Need Advise Please!

tdash911 · 03/10/2013, 09:56 AM

I have had a90 gal reef tank for a long time. It has now crashed. I only have fish in the tank now. I have done two 20 gal. Water changes with a vacuuming and turning over all of the 80+ lbs. of live rock. My nitrated are off the chart. Please I need help together this going again.

Thank You

julie180 · 03/10/2013, 10:41 AM

Your going to have to post a whole lot more information if you are truly looking for help.

bnumair · 03/10/2013, 10:50 AM

Yeah bit more info please. How did it crash. Parameters etc

rocride · 03/10/2013, 10:54 AM

consider dosing Seachem Prime til you get yourself together and evaluate what's going on....

tdash911 · 03/10/2013, 10:55 AM

I was told by LFS to not do water changes, just add chemicals. We'll it took three years but algae took over and corals died. What other info do you want?

MARINECRITTERS · 03/10/2013, 11:12 AM

Chemicals are the last option, water changes should do the trick, if they are not then your sand and rock may be leaching out nitrates and phosphates. What is your bioload?
Right now your smartest option would be to sterilize the rock and sand, there are many threads that tell you how to "cook" it. The main issue with this is you will loose almost all of your biological filtration which will be an issue with your fish.

MARINECRITTERS · 03/10/2013, 11:12 AM

Carbon dosing is an option, somewhat risky one though.

tdash911 · 03/10/2013, 11:38 AM

I don't have an area to cook the rock. I think that my approach will be to to 25% water changes twice a week and keep shaking and moving rocks around.

03/10/2013, 09:56 AM	#1
tdash911 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Northern IL Posts: 3	Need Advise Please! I have had a90 gal reef tank for a long time. It has now crashed. I only have fish in the tank now. I have done two 20 gal. Water changes with a vacuuming and turning over all of the 80+ lbs. of live rock. My nitrated are off the chart. Please I need help together this going again. Thank You

03/10/2013, 10:50 AM	#3
bnumair Dr. Reef at ur service Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA Posts: 7,751 Blog Entries: 15	Yeah bit more info please. How did it crash. Parameters etc __________________ Water Quality: NO3 0,Phos 0,Cal 440,Alk 7.5,Mag 1300 "Reef Fast, You Crash, Reef Slow, You Pass" Mike's Reef 3:16 Current Tank Info: 350g DT,95g sump, 50g Frag tank, 4800gph return 4x Sea swirls. 6x AI Vega Color. 200# Pukani rock, dual recirculating skimmer, Biopellet, GFO Carbon rx's, Cal rx. Closed loop. 1.5hp chiller, genesis renew. Apex & RKE

03/10/2013, 10:54 AM	#4
rocride Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 162	consider dosing Seachem Prime til you get yourself together and evaluate what's going on.... __________________ 120g mixed

03/10/2013, 10:41 AM	#2
julie180 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Raymore, MO Posts: 2,556	Your going to have to post a whole lot more information if you are truly looking for help.

03/10/2013, 10:55 AM	#5
tdash911 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Northern IL Posts: 3	I was told by LFS to not do water changes, just add chemicals. We'll it took three years but algae took over and corals died. What other info do you want?

03/10/2013, 11:12 AM	#6
MARINECRITTERS Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,525	Chemicals are the last option, water changes should do the trick, if they are not then your sand and rock may be leaching out nitrates and phosphates. What is your bioload? Right now your smartest option would be to sterilize the rock and sand, there are many threads that tell you how to "cook" it. The main issue with this is you will loose almost all of your biological filtration which will be an issue with your fish.

03/10/2013, 11:38 AM	#8
tdash911 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Northern IL Posts: 3	I don't have an area to cook the rock. I think that my approach will be to to 25% water changes twice a week and keep shaking and moving rocks around.