Unhappy With Reef Tank.

[OpenOcean33]

Hey guys its been a while since I've posted, I started my reef tank back in April 2018 and its definitely been a huge learning curve from fresh water with lots of ups and downs. I fought Dino, Cyano, and many other issues with the tank. I recently had the tank crash on me while I was away and now I have just and moved it as is to my new house. Now I have a tank with mostly half dead coral and cyano which I can't seem to get rid of this time around N- 4 p-.03 salinity 1.025, all- 7.8. I guess I'm just looking for advice on moving forward, should I scratch it and start over or anything trying to recover from the system I have? a little lost looking for a good direction to go.

Hey guys its

 

[Dom]

Sorry for your frustration. But before we can help you out, there is a lot of information we need...

1. Post your latest test results and their age.
2. Tell us about your setup:

- How big is the tank?​

- What kind of water are you using?​

- What kind of filtration?​

- Do you use a sump?​

- Do you have a protein skimmer?​

- What fish do you have?​

- What kind of coral are you trying to keep?​

- What kind of lighting?​

​

The more details the better.​

 

[mike550]

Hey that’s a bummer. It looks like you’ve got a great tank and I’m guessing you’ve learned a lot along the way. My suggestion is to step back and think about what you might change if you started over (rock layout, livestock, coral selection, equipment etc) and then make these changes over time. So not really starting over but making some changes over time that you now have a chance to make.

 

[Jvesche20]

Are you using RODI water? also what is your calcium and alk levels? could that be the reason why half are dead?

 

[Wayne P.]

Been there with a 75 gallon that I got for free. Then I ended up moving and gave away my livestock, put the liverock in a bucket and waited a few months before I restarted my 13.5 Nano. Have had some bryopsis problems, still fighting with dino's. The clown's are happy and my softies, zoa's mostly, are looking great. Once I get moved into my new house I will get a larger tank and set it up with all of the goodies. You look like you have some good colonies present. I think I would try and fight it out. Especially if the place you are living is going to be home for a while.

 

[jda]

If that was a dry/dead rock tank, you could be getting close to pulling out of it:

Revisiting my Elos tank after 18 months | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Sometimes we just aren’t as smart as we think we are. I am using the “royal we” as I know I am definitely not as smart as I think I am a lot of the tie, especially when it comes to this hobby.

reefbuilders.com

A full assay of parameter and equipment might help, but maybe not. Those LPS and softies look fine - what kind of corals are you losing?

 

[OpenOcean33]

Sorry for your frustration. But before we can help you out, there is a lot of information we need...

1. Post your latest test results and their age.
2. Tell us about your setup:

- How big is the tank?​

- What kind of water are you using?​

- What kind of filtration?​

- Do you use a sump?​

- Do you have a protein skimmer?​

- What fish do you have?​

- What kind of coral are you trying to keep?​

- What kind of lighting?​

​

The more details the better.​

Its a redsea max e 260 - 70 gallon AIO tank I use a 5 stage RODI system from BRS to make water, I have the skimmer that comes with it however, it never seems to have a lot of output or skimate? I will have some white foam here and there but never any skimate in the cup, I have two clowns, a flame angel, blue star wrasse, and maybe a watchman goby I haven't seen him since the move 3 weeks ago, I am keep everything but SPS cannot seem to keep them alive not even a Monti caps. I have the Hydra 26 lights that come with the tank. Last test were P- .03, N- 4, Cal- 400, Mg,- 1300, alk- 7.8 this was about 5 days ago tested. ... Also im not trying to do anything fancy, just maintain a nice stable system.

 

[OpenOcean33]

Hey that’s a bummer. It looks like you’ve got a great tank and I’m guessing you’ve learned a lot along the way. My suggestion is to step back and think about what you might change if you started over (rock layout, livestock, coral selection, equipment etc) and then make these changes over time. So not really starting over but making some changes over time that you now have a chance to make.

Yeah that's a good idea as well thank you. I would like to change from an AIO tank I feel like it makes things a bit harder and im not so sure the skimmer works great or my tank just docent have a lot of stuff to pull out because I never have any skimate in the skimmer cup. Than you for the suggestion tho I think taking a step back is good.

 

[OpenOcean33]

Are you using RODI water? also what is your calcium and alk levels? could that be the reason why half are dead?

Yes I use RODI water and Last test were P- .03, N- 4, Cal- 400, Mg,- 1300, alk- 7.8 this was about 5 days ago tested its weird too because my purple torch bleached, and it had been in there a year in that spot. No light changes either.

 

[OpenOcean33]

Been there with a 75 gallon that I got for free. Then I ended up moving and gave away my livestock, put the liverock in a bucket and waited a few months before I restarted my 13.5 Nano. Have had some bryopsis problems, still fighting with dino's. The clown's are happy and my softies, zoa's mostly, are looking great. Once I get moved into my new house I will get a larger tank and set it up with all of the goodies. You look like you have some good colonies present. I think I would try and fight it out. Especially if the place you are living is going to be home for a while.

