150 Gallon Sps Tank Struggling HELP!

[parkavenuereef]

Hi, I have been battling with this tank for four years now. Here are my water specs to start off with:

Salinity - 1.027
temp - 78
Calcium 560ppm <---- will not go down at all not dosing either
Alk - 10.5-11Dkh
mag - 1500
nitrates - varies 20ppm-50ppm on any given day also will not drop
po4 - 0 ( undetectable )
ph- 8.2-8.3

I run a titanium grounding rod just as a precaution.


Here is the issue, this tank just will not come to life. Was fully stocked with LR, then I changed to minimalistic look about a year ago hoping to have better flow around rock and also more room for fish to swim. The tank seems to constantly go into a cycle mode with algae spikes and now red slime. plenty of water changes, addition of natural sea water as a preventative. does absolutely no change. LR gets covered in Red slime, sps have died off mostly, my moonshine chalice is great however, clams fine, lps totally fine.

coraline was growing, now totally stopped. just seems like a constant cycle..

I am thinking something is wrong with sand bed. would it be worth removing it and starting over?

what effects would a foul sand bed have on a 150Gallon tank?

 

[tmb22]

Hmm. What kind of test kits are you using? Seems like it could be a phosphate issue to me. Are you using a Hannah checker for phosphate? You've got to have some level of phosphate in your system. Also, salinity is a touch high. Try slowly lowering to 1.025 and see if things start to liven up a bit.

 

[parkavenuereef]

I use both an API which i know is low grade and salifert both at home and at the LFS. Both say low... But why would the tank constantly cycle.. for example green slimer would be nuclear green.. then after two weeks go brown and some die off then after a month back to nuclear green... doesnt make sense.

 

[REEF SMAC]

I'm having a hard time believing your PHO4 is low while your NO3 is that high.
Especially with algae spikes and red slime.

Salinity might be higher than you think. What are you checking it with? Is it calibrated?

How is it that your CA, Alk, and Mg are that high? It's not from the natural seawater.

What lights are you running? How old are your bulbs?

What's the water flow?

What is the skimmer?

 

[toothman]

you should siphon some or as much of the substrate out of your tank. It is so so so much easier to keep tank nutrient poor with out sand.

 

[dvanacker]

I would be looking into a good phosphate kit first than biopellets and maybe GFO. The fact that your LPS are doing good and acros are brown is simple. Too high nutrient most likely and possiblenot enough light too.

 

[Duc1098]

The growth of red slime (probably cyano) and other algae will "mask" a phosphate reading by consuming all the phosphate before you have a chane to test it. Just because its not showing on a test does not mean its not there since you have other signs. How is your protein skimmer working? Any chance of adding chaeto to a fuge or the DT? That will consume a lot of nutrients.

 

[parkavenuereef]

to answer everyones questions, my bulbs are a few months old..

20K 400W hailde on a icecap ballast with 2 x 75 vho suppliments.

my refractometer is calibrated on both the solution it came with, then I tried store bought sea water, ad also done with distilled botttled water, which all reading were the same.

For flow I have 3 seio pumps 1500, 2600 and an 820 which I try to get as much flow to the sand bed as possible.

I run a asm 2 skimmer which pulls out gunk, but i can go a period of time where it seems to pull out nothing. skimmer however is working as it should mechanically just no skimmate produced.

in the past with this tank I had my thriving sps bleached white cause of no nutrients, then heavier feeding and they colored up.

I run rowafos and or brightwells phosphate remover in a phosphate reactor at a nice slow rate.

water changes i have been doing every two weeks at 25 percent. still calcium is high wont lower. alk lowers slowly and I dose regularly.

still at a loss on what direction to go next..

what GFO would be the best to use and phosphate removal media?

On my 120 sps that I had years ago, I use the same prcatices as i do today and that tank was thriving, and I never had any issues which is why i am at a los with this one.

 

[parkavenuereef]

Update:

I removed the sand bed last nite, trying not to cause much damage. Sand didnt really have a four oder but was extremely murky. There was alot of " bricks " of fused sand within the bed which I would figure may be why my calcium would not drop. Did a water change last nite, and will follow up with another tonight. I will then add some fresh live fiji pink to boost bacteria again... Any thoughts?

 

[parkavenuereef]

12-11-10 24 hours after sand bed removed.

Current parameters

temp 78
alk - 10.5
calcium 440 -<---- down from 560 which would not go down in about a year
mag 1350
salinity - 1.025
p04 <--- still shows zero
nitrates <---- 40pmm down from around 60ppm


everything seems super happy, with some small PE that I have not seen in months. clam is fully extended fish seem happy. I think that the issue was truely the sand bed. The calcium drop alone shows me something was wrong with the bed. My main concern is now the nitrates. I am concerned the rock has suffered damage or has become stale.

 

[reeferlover]

what is your sump like can you post better pics? i run a sump with sock good swc skimmer gfo reactor with phosban and a fuge. i have good flow and good light not sure why you stuff isnt doing good. i would IMO

Start over. I would get better live sand. get enough to cover you tank the kind at petsmart is fine. I like a deep sand bed. with the undertanding that i will need a lot of sand siffting snails.

then just fill you tank with new water. but lets get some pics of ur sump and filtration and tank.

 

[lopeolinda]

Try slowly lowering to 1.025 and see if things start to liven up a bit.

 

[parkavenuereef]

what is your sump like can you post better pics? i run a sump with sock good swc skimmer gfo reactor with phosban and a fuge. i have good flow and good light not sure why you stuff isnt doing good. i would IMO

Start over. I would get better live sand. get enough to cover you tank the kind at petsmart is fine. I like a deep sand bed. with the undertanding that i will need a lot of sand siffting snails.

then just fill you tank with new water. but lets get some pics of ur sump and filtration and tank.

ASM 2 skimmer, 65 gallon sump, phosban reactor, korillan reactor ( not in use right now ) mag 18 return, dual socks, heater etc... plenty of money spent to have a sand bed foul up my tank for two years.. Tank is 4 years old..

 

[sminker]

How old was the sand? Did you carry it over from your previous tanks?

I can't get coraline to grow whatsoever. But my corals thriving. Besides when my refuge was poisoning my tank a few months back. Took it out and all is well now. Could of been the same thing with your sand bed.

 

[reeferlover]

hmmm. is the skimmer working properly i know you said no skimmate so no. i just dont know whats up. i would clean everything. everything. skimmer tlf reactor sump socks. maybe consider biopellets. idk man, i have heard of older tanks doing this. sand is usually the problem. so just clean clean clean and maybe it will help i see you got fiji pink i added that to my tank too i like it alot. this time make sure you have stuff living in the sand. once mine matures ill have lots of snail living in it. i love when i feed and the sand comes a live thats whay you want good luck

 

[parkavenuereef]

I didnt add any sand, thats just residual that has blown off the rock and from under it... So it's a BB right now... The skimmer works, when there is organics in the tank... If I add carbon to the system which I did last week, then the skimmer does nothing.. Last nite I removed the carbon. Everything is clean, socks are clean sump is free of debris I clean it all the time..


The sand was 4 years old... New fiji pink out the bag four years ago... I removed some and added new over the years, but it just seems like something was in that bed that just leached out continuously over and over... I did have a huge bristle worm issue lots of babys everywhere.. when I sifted the sand before discarding it i saw nothing.. but, they are toxic so maybe that was part of it.. I have sand sifting stars that were in there... no issues with them... lots of dead snails, was the biggest find.