Should i do another WC?

[SPotter]

Nitrates on Sunday were 10 and everything in the tank was looking pretty stressed. I did a 25% wc and tested yesterday. Nitrates were still at 10 so i did a 50% wc, got just about all of the detrius out of the sump and frag tank and changed filter socks. Nitrates are down to 5 today and while most of the corats are looking better, they arrnt looking great and i have lost a couple of sps frags.

So, should i do another wc tonight and how much?

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

[Aquarist007]

a nitrate level of 5 should not affect corals.
Mathematically if you did another 50 per cent water change then the level would go down half to 2.5
That's alot of water changes for such a minimum reduction in nitrates and could be affecting the corals by not being totally consistent with the levels in each different water change

[JamesJR]

Capn hylinur corals can vary a great deal in terms of what they will tolerate in their water chemistry parameters. Many SPS corals will not thrive at a nitrate level of 5 ppm. Keep in mind that most reefs have nitrate levels in the ppb range and few test kits can actually read levels this low.

Have you had nitrate issues before? fist thing I would check is the makeup water you are using. What is the TDS reading on your ro water?

[SPotter]

James,
This is my first nitrate problem since cycling the talk. I checked my tds but couldn't get a reading because the battery is dead....will pick up new ones tomorrow. But i did replace all if my rodi filters and resin about two weeks ago.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

[James404]

I would bet that there is another issue that is causing your SPS to stress. There are many successful SPS tanks with nitrates way over 10. What is your Salinity, Alk, Cal and Mag? I would also dip a frag that is showing signs of stress in Revive or CoralRX to check for AEFW.

[SPotter]

I jus dipped a few so I'll keep an eye on them. I've been looking for any other pests but this seems to be stressing some of my lps too at this point. I am only weeks away from the 1 yr mark with this and haven't any major problems until now. Very frustrated but also appreciative of your suggestions James.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

[ColaAddict]

Give us the rest of your params. are you running carbon or purigen with a mixed reef?

[SPotter]

Sorry forgot to post the params. ..

Sg 1.026
Alk 10.3
Ca 420
Mg 1400
Ph 8.30
Nitrates were at 5 earlier this evening
Po4. 015
Everything else is 0

No carbon or gfo

Dose b-ionic 2 part and kalk with ato.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

[bertoni]

I'd probably run some fresh carbon and stop feeding for a few days. Any measurable phosphate is suspect, since our testing equipment is fairly iffy. I might slowly add more GFO.

Large water changes sometimes cause problems, but it's interesting that the corals responded well to the first change. I might do a 10-15% change per day for a few days, if I had the energy.

[ColaAddict]

Don't forget about chemical warfare, hence the importance of carbon or purigen use. Your corals might be starting to get bigger and starting chemical warfare now, if they haven't before.

[SPotter]

I will fire up the media reactors tonight with some fresh carbon and some gfo. I have been debating whether or not to remove the sand from my fuge as I am not sure if this is helping or hurting me. My fuge has a total water level of 11" in a compartment that is 5" x 15". Theres 3-4" of sand in there and some chaeto which I have to trim back every week. My dt also has a sb of about 3-4" so I am wondering if the sand in my fuge is actually benefitting me or not at this point.

[SPotter]

i added some gfo tonight and took water to the lfs for testing. all of my levels were the same with exception to mg. They tested my mg 3 times and it came out at 1100 every time. my kit was testing 1400. So when I got home I checked my mg dosing pump and apparently the wheel is spinning but nothing was being dosed. I am not sure how long this was going on for because I was testing 1400 and didnt check the pump. I am guessing this in addition to the nitrates is not helping my cause. Nitrates are zero but now it looks like I might have a new problem....ich!!!! I love this hobby.

[ColaAddict]

You are making changes to your tank, which probably caused some stress to your fish, hence the ich. Just keep your water nice and clean and as stable as possible, throw in a pinch if minced garlic in your tank and the ich should clear up. I'm not a big fan of taking fishes out as that causes more stress. once you clear out the stressor, alot of times your fish immune system would kick in and get rid of the ich. Did you add a new fish recently?

[SPotter]

Last fish added was three weeks ago and that was after spending 3 weeks in a qt. I agree with taking fish out. you end up tearing apart the rocks just to catch the fish and stress it out even more.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

[bertoni]

Having the magnesium at 1100 ppm is fine, although I'd bump it up to 1280 ppm or so out just to match natural seawater a bit better.

[SPotter]

update....no wc since Monday. casualty count is up to 7 frags at this point and I am noticing some stn on my large birds nest. Ick outbreak does not seem to have gotten worse.

[SPotter]

Nitrates are down to zero but now my alk is all over the place. It was 9.75 dkh last night and now tonight it has jumped up to 11 dkh. I tested it 4 times..twice with two different kits. I havent changed anything with dosing amounts.

Should I.....
A. do nothing and let the level come down on its own
B. turn off kalk and dosing pumps
C. do a wc

The chemistry in my tank is going crazy and so am I!

[Hnguyen85]

Nitrates are down to zero but now my alk is all over the place. It was 9.75 dkh last night and now tonight it has jumped up to 11 dkh. I tested it 4 times..twice with two different kits. I havent changed anything with dosing amounts.

Should I.....
A. do nothing and let the level come down on its own
B. turn off kalk and dosing pumps
C. do a wc

The chemistry in my tank is going crazy and so am I!

Depending on what kind of salt your using and how much water you just changed out within the short time. That could cause your alk to spike. Turn off anything that will add alk to your tank and let it go down on it's own. Doing a wc IMO won't help bring it down and you'll just be wasting salt. FWIW, I wouldn't do major wc like that in such a short time. 20% every 3 days would be good enough. You always want things to move slowly in a reef system. Good luck


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bertoni]

I might turn off the dosing pumps for a bit. Other than that, I'd wait.