I have a 60-gallon reef tank that has been running in its present configuration for over three years with little to no problems. But the last couple of months I got lazy and let my tank get out of control. Ph was (and still is) consistently over 8.6, Alk and Ca got real low. The last couple of weeks I've worked hard to get things back in line but am getting a bit frustrated. Through water changes and Calcium and buffer adds I've been able to get Alk up to over 3.5 meq/L and Ca near 400 ppm. They have both been relatively steady although to maintain those levels I've had to add more Ca and buffering than I ever have in the past. Slowly the coralline has begun to replace the bad stuff. The problem is that my ph hasn't budged. Once I got Alk steady I resorted to adding a lot of soda water. It would temporarily drop ph but within hours it would pop back up to over 8.6 (predictably it drops to just below 8.5 at night). Another troubling aspect is that I've consistently carried an ammonia level of .25, Nitrite of 0 and Nitrate of between 5 and 10. I got Alk up to near 4.5 for a day and that was the only time ammonia scored a zero then it was back to .25 the next day. Incidentally, mv has not gotten under 375. I've confirmed that all test have been accurate.
I have an Aqua C Remora skimmer in a 12 gal sump and about two handfuls of bio balls for filtration. I had been using carbon but have taken it out. With the exception of some periodic Coral-Vite additive and the normal calcium and buffering I don't add anything else. The tank contains about 50 lbs of live rock, a number of soft corals, a clean up crew, bubble-tip anemone (taking this the hardest), a maroon clown and a six-line wrasse.
I'm by no means an expert but have been doing this for about six years and am officially stumped. I hope someone out there can help. Thanks in advance.
I have an Aqua C Remora skimmer in a 12 gal sump and about two handfuls of bio balls for filtration. I had been using carbon but have taken it out. With the exception of some periodic Coral-Vite additive and the normal calcium and buffering I don't add anything else. The tank contains about 50 lbs of live rock, a number of soft corals, a clean up crew, bubble-tip anemone (taking this the hardest), a maroon clown and a six-line wrasse.
I'm by no means an expert but have been doing this for about six years and am officially stumped. I hope someone out there can help. Thanks in advance.
