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I had a 90 running transferred everything over to a new 90 no issues until last week. Levels tanked over 2 days and now have dinos. Everyone said i need a sump. I got a sump. All i do is keep adjusting the gate valve because the water level in the tank after about a 2 weeks it goes down. Like literally don’t get why its doing it. I literally hate my tank.
In this hobby, I think it is important to automate as much as possible to keep things stable.
1) Use a RO/DI auto top off. A simple float valve is sufficient.
2) Periodically test salinity with a properly calibrated device.
3) Track temperature and pH in real time (Apex or other).
A variable DC pump and gate valve can be helpful to stabilize the water level in the sump. That's how I do it. My tank is super quiet. Make sure there are not periodic restrictions that develop... like filter media that backs up and raises the water level in some areas.
I agree that a sump is invaluable. That was a good move IMO. It sounds like your issue could be as simple as adding an auto top off.
Had a fluval wanted a nicer tank so got a new IM15. Transferred everything over. It has dinos now and all the coralline on the rock is dying.
Im at a lost for words how terrible everything goes in this hobby. I want to succeed but everything is against me.
This hobby certainly can very frustrating and requires so much patience, and insight into processes which may be opaque.
Always keep in mind that you are picking winners and losers in a war for survival which is occurring in your tank. In my opinion, to be effective in this, one must have a certain level of understanding of both the biology and the chemistry to create conditions where favorites out compete the pests to dominate the ecosystem.
Also keep in mind that when measuring nutrients that 0 means that everything available is being consumed (i.e. there is no buffering for these nutrients). Assuming inputs, that energy is going somewhere and there are certainly sources of nutrients in your tank outside what you add periodically.
I am sorry to hear about the coraline. I suggest that you also keep an eye on the pH to make sure it stays in a range that is appropriate. With that dying, I'd be concerned that pH is dipping low at times. You can track leading indicators such as kH to make sure pH stays in a good zone too. Try for pH in something like the 8-8.3 range +/- and kH in the 7-10 range +/- (but don't obsess on the actual values). pH will vary naturally with dissolved gasses like CO2 and O2 which the tank occupants produce/consume - just accept that. A CO2 scrubber on the intake of your skimmer is an inexpensive solution to stabilizing CO2 which will definitely cause pH to drop. When I activate the scrubber on my tank, the pH stays at 8.2 +/- 0.05. Options to place this are an advantage of having a sump.
Think about the food pyramid/nutrient cycle. Who is consuming what you are adding to the tank? Are the pests consuming this, or are your preferred occupants taking them up. Also, consider the predation pressure on your pests (dinos in this case). I have seen some evidence that pods prey on dinos. There was a video by Ryan Batcheller (BRS) at one of the expos this summer (reefapalooza?). He did some experiments with "infecting" several new tanks with pests and then adding like 10+ bottles/30,000+ pods to prey as an experiment. IIRC, one of the things in that presentation was video that he found which was taken by someone else of pods consuming dinos.
The following example is obviously not the same as dinos, but an example of the philosophy I use. I recently had a bacteria bloom in my tank when some macro algae I had placed onto the rocks began dying (underneath) and releasing nutrients unbeknownst to me. I pulled most of the macro to eliminate the source of the nutients, increased manual removal of the bacterial colonies with a syringe, increased mechanical skimming, increased and varied flow, changed floss multiple times per day, introduced other strains of bacteria (microbacter 7 dosing) and also refreshed the pod population. I also had a UV sterilizer at the standby, but did not have to use that. Within a few days of cutting off the food source, increasing competition, filtration and predation, the bloom stopped (at least visibly).
I see a lot of suggestions in this thread which is great. Balance what you do against a hypothesis about what is happening in your tank, go slowly and look for clues that you are introducing changes that are improving the situation. You don't have to be 100% right, just enough to tip the scales. Be patient, relax and enjoy the show/experiment, particularly if things are generally going the right direction, and no one is dying.
A final note. In my experience, the expectations of others (such as S.O.) can add unhelpful pressure. One has to find their own solution for this. Mine is to keep the tank in my office, and entertain visitors who come and go when they want. They might come less during the ugly phase, but thats ok.
