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really need some help


tetraodon

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as the title says, i really need some help, though im not new to reef keeping im not the most experienced person ever. my last two tanks before i upgraded, went great, amazing growth and color. but this tank has been a lot of trouble. several corals receded and died for no apartent reason; a trachyphilla, a LT plate coral, a couple acro frags, a millipora. now an acan is showing some skeleton, the rest of my sps frags are pretty much lost, and my candy cane is receding. the only real difference between my two privious tanks and this one is i added a dosing pump and bio-pellet reactor. the tank is a 30 breeder with a 20 gal sump, i did a recent nitrate test and it had about 20 which is the most ive ever tested in any of my tanks. my calc is 430, and alk is 9. i feed the fish two or three times a week and add a frozen cube of zoo/phyto once a week. this has really been a blow for me, both financially and mentally. any help is appreciated.

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The parameters that you provided should be alright. Sure nitrate is high for SPS, but even that shouldn't be causing all of your problems. How stable are the parameters (especially alkalinity)?

 

What is the phosphate level?

 

It's hard to pinpoint based on the information that you provided. I assume that your water change schedule isn't the same as with your first two tanks (that could account for some difference).

 

Did you just move your old livestock and live rock into this tank, or did you add new coral, or new rock? How likely is it that there is an unseen pest? Is this a brand new tank or was it previously used?

 

Any other issues (Cyano, Dinos, algae, etc)? Is anything doing alright (soft coral, cleanup crew, fish), or are you just having problems with stony corals?

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The parameters that you provided should be alright. Sure nitrate is high for SPS, but even that shouldn't be causing all of your problems. How stable are the parameters (especially alkalinity)?

 

What is the phosphate level?

 

It's hard to pinpoint based on the information that you provided. I assume that your water change schedule isn't the same as with your first two tanks (that could account for some difference).

 

Did you just move your old livestock and live rock into this tank, or did you add new coral, or new rock? How likely is it that there is an unseen pest? Is this a brand new tank or was it previously used?

 

Any other issues (Cyano, Dinos, algae, etc)? Is anything doing alright (soft coral, cleanup crew, fish), or are you just having problems with stony corals?

my temp flucuates due to the room being unairconditioned during the day and running the AC at night. other than that alk is stable for the most part the biggest jump was 8.7 to 9.8 which was spread over the course of 4 weeks. most of the live stock was moved from the old tanks, all the live stock from previous tanks are fine, its the new additions that are the ones having trouble, save for the candy cane. some new rock was added, but was dry rock. pests that i currenty have are flat worms and bristle worms plus i usually scan the tank at night and havent seen anything other than very small snail like creatures.i do have cyano, and various types of algae growth. my fish are fine and unaffected, my only soft coral are green mushrooms and they have been in all my tanks. ill have to dig out my phos test, its only an API.

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ill have to dig out my phos test, its only an API.

It won't tell you anything unless the level is at least 10 times higher than it should be. The API phosphate test kit goes up in 0.25 ppm increments; but the target level is between 0.01 and 0.03 ppm, so it doesn't help you achieve an acceptable level.

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im not sure what taking the reactor offline would do other than make my nitrate and such sky rocket.

 

You shouldn't have to run a reactor to keep your trates down. You have problem if you do and it clearly relates to phosphates. What type of water are you using? What salt? You said you feed your fish 3 times a week. How many fish and what kind? Something is producing a lot of waste/bad water quality.

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You shouldn't have to run a reactor to keep your trates down. You have problem if you do and it clearly relates to phosphates. What type of water are you using? What salt? You said you feed your fish 3 times a week. How many fish and what kind? Something is producing a lot of waste/bad water quality.

i added the reactor because i knew i was dipping into sps and i have a dwarf lionfish and a small tang, im using the same water ive allways used and same with the salt, RO water, and reef crystals respectivly. i didnt add the reactor to fix a problem, but rather in preperation for the coral.

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30 gallon with lion fish and tang? Theres your issue possibly :lol:

possibly, i know im gonna catch hell with tang, but i consulted a few experts and a fuzzy dwarf is fine in a 30

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HarryPotter

possibly, i know im gonna catch hell with tang, but i consulted a few experts and a fuzzy dwarf is fine in a 30

 

Na tangs are good with me :)

 

Clean water= happy fish. Thats my formula lol

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Na tangs are good with me :)

 

Clean water= happy fish. Thats my formula lol

its not like my water is toxic, nitrates are like 20-30, mind you thats on a dip test after 6+ months without a water change

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HarryPotter

its not like my water is toxic, nitrates are like 20-30, mind you thats on a dip test after 6+ months without a water change

 

Oh i didn't mean to suggest it was. I was just saying how I think it is fine to have a tang as long as you can maintain it :)

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Bio pellets take a while to ramp up, and when they do the sudden drop in nutrients can shock corals, sometimes into declining.

Without testing your nutrient levels, it is hard to determine if this is what is happening in your tank. My instinct says yes.

