Problems in tank

[Brant W]

My tank is a 50 Gallon Cube. Recently corals started to stop growing and somewhat retracting. Mainly my LPS and SPS but other things aren't doing great either. My coralline hasn't been growing and lost color. I checked parameters and they were out of whack, I then brought water to my LFS and they said it was good (Alk 8-9 and Cal 420). I ordered new test kits and reagents for everything, should arrive soon.

One thing I do know for a fact is wrong is my nitrates are undetectable and my phosphate is high at 0.08-0.1, I recently got a reactor for this but haven’t installed it yet due to other plans. I deal with GHA and Bubble algae in the tank.

I went to do my cleaning of my return pump and noticed that the bolts were rusting, which was new from last time I checked. This is the original pump. Do you guys think whatever is leaching into the tank could be causing this?

 

[scotty333]

Probably , I’d change it for plastic and maybe do a few changes to see if improves , also run some carbon in a reactor if you can

 

[Brant W]

Probably , I’d change it for plastic and maybe do a few changes to see if improves , also run some carbon in a reactor if you can

I’ll use my backup pump that doesn’t have any metal, will put it in today and be doing a water change. Could I just put a media bag with carbon in the sump until I have the reactor running? Thank you

 

[Lavey29]

0 nitrates means your corals are starving to death and your phosphate is not high its fine.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

One thing I do know for a fact is wrong is my nitrates are undetectable and my phosphate is high at 0.08-0.1, I recently got a reactor for this but haven’t installed it yet due to other plans. I deal with GHA and Bubble algae in the tank

I would focus on bringing up the Nitrate and don't mess with phosphate. 0.08- 0.1 is not high.

 

[Brant W]

I would focus on bringing up the Nitrate and don't mess with phosphate. 0.08- 0.1 is not high.

How should I bring up nitrates? Dosing neonitro didnt work well for me last time. Would adding more fish help? I only have 3 small fish

 

[Brant W]

Also, what would be causing the GHA and Bubble algae if my nitrates are too low and phosphate is fine? What has been feeding them

 

[NanoNana]

Dose some nitrates my friend.
How are your fish and inverts?
Have you changed anything? New lights, changed power heads or flow in any way?

Full tank pics would help.

I like nyos

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Also, what would be causing the GHA and Bubble algae if my nitrates are too low and phosphate is fine? What has been feeding them

The nitrates are bound up in the algae.
Add cuc

 

[TwistedPharaoh]

My tank is a 50 Gallon Cube. Recently corals started to stop growing and somewhat retracting. Mainly my LPS and SPS but other things aren't doing great either. My coralline hasn't been growing and lost color. I checked parameters and they were out of whack, I then brought water to my LFS and they said it was good (Alk 8-9 and Cal 420). I ordered new test kits and reagents for everything, should arrive soon.

One thing I do know for a fact is wrong is my nitrates are undetectable and my phosphate is high at 0.08-0.1, I recently got a reactor for this but haven’t installed it yet due to other plans. I deal with GHA and Bubble algae in the tank.

I went to do my cleaning of my return pump and noticed that the bolts were rusting, which was new from last time I checked. This is the original pump. Do you guys think whatever is leaching into the tank could be causing this?

In well established systems overtime other elements can build up. A particular food that you feed may be rich in one particular element that overtime can cause that ppm or ppb to increase to a toxic level. A larger volume water change will remove impurities and toxins. (20% wc will still have 80% of the problem) Stress from the corals secrete and do not help the water column either. Rust from a bolt can be an exact root just like the food approach. Remove the rusty bolts and replace while doing a larger water change.

Doing the water change will lower your phosphates and not have a need to use the reactor. Too sharp of a drop in phosphate will add more stress to everything else so after the water change you can bring your nitrates up and achieve a lower phosphate reading with amino acids and other foods like redsea AB+ so you're not bottomed out.

Hope this helps! Remember even when things are going bad, reacting too much to get everything back "perfect" can be even more stressful. Definitely remove the rusty bolts though!!

