thriving “ they know what they are doing.

and yes I have asked them about my tank they believe my issue is my coral beauty angelfish . Which makes a lot more sense then the responses I’m getting from this site .

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

An angelfish killed your coraline? That wouldn't make sense.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

You guys are insane. Not sure what the hate is against rodi calibrated refractometer it’s literally in the instructions that came with it lol . Also if it’s so inaccurate then why is my salinity verified at two other sources at 1.025 ????

plus I measure my salt exactly when I mix to give me 1.025 salt so testing on the refractometer is just a back up plan . Then I test at other sites from other people. There is a 0.00002 % chance my salt is not 1.025

anyway moving on to my post as to thriving. To me thriving is perfection . So is my tank looking really good yeah it is . Is it perfect and thriving? Not really.

but I’m getting literally zero advice on this site and the worst is from the apparent chemistry guru or mister vague and cryptic responses. You don’t go to a dentist for a knee injury. Yeah thanks for that gem of advice.

do you calibrate your scale at home to 250 lbs before you weigh yourself? Do you set your odometer in your vehicle to 100mph before you take it on the highway as well ?

how about some actual advice from my OP instead of questioning my test results. They were verified many times against separate testing from two people with 60+ years reefing . One works at the local aquarium and one owns a very successful fish store. Their tanks are “thriving “ they know what they are doing.

and yes I have asked them about my tank they believe my issue is my coral beauty angelfish . Which makes a lot more sense then the responses I’m getting from this site .

I’m no help, that’s for sure. I can tell you that people are honestly trying to help. No one is purposely trying to make your experience more difficult. Is every response on a public forum going to be gold? No. Is every single person on this forum an expert? No. You get what you pay for. We’re all fellow reefers, trying to help another out with our very limited knowledge and experience. We tend to throw darts when there’s not a lot to work with.