Wanna SPS tank needs major help

[Dbondaruk]

ok guys i been having troubles with my tank and really need help. things were going decent till now. here is tank info.
190 gal i use red sea pro salt
75 gal sump
i use 2 part dosing system thru ghl doser(alk/cal/mag are from BRS)
2 MP40 with 2 tunze 6105 for flow.


so here is whats going on.... i left to work aug 10. corals were doing ok no STN. i been battling hair algae for a long time. my work requires me to travel usally for 4-8 days. this roadtrip lasted 17 days.here is what have changed before i left to work... i changed my GFO with the new high capicity /gfo from BRS. i used the reccomended amount from their site based on 220 gallons of water. i run it thru a next reef media reactor.i came home aug 17 and 4 of my corals are STNing. i been doing the same thing from day one. water parimeters fluxed earlier when i was setting up doser and stuff. here are some pictures. any questions please ask and i need help. honestly thinking of giving up:headwallblue:

 

[undertai]

Burnt tips mean alk is to high. Redsea pro alk is usually around 12 dkh. If your dosing calcium and alk. You dosing to much and your system is not in a high demand yet. On your last day of testing your mag, is to high but OK since some people say that high mag. Helps combat your hair algae. But you alk is 7 and calcium is 500. Both are to off for a reef tank. Calcium should stay around 450 and alk between 8 - 12.

 

[undertai]

Mag should be around 1320 I think, your was 1500 on the last day. I would stop dosing and do water changes every 2 days until your cal, alk, and mag are within reef tank parameters. What test kit are you using?

 

[Dbondaruk]

Burnt tips mean alk is to high. Redsea pro alk is usually around 12 dkh. If your dosing calcium and alk. You dosing to much and your system is not in a high demand yet. On your last day of testing your mag, is to high but OK since some people say that high mag. Helps combat your hair algae. But you alk is 7 and calcium is 500. Both are to off for a reef tank. Calcium should stay around 450 and alk between 8 - 12.

thanks for the reply...do you think that all of sudden its because of the alk being low that they started to stn..also how long of a period would you reccomend me to raise my alk

 

[Dbondaruk]

Mag should be around 1320 I think, your was 1500 on the last day. I would stop dosing and do water changes every 2 days until your cal, alk, and mag are within reef tank parameters. What test kit are you using?

i am using salifert test kits.
i used to use the hanna alk checker but it kept showing differant results within 3 tests back to back.

 

[Dbondaruk]

i did a 35 gallon water change yesterday. i turned my gfo offline as well

 

[Dbondaruk]

Anyone else wanna chime in

 

[nemodan]

With that bio load a standard 10% WC will keep your tank in line. I agree that dosing with such few SPS is not necessary.

For the STN, It will stop as soon as your parameters are in equilibrium and your system is stable.

 

[Dbondaruk]

With that bio load a standard 10% WC will keep your tank in line. I agree that dosing with such few SPS is not necessary.

For the STN, It will stop as soon as your parameters are in equilibrium and your system is stable.

Just checked my alk. 7.7 do you recommend I completely turn my doser off?

 

[dkeller_nc]

Don't (turn your doser off). While 7 dKH would be considered "on the low end" for an SPS tank, it's stability that really matters. My guess from looking at your test results is that you don't really have your dosing dialed-in. Ideally, you'd like your alkalinity not to vary more than 0.5 dKH or so.

With respect to the GFO, it's not unusual for folks to see some deleterious effects on corals if the tank has been running with higher phosphate levels for some time, then have the water's phosphate concentrations go to near zero with the introduction of GFO. Generally speaking, though, folks see the color of their coral fade under this circumstance. As long as the effect isn't too severe, the coral usually recover.