Yup its decently home for a while was thinkinging maybe just go fish only for a while and really get the water in check and later down the road add coral. I hate watching all the coral slowly die in front of me.

 

[OpenOcean33]

If that was a dry/dead rock tank, you could be getting close to pulling out of it:

Revisiting my Elos tank after 18 months | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Sometimes we just aren’t as smart as we think we are. I am using the “royal we” as I know I am definitely not as smart as I think I am a lot of the tie, especially when it comes to this hobby.

reefbuilders.com

A full assay of parameter and equipment might help, but maybe not. Those LPS and softies look fine - what kind of corals are you losing?

All my Euphillya hammer and frogspawn basically melted, birsdnest died, a torch bleached that was in a shaded area for over a year and no light changes, clove polyps closed for almost 6 months. P- .03, N- 4, Cal- 400, Mg,- 1300, alk- 7.8

 

[jda]

Go to the basics... test your RO for "stuff," recalibrate your refractometer, make sure that your test kits are not expired, check your temp with something with mercury in it and double check anything that you rely on with a "controller."

I have seen so many issues come from people having salinity at 1.20, or so, when they think that they are at 1.026.

 

[Mical]

Honestly your tank doesn't look that bad. Your params looked ok(Alk is a little low for my taste) but what is SG and temp you run? Plus after moving a tank whether you reused your old sand or used new, you might have started a mini cycle.

Personally I would ride it out and let it mature. Keep your params in check and it'll come around, Also check w/other who have AIO tanks re: your skimmer.

 

[Sailfin11]

In my opinion, your tank look great! The rock has nice color and the corals that you have seem to be doing well. With my tank, I'm really happy with the living part of my tank (fish, coral, rocks), but I wish I would have designed the sump system and plumbing differently. I think that we all have ups and downs when it comes to our tanks because there is always something better. Since your problem is cyano, I would maybe try a sand-sifting goby to keep it agitated. If your tank is large enough, a bristle tooth tang could help with algae issues. Stick with softies and easier LPS for now. Green sinularia looks just as good as some acros in my opinion. I know the feeling of watching a coral die in front of you with no obvious reason. Once you feel like everything's more stable try some different inverts before corals. I really enjoy my cleaner shrimp and serpent stars!
Best of luck!

 

[OpenOcean33]

Go to the basics... test your RO for "stuff," recalibrate your refractometer, make sure that your test kits are not expired, check your temp with something with mercury in it and double check anything that you rely on with a "controller."

I have seen so many issues come from people having salinity at 1.20, or so, when they think that they are at 1.026.

The RODI systems has a TDS meter bit in, should I be looking at anything else and yes I have triple checked a,, test kits as well.

 

[stanleo]

What kind of flow is there in the tank? Are there any power heads on the front close to the bottom to give a flow in that area? Do you have anything breaking up the surface of the water? Flow is extremely important for coral. Its the way they regulate their internet systems.

 

[OpenOcean33]

Honestly your tank doesn't look that bad. Your params looked ok(Alk is a little low for my taste) but what is SG and temp you run? Plus after moving a tank whether you reused your old sand or used new, you might have started a mini cycle.

Personally I would ride it out and let it mature. Keep your params in check and it'll come around, Also check w/other who have AIO tanks re: your skimmer.

Yeah the alk is a little low, but stable for where I normally keep it. I live in Fl, so I actually don't run a heater the tan stays 78 year round. If anything maybe a chiller might be good lol. I kept my old sand, but things were not great before moving the tank either.

 

[OpenOcean33]

In my opinion, your tank look great! The rock has nice color and the corals that you have seem to be doing well. With my tank, I'm really happy with the living part of my tank (fish, coral, rocks), but I wish I would have designed the sump system and plumbing differently. I think that we all have ups and downs when it comes to our tanks because there is always something better. Since your problem is cyano, I would maybe try a sand-sifting goby to keep it agitated. If your tank is large enough, a bristle tooth tang could help with algae issues. Stick with softies and easier LPS for now. Green sinularia looks just as good as some acros in my opinion. I know the feeling of watching a coral die in front of you with no obvious reason. Once you feel like everything's more stable try some different inverts before corals. I really enjoy my cleaner shrimp and serpent stars!
Best of luck!

Thank you its had a year and a half to mature, I had a yellow watchman goby, however he went missing after the move 3 weeks ago. Yeah if I could g back I definitely wouldn't do an AIO tank I feel it has many restrictions I wasn't aware of as a newbie, however, I know people can run some nice AIO no problem.

 

[OpenOcean33]

What kind of flow is there in the tank? Are there any power heads on the front close to the bottom to give a flow in that area? Do you have anything breaking up the surface of the water? Flow is extremely important for coral. Its the way they regulate their internet systems.

Just stock flow, which I believe is enough? since cyano didn't start until 1 1/2 years into my tank.

 

[stanleo]

Just stock flow, which I believe is enough? since cyano didn't start until 1 1/2 years into my tank.

I think I would do this the Sherlock Holmes way. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Meaning at this point, I would add a power head or two, one on each side and see what happens.