- Location
- Egg Harbor Twp NJ
I am REALLY frustrated. Here's the deal. My 220 was a FOWLR for 2 years. 6 months ago I decided to go reef. I began with a 50% water change. I removed all my sand substrate. I bought an RO/DI unit and thats the only water I use. I bulit a closed loop for wave movement useing a Mag 24 and SCWD with 6 outlets. I have a 45 gal AGA sump into which I've added live rock, already fully cured, purchased from a friend reefer from his 150 reef with 0 nitrates. I purchased a large aquariapure denitrator which I feed with Vodka when needed and as recommended. I have Chaeto in my sump with the live rock. I have TWO prtein skimmers running, a Aqua C Urchin and I modded a JEBO with needle wheel pump and both pull lots of skim. For livestock I have only 5 fish, clown, yellowtail damsel, bi-pseudo, engineer gobie, green chromis. Invertes, coral banded shrimp, 4 turbo snails (big).
I feed a TINY bit of flake food every two days. I feed so little I wonder if the five little fish are getting enough to eat.
My calcium is at 480 ppm and KH is at 13.
I run a BRS Dual reactor with GFO & ROX carbon. My return pump is an Iwaki 40rlt running at about 400 gph. In my live rock I have seen a few bristleworms and there are a LOT of mini brittle starfish. I even have one candy cane coral which lives real well and from my live rock a green and brown button polyp has emerged. For the last FOUR weeks I have been vodka dosing and and up to a dose of 20 ml per day split into two doses daily of 10ml.
I have been doing a 10% water change weekly.
When I began this transistion my phosphates were at 5 ppm! My nitrates were OVER 100 ppm, the highest, deepest red on an API test kit. I even went out and bought a brand new API kit thinking mine might be old.
Well, my phosphates are now WAY down, just .05 ppm, the second lowest color bar on API kit. The nitrates came down to 80 ppm and are STUCK there for FOUR weeks! I am at my wits end and do not know WHAT to try next??!
I keep getting the red slime cyno stuff because of the nitrates. I do not want to add any more corals or livestock until I can get nitrates down to 5 to 10 ppm.
Can't see what I'm doing wrong here and don't know what else to try.
Any suggestions other then changing 75 % of my water?
I feed a TINY bit of flake food every two days. I feed so little I wonder if the five little fish are getting enough to eat.
My calcium is at 480 ppm and KH is at 13.
I run a BRS Dual reactor with GFO & ROX carbon. My return pump is an Iwaki 40rlt running at about 400 gph. In my live rock I have seen a few bristleworms and there are a LOT of mini brittle starfish. I even have one candy cane coral which lives real well and from my live rock a green and brown button polyp has emerged. For the last FOUR weeks I have been vodka dosing and and up to a dose of 20 ml per day split into two doses daily of 10ml.
I have been doing a 10% water change weekly.
When I began this transistion my phosphates were at 5 ppm! My nitrates were OVER 100 ppm, the highest, deepest red on an API test kit. I even went out and bought a brand new API kit thinking mine might be old.
Well, my phosphates are now WAY down, just .05 ppm, the second lowest color bar on API kit. The nitrates came down to 80 ppm and are STUCK there for FOUR weeks! I am at my wits end and do not know WHAT to try next??!
I keep getting the red slime cyno stuff because of the nitrates. I do not want to add any more corals or livestock until I can get nitrates down to 5 to 10 ppm.
Can't see what I'm doing wrong here and don't know what else to try.
Any suggestions other then changing 75 % of my water?