Chemistry conundrum.

[Angelwolf21203]

Hello, folks. I've been a member bere for a little while now, but haven't said much. I am not new to saltwater tanks. I am, however, learning as I go with reefing. I have a 90g mixed reef tank. I run an Aquamaxx Prism LED light on stands about 3" above the glass canopy. I have it programmed according to the manufacturer recommended settings at 22,000°K. I often turn it over to manual, which i have set at 100% intensity, all blue. No white, no color. I have an Imperial Angel, a Maroon Clown, a Blue Headed Wrasse, and a Diamond Watchman Goby, along with numerous hermit crabs, emerald crabs, snails, and urchins. I did also have a chalk bass yellow tang, until a recent incident, which was entirely my fault. I have 1 large bulb-tip anenome which my clown hosts in, a large rock that is full of zoa's which I just found out have spread onto another rock. I have green hairy mushrooms that are growing like weeds and have split once and will soon be ready to split again. I just recently got a dime-sized ricordea mushroom frag from a friend. I also have a large green nephthea tree. Those corals are all doing fantastic. I had a 5 polyp branching hammer that had recently retracted severely, and at this point, is clinging to life. :-( I ordered a few sps corals from DD about a month ago, now. They are a green/red/purple helmet coral, a purple turbinaria which is bigger than a golf ball, and a very tiny piece of Sanjay's Galaxy montipora. All 3 sps are at the bottom of the tank. I dose with Instant Ocean's Reef Accelerator All-in-One, Reef Stability, and Nitrate Reducer, all according to the bottle directions. Lately, I have not been using the Reef Accelerator, because it adds calcium, and my calcium level is through the roof, despite having several stony corals. My dKH is also through the roof. About a week ago, I did a massive overhaul on my tank, because of high phosphates, high nitrates, and a green hair algae outbreak that I have been battling for the last 3 months. So I pulled every rock, coral, and fish out of the tank and Python'd the substrate really well. I knew it was going to be super dirty and it was. So after a long 2-day process of hand-pulling all of the green hair off each individual rock, and out of between/under/around my softies, I finally rebuilt the whole tank. I have been using API Super Activated Carbon for about a month (which I threw out today) and Kent Marine Phosphate Sponge which I just renewed today, for the final time. I have seen a slight decrease in my phosphate levels, however they still need to come down more. I'm also running an Auquamaxx ConeS 2 skimmer in my sump. My refugium has a ball of cheato and a Cheato Grow light on it which is on 24/7. I occasionally add Iron and Manganese to it just to help the chaeto grow. Also, I have kept my tank lights off except an our or two a day, to make sure to kill off the green hair algae. I have also been using Vibrant weekly. I feed a variety of foods once daily, rotating between Cobalt Aquatics Omni Plus Flakes with probiotics, Hikari Marine A pellets, and New Life Spectrum Thera+A pellets. Very occasionally, i will feed a cube of thawed,frozen, strained Rod's Food Reef Frenzy. And my corals and anenome get fed with Hikari Corallific Delight on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

So. Since doing the overhaul I would have expected to see my nitrates and phosphates drop significantly, however in reality, they really didn't drop that much. And as far as my phosphates, I'm getting very different readings from 2 different tests, so I don't even know which one to believe!

4/21:
Sp. Gr.: 1.022 (Deep Six Hygrometer)
Hanna Checker Phosphate ULR: 0.69ppm
API Reef Master Kit:
Ca 500ppm
KH 214.8ppm 12°dKH
PO4 0.25ppm
NO3 80ppm
NH4 0ppm

4/18:
Sp. Gr. 1.020
Hanna Checker Phosphate ULR: >0.90ppm
API Reef Kit:
PO4 0.25ppm (see the crazy difference?)
NO3 40ppm
NH4 0.50ppm (this was the morning I found the tang dead)

4/16: Tank overhaul.

4/15:
Hanna Checker Phosphate ULR: 0.63ppm
API Reef Kit:
KH 214.8 12°dKH
Ca 480ppm
PO4 between 0.0 and 0.24ppm
NO3 80ppm
API Dip Stick
KH 180ppm
pH 8.5
NO2 0ppm
NO3 between 20 and 40ppm
Renewed phosphate sponge was added.

4/14
Hanna Checker Phosphate ULR: 0.67
Brand new phosphate sponge had been in the tank for 24 hrs.

4/11:
Hanna Checker Phosphate ULR: >0.90ppm
Reef Kit:
Ca 520ppm
KH 232.7ppm 13°dKH
PO4 0.25ppm
NO3 160ppm
NH4 0ppm
API Dip Stick:
KH 180ppm
pH 8.5
NO2 0ppm
NO3 between 40 and 80ppm.

4/8:
Reef Kit:
Ca 580ppm
KH 386.4 16°dKH
PO4 0.25ppm
NO3 80ppm
NH4 0ppm
API Dip Stick:
KH 180ppm
pH 8.0
NO2 0ppm
NO3 40ppm

I can't figure out why my chemistry is all over the place. My tank is not over stocked. It has been up and running for 2 years after moving to a new home, and had been up for 5 years prior to that. I have had the zoa's for more than a year now, and the other softies/mushrooms for about 6 months. The SPS corals were a birthday present and were received on 4/3. I have not seen any polyp extension on them, yet. I'm assuming this is because they are still adjusting? When I got them, I used Seachem's Reef Dip while I was acclimating them. Oops? I don't know. I've never used it before. And I'm getting concerned about the paleness of the turbinaria, but it may have been in too much light, initially. It's now on the bottom of the tank and under an overhang.

