Nitrate Rising, SPS Hurting- HELP

[flamehawkfish]

hello All

I have a heavily-stocked SPS/LPS/softie 95g reef tank. It's been going strong for 3 years, but recently I noticed my SPS receding. It's getting worse.

After testing my water, I learned that my Nitrates were creeping (about '5') and Salinity (1.026) was up, too. So, I did a 15g water-change, lowering the salinity (and Nitrate slightly).

Here are some of my parameters. My pH (8.2), ammonia, nitrite, alk, phosphates are all in check. I have a Turboflotor 1000 Multi Skimmer, and Aquaclear mechanical filter, 2X250W Ushio (about 9 months old), and 4X55W ATI (various colors, also 9 months old). Weekly water change of 5 gallons, and dose with B-ionic 1&2, and 'Tech M'. Temp: 78. My fish, LPS, and softies are growing and seem to be doing fine. My SPS is receding and looks stressed out thoug.

Can anyone offer advice for containing Nitrate? Would upgrading a Skimmer make a difference? Huge wholesale water change (50%)? Any type of media for (like X-Nitrate)?

Please let me know. I really value Reefcentral members' advice.

Thanks in advance,

Flamehawk

 

[Alex T.]

Flamehawk, don't over react and do something drastic that could throw the system into a downward spiral. Unfortunately speaking from experience. I try to keep my nitrates between 1 and 5 instead of driving them to 0. My coral colors are better with slightly dirty water. SPS won't be stressed at these levels. Check nitrate parameters of Mark's TOTM:

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/58-tank-of-the-month

1. How do you know phosphates are in check? How do you test for them? Did
you recently add gfo?
2. What is your photoperiod? Have you switched duration or kelvin rating
recently?
3. Are these established corals that have been with you for a while? Did you j
just add them? If so, were they dipped and qt'd and slowly acclimated?
4. Have you added any new fish or started feeding more..possibly Oyster
Feast or other SPS foods that can quickly pollute water?
5. Do you have signs of bite marks or other pest warnings that could signal
AEFW?

Here to help. Need to know a little more.

 

[Alex T.]

Also, I doubt it's your skimmer if its' been working strong for you for this long. Is this the original sand bed? How deep? It may be leaching some nasties back into the system. You seem to be at the dreaded 3 year mark for a deep sand bed to start showing trouble signs.

 

[flamehawkfish]

hi Alex

Thank you very much for taking the time to help. I appreciate it. Let me address each of your inquiries, one at a time...

1. I did test my phosphates, and there's only a trace. I have Rowaphos (that I've used when phosphates go up), but right now, I just run carbon through my Aquaclear filter. I changed the carbon about 3 weeks ago.

2. My photo period is this... T5: 6AM-8:30PM, MH (2X250W): 8AM-2:30PM. I actually shortened my T5 period recently, and am considering doing it again, so it's lights-out at 6ish (to simulate winter light).

3. I've had most of my corals for 2-3 years. I had very rapid growth on my SPS for a while. Recently, I added some new LPS (a couple Scolies, Favia, & Blastos), and they're all doing fine.

4. I have a pretty heavy fish-load, but haven't added new fish in about two years. I feed them Formula 2 Flakes mostly-and some Mysis Freshwater shrimp for coral/fish as a treat. Fish incl: purple tang, flamehawk, Fiji damsel, breeding pair of Maroon clowns, 4-line wrasse, and spotted Mandarin.

5. I'm not sure what AEFW look like. I've had regular flatworms before, but my spotted mandarin takes care of them.

Here's a pic...

FTS:

Your thoughts? Let me know. The only new thing I did was take out the heater. My tank was running warm as it is, and I thought my old 'Invisitherm' heater might have been leaking voltage into my tank anyway... So, I took it out.

Please let me know.

Flamehawk

 

[M007]

I don't think what I see is N03. More likely a pest. Also did you redirect your powerheads when you recently addes the new LPS?

 

[flamehawkfish]

I don't think what I see is N03. More likely a pest. Also did you redirect your powerheads when you recently addes the new LPS?

That's a good question. So, the new LPS didn't change anything. However, recently, that blueish/grey/orangey Acro on the left grew so large, it toppled over. I had to reposition it to get it back in place. As a result, the waterflow over all my SPS changed. Yeah; that might be part of the problem. I thought about adding another Koralia to churn the water more...

It's frustrating, for sure. What are the telltale signs of an SPS pest (i.e. AEFW)?

 

[Alex T.]

Since nothing drastic has changed, I would +1 the pest theory if you can identify. Sometimes when they recede from the base it's a phosphate issue, however you did change your photoperiod with the t5's, so this may have contributed to the stress level.

If you can check further up on the damaged corals to find maybe some bare spots away from the recession point you would be able to pinpoint if there's a pest. I don't exactly know that AEFW's stay committed to moving up in a perfect recession line like you're seeing, but then again...I'm no expert on them by far.

There are some great threads on identifying these little buggers. I know that Melev has one that's quite informative...so you could search that out.

As for the phosphates, how are you checking? I was using a Salifert kit that read zero when I had a hair algae outbreak. When I finally used a Hanna checker the real culprit presented itself. If you don't have one, someone close to you may. I'm still leaning toward phosphate as your culprit. GFO and Rowaphos can be depleted in less than 24 hours if the phosphate concentrations are high enough. The drip tests like API and Salifert are horrible at detecting detrimental levels of phosphate to SPS. I was reading 0 on Salifert and Hanna checker revealed a .06 when in theory we should be striving for values less than .03. When was the last time you changed out your RO/DI cartidges?

 

[ruprecht]

Have you done anything to the sand bed?

 

[surfjeepzx]

I went through this recently. Make sure all your pumps are clean and moving water like new. Detritus buildup in the pumps, shafts, and impellers, will slow down flow and the cumulative effect is low water turnover.

Consider the lamps may be changing spectrum too.

Next thing is remove all corals that are stn'n or rtn'n and frag them down to healthy tissue. When necrotic tissue is expelled and starts floating around the tank other corals will be effected and you can start an avalanche of rtn.

Also in my tank it turned out to be bad Radiums, somewhat high phosphates and low Mg. The Mg thing caught me by surprise. It took some time to straighten it all out, especially the lamp issue.
Good luck

 

[Grant W]

+1 to most of the stuff already stated .I would cut down the damaged corals, dip them in RX and add a dual stage reactor like the ones from BRS, add GFO and carbon in the second chamber. This is what I do to keep my phos down as I have a heavily stocked 7 year old tank and have to admitt I am a cronic overfeeder too lol