I'm doing something wrong....Please help

[dgtron]

I have been in Reefing hobby for 4+ Years. I've always battled some issue or the other. Sometimes the tank is beautiful & great SPS coloring & in no time it starts going down hill.

Here are my problems:
1. Phosphates were at 0.5. I ran lanthanum chloride & now my phosphates are at 0.11 & pretty table
2. I have bad cyano outbreak.
SPS seems to be growing & coloring well. I have been able to frag large pieces to sell due to outgrowth / breaking. Color is Good. PE is limited
3. I run a Calcium reactor & still my alk is always lowering. Drip is about a drop a second & PH in calcium reactor is 6.4
4. Lots of aiptasia (I have a couple of File fish & slowly Aiptasia is going down)

Here is my regiem & Tank Details. Please review
300G Reef. Mostly only SPS

I had about 4-5" Sand bed, now reduced it to 3" about a month ago to see if this is the reason for phosphates

I have LED lights. A friend of mine suggested a higher ratio of Warm Whites (could this be cause of Cyano?)

I'm dosing Vinegar at about 10ml a Day (Used to do 30ml a day suggested by a local reefer). I started to notice a lot of white slimy stuff in my sump

My refugium sand bed seems to have too much of derbies. Underneath the sand layer I notice black patches :worried2:

I'm not at a point I'm very ****ed :debi:

I know there are too many issues, but please suggest some alternatives.

 

[oscar.millan]

You have a lot of systems with levels of complexity beyond beginner/intermediate. Any one of these systems could be causing issues.

To prioritize I wold lower the phosphates slowly, but down below 0.05. Next, I would test Alk religiously every day for a week or two to track changes and stability.

Beyond that, you'll have to dig deep and try to troubleshoot one by one. Good luck to you.

 

[Bello]

The black patches in the sandbed make me nervous. Any chance you could post an FTS?

 

[Bugger]

The problem was you started with a bad batch of live rock. If I where you I would take a step back and except it was a failure and start over. You need to start with new dry rock or buy a copper band to pic out the aptaisa. stop listening to reefers that think they know everything just smile and knob I've have seen good growth using just blue plus bulbs.
fill this out you dont have to answer them all but it would help just copy paste it
Tell us about your tank.
Please give us answers to the following questions in order to get more accurate dosing recommendations.

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter
2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique
4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.)
5. Are you using Ozone
6. Are you using UV
7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume)
8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels
9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels
10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.)
11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.)
12. What corals do you keep
13. Tissue color (light or dark)
14. How long has the tank been running
15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system
16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.)
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.)
18. Any present problems
19. Problem description (tissue loss tips, tissue loss base, diatom bloom, algae, etc.)
20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.)
21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.)
22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.)
23. Which salt brand do you use

 

[dgtron]

I like your Questions. Here you go....

1. Gross water volume of your complete system (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter
300G Aquarium + 40B (35G) refugium + 75G (60G) Sump

2. Net water volume (incl. sump etc.) - US gallons / UK gallons / liter
Total after displacement 250G System

3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technique
Yes. Using a Calcium Reactor

4. Are you using a PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.)
Using BRS Phosphate & Carbon Reactor

5. Are you using Ozone
No

6. Are you using UV
Yes 55W

7. What skimmer are you using (type, rated water volume)
Bubble King 200

8. What are your actual PO4 and NO3 levels
PO4 0.1 & NO3 0

9. What are your actual Ca, Alk and Mg levels
Calcium: 420
Alk: I maintain at 9dkh
Mg 1380

10. What filtration method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.)
Refugium with (4" Sand bed)

11. Type of light (Watt, color temp, how old, etc.)
LED (60 LED's X 4 Panels)
60% Whites (30% 3500K / Warm White & 30% 10000K Cool White)
40% Blue

12. What corals do you keep
Mostly only SPS

13. Tissue color (light or dark)
Medium to Dark

14. How long has the tank been running
2 Years (Connected to an older system that was running for 5 years which is shut down now)

