adubson
New member
It's been quite some time since I've posted on here. Since my last major update, my tank's status has not changed a whole lot unfortunately. You can refer to the thread I'm talking about here: http://www.chicagoreefs.com/forums/...hing-me-to-the-brink-of-throwing-in-the-towel
So yeah, everything kinda crapped the bed back in April and now 8 months later I still haven't found or fixed the problem. Recently, I haven't been that active around here for help because I actually made an attempt to switch to Zeovit over the summer to see if that could bring stability to my system, and I've been over at the zeovit forums for guidance. All opinions aside about Zeovit and/or the KZ product line, it seems I'm not finding a solution there either.
Synopsis of the past 8 months:
-everything was peachy in the spring
-overnight found RTN on acros
-noticed that alkalinity plummeted in my tank
-fixed that issue with changing from kalk to 2 part dosing
-nitrates began to rise exponentially
-nitrates above 80-100 ppm; carbon dosing and water changes not effective
-started Zeovit
-water changes and (maybe) Zeovit brought nitrates to the 10-25 range (via salifert testing). Still losing some SPS here and there, but about 50% of my colonies proved to be hardy and resilient.
-2.5 months into Zeovit, saw some amazing signs of life (i.e. colors appearing on some wild colonies I had never seen before, PC rainbow and milli's looked great, zoas growing like wild)
-1 week later, all polyp extension retracted again, colors fading, and signs of STN. Signs of cyano growth which progressed to decent sized breakout.
-Presently (about 3-4 weeks since previous change), losing the majority of my SPS (even the previously hardy ones), cyano still around, and increasing hair algae patches. Nitrates are beginning to rise and approach 50 ppm.
Sitting back and watching this over the past 8 months has been brutal, lol. As you could imagine, I've re-evaluated everything in regards to maintenance, feeding, etc. If this was a case of poor husbandry I think I would've found where that was by now. Water changes are consistently done every other week (15-20%), fish feedings are at a minimal (not daily), filter socks changed every other day, skimmer is overrated for system, two Jebao RW-8s are at the highest flow setting, and carbon is changed every 4 weeks. I know patience and stability is the essence of all that is good in this hobby, but it's been 8 months overall and 4 months of a very consistent Zeovit regimen now. I'm worried there is some unknown contaminant in the tank that's prevented any proliferation of the biological filtration of the system.
The tank has now been in this funk as long as it was in a good state prior. I want to get back to adding frags and watching things grow! So if you were in my shoes (including the part about being on a student/part time job budget), what would your plan of attack be? I'd prefer not to start over completely because that's a PITA and due to the budget part of things. I was thinking of a soft reset with a 80-100% water change with closely matched water parameter-wise.
So yeah, everything kinda crapped the bed back in April and now 8 months later I still haven't found or fixed the problem. Recently, I haven't been that active around here for help because I actually made an attempt to switch to Zeovit over the summer to see if that could bring stability to my system, and I've been over at the zeovit forums for guidance. All opinions aside about Zeovit and/or the KZ product line, it seems I'm not finding a solution there either.
Synopsis of the past 8 months:
-everything was peachy in the spring
-overnight found RTN on acros
-noticed that alkalinity plummeted in my tank
-fixed that issue with changing from kalk to 2 part dosing
-nitrates began to rise exponentially
-nitrates above 80-100 ppm; carbon dosing and water changes not effective
-started Zeovit
-water changes and (maybe) Zeovit brought nitrates to the 10-25 range (via salifert testing). Still losing some SPS here and there, but about 50% of my colonies proved to be hardy and resilient.
-2.5 months into Zeovit, saw some amazing signs of life (i.e. colors appearing on some wild colonies I had never seen before, PC rainbow and milli's looked great, zoas growing like wild)
-1 week later, all polyp extension retracted again, colors fading, and signs of STN. Signs of cyano growth which progressed to decent sized breakout.
-Presently (about 3-4 weeks since previous change), losing the majority of my SPS (even the previously hardy ones), cyano still around, and increasing hair algae patches. Nitrates are beginning to rise and approach 50 ppm.
Sitting back and watching this over the past 8 months has been brutal, lol. As you could imagine, I've re-evaluated everything in regards to maintenance, feeding, etc. If this was a case of poor husbandry I think I would've found where that was by now. Water changes are consistently done every other week (15-20%), fish feedings are at a minimal (not daily), filter socks changed every other day, skimmer is overrated for system, two Jebao RW-8s are at the highest flow setting, and carbon is changed every 4 weeks. I know patience and stability is the essence of all that is good in this hobby, but it's been 8 months overall and 4 months of a very consistent Zeovit regimen now. I'm worried there is some unknown contaminant in the tank that's prevented any proliferation of the biological filtration of the system.
The tank has now been in this funk as long as it was in a good state prior. I want to get back to adding frags and watching things grow! So if you were in my shoes (including the part about being on a student/part time job budget), what would your plan of attack be? I'd prefer not to start over completely because that's a PITA and due to the budget part of things. I was thinking of a soft reset with a 80-100% water change with closely matched water parameter-wise.
