nbd13
New member
Hi everyone,
Need some help here, I've been in and out of the hobby over the last 15 years. Just got back in the hobby after a 8 year break about 8 months ago. I setup a new 150 gallon SPS tank (5'x2'x2').
Sump:
Synergy Triton TS44 with refugium section
Skimmer:
LifeReef SVS3-30 powered by a Neptune Cor20 Pump
Return Pump:
Neptune Cor20
Water Movement:
EchoTech MP40s x3
Main Tank Lights:
Radion G4 Pros with diffusers x3
Refugium Light:
Kessil H380
Controller:
- Neptune Apex System
UV Sterilizer:
Pentair Aquatics Smart 40w
Ran with Cor20 with flow sensor to adjust flow
Triton Method. Keeping Alk, Ca, and Mg stable.
Only RO/DI water, which test 0 for PO4 and Nitrate.
Long story short, I started the tank, had ultra low nutrients, PO4 0.01-0.05 and undetectable nitrates. Dry rock was used and cycled prior to the tank going up at the end of February. This was seeded with multiple bottles of bacteria, more bacteria was used once the tank was actually setup and running.
SPS frags were placed after 2 months, all was going well. Chaeto was growing like crazy, SPS doing great, encrusting and growing, then I got an outbreak of Dino's. Likely due to the ultra low nutrients. I removed the chaeto, feed more and let the tank get more "dirty". Dino's went away, nutrients began to rise, when the rise the SPS started to RTN and die.
I added Chaeto back, did an ICP test. Iodine was low, everything else was within limits. I dosed some Iodine to help the Chaeto grow.
PO4: 0.35-0.05
Nitrate: 50-100
The chaeto isn't really "thriving", just sort of maintaining. I am feeding pellets once a day and frozen food once a day. There is some algae growth int he display, some cyano in the huge area.
ALL my SPS have died but 3 peices, the hammer and torch coral I have left are thriving.
I am at my wits end here. Skimmer is skimming wet, I clean this 2x a week. The nutrients just will not go down at all. I think if I could lower the nutrients this might help?
I started doing water changes, with the sump the total water volume is roughly 170ish gallons. I've been changing about 10 gallons every few days.
Any thoughts or advice? I do not really want to add PO4 remover or a desulfinator to remove the nitrates. Reefing 12 years ago wasn't so complicated, wasn't all these gadgets and such.
My tank is 8 months old, I don't want to hear about the established tank that's needed to keep SPS, I've done it before with new tanks, Bubba on here just setup a new tank and still has success. At the 8th month mark I expected to have a semi-packed SPS tank that the sticks are growing like weeds, as this is what I'm accustomed to.
I have checked all the pumps to see if there's rust or corrosion and cannot find any. I'm very careful and only use RODI water, change the DI resin when the TDS gets about 1 on the inline meter.
I can't think of anything else? Need help, I'm desperate here!
Thanks
Link to ICP test results: https://www.*********.com/threads/help-with-icp-results.638224/#post-6375285
Link to build thread which I have neglected: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2691894
Need some help here, I've been in and out of the hobby over the last 15 years. Just got back in the hobby after a 8 year break about 8 months ago. I setup a new 150 gallon SPS tank (5'x2'x2').
Sump:
Synergy Triton TS44 with refugium section
Skimmer:
LifeReef SVS3-30 powered by a Neptune Cor20 Pump
Return Pump:
Neptune Cor20
Water Movement:
EchoTech MP40s x3
Main Tank Lights:
Radion G4 Pros with diffusers x3
Refugium Light:
Kessil H380
Controller:
- Neptune Apex System
UV Sterilizer:
Pentair Aquatics Smart 40w
Ran with Cor20 with flow sensor to adjust flow
Triton Method. Keeping Alk, Ca, and Mg stable.
Only RO/DI water, which test 0 for PO4 and Nitrate.
Long story short, I started the tank, had ultra low nutrients, PO4 0.01-0.05 and undetectable nitrates. Dry rock was used and cycled prior to the tank going up at the end of February. This was seeded with multiple bottles of bacteria, more bacteria was used once the tank was actually setup and running.
SPS frags were placed after 2 months, all was going well. Chaeto was growing like crazy, SPS doing great, encrusting and growing, then I got an outbreak of Dino's. Likely due to the ultra low nutrients. I removed the chaeto, feed more and let the tank get more "dirty". Dino's went away, nutrients began to rise, when the rise the SPS started to RTN and die.
I added Chaeto back, did an ICP test. Iodine was low, everything else was within limits. I dosed some Iodine to help the Chaeto grow.
PO4: 0.35-0.05
Nitrate: 50-100
The chaeto isn't really "thriving", just sort of maintaining. I am feeding pellets once a day and frozen food once a day. There is some algae growth int he display, some cyano in the huge area.
ALL my SPS have died but 3 peices, the hammer and torch coral I have left are thriving.
I am at my wits end here. Skimmer is skimming wet, I clean this 2x a week. The nutrients just will not go down at all. I think if I could lower the nutrients this might help?
I started doing water changes, with the sump the total water volume is roughly 170ish gallons. I've been changing about 10 gallons every few days.
Any thoughts or advice? I do not really want to add PO4 remover or a desulfinator to remove the nitrates. Reefing 12 years ago wasn't so complicated, wasn't all these gadgets and such.
My tank is 8 months old, I don't want to hear about the established tank that's needed to keep SPS, I've done it before with new tanks, Bubba on here just setup a new tank and still has success. At the 8th month mark I expected to have a semi-packed SPS tank that the sticks are growing like weeds, as this is what I'm accustomed to.
I have checked all the pumps to see if there's rust or corrosion and cannot find any. I'm very careful and only use RODI water, change the DI resin when the TDS gets about 1 on the inline meter.
I can't think of anything else? Need help, I'm desperate here!
Thanks
Link to ICP test results: https://www.*********.com/threads/help-with-icp-results.638224/#post-6375285
Link to build thread which I have neglected: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2691894
