Big Problem

[oneradtek202]

So I really don't come here often asking for advice on issues with my tank but I have had one recently.

STN/RTN of most birdsnest, pocis, total loss of a sarmetosa colony in my tank. slow overall Bleaching a acropora smurf colony too.

I admit that I have laxed on my water changes, maybe 30-40 gallons a month in my system ( aprox total water volume of 90 - 100 gallons with a wide number of fish aprox 14 in my total system. ) notice total water volume , the system consists of a 100 gallon DT, 55 gallon sump, 40 gallon breeder and a 5 gallon refugium.

salinity 1.025
temp 80
alk- 10dkh
ca-410 up from 350 a few weeks ago
No3- 10-15 ( I think the issue)
magnesium- really low but does this affect tanks in that way? 1200


It has been interesting because it seems a few acros are thriving and growing with great color though. my frag tank looks 10x better than my DT also. they are the same system too.

No new light bulb changes, or other differences between the two tanks except for flow ( frag tank less crowded and better flow it seems)

I run intermittent carbon and GFO 24-7


ugh...anyone wanna buy my system?

 

[Conesus_Kid]

What are you using for water flow in both tanks? How are they lit?

 

[oneradtek202]

Same just hydro koralias, I tried a vortech but doesn't work great in my grown tank. I use and have used for years on both tanks 250watt radiums

 

[AmherstReef]

Low magnesium will directly affect Ca and Alk

 

[oneradtek202]

Yes but the alk and ca have tested steady and in good range multiple times

 

[tmz]

Sorry to hear about the troubles.

These are things I'd think about:

1200ppm for mag isn't that low ;nsw is 1280. Boosting it is a good idea though but I don't think it's the root of the problem.

NO3 might be especially for the seriatopora;they seem to be more sensitive to that than others,ime. Though 10 to 15ppm wouldn't set off a big alarm in my mind. Mine hasn't gone above 0.2ppm in years though.

PO4 is?

Might be worth running some quality gac 24/7 for a while .

Polyfilter or cuprisorb, in case some heavy metal broke loose somewhere is worth thinking about.

Detritus buildups?

More intermitant flow.

Nighttime hypoxia /low O2 when photosynthesis stops . More flow and running a tank or algae fuge on opposite photo period can help that along with flow and a good bubbly skimmer. When corals grow they start to impeded flow through them and some areas may reach an intolerable level in terms of low O2 when the O2 level drops at night. Cooler water holds more O2 too but 80 sounds cool enough. I run 76 to 78 with occasional peaks at 80, fwiw.

Pruning.

 

[tycoakley]

hey brandon. Well i had the same issues with birdsnest and pocis in my tank before. I found after i took carbon and gfo off line for about 3 months that my color and growth got a lot better in all my sps corals. If you like running these and have good results i would stick with it or try to take them off line. i now only run about a half a cup of ROX.08 on my display to keep the water clear. I would say you should def get that magnesium up and see if it helps too. My red planet tends to loose color and polyp extention when my mag is low. Whenever that happens i tend to bump it up towards 1400 and things get better. As far as flow i have seen your tank and you def have a lot of growth that could hinder flow. I would maybe reposition your power heads every once and awhile and maybe even add a couple more. Im about to post a video of that WP40 i put on my frag trough. Maybe one of those on a wave mode would help. Hope things pan out. You have an amazing tank.