PTSD treatment tank

[1fishkeeper]

Yeah it is annoying spending all of this money just to watch it die. I think my problem is my NO3 is to high. Right now I'm building a sulphur nitrate reactor to try and bring it down.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

I would say its the nitrates. How many mls are you dosing a day with vodka and how long have you been dosing it?

I dont know what you alk goal is but if you raise your calcium and magnesium up, it will help with that since they both work opposite to alkalinity.

Keep the faith.

 

[1fishkeeper]

Well I'm still at a total loss. My NO3 is staying around 40ppm and I just can't get it to come down. I have been doing 40 gallons a week for a water change. Got the sulphur reactor running but it's just not cycling or doing much. Dosing vodka really hasn't done much but it did bring my PO4 down to .002. Any other great ideas I can do before I break it down clean it up and maybe start it up again with all new rock and sand?

 

[inktomi]

You could try one of the ARID algea reactors from PaxBellum. They're basically lit reactors to grow macro in and people seem to have had success with them.

 

[Jack5746]

Try a DIY algae scrubber, they do work wonders. Hope things work out, I feel your pain these tanks can be so frustrating. Thank you for your service, Newbie Thank you also!

 

[R20]

I have seen sps tank with nitrate at 80 and they were not burning or dying color was not as good the main thing is sudden shifts in alk will cause rtn in sps. Also doing vodka dosing will definitely burn your acros and cause rtn if overdone or running alk higher than 8 is a big no no with vodka dosing. Your calcium is a bit low as well for the alk your running at 9 calcium should be about 415 420 to be balanced. although that wouldn't burn the sps. If you want to keep alk at 9 stop vodka dosing that is probably your problem. how much and often do you feed what type of flow and lighting do you have. I have always had luck with just growing macro algae to keep nitrate down keep it simple running a nitrate reactor is kind of risky my nitrate is always at 0 on a salifert same with phosphate you could also add a deep sand bed to your sump so it can be easily removed if you have problems with it to bring down nitrate although there a a lot of mixed options on that subject a lot of people don't like them but if set up properly they work great just keep in mind they don't start becoming effective for about 6 months

 

[1fishkeeper]

I'm going to run a full set of tests tonight before and after a water change tonight. As soon as I get results I will post them.

 

[lluv24]

Very nice setup;-)

 

[R20]

I also see in your posts that you switched salts from kent to red sea red sea has really high alk it mixes at 12 which is a little to high for my liking i keep my tank at 9 alk shifts are really bad for acrors and other sps if you are doing large water changes that could cause an issue for you. My lfs owner tired coral pro salt and had issues with it and switched back to reef crystals. I also have a friend with an amazing lps tank and some sps that uses coral pro and loves it but he started with the salt from the beginning I have heard a lot of people switching salt and having issues especially if the chemistry is way different than the old salt. I think tht the risk of rtn is a lot greater once alk gets above 10 and a coral gets stressed I think it is best to stay between 8 and 9 but thats just my experience

 

[R20]

when you lost your sps where did the stn rtn start at the base or the tips what kind of flow are they getting and had you had them for awhile or were they new

 

[1fishkeeper]

We'll 4 months of running my sulphur reactor and my NO3 is at 0 using a cheap API test kit. Later today I will retest after a water change with my Red Sea test just to double check it. Along with a water change today it's time to clean out and refill the CA Rx and give the skimmer a good vinegar bath.

 

[jasmin]

true, pets cure a lot:fish1: