Why do so many things die in my tank?

[Gribbles]

Also, MB7 lowers Nitrates so you might have to use more NeoNitro to get above 0. What dose MB7 are you using and how often?

MB7 lowers nitrates? I did not know this...are you sure? The first I've heard of this

 

[tbrown]

MB7 lowers nitrates? I did not know this...are you sure? The first I've heard of this

The very first statement on the website:

Benefits
1. Rapid reduction of organic carbon, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate.

 

[tbrown]

MB7 lowers nitrates? I did not know this...are you sure? The first I've heard of this

Brightwell Aquatics - Microbacter7

 

[Gribbles]

Brightwell Aquatics - Microbacter7

Hmm, I see. I am fairly skeptical of Brightwell's claims...

What are your favorite Brightwell Aquatic products?

What are your favorite Brightwell Aquatics products that you either dose regularly or use to combat tank problems? I use ChaetoGro, NeoPhos, and NeoNitro regularly. I will be starting to dose MicroBacter7 regularly as well. I would highly recommend these to anyone! I'm curious if anyone has...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[tbrown]

Hmm, I see. I am fairly skeptical of Brightwell's claims...

What are your favorite Brightwell Aquatic products?

What are your favorite Brightwell Aquatics products that you either dose regularly or use to combat tank problems? I use ChaetoGro, NeoPhos, and NeoNitro regularly. I will be starting to dose MicroBacter7 regularly as well. I would highly recommend these to anyone! I'm curious if anyone has...

www.reef2reef.com

That's fine to be skeptical. It is a form of carbon dosing and carbon dosing lowers nutrients. Whether it does it as good as it claims - I've never ran any laboratory tests. I know I have used it in 2 tanks to help get Dinos in check and it worked for that and I did notice my nitrates came down.

 

[jezreef]

this might be stupid but what about trying to run the lights on blue only for a while? heard that can sometimes help with algae. not sure if it would mess up the corals though

 

[Gribbles]

That's fine to be skeptical. It is a form of carbon dosing and carbon dosing lowers nutrients. Whether it does it as good as it claims - I've never ran any laboratory tests. I know I have used it in 2 tanks to help get Dinos in check and it worked for that and I did notice my nitrates came down.

I actually do dose mb7 in my tank
I do it for added biodiversity and the overwhelming positive recommendations of it, but as for nitrate reduction goes, I'm kind of in line with this:

Post in thread 'Another phosphate and nitrate question' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/another-phosphate-and-nitrate-question.803313/post-8574595

 

[tbrown]

this might be stupid but what about trying to run the lights on blue only for a while? heard that can sometimes help with algae. not sure if it would mess up the corals though

That was recommended already. It's always a good plan.

 

[Formulator]

Zeroing out both works if you spot feed. Zeroing either out is always bad.

But I agree, I am rarely successful at 0:0 but I've been successful even as high as 100:0.25. I wasn't advocating for ULNS at all, just stating that if either is 0 but not both it'll cause problems.

Fair enough. When I got into the hobby ULNS was all the rage and I think we quickly learned its not all its hyped up to be…

 

[Formulator]

MB7 lowers nitrates? I did not know this...are you sure? The first I've heard of this

What else were you using it for?

 

[Gribbles]

What else were you using it for?

Is it not just bottled bac?

Edit:
This is from their site

Brightwell Aquatics MicrōBacter7 is a selective complex of extremely effective microbes and enzymes that rapidly reduces the concentrations of organic nitrogen, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and organic carbon in all marine and freshwater ecosystems, leading to greatly improved water quality; better water quality typically leads to healthier aquarium inhabitants.

Given the reviews by Dr RHF and others in those thread, I am not convinced of Brightwell's claims but I also don't think it will hurt the tank.

 

[Formulator]

Is it not just bottled bac?

Not all bacteria are the same my friend. It is denitrifying bacteria and a carbon source for their food. They metabolize nitrate and turn it into nitrogen gas as a means of nitrate export in a tank. They also serve as a nice food source for corals, but you need to monitor and dose nitrate and/or phosphate if it gets too low.

 

[Formulator]

I am not convinced of Brightwell's claims but I also don't think it will hurt the tank.

They aren’t claiming anything novel here. Denitrifying bacteria as a means of nitrate export has been used very effectively in the hobby for decades. Carbon dosing does the same thing but relies on nature to source the bacteria, similar to cycling a tank without bottled bac (do people still do that?). Vinegar is a lot cheaper than MB7 too

 

[Gribbles]

What else were you using it for

Not all bacteria are the same my friend. It is denitrifying bacteria and a carbon source for their food. They metabolize nitrate and turn it into nitrogen gas as a means of nitrate export in a tank. They also serve as a nice food source for corals, but you need to monitor and dose nitrate and/or phosphate if it gets too low.

You guys may very well be correct. Something certainly feels off about it to me though. It has been some time since I've looked into it. I get the idea of denitrifying bacteria but I don't feel it is substantial in this case based off the comments in the threads I linked.

 

[VintageReefer]

I ran 0 nitrate and 0 phospshate and 0 whites for 8 months and had some issues. I do target feed corals. I found target fed corals did fine but corals like gsp and chalice were not happy and lost color and declined

Increasing nitrate and phosphate from 0 to low levels resulted in all around improvement
I do not recommend running 0 nitrate / phosphate

 

[Solo McReefer]

I don't see a single snail or hermit crab in that tank

Why?

GHA "unstoppable"? That's crazy talk.

 

[TinnysReef]

I wonder if some kind of metal or toxin has built up using tap water for so long? Who knows what leaches into the water as it makes its way all the way to your tap. I had a magnet leak and put Cuprisorb in a canister filter to chelate anything that leached out. I wonder if that's worth a shot. It's supposed to be mostly for copper but says it will chelate other heavy metals as well.

Good luck! I live in North Dakota, and am lucky to have rural water from aquifers that is supposedly 99.9% distilled naturally. However, because I know the water is treated (with god knows what besides chlorine/chloramine), I don't trust it. I set up RODI and it is a game changer.

 

[Formulator]

Cuprisorb is a great idea.

Poly-filters work great for this also and they actually change color to indicate what the impurities are. Ex. Green for copper, blue for iron, etc.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I agree with the other posts pointing at 0 nitrates being a possible cause for some of the algae allowing the algae to potentially outcompete the corals. From my understanding 0 nitrates is good only if you have 0 phosphates as well.

For the algae, what I've found in the past is iron in the water. Certain algaes (especially hair algaes) will grow like CRAZY when there's iron present for them to feed on, and then they'll strip the nitrates from the water.

Any rusty magnets or metal pieces? I believe @Imrahilwjz found his return pump as a most likely source for copper and other metals in his tank. I had a magnetic glass scraper that rusted and caused a massive amount of GHA growth that I couldn't get rid of until I pulled the rusty magnet out of the tank.

For Dinos, I recently beat those back with MB7, live Nitrifying Bacteria, a filter floss pad in the tank, and UV. Took about 2 weeks of that and getting my phosphates back up above 0 and the Dinos disappeared.

The green slime could be a bacterial blooms as well. If you're having invert and livestock deaths, there could definitely be some ammonia spikes causing a bloom of bacteria trying to consume that.

Also, MB7 lowers Nitrates so you might have to use more NeoNitro to get above 0. What dose MB7 are you using and how often?

It was actually the sicce pump in the bottom of my protein skimmer. It never occured to me that could be the source since it was just fine in my old system

 

[taylormaximus]

I live in Canada and I use rodi. Everyone I know uses rodi. It’s all about water care and quality.

For your corals dying I blame your light, sorry but it’s not very strong.

I would add another powerhead and get more flow. Eliminate all dead spots. Algae and cyano loves low flow.

What about skimmer? Activated carbon? I suspect you might be over feeding if you have so much algae. Rotting food is the fuel for algae and seems you have no way to remove dissolved organic. You have minimal filtration.

I wonder if the water is oxygenated? No skimmer and only one powerhead, is it pointed at the water surface or the surface is flat? It should be turbulent. Lots of algae means low oxygen at night.

Tank pics will help.

I'm working towards rodi although I dont currently have the set up to be able to install one easily. But I agree the light is underpowered, it's able to grow some soft corals but anything beyond that struggles. I will probably end up picking coral around the light limitations rather than change the light to fit the coral, now that I'm more aware of its limitations.

I do feed quite light, and the power head is close to the surface, as well the HOB filter creates quite a bit of surface agitation, but I do still want to get a second powerhead.