White flag waving?

[corey.nolta]

Looking for a pick me up. How many of you guys and gals get into ruts and just want to call it quits? I'm at that point and not sure how to get out of it. What do you personally do in order to fall back into love with your tanks?

I've been in the salt water world for a year and a half now and it has definitely been a roller coaster! I've had a love / hate relationship with my tank, which I'm assuming everyone has from time to time? But this time I could honestly sell it all off and just be done. I don't necessarily want to, but I could.

I have always battled nitrates and phosphates from day one regardless of what I do. I run gfo, I have dosed vodka, I have tried large amounts of macros, I have been all over the map with water changes. I've done large (30-35%) every other week, daily 5 gals, once a week 20%. Nitrates and phosphates have always prevailed. (RO water tested 0 from both my holding container and from the unit itself, so it's within the tank itself). I am confident it's not over feeding as sometimes I feel like I underfeed.

This last time I looked for advice, several people thought maybe I was doing water changes TOO much/frequently and removing beneficial bacteria too quickly and told me to just let it do it's thing and do a 25-30% at the end of the month. So I let the tank do its own thing, and now my nitrates and phosphates have shot through the roof and I've begun to lose corals - LPS, SPS, and softies all are slowly melting away / receding. I have a feeling my duncan, war coral, and torch won't see the end of next week.

It's to the point I am ready to wave the white flag and call defeat. Have you ever felt defeat and wanted to get out? Did you? How did you overcome the frustration?
Thanks!
-Defeated reefer

 

[Bunnee911]

Uh, [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

 

[hybridazn]

Details on system? How old is the system and anything else you can fill us in to help

 

[Untamedrose]

What is your life stock and filtration set up?

 

[melypr1985]

I'll say that I've certainly felt defeated a few times and there have been moments of panic and feeling like a failure, but I've always tried to turn it around and make it a positive even if the positive is just a learning experience. We are here to help and certainly dont want you to give up. You have the squad's undivided attention here so give us the details of your system along with some pictures and we will see what we can do to help get you back on track and having fun!

 

[Tahoe61]

Well I have wanted to throw my tank out of windows and off balconies, but I have been going at this hobby for decades.

I let my tank, corals and fish tell me when there is an issue, I never chase the numbers. I do not test for nitrates or phos unless I have a see a significant issue with algae that I can not resolve.

Dino made me want to get out once but I did eventually overcome that.

My days in the hobby come far before the net, which is a mixed blessing. Take all trends with a grain of salt, make one change at a time when correcting an issue. Keep it simple, it's really not complicated when you remove all the menusha. All one really needs is a decent salt mix, routine water changes and occasional testing. Skimmer are optional and add a level of security but not necessary.

I always go back to the Berlin Method, it just works for me. Skimmer, live rock, higher flow and higher lighting. I do top off with Kalkwasser but that is it.

Hobbyist will say well lets see the results, if need be I am happy to comply.

 

[dbl]

Let's think of this as a challenge, not a time to get (more) discouraged. There are a lot of great folks here to help. Nearly all of us have ups and downs. This can be a great learning experience as well getting things turned around.

We need to start with some details of your system, and provide your parameters in detail with numbers/actual measurements. Just keep ìn mind, the more information you can provide the better, so share whatever you can think of.

We want to help and we don't want you to give up.

 

[Wiz]

Hey, this is exacltly what you do. For my first five years I was exactly you. Phos and nitrate. It stunk bad. Couldnt keep sps. Ever. Had two complete system failures. Lost hundreds the first time. Thousands the second. Fought dinos!! All the pests. Polyclad, planaria, bubble algae, slime, hair. Gosh I wass where u are. But I kept at it. Talked to reefers. Used a lot of persistance and effort. Finally I arrived at keeping everything in check. I keep everything now and a lot of it! If I were you I would take a deep breath, find some beautiful reefs and watch them. Videos. Tanks and natural. Remember what it is you are aiming for. How far you've come and what it will be like when you achieve your goals. When you have a small and amazing beautiful ecosystem in your living room. I stare at mine for hours. It will be worth it in the end. :-D

 

[Wiz]

Theres always space for a fts shot! ;-) love to see them.

