Question Corals not growing/dieing What to do?

[akma]

Do you think this is a year long process to see results? I just want to set my expectations. I know it won’t be fixed in a month.

I do have a phosban reactor what I will run Rowaphos through.

To scrub the rock probably means taking it out piece by piece as it’s all over the rock. Trying it in tank will just be a landslide mess.

To get whatever excess nutrients out I should probably limit feeding. For the 7 fish left. 1 frozen cube of mysis a day enough?

Or To reset the tank should I remove whatever coral and fish are in the tank and let it sit with nothing lights for a few months?

It's going to take awhile. Your going to have to consistantly change out the rowaphos. Maybe every couple days in the beginning until your you lower your phosphates.
How about your sandbed? Have you syphoned your sandbed?

I have I believe 15-17 fish and I feed them all 1 cube of mysis. I turn all my pumps off except the return so it doesn't go over where and decay under rocks.

Consistant water changes, changing rowaphos, hand pull as much algae as you can and eventually you will see the algae getting thinner and clearer.

 

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

Are you saying remove/siphon out the sand bed?

 

[Harif87]

A few thoughts from my own experience. Maybe it helps......

1) I feed half a cube of mysis a day to my 9 fish. 2 cubes every other day sounds like a lot and is likely contributing to the phosphate issue.

2) As far as algae removal goes, pulling out the algae as a high level tactic is a good first step. Personally, I would avoid scrubbing rocks as it will likely spread the algae more through the tank. If you have your params in check I would make sure to introduce algae eaters, like tangs and foxfaces and a good CUC. I will tell you that turban snails (specifically Tectus fenestratus) have worked absolute MAGIC for me in the past to get rid of hair algae.

3) Algae will still be a problem with decent phosphate levels even when nitrates are 0.

4) I personally wouldn't go crazy with dosing and playing around with alk since its your softies and LPS that youre having issues with. A regular water change would restore alkalinity and LPS/softies will be fine with the change.

5) As far as timeline goes, it will likely be a few months journey to when your tank will be in a noticeably better state. That's why so many reefers are so anal about keeping params in check. A few weeks of being lazy can lead to months in time and money to get back to a place where params are in a good place (think 2, 3, or more water changes with a week or two between each). And even then, it takes time for your tank to react positively to the water quality.

 

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

This is what I don’t get. Was f
Told to feed more to get nitrates up and help the coral. I did and now a mess. When I was feeding 1 cube every other day there was no hair algae. Had a ulva outbreak a few months ago and add pincushion urchins that helped but all removed most coraline algae.

Meanwhile through all of this the corals were not thriving and most died off. Alk was always low ~7 dkh

So now feeding is too much and the corals still don’t last or grow but algae has taken over.

Was thinking some of the rock that is mostly covered to chuck in the trash.

I don’t know what I missed along the way to have this tank so far off.

I have a fox face. Nothing with algae. The Kole tang the same. I added a CUC a few months ago. I have not seen one hermit or emerald since. Most snail are on the bottom dead from being upside down. I am thinking the Melanrus wrasse is the blame but done know. To get it out is a tank tear down to remove it. Maybe that is a better way to start?

Should I donate and get rid of all the corals and fish until the tank some what settles For months? What does that really mean?

 

[Rob_Reef_Keeper]

What about aiptasia? Filefish is not touching it. Tried a peppermint shrimp a little while back - my guess the flame hawk got to it. Can’t get berghai nudibranchs due to the melanarus wrasse