 

Preparing for SPS does not have to involve utilizing a biopellet reactor unless you've ruled out the other methods of keeping your parameters in check - assuming you are testing these parameters to begin with.

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Bio pellets take a while to ramp up, and when they do the sudden drop in nutrients can shock corals, sometimes into declining.

Without testing your nutrient levels, it is hard to determine if this is what is happening in your tank. My instinct says yes.

 

Preparing for SPS does not have to involve utilizing a biopellet reactor unless you've ruled out the other methods of keeping your parameters in check - assuming you are testing these parameters to begin with.

just to be a pain in the you know what, what do you define as a nutrient i need to test for? i know im going to have phosphates in the water, and i do test about 30 nitrate. did a dip test not 5 mintues ago, my reactor has been running for 7 months, the entire time the tank has been set up. ive been trying to get the tank set up as simple as i can. thats why i decided to use the reactor being able to keep my params in check while still being able to keep my lionfish.

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I assume that your water change schedule isn't the same as with your first two tanks (that could account for some difference).

 

its not like my water is toxic, nitrates are like 20-30, mind you thats on a dip test after 6+ months without a water change

Water changes can do more than just export nutrients. I would start doing 20% weekly water changes for awhile.

 

just to be a pain in the you know what, what do you define as a nutrient i need to test for?

You need to test for nitrate and phosphate. You need a decent phosphate test kit like a Hanna Phosphorus ULR Checker to get a good idea where it's at. However, once there is a bloom (algae, cyano, etc) the nutrients in the water are being consumed by the bloom, so the test results might not be conclusive.

 

I don't see a reference to a skimmer. With a bio-pellet reactor you really need a good skimmer. Also, with a lionfish, you should also have a good skimmer.

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Water changes can do more than just export nutrients. I would start doing 20% weekly water changes for awhile.

 

You need to test for nitrate and phosphate. You need a decent phosphate test kit like a Hanna Phosphorus ULR Checker to get a good idea where it's at. However, once there is a bloom (algae, cyano, etc) the nutrients in the water are being consumed by the bloom, so the test results might not be conclusive.

 

I don't see a reference to a skimmer. With a bio-pellet reactor you really need a good skimmer. Also, with a lionfish, you should also have a good skimmer.

my mistake, i have a cadlights psl 50, the pellet reactor is plumbed directly to the skimmer, i do know that the readings maybe lower due to the bloom. ill have to either get a better kit or take somewhere

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just to be a pain in the you know what, what do you define as a nutrient i need to test for? i know im going to have phosphates in the water, and i do test about 30 nitrate. did a dip test not 5 mintues ago, my reactor has been running for 7 months, the entire time the tank has been set up. ive been trying to get the tank set up as simple as i can. thats why i decided to use the reactor being able to keep my params in check while still being able to keep my lionfish.

Phosphates. Sudden drop will kill coral - guaranteed.

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its not like my water is toxic, nitrates are like 20-30, mind you thats on a dip test after 6+ months without a water change

Hmmm. Six months without a water change. That could be an issue. Also, you say that the water temperature fluctuates during the day. Try a heater and a chiller to even that out.

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ragtimewilly

Anytime my tank seems out of wack with algae or coral decae getting on a rigorous water change schedule weekly or bi-weekly usually rights the issue quickly. Six months seems like a long time without a water change, and I would think quality salt would provide all the trace elements for healthy coral.


Anytime my tank seems out of wack with algae or coral decae getting on a rigorous water change schedule weekly or bi-weekly usually rights the issue quickly. Six months seems like a long time without a water change, and I would think quality salt would provide all the trace elements for healthy coral.

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  • 2 weeks later...

quick update, did a really good cleaning of my sump, cut back on feeding my fish, stopped the frozen phyto/zoo, and did a 5 gallon water change, so far the nitrates are way down, least on a dip test. i also dipped the receding coral and they are looking much better. i have to lock down my temp swings though. not sure how to do that without a hugely expensive controller

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i have to lock down my temp swings though. not sure how to do that without a hugely expensive controller

Note the highest temp that your tank gets during the day. If it's lower than 84° F, set your heater 1 to 2° lower than that. This way the temp will stay relatively stable.

 

However, if the temp exceeds 84°, you'll need a fan to help cool things down.

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Find an STC-1000 on ebay or aliexpress. Dirt cheap and do a great job of temp control, that'll help massively.

 

Your bio pearls may not be doing much if your nitrate and phosphate are way out of balance.

I had a fairly high nitrate issue until I did a deep clean of my sump and moved a few things around to help keep things cleaner in there, added a filter sock on the main return. This did sort out my nitrates, however left me with a massive phosphate problem that then stalled my SPS growth and started to bleach a few out (the LPS were completely unaffected though). With in 2 weeks of running some Phos80 (a GFO type media) the SPS coloured right back up and growth has taken off.

No one seems to have touched on lighting? Have you upgraded your fixture to go with the bigger tank? You haven't turned up or increased the intensity with a new unit to suddenly with out first acclimating the coral?

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