Any advice is always welcome! As I said, I'm new to reefing, but not new to saltwater tanks. I attached several pictures from before the tank overhaul, and will post another reply with after-shots.

Thanks ahead of time!
Michelle

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Before overhaul.

 

[legrunt]

Firstly, you should post this to the Reef Chemistry section. Might be more suitable help over there.
Next, you said you did a massive overhaul and talked about pulling all the rocks and vacuuming the sand... Sound like you did a Rip Clean. Did you replace ALL the water? If so, your parameters should have been in check almost instantly.
What salt mix are you using?

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Before overhaul.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Before overhaul.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Firstly, you should post this to the Reef Chemistry section. Might be more suitable help over there.
Next, you said you did a massive overhaul and talked about pulling all the rocks and vacuuming the sand... Sound like you did a Rip Clean. Did you replace ALL the water? If so, your parameters should have been in check almost instantly.
What salt mix are you using?

It was about 50%. I use Instant Ocean's Reef Crystals.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Maybe more like 40%, because I didn't touch what was in the sump, and it was pretty full.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

AFTER overhaul.

 

[sreefs]

Do you use RODI water to mix your salt?
I would stop dosing everything!!! Do 10% water changes 2 or 3 times a week. for several weeks. Do not add anything that increases PH, these will raise your DKH. Let the water parameters settle for several months! For any tank that wants long term SPS success, I do not like to use crushed coral or any substrate that is larger than very fine sand.
I personally like bare bottom because SPS like much more flow than most people even can imagine.
If you have a phosban reactor run 1/2cup GFO and change every 2 weeks.
There is no quick fix! If you keep the large size substrate siphon well with every water change.

I hate to tell you but a maroon clown gets very nasty and territorial as they grow. Also, the Imperial Angel needs a much larger tank, he shows a very bad case of Head lateral line disease.
Make sure you have Coraline algae growing really well on the glass before adding SPS.
Hope this helps some.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Do you use RODI water to mix your salt?
I would stop dosing everything!!! Do 10% water changes 2 or 3 times a week. for several weeks. Do not add anything that increases PH, these will raise your DKH. Let the water parameters settle for several months! For any tank that wants long term SPS success, I do not like to use crushed coral or any substrate that is larger than very fine sand.
I personally like bare bottom because SPS like much more flow than most people even can imagine.
If you have a phosban reactor run 1/2cup GFO and change every 2 weeks.
There is no quick fix! If you keep the large size substrate siphon well with every water change.

I hate to tell you but a maroon clown gets very nasty and territorial as they grow. Also, the Imperial Angel needs a much larger tank, he shows a very bad case of Head lateral line disease.
Make sure you have Coraline algae growing really well on the glass before adding SPS.
Hope this helps some.

I don't have any of the pieces of equipment you mentioned. And I don't have an RO system, either. My maroon clown is about 7 years old, and yeah, she's a *****! She's better with an anenome, because she will keep close to it and protect it, as opposed to the entire tank! I know my angel has HLLE, and I hate that. I had a beautiful lieutenant tang at one point who ended up with it so severely that he lost his dorsal fin and was bare from one side over to the other. I hate that disease! I am always happy to take any advice you may have in fighting that. And as far as corals, perhaps I should stick to the softies and polyps until I can get some more time and experience.

 

[sreefs]

See if the angel will eat frozen broccoli, just thaw 1 small floret and microwave or steam until tender and feed daily! I have seen many times this helps to reverse HLLE! Don't cook just get it a little tender

 

[sreefs]

Save up for a RODI!

 

[Angelwolf21203]

See if the angel will eat frozen broccoli, just thaw 1 small floret and microwave or steam until tender and feed daily! I have seen many times this helps to reverse HLLE! Don't cook just get it a little tender

Ok! Thank you! I'm totally game to trying this.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

he shows a very bad case of Head lateral line disease.

See if the angel will eat frozen broccoli, just thaw 1 small floret and microwave or steam until tender and feed daily! I have seen many times this helps to reverse HLLE! Don't cook just get it a little tender

He and my tang love the broccoli! And I'm amazed! I have only been giving the broccoli for the last 4 or 5 days, and I think the HLLE is healing!!

 

[sreefs]

I have seen a purple tang and yellow totally recover from HLLE while they were fed broccoli daily.
I hope it works for you!

 

[Angelwolf21203]

I have seen a purple tang and yellow totally recover from HLLE while they were fed broccoli daily.
I hope it works for you!

So far, it seems to be! I've always had issues with the seaweed sheets that you get in stores. I swear they cause algae or diatom growth! I like the broccoli, because it doesn't seem to be polluting the water. And the fish are loving it. I have been leaving the piece in the tank so they can graze from it and then scooping it out the next day before I add new. I'm just shocked at how fast it seems to be helping! I wish I would've known the solution would be so simple, before! Is the broccoli something I can keep up with daily, after he's fully recovered, or should I back off on the frequency? Like every other day, or just a couple times a week?

 

[sreefs]

I feed my Regal angel and tang a piece 1 or 2 times a week, they love it. All my fish pick at it but the tang and angel eat most off it. There are times I miss a week but they say it's good for them, a lot of vitamins. You don't have to cut back but can!
I was told this tip by Anthony Calfo 20 years at least 20 years ago!

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Wow. That's awesome. I had a regal angel, before. Gorgeous fish!