15. Why do you want to use the ZEOvit system
Never tried

16. Any supplemental dosing (type, amount, why, etc.)
Iodine (6 Drops X twice a week)
Vinegar 10ml a day

17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.)
150 lbs
Dry rock + Live

18. Any present problems
Phosphates are high
Cyano in specific area

19. Problem description (tissue loss tips, tissue loss base, diatom bloom, algae, etc.)
None

20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.)
Hannah

21. Present dosing, amounts and intervals (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.)
None used

22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temp, etc.)
Salinity 1.025
Temp 76 during Winter & 78-79 during Summer

23. Which salt brand do you use
Salinity

I feel I just documented my tank. Thanks!

 

[toothman]

I personally would just break the tank down and remove the substrate. On rebuild go bare bottom, it is much easier to maintain the tank long term.

 

[jrpdriver]

sorry if someone said this already, I didn't bother to read everything....in response to your alk concern, crank up the drip rate on your calcium reactor. I have a 300g sps tank also and my reactor pours out, probably 20-30 drops per second....just start turning up the drip rate a little each day and test your alk daily until you find the sweetspot, then test weekly, as your sps grow you will be constantly turing up the drip rate, completely normal

 

[brad65ford]

i personally would just break the tank down and remove the substrate. On rebuild go bare bottom, it is much easier to maintain the tank long term.

+1

 

[trueblackpercula]

I personally would just break the tank down and remove the substrate. On rebuild go bare bottom, it is much easier to maintain the tank long term.

I would love to hear all about this? i ran a barebottom tank and it is so much more work,time and money that i gave up.

 

[dgtron]

I like the look of having a substrate. I'll probably reduce on the substrate some more to about 2"

What are the implications on removing a few pounds rock? like 30Lbs from a 300G system. Does it cause any spike? I'm also thinking of replacing the substrate in my refugium.

 

[nysbadmk8]

To the idiots that are suggesting you break your whole tank down.. Get Real.

Thats like suggesting you swap the engine in your car because you need a dam valve adjustment.


Your P04 is still high, Hit a sweet spot of .04-.06 You can use lanthanum, P04 export, Iron oxide, Etc.

Two, Crank up the flow in the tank.

3. Address the aiptasia with natural predators, Or Commercial methods. This WILL TAKE TIME.

If your using lanthanum, or other P04 export methods it has been known to bring the ALK down, Run the calcium reactor to keep up with demand, or 2 part dose to bring the levels up.


Take your refugium OFFLINE, replace the sand, make sure you have enough sand sifting critters to make sure your dont get dead zones again.

 

[Bello]

I like the look of having a substrate. I'll probably reduce on the substrate some more to about 2"

What are the implications on removing a few pounds rock? like 30Lbs from a 300G system. Does it cause any spike? I'm also thinking of replacing the substrate in my refugium.

I wouldn't think that removing 30 lbs from a system as large as yours would create much of a problem.

How do you plan on reducing the substrate? What about them black patches?

 

[dgtron]

To the idiots that are suggesting you break your whole tank down.. Get Real.

Thats like suggesting you swap the engine in your car because you need a dam valve adjustment.


Your P04 is still high, Hit a sweet spot of .04-.06 You can use lanthanum, P04 export, Iron oxide, Etc.

Two, Crank up the flow in the tank.

3. Address the aiptasia with natural predators, Or Commercial methods. This WILL TAKE TIME.

If your using lanthanum, or other P04 export methods it has been known to bring the ALK down, Run the calcium reactor to keep up with demand, or 2 part dose to bring the levels up.


Take your refugium OFFLINE, replace the sand, make sure you have enough sand sifting critters to make sure your dont get dead zones again.

Thanks for the ray of hope. This is exactly what I was going to do this weekend. Go with a through cleaning.

How do you plan on reducing the substrate? What about them black patches?

I'll try to get some pics tonight, but I will clean out my refugium completely & remove the substrate & add some from my tank. Clean out some random rocks as well.