My 50g "The Rock Wall" Project: First Reef Tank

[Dorfman]

 

[Coral reefer]

Alk always that high? That’s a tough range for a lot of sps IMO. I’d go with more like 8ish

 

[H2OPlayar]

View attachment 32737

My first reaction is that your numbers are all high. I would shoot for 8.5;420;1350 or something close to that. Change things slowly, but pick a target around there.

 

[dochou]

Sorry to hear the tank isn't doing well.
Don't be ashamed to ask questions or ask for help.
You need to siphon out all the dead algea in the tank. If not, all the nitrates and phosphates will end up in the water again.
Have you been doing consistent, regular water changes? That might be helpful.
I agree that the Ca, Alk and Mg are all to high.

 

[MolaMola]

Salinity is low, too. Do you mix your own saltwater? Do you use an ATO? Seems like the salinity is changing quite a bit, too.

 

[Srt4eric]

Salinity is low, too. Do you mix your own saltwater? Do you use an ATO? Seems like the salinity is changing quite a bit, too.

I know on my apex I just use the salinity number as a reference. I have never got that thing to read right.

 

[MolaMola]

I know on my apex I just use the salinity number as a reference. I have never got that thing to read right.

Agreed. I would check salinity another way then. I thought the last salinity reading shown was recent but it was January.

 

[Dorfman]

Alk always that high? That’s a tough range for a lot of sps IMO. I’d go with more like 8ish

I have been trying to increase my pH but Alk seems to ride along with it. I know its at the upper end of the tolerable range but still within range. I can lower it slowly and see if I can keep pH >=8.

 

[Dorfman]

Sorry to hear the tank isn't doing well.
Don't be ashamed to ask questions or ask for help.
You need to siphon out all the dead algea in the tank. If not, all the nitrates and phosphates will end up in the water again.
Have you been doing consistent, regular water changes? That might be helpful.
I agree that the Ca, Alk and Mg are all to high.

H2O changes sometimes but prob not as often as I should.

 

[Dorfman]

Salinity is low, too. Do you mix your own saltwater? Do you use an ATO? Seems like the salinity is changing quite a bit, too.

I do mix my own and use an ATO. I find that the Neptune salinity checker is a bit "noisey" so not changing as fast as the graph may show.

 

[Dorfman]

I know on my apex I just use the salinity number as a reference. I have never got that thing to read right.

Agreed, I have two refractometers to validate Apex and its usually close but bounces around a lot.

 

[Coral reefer]

Stop looking at ph. Seriously, just stop. Get alk between 8-9. Everything else will be ok

 

[H2OPlayar]

This video does a good deep dive into the difference between Ph and alkalinity.

But what Coral Reefer said, don't look at ph, look at alk/dKh.

 

[Dorfman]

It's been 8 months since my last tank update. Parameters are stabilizing as I get into a better maintenance rhythm. The biggest improvement took just 2 inches. Early on, as my filter sock in my sump filled with gunk, if i didn't change it out in time (which I rarely did), the water would start to overflow and dump out of the sump. Then the ATO would kick in and work overtime to get the water level back to where it was supposed to be. These major inflows of fresh water would crash my salinity and change a bunch of other parameters quickly. I finally figure out that if I lowered the sock about 2" below the deck of the sump by removing it from its holder, the overflowing water would just dump back into the sump, preserving parameters. Sounds so simple now... Another game changer was sucking it up and shelling out for two Apex powerheads which VASTLY improved flow and controllability in my tank.

Anyway with this and recurring algae harvests as the tank finishes it lengthy cycling process, I am finally seeing my gsp's, zoas and even my one sps begin to grow and spread. This is my single greatest victory so far, to see my sps coming off of its puck and beginning to grow onto its host rock, finally.

Here are some pics to document current conditions:

 

[Dorfman]

Forgot to include a pic of the ops center

 

[Srt4eric]

That's awesome!!! I was just thinking about your tank the other day and wondering how's it doing.

 

[Dorfman]

That's awesome!!! I was just thinking about your tank the other day and wondering how's it doing.

That little patch of AOG's is from you. Hoping to be spreading the love soon.