Well I have wanted to throw my tank out of windows and off balconies, but I have been going at this hobby for decades.

I let my tank, corals and fish tell me when there is an issue, I never chase the numbers. I do not test for nitrates or phos unless I have a see a significant issue with algae that I can not resolve.

Dino made me want to get out once but I did eventually overcome that.

My days in the hobby come far before the net, which is a mixed blessing. Take all trends with a grain of salt, make one change at a time when correcting an issue. Keep it simple, it's really not complicated when you remove all the menusha. All one really needs is a decent salt mix, routine water changes and occasional testing. Skimmer are optional and add a level of security but not necessary.

I always go back to the Berlin Method, it just works for me. Skimmer, live rock, higher flow and higher lighting. I do top off with Kalkwasser but that is it.

Hobbyist will say well lets see the results, if need be I am happy to comply.

 

[corey.nolta]

I do have a thread that I started a while ago on the whole nitrate / phosphate issue, so I'm not necessarily looking for immediate advice on that, as I do have quite a bit of things to try from the previous thread. I just want to love my tank again and be excited about it all. I've lost that.

Tank info:
-90 gallon display w/ 40 gallon sump with two filtersocks and fuge currently with chaeto (cantaloupe size) and live rock (25# roughly). Reef octopus 150.
-This current tank is 6 months old, as I upgraded to a 90 from a 55 last December. All the rock was rock that I initially started with a year and a half ago. When I upgraded, I moved over all the rock along with the water, and then filled the rest with fresh saltwater.
-I utilize an RO unit for saltwater as well as topping off. I tested the water the other week and read 0 directly from the unit and the storage container. So membranes and everything are still in working order
-Livestock; Foxface, white/black damsel x2, clown x3, coral beauty, wrasse, lawnmower blenny, chromis x3. Assorted CUC.
-Feeding; morning with a frozen mix (meat and nori) and then a semi large sheet of nori in the evening
-Parameters last tested about two weeks ago
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40+
Phosphate - .25
Calcium - 460
Alkalinity - 8dkh
Magnesium - 1400
Salinity - 1.026
PH - 8
Temp is in the 75 -80 range

Any more info, just let me know.

 

[corey.nolta]

This photo is about 2 months old, Same set up as currently, just with the fuge and skimmer compartment flipped

 

[Wiz]

Are you kidding me?? Look how beautiful your system is! Wait till you beat it man. Gonna be sweeet

This photo is about 2 months old, Same set up as currently, just with the fuge and skimmer compartment flipped

 

[rock_lobster]

from my years and years of experience only 3 things have kept my tank pretty much pristine: Good flow with a wavemaker, chaetomorpha, and a pack of turbo snails with at least 1 very large snail per 10 gallons(will eat all the nuisance algaes). With those three ingredients its pretty hard to mess up.

 

[rock_lobster]

Oh and I forgot I also use a continuous doser for topoff and carbonate also essential.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

Couple of things I would suggest. I would completely leave out the small pieces of nori mixed in the food. I would mix in a pinch of quality flake food instead its more likely to get eaten. A lot of the nori flakes just end up in the filter socks IMO. And only feed the sheet nori 3 times per week. Also, you need to let the chaeto grow to 5 or 6 times that size before it will make a difference. I would get rid of the rock in your sump and let the chaeto grow there instead. I run my chaeto with a light 16 hours a day. After trying bio pellets and turf scrubbers, I settled on chaeto. The bio pellets worked too good and seemed to support some dangerous bacteria as well. The turf scrubbers worked great until my tanks got infected with a bacteria that eats the algae rendering them ineffective. The chaeto seems to be immune to that bacteria and is simple to harvest. But you need to let it get much bigger before harvesting. It's also going to take a while. Once the chaeto mass gets big enough it still may take a couple of months to bring the levels down. There is no magic pill or answer in reef keeping and patience is key.

