Feeling Deflated...

[mauricion69]

Hey everyone..
I've been feeling really deflated and defeated for a few months now. I just can't get my setup right. And I have no clue what to do. Ive even contemplated shutting it down and taking a break from the hobby. But I love my fish a lot
Ive been in the hobby for 7-8 years. But have never dealt with what I'm going through now.
Basically, I have serious algae issues. Gha, cyano bacteria. And for whatever reason I can't keep corals alive
I try to buy the higher end equipment, just to give myself a better shot to succeed but nothing helps.
My last setup was a 65 gallon tank, and did pretty good. Decent growth and good coloration. And when I bought my new house I knew I would upgrade to a bigger tank.
After some renovations We were finally ready to start our build. I had a custom tank built that would be 72x24x24 and rimless. Cycled the water and threw in the live rock that I had cured in a brute garbage bin. I then brought over all my livestock and equipment from the 65 and installed into the new tank. That's when everything started going slowly downhill. Corals started closing and shrinking and finally disappearing. It probably took over a year, and nothing I did could stop it. I tried many products, purchased dosers, changed lighting and flow.
Fast forward over another year and the tank now only grows algea. The only coral that I still have from the 65 is a green encrusting montipora, and it for whatever reason looks pretty good.
Also, snails don't last longer than a month or 2. I bought 10 on Sunday, acclimated them for over 2 hours, and still I have 3-4 that did not move from where I set them down, so I'm assuming there dead or dying.
A few weeks ago I pulled the trigger on the zeovit system as it was on sale and ultra low nutrients is something I'm after.
Light schedule is 8 hours, and I have the lights set at 60% max using the ecotech radiant colour template
Vortech pumps are set to reefcrest run at 85%

I do 40g water changes every 2 weeks.
I use BRS soda ash and Calcium chloride
Carbon and GFO
I'm pretty much ready to throw in the towel.
Any suggestions please!

Parameters:
ph 8.3 according to Apex
Alk 8.7 Red Sea and Hanna
Cal 430. Red Sea
Mag 1320
Phosphate @ .04 Red Sea 0.00 w/ Hanna
Nitrate O Red Sea.
What else should I rest for?

Setup:
180g 72x24x24
Vertex Alpha 170 skimmer
Pan world 200ps return pump
Mp40QD & MP40Wes
2x G2 Radion Pro and 1x G3 Radion
BRS premium reactor for GFO
BRS premium reactor for ROX Carbon
Apex Gold
BRS dosers for Alk and Cal
And on 2nd week of full zeovit start up

BRS 6 stage R/O di

 

[reefinder]

Man it sounds like you have some metal leaking into your tank. Honestly I would pull out all the rock and change the sand and rock to new pieces and start over. Your equipment sounds good I would spend a couple hundred clean tank with vinegar and replace rock and sand and water.

 

[reefinder]

You run a lot of carbon and zeovit startup, save your money just run the carbon

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

What's your water source? Do you have RO/DI? What shape is it in?

 

[Heuristic]

What's your water source? Do you have RO/DI? What shape is it in?

This. kind of sounds like a water issue. Have you checked the TDS in the water you're putting in your tank? I agree, it sounds like there's a metal getting in to your tank killing the corals and with bad water, bringing in a ton of phosphates for the algae's to strive.

 

[mauricion69]

What's your water source? Do you have RO/DI? What shape is it in?

This. kind of sounds like a water issue. Have you checked the TDS in the water you're putting in your tank? I agree, it sounds like there's a metal getting in to your tank killing the corals and with bad water, bringing in a ton of phosphates for the algae's to strive.

R/o Di comes from BRS 6 stage water saver plus, 150GPD. I replaced both membranes, the sediment filter, both carbon blocks, and Both Di resin about 2 months ago. Currently get 0 tds before it gets to di resin.
And before that, they were a year old except for the di which was 6 months. I was still getting 0 tds before I replaced everything, thinking that it could be the cause.
The water coming in is about 120-125 TDS

 

[moatdaddy]

Have you tried a algae turf scrubber or algae reactor. I love growing algae where I exactly want it. They are both fairly cheap and easy to setup. The reactor especially.

My guess your rocks are leaching Po4 or your bioload/feeding may be a bit high. Remember you can test 0 on Po4 and the system still be leaching. The algae eats it for growth as soon as it's available.

I wouldn't do anything until you get the algae under control. I have hit your point and said f... it. I let the tank go. I also have fought it and won. My best win was with the algae turf scrubber. Get some results from others a look in advanced topics or start a new thread asking for before and afters. For under $50 and a neat little project it's worth some research and a try.

 

[reefinder]

New rock and sand, Algae scrubbers are nice but it does not solve the problem it just keeps it at bay if that is the problem. Spend a day amd be done with it then you most likely won't have to deal with it again. Bandages are great for wounds but they will always leave a scare. Yes

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

We all have points where we want to quit. Sometimes stepping back for a while or downsizing is the best approach. You need to decide that for yourself.

I can tell you though, if you want to stick with it and you're able to provide good info here, you'll solve this problem. There's a lot of knowledge on these forums and lots of people who have been there and done that. Your challenge will be sifting through the huge range of opinions and solutions, but algae issues and poor coral health are ultimately solvable problems.

