Craigdillman
New member
Hey guys
Hope the summer has been going well for everyone. Thanks in advance for the help sorry for the long wind
Mini back story
I have a well established mixed reef tank and I'm looking for some help. Its been running for the 6th year now and up until last year was on auto pilot , until my lapse in judgment almost 1 year ago now i added vibrant ( less than 1.5 months dosing) to help me battle a minor algae out break what ensued has been a year long " gong show" to say the least resulting in nit phos to zero and dinos.
The last 6 months has been a whirlwind for me and my family we have had some pretty big life events come up and while the tank was on the med at the time it just wasn't my top priority for a bit.
I Probably should have came and asked for some help earlier and I'm sad( and kinda mad at myself ) I've let it get to where it is but I'm here now and i know all you guys have been amazing support and help so I'm back
So the tank was doing amazing following all the help from a earlier post, the dinos were all but gone my parameters were levelling out with the dosing and corals were looking great. Then i think slowly there was a transition in the tank and what needed to be done that i was to busy to react to or stop and think about. As i was dosing both phos and nitrates for the dinos i think once they got under control and the tank levelled out i started to get algae again which was initially ok as i was able to manually get it out on my WC and keep ahead of it. But then it got so bad it was totally out of control and i think now i look back i really needed to dial way back the nit and phos dosing as there was a transition out of dinos to this. I was using the same tactics to rid of dinos of the reduced WC and everything which is the complete opposite treatment for the algae. I felt there was this swing from one to another and i felt i was just chasing numbers.
So I started aggressively removing and scrubbing it out and it was disheartening trying to get ahead of it. After finally realizing and stoping the nitrate and phos dosing I was still getting raised Phos and Nitrate readings and i think i was maybe removing scrubbing/killing much algae it was polluting the water as it was dying causing a cascade effect. I did a few back to back big 40g WC to suck out everything i could.
Its just been really rough going from one swing and treatment plan to another and watching the tank get worse and worse and mini crashing I'm feeling like im chasing numbers and the tank really isn't looking good. The last few weeks I've just let it be stopped messing with it. Ive lost a few sps colonies the more sensitive ones and have STN on a few of the others that isn't looking promising, corals colour look bad as to be expected, the fish still good but im sure they are stressed with all the stuff dying and the balance all out of whack. The algae seems to be at bay since stopping the nit phos but now after a bunch of those big WC the dinos are covering stuff again
Should have asked for help and direction way before this whirlwind it just wasn't in the cards at the time
So I'm looking for some direction and a good plan on what to do now, ill post my parameters.
THANKS SO MUCH for listening and the help, this community makes the tough times in this hobby possible its been a humbling year for the tank after never having issues like this before. Making this post has already mentally helped me lol
Calc- 425
Alk- 7.54
Mag-1400
Phos- 0.24
Nitrates- 15
Big 3 dialled, Phos and nitrates both super high.
dosing calc and alk daily 60ml alk 50 ml calc currently
I have most everything available to dose , foz down for p04 , vinegar, nitrates and phos just need a solid plan
Ill post some pics here tomorrow of before and what it is now
Hope the summer has been going well for everyone. Thanks in advance for the help sorry for the long wind
Mini back story
I have a well established mixed reef tank and I'm looking for some help. Its been running for the 6th year now and up until last year was on auto pilot , until my lapse in judgment almost 1 year ago now i added vibrant ( less than 1.5 months dosing) to help me battle a minor algae out break what ensued has been a year long " gong show" to say the least resulting in nit phos to zero and dinos.
The last 6 months has been a whirlwind for me and my family we have had some pretty big life events come up and while the tank was on the med at the time it just wasn't my top priority for a bit.
I Probably should have came and asked for some help earlier and I'm sad( and kinda mad at myself ) I've let it get to where it is but I'm here now and i know all you guys have been amazing support and help so I'm back
So the tank was doing amazing following all the help from a earlier post, the dinos were all but gone my parameters were levelling out with the dosing and corals were looking great. Then i think slowly there was a transition in the tank and what needed to be done that i was to busy to react to or stop and think about. As i was dosing both phos and nitrates for the dinos i think once they got under control and the tank levelled out i started to get algae again which was initially ok as i was able to manually get it out on my WC and keep ahead of it. But then it got so bad it was totally out of control and i think now i look back i really needed to dial way back the nit and phos dosing as there was a transition out of dinos to this. I was using the same tactics to rid of dinos of the reduced WC and everything which is the complete opposite treatment for the algae. I felt there was this swing from one to another and i felt i was just chasing numbers.
So I started aggressively removing and scrubbing it out and it was disheartening trying to get ahead of it. After finally realizing and stoping the nitrate and phos dosing I was still getting raised Phos and Nitrate readings and i think i was maybe removing scrubbing/killing much algae it was polluting the water as it was dying causing a cascade effect. I did a few back to back big 40g WC to suck out everything i could.
Its just been really rough going from one swing and treatment plan to another and watching the tank get worse and worse and mini crashing I'm feeling like im chasing numbers and the tank really isn't looking good. The last few weeks I've just let it be stopped messing with it. Ive lost a few sps colonies the more sensitive ones and have STN on a few of the others that isn't looking promising, corals colour look bad as to be expected, the fish still good but im sure they are stressed with all the stuff dying and the balance all out of whack. The algae seems to be at bay since stopping the nit phos but now after a bunch of those big WC the dinos are covering stuff again
Should have asked for help and direction way before this whirlwind it just wasn't in the cards at the time
So I'm looking for some direction and a good plan on what to do now, ill post my parameters.
THANKS SO MUCH for listening and the help, this community makes the tough times in this hobby possible its been a humbling year for the tank after never having issues like this before. Making this post has already mentally helped me lol
Calc- 425
Alk- 7.54
Mag-1400
Phos- 0.24
Nitrates- 15
Big 3 dialled, Phos and nitrates both super high.
dosing calc and alk daily 60ml alk 50 ml calc currently
I have most everything available to dose , foz down for p04 , vinegar, nitrates and phos just need a solid plan
Ill post some pics here tomorrow of before and what it is now