I have suffered many mistakes in this hobby. And this hobby teaches me something new all the time. Some times the lessons are heartbreaking and expensive. But I keep doing it because I find the challenge fun and interesting. My lfs has always had the most beautiful 400 gallon tank. But I have seen that tank have almost every problem that I have encountered. They just deal with it. And a lot of this hobby dealing and adapting to the problems and challenges that pop up. I hope you can continue to enjoy this hobby. Good luck.

 

[corey.nolta]

First off, thanks everyone for the words of encouragement. I'll keep fighting through it, hoping it's just a phase. Next thing on my list is to change up the flow in hopes of helping everything stay suspended longer to let the skimmer get a hold of it. And to get back to doing more frequent water changes. Maybe that'll help keep the nitrates in check. I currently have three standard powerheads, plus the return. I have been thinking about doing the gyre style pumps instead. Anyone have thoughts on them?

 

[anthonywesty]

Never give up. Reduce the feeding. Keep the neck of your skimmer clean and keep doing weekly water change.

 

[Eienna]

I've been going through a rough patch, myself...half-tempted to return to my good ol' freshwater...but...well, maybe I'm just stubborn, but I can't give up. Aiptasia, an overheating tank (gotta get a fan for it) and new fish (quarantined, thank God) dying unexpectedly, and a sky-high nitrate value (added too many fish too fast) are my current nemeses. I'll make it, though. You can too, though you do really have to be dedicated. My planted freshwaters were definitely less demanding.

 

[Craigwood]

Well I have wanted to throw my tank out of windows and off balconies, but I have been going at this hobby for decades.

I let my tank, corals and fish tell me when there is an issue, I never chase the numbers. I do not test for nitrates or phos unless I have a see a significant issue with algae that I can not resolve.

Dino made me want to get out once but I did eventually overcome that.

My days in the hobby come far before the net, which is a mixed blessing. Take all trends with a grain of salt, make one change at a time when correcting an issue. Keep it simple, it's really not complicated when you remove all the menusha. All one really needs is a decent salt mix, routine water changes and occasional testing. Skimmer are optional and add a level of security but not necessary.

I always go back to the Berlin Method, it just works for me. Skimmer, live rock, higher flow and higher lighting. I do top off with Kalkwasser but that is it.

Hobbyist will say well lets see the results, if need be I am happy to comply.

I'm the same. Been doing this for 20 years. Used to chase numbers and ended up achieving one but missing another two. Then I got to a stage where things panned out OK. Now I let my corals do the talking. Only keep a tank full of softies and only dose trace and iodine sporadically. I read articles and think , oh I should get me one of those new gadgets. Then I think.2 it's not broken don't fix it.
Used to run with T5,s a skimmer and a canister filter and do regular water changes. Just moved house so I have upgraded to a reefer 350 with sump. So we will see if my method prevails with a newer set up.

 

[corey.nolta]

So I've been trying to get into my tank again and I've slowly become to love it like I used to. I had a "don't care" attitude for a good two months and did minimal maintenance. I was just over it. I lost a few corals unfortunately due to my lack of care. However I'm slowly getting out of my rut.

I did make a discovery just today that I think will help tremendously with my nitrates and phosphates issues! Which is were everything else stems from.

Let me start off by saying that there is not much activity in my neck of the woods so I have been on this salt water journey with just threads to read and everything to learn somewhat the hard way through trial and error. This most recent discovery involves filter socks. Some may call it ignorance or that I didn't do enough research, but in all the reading I have done this past year and a half, I have never come across this.

Apparently filter socks are meant to be changed every 2-3 days? Which makes total sense now. Something I probably should have been aware of prior to now. But I've been changing them out right before they get "full". I'd say probably about every 3 weeks or so. So I'm positive that's been my issue the entire time! Hopefully now that I am aware to change way more often than I have been I will see my nutrients decrease.

Just an update. Again, thanks for all the help and advice. The saltwater community is pretty awesome!