 

[Brant W]

Dose some nitrates my friend.
How are your fish and inverts?
Have you changed anything? New lights, changed power heads or flow in any way?

Full tank pics would help.

I like nyos

My fish seem good, the clown that gets picked on is the only one who has anything wrong. My shrimp seems to be healthy. I do lose snails faster than I feel I should but have some in there still. I did change light schedule for more blue but that was after researching my light and people said that the white doesnt do much for this light.

Will try to get some white light pics

 

[Brant W]

The nitrates are bound up in the algae.
Add cuc

What would you recommend for the CUC?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What would you recommend for the CUC?

There are many threads about this. I'll let you do your own research

 

[ronsonb]

Wouldn’t hurt to grab some Poly Filters for peace of mind.

 

[ronsonb]

I’ll add… I kept losing turbos and other snails. I found a metal clamp that had rusted (rookie move on my part) and along with several water changes among other things adding the Poly Filters my snails now stay alive. Whether or not they’re what helped for sure I couldn’t say but for me a multi faceted approach helped.

 

[Brant W]

I’ll add… I kept losing turbos and other snails. I found a metal clamp that had rusted (rookie move on my part) and along with several water changes among other things adding the Poly Filters my snails now stay alive. Whether or not they’re what helped for sure I couldn’t say but for me a multi faceted approach helped.

Interesting, i will probably swap everything metal (besides magnets) out for plastics today. Ill get a couple of those filters and do some water changes and hopefully it helps.

 

[NanoNana]

My fish seem good, the clown that gets picked on is the only one who has anything wrong. My shrimp seems to be healthy. I do lose snails faster than I feel I should but have some in there still. I did change light schedule for more blue but that was after researching my light and people said that the white doesnt do much for this light.

Will try to get some white light pics

Your blue spectrum will have higher par than white. When you increased your blues, you likely increased PAR. What percentage did you increase the blue and how quickly did you do it? Were you able to use a par meter to keep PAR output near where it was when you corals were doing well?
You may have some heavy metal contaminants causing some issues but usually issues with coral are light, flow and nutrients or a combination of some or all of those.

 

[Brant W]

Your blue spectrum will have higher par than white. When you increased your blues, you likely increased PAR. What percentage did you increase the blue and how quickly did you do it? Were you able to use a par meter to keep PAR output near where it was when you corals were doing well?
You may have some heavy metal contaminants causing some issues but usually issues with coral are light, flow and nutrients or a combination of some or all of those.

I didnt increase the percentage. I just increased the length the corals would be exposed to it and removed some white. It did give them more PAR throughout the day but shouldn’t have been a much higher level. I used a 30 day acclimation period that slowly raised it up. I haven’t been able to use a par meter, I will ask the store when im there next. Don’t really have the money to get one on my own or pay the deposit. If anyone in Tucson, AZ has one then that would help a lot.

I won’t dismiss that it could be the combination of low nutrients and more light. I just removed all metal components and did a water change. Fish store tomorrow so I will get a CUC, poly filters, and then ask about Par meter. I don’t want to rush too much cause a ton of change can also be bad.

 

[Brant W]

Thank you everybody for the help, hopefully will have some good news soon

 

[NanoNana]

I didnt increase the percentage. I just increased the length the corals would be exposed to it and removed some white. It did give them more PAR throughout the day but shouldn’t have been a much higher level. I used a 30 day acclimation period that slowly raised it up. I haven’t been able to use a par meter, I will ask the store when im there next. Don’t really have the money to get one on my own or pay the deposit. If anyone in Tucson, AZ has one then that would help a lot.

I won’t dismiss that it could be the combination of low nutrients and more light. I just removed all metal components and did a water change. Fish store tomorrow so I will get a CUC, poly filters, and then ask about Par meter. I don’t want to rush too much cause a ton of change can also be bad.

Sounds like you used great technique changing the lighting. Hopefully removing the metal will solve your problems! Let us know how things are going!