Given the issue you have with GHA, I'd personally keep running the GFO, and I'd buy an accurate, low-range phosphate tester. A Hanna checker is pretty much your only option here - the chemistry of the molybdate test for phosphate requires a photometer to read accurately in the low range we're looking for in an SPS tank.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Hmm - As I look closer at your log, I notice that there's nearly 2 months between your last chemistry tests. That's far too long of an interval for a tank that has issues (like algae plagues, STN/RTN, etc...), once a week would be a minimum. Once things stabilize, nutrient tests can be stretched out to 2-week intervals, but you'll still want to be testing Alk & Ca once per week.

Your water tests should include specific gravity checks (with an accurate, calibrated refractometer), temperature verification (even if you're using a controller), Calcium, Alkalinity, Nitrate and Phosphate. Magnesium can be tested on a less-frequent basis - it usually doesn't change much if you're using a salt mix with elevated Mg, like Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals.

 

[oldbones]

Also, how old is your test kit? May not hurt to cross check your results by tanking a sample to a trusted LFS. If you're testing infrequently, your test kit reagent could go bad before it runs low.

 

[Dbondaruk]

Hmm - As I look closer at your log, I notice that there's nearly 2 months between your last chemistry tests. That's far too long of an interval for a tank that has issues (like algae plagues, STN/RTN, etc...), once a week would be a minimum. Once things stabilize, nutrient tests can be stretched out to 2-week intervals, but you'll still want to be testing Alk & Ca once per week.

Your water tests should include specific gravity checks (with an accurate, calibrated refractometer), temperature verification (even if you're using a controller), Calcium, Alkalinity, Nitrate and Phosphate. Magnesium can be tested on a less-frequent basis - it usually doesn't change much if you're using a salt mix with elevated Mg, like Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals.

Thanks for the help. Reason for no testing because tank was running fine other than algae. The stn started when I left on my last road trip August 10. That's after I just changed to the new high capacity gfo.

 

[Dbondaruk]

Also, how old is your test kit? May not hurt to cross check your results by tanking a sample to a trusted LFS. If you're testing infrequently, your test kit reagent could go bad before it runs low.

Test kit is about 6 months old. I have 2 saliferts kits that I refer to. I do have a Hanna photo meter checker but I don't use it due to it showing different when I do 2 tests in a row

 

[Dbondaruk]

After I did a 40 gallon water change my alk went from 7.0 to 7.7

 

[oldbones]

Thanks for the help. Reason for no testing because tank was running fine other than algae. The stn started when I left on my last road trip August 10. That's after I just changed to the new high capacity gfo.

I have heard of negative reactions by corals from stripping the water too quickly.

 

[Dbondaruk]

I check salinity about once a month. I use a atc refractoneter that gets calibrated before every use. Salinity stays the same never had I change

 

[Dbondaruk]

I have heard of negative reactions by corals from stripping the water too quickly.

That's what I am leaning towards but I'm not that of a experienced reefer. Still learning. I also did a large water change before I left to my road trip. But for the last 1.5 years my
Sps corals colors have not been good either. So I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Dbondaruk]

Don't (turn your doser off). While 7 dKH would be considered "on the low end" for an SPS tank, it's stability that really matters. My guess from looking at your test results is that you don't really have your dosing dialed-in. Ideally, you'd like your alkalinity not to vary more than 0.5 dKH or so.

With respect to the GFO, it's not unusual for folks to see some deleterious effects on corals if the tank has been running with higher phosphate levels for some time, then have the water's phosphate concentrations go to near zero with the introduction of GFO. Generally speaking, though, folks see the color of their coral fade under this circumstance. As long as the effect isn't too severe, the coral usually recover.

Given the issue you have with GHA, I'd personally keep running the GFO, and I'd buy an accurate, low-range phosphate tester. A Hanna checker is pretty much your only option here - the chemistry of the molybdate test for phosphate requires a photometer to read accurately in the low range we're looking for in an SPS tank.

I will turn up my alk dosage by a lil and aim for
8.0-8.5 alk. Thanks for the help man any other suggestions plz give me I really appreciate the help guys

 

[Dbondaruk]

also guys i will be honest i have not blew my rocks off for over 5 months. been dealing with this hair algae for over 9 motnhs and cant beat it.