Help with reefing (Im about to quit everything)

[xLUGUBRIOUSx]

Your nutrients and alkalinity is all over the place all the time. Find your daily dosage for AFR which is probably super extra low since nothing is really consuming it. AFR is supposed to be dosed based on calcium. You need to worry about calcium more for now.

Phosphates are crazy high

You just need to be more consistent it seems.

 

[Faurek]

Your nutrients and alkalinity is all over the place all the time. Find your daily dosage for AFR which is probably super extra low since nothing is really consuming it. AFR is supposed to be dosed based on calcium. You need to worry about calcium more for now.

Phosphates are crazy high

You just need to be more consistent it seems.

If there is no consumption there is no need to dose, you said it yourself. STOP TELLING THE OP TO DOSE. Geez, why are people so obsessed with dosing?
You can run a soft coral aquarium for years without ever dosing, GSP doesn't need dosing.

 

[xLUGUBRIOUSx]

If there is no consumption there is no need to dose, you said it yourself. STOP TELLING THE OP TO DOSE. Geez, why are people so obsessed with dosing?
You can run a soft coral aquarium for years without ever dosing, GSP doesn't need dosing.

Well according to their alkalinity timeline he needs to do something. Either more frequent water changes or dosing. Dosing isn't the devil. Maybe almost nothing is being consumed, but there are corals in the tank and it needs to be monitored one way or another. Can't just forget about it.

 

[Faurek]

Well according to their alkalinity timeline he needs to do something. Either more frequent water changes or dosing. Dosing isn't the devil. Maybe almost nothing is being consumed, but there are corals in the tank and it needs to be monitored one way or another. Can't just forget about it.

Well, according to the timeline it's consistently getting too high, how high you think is the alk in the ocean and you think it's GSP that is taking alk from 10 to 7.2 and back up?
Alk is not only for coral, when chemical reactions occur they use up alk, bacteria uses alk to stabilize. The OP has a foggy aquarium, I would say probably bacteria bloom, wouldn't you think that once bacteria settles alk would be stable without dosing?
And GSP caring that much about alk? I neglected a tank for months on alk CA and mag, it had zoas, one goni and one piece of stylo, alk was 4 when I tested, guess the only piece that was struggling but still alive, yes it was the Stylo, the soft corals couldn't care less, yeah GSP will be fine even if bacteria get the KH down.

 

[stE25wy14]

If there is no consumption there is no need to dose, you said it yourself. STOP TELLING THE OP TO DOSE. Geez, why are people so obsessed with dosing?
You can run a soft coral aquarium for years without ever dosing, GSP doesn't need dosing.

cause he needs to dose XD
if people r telling u are wrong, then u are wrong

 

[stE25wy14]

Well according to their alkalinity timeline he needs to do something. Either more frequent water changes or dosing. Dosing isn't the devil. Maybe almost nothing is being consumed, but there are corals in the tank and it needs to be monitored one way or another. Can't just forget about it.

just click the ignore button on his name

 

[redseaenroute]

I'm in the "stop dosing for now" camp here too... Way to much going on. If there is not a large enough coral load to justify it, why do it? Back to basics. Get basic parameters (Nitrate & Phosphate) stabilized. Get a WC routine established. And probably need to address the bio load (again, I see 4 clowns, 10 total fish and a bunch of shrimp) and THEN come back to dosing.

Whatever the path chosen on dosing may be, it is apparent that the current dosing plan is not working. So hit pause. Get the above mentioned areas in check. Then come back to it (dosing) if necessary.

 

[leo_martin]

Well, Alk does seem to be consumed from week to week.
Truth be told, I don't care about corals at all. But since I added them, its frustrating to not see colors. I only started with those bc they are easy and doesnt hurt my eyes. I'm an extremely busy worker and I'm not looking to add too much on my schedule, that's why I tried to DIY automate most of the things I can in the tank.
At first, even with that many fish, my refugium would keep phosphates and nitrates at zero. Clear water, clear glass, no dosing, nothing, and overall, happy, active fishies. I have a thick sandbed, more rocks under the sandbed and seachem matrix / fluval little tubes in the sump, so plenty of surfaces. I also have a 200 gal air pump in my sump, before just running inside air (outside air when hot) and now pumping thru an Co2 media, so yes, I don't have my powerhead pointed up bc with the fish guard, the Nero 5 won't tilt.
I was happy with the fish-only aquarium, precisely because I could keep the thing running smooth without messing too much on it. I lost count of how many times I tested the water at the LFS to see 0 nitrates/phosphates, tests that cost 15 a pop. I lost count after 150 bucks.
I started testing weekly when I started with Gsps. Everyone said that they grow like weeds and even grow in the "toilet". Then my LFS told me to keep my nutrients around 5-20 nitrates, 0.03 phosphates, around 1300 magnesium. I went and bought all Hannah checkers: Alk, Nitrates, phosphates, magnesium, PH, and salinity. Salinity I won't put it on the spreadsheet, it's always between 1.023 -1.027 and I think that's ok, even if stays in the low or high for a few days. I only do top-offs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Not one individual told me that I have to maintain salinity at 1.026 all the time, otherwise nothing would grow.

Then I went to buy some stuff from a reefer, and he showed me all 3 of his tanks, growing, nice colors, and zero water changes. We believed that if my water parameters were within range, I just needed to dose what was lacking and change my water when something goes to **** or monthly or 2-3 months, just for some peace of mind.

I will be honest: I always went that route. I never tested doing water changes weekly in my life. I dont see myself doing water changes weekly for only a few corals - and corals that "grow like weeds". However, based on this post I will try for a few months to see what happens. If it helps great, if not, I rather give them away. If it doesn't work out I take the corals off and stay fish only or just give my whole setup away to my niece, who already has a FW system.