 

[cincyjim]

I'm leaning toward a water quality issue. You might be seeing 0 nitrates because the GHA is taking it all up and using it. I went through a similar situation a couple of years ago where the GHA was very bad. I felt I tried everything and wasn't getting anywhere. I finally nailed it down to a particular coral food and too few water changes. I ended up using AlgaeFix (Marine), stopped using the coral food, performed dedicated water changes every weekend, used GFO, and manual removal of GHA. It took a few months but I was able to turn the tank back around. I hope you won't give up and that you can beat this. Give AlgaeFix (Marine) a try and see how it goes. It takes about a week to start seeing results with it but it will be worth it. In the long run, there has to be a reason why you are getting the GHA which needs to be ran down so it can be eliminated.

 

[mauricion69]

if the rocks are leaching phosphates into the aquarium, is there a fix to clear the rocks of it, or is replacing the rock the only option? I believe that I have at least 150lbs of live rock. And that would be a little expensive. Plus the sand.... which was replaced all new 2 years ago
That would also suck, because a lot of the rock I've had for 15 years and I love their shape and size

 

[daninflipflops]

where did your rocks come from??

 

[mauricion69]

Have you tried a algae turf scrubber or algae reactor. I love growing algae where I exactly want it. They are both fairly cheap and easy to setup. The reactor especially.

My guess your rocks are leaching Po4 or your bioload/feeding may be a bit high. Remember you can test 0 on Po4 and the system still be leaching. The algae eats it for growth as soon as it's available.

I wouldn't do anything until you get the algae under control. I have hit your point and said f... it. I let the tank go. I also have fought it and won. My best win was with the algae turf scrubber. Get some results from others a look in advanced topics or start a new thread asking for before and afters. For under $50 and a neat little project it's worth some research and a try.

I'm leaning toward a water quality issue. You might be seeing 0 nitrates because the GHA is taking it all up and using it. I went through a similar situation a couple of years ago where the GHA was very bad. I felt I tried everything and wasn't getting anywhere. I finally nailed it down to a particular coral food and too few water changes. I ended up using AlgaeFix (Marine), stopped using the coral food, performed dedicated water changes every weekend, used GFO, and manual removal of GHA. It took a few months but I was able to turn the tank back around. I hope you won't give up and that you can beat this. Give AlgaeFix (Marine) a try and see how it goes. It takes about a week to start seeing results with it but it will be worth it. In the long run, there has to be a reason why you are getting the GHA which needs to be ran down so it can be eliminated.

And thank you for the algae scrubber and algaefix suggestions. I will look into those as well.

 

[mauricion69]

where did your rocks come from??

The original rock that I had came from my original 46g bow front when I started the hobby over 15 years ago. Purchased from different pet shops in the GTA. Most came from a pet shop that I used to work for as a teen
And when I upgraded to my 180 I ordered dry rock from a Canadian site fijireefrock.com. Doesn't seem to be up anymore, but basically the company brought in tons of dry rock by literally the boat load, wich allowed them to sell for a lot less than most.
I googled them just now and only get Facebook pages and YouTube vids. And threads from other forums

 

[Sk8r]

Before you take drastic action, get a packet of PolyFilter and put that in your system. Watch for color change: the chart is on the packet: that will not only ID metal contaminants, it will bind and remove them. If you have a lot of organics that can interefere and show up brown, but it would be worth a try. Your rock may have come in with a load of phosphate which just continues to leach out until it runs out of phosphate. Snail death is more like metals, like copper. You don't have any copper or brass on the tank-ward side of your ro/di, no brass couplings, no lost pennies, right?

 

[moatdaddy]

Those polyfilter pads are cheap too. I thought metal in the system would kill snails fairly quickly.

Any chance you can take some photos, upload them to photobucket and then copy the forum link in a new reply.

Looking to see plumbing, tank, and yes even the algae. It's okay no judgements from me. I have had a tank so much gha a foot long Black Sea bass could hide in it.

 

[SuperSaltwater]

Sounds like the rocks got contaminated with the trash can. I would replace all the rock and sand just to be sure. That way it's a guarantee that can't be the issue anymore. I would cycle the rock in the tank and avoid a trash can next time.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[mauricion69]

I will take some pics and try uploading by tomorrow or friday

 

[Lsufan]

Pics would help but I would get a poly filter like sk8r mentioned in her post asap. That can answer a lot of questions.

As far as the rock, I don't think it leaching po4 would cause the issues u are having. It may be causing algea but it won't cause the deaths u are having. To check the rocks u can put a couple in a bucket with a powerhead & some freshly mixed saltwater & let it sit for a day or so. Then check the po4 levels in the bucket & see what it reads. If it has po4 then the rocks are leaching. With a running tank there isn't much u can do about the rocks leaching po4 except use gfo to keep the po4 as low as possible in the water column & wait it out. Eventually the po4 will leach out. U can take more drastic measures but not in a running tank.

 

[ReeferNoob4ever]

I second the algae reactor for starters, with that, remove the GFO and carbon reactors. Why are you using any additives like soda ash and calcium chloride when you have nothing in your tank to grow other than algae? My advice (albeit very novice) is to strip back to the bare bones in terms of water changes only, algae reactor/scrubber, and manual removal of GHA. What are you using for mechanical and biological filtration? What's your O2 level?

I think the comment about the trash can might have some validity as well. Do what sk8r says also.