mhart032 Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Guys i need some help with something regarding sps? Im not sure why but my colonies are not doing well, mostly bleaching or turning brown or green, no polyp extention during the day but see them extending during the night on some. i havent switch to the radion G5s yet, they are sitting on my floor but im afraid to make things worse by changing lights right now. my Radion G4s are on 70% 9inches above the water, Ive been dosing stump remover to keep the N03 up to .5 over the last 5 or 6 days, flow running 2X gyres XF 250s 50% random flow. P04 .08 LR Hanna N03 .5. Elos Kit alk 7.96 stable Trident cal 430 stable Trident mag 1320 stable Trident running triton not dosing anything else. running rox carbon and AL99 and Rowa. feeding heavy at night with neptune pellets in the am. soft corals and zoas and nem do fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 The spike on the trident is recalibration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 Well, all your parameters are similar to mine. Did you let the nitrate get low before you dosed it back up? Do you think the softies may be doing chemical warfare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 The nitrate was at 0 for a couple weeks, when i started to get cyano i tested and found they were roughly zero. i really only have the zoas and a hammer should have said LPS i dont have anything really soft like leathers or kenyas. ive never really had polyps on anything with exception to at night. when i tested for the nitrates i found zero on both n03 and p04, i started to dose neophos right away and neonitro, but fond that even the neonitro couldn't keep the nitrate up i was dosing it and 10 hours later no nitrate, so i went to the stump remover based on randy holmes posts about it vs neonitro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Ive always had issues keeping nitrates on this system. thinking maybe ill have to take the fuge offline, but when i cut the chaeto back to nothing the p04 get high roughly .28-.30 the AL99 cant keep it in check that high as much as i have to feed. But the chaeto is crazy growing roughly 3-5lb every 2 weeks. Could it be outcompeting the sps? this is roughly a 1 1/2 weeks growth from about a softball size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I think your sps may have been starving from what you are saying. The phosphates with the fuge offline could be high simply from over feeding? I would consider taking the Fuge offline. If it were me I’d do that and watch nitrate and phosphate like a hawk. If too high phosphate I would lightly start gfo and check every six hours until I figured out how much to use and/or hit the level I want (for me about 0.08). My long term goal would be to try to control only by bioload and feeding using dosing and gfo as emergency backups. I’m sure there are other ways to tackle this, but that is what I do 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Ok, ill try that, ill see what happens through the weekend and see with both and adjust as needed, i have gfo is a reactor ready, i just need to install the reactor into the manifold and turn it on. knew i should have bought a reefbot smh i appreciate the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I use 2 teaspoons of gfo for 80 gallons to lower 0.02 in 12 hours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Ok great, ill make the adjustments, I havent tested phos today, but ill do it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 is your rock old? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 It's new Rock mixed with old rock, the tank has been setup for 9 or 10 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 Do you notice microalgae issues on new rock vs old rock? My theory is that you have old rock saturated with PO4 that is slowly being released into the water. Your fuge is very effective at removing both, but in the absence of macro the PO4 is released. Maybe take it offline, run some form of GFO for a while to see if you can pull the PO4 out of the old rock over time, and then slowly ramp the fuge back up by limiting the photoperiod until you can achieve the nutrient balance youre after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 Ian's hypothesis could be entirely valid! I think it's most likely your high phosphate is either what Ian said about the rocks, or uneaten food. I would add that a lot of times NEW rock can leach phosphates for quite some time depending on the type of rock it is. You ought to be able to figure out the source of the phosphates using a little experimentation and sleuthing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 It could be the rock, I had phosphate issues a few times and had a big outbreak of GHA a couple months ago, I started dosing nopox on a doser and everything went away. I struggled with 0 untill I started the Triton then it continued to be zeros so I was adding neophos to buffer it. Granted the rock was cycled in the tank, no lights for 8 weeks untill I saw signs of Coraline. The fuge was started from day one of startup and has been running since with the H380. Maybe it's been masking the issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 I changed out all the reactors yesterday, change the AL99, the carbon and Rowa, added some GFO as well, i do have a Triton ICP test im waiting on results for, i send it thursday, so maything that could shed some light on any issues. i did notice a significant alk drop last night of from 7.9 to 7.6 its been pretty good up un till that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 On 3/6/2020 at 2:10 PM, mhart032 said: feeding heavy at night with neptune pellets in the am. Why do you feed heavy at night? After lights off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 8, 2020 Author Share Posted March 8, 2020 No no i feed heavy at night when i get home. and i feed pellets in the morning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 So i got the ICP test back today. my AL is threw the roof high, but i dont know where it could be coming from, also my P04 is super high but hanna is saying its .08. what do you guys think? https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/103582 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 You use marine pure? It can leach AL from what I've read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 No, thats why i didn't use it, i believe when i started this tank you told me about it. i dont use anything old in the system, nothing rusty or metal except maybe the flipper and the magnets on the algae clip. but obviously there is a problem this was my ICP labs test from November. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 That's about a 4X increase if I did the math right (Troton reported ug/L and the other was ppm, so I used the convertor here: http://www.endmemo.com/sconvert/ug_lppm.php). I guess other sources could be your RODI or your salt mix, or any additives you are using? I dunno ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 Im wondering if the uptake is from the filter i added to remove the arsenic, When i had the ICP test done in November i had a clamp that was on the UV that i took out thought to possibly be the Tin issue, i removed the UV and the clamps back in nov, but this could have still been in the water, i havent done a water change since right before i started the triton back in early feb, but i did just under 50 gallons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Be very wary of ICP. It's a tool being used outside of it's intended use-case. ESPECIALLY the one you are using, its being operated by an entity that to my knowledge does not have a chemistry background. Tin can be found in fresh PVC that hasn't had time to leach out plasticizers. Some new glass panels are also capable of having tin leech. As for aluminum, what kind of PO4 remover are you using? Some are Al-based.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 You know what, I bet its Triton AL99 its an aluminum based phosphate remover. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 I been using rowaphos as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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