Scuba Sam
Mon, 28th Oct 2013, 06:55 PM
Hello everyone, over the last month I have been battling a Nitrate problem and read up on Nitrate Phosphate remover from Red Sea Pro. It is basically the same concept of vodka dosing a tank from what I understand. Either way i was half asleep and read the instructions incorrectly and instead of adding 1 ml per every 25 gallons I added 100 ml per every 25 gallons! I immediately did the largest water change my set up allows for which is 44 gallons. I have a 150 reef ready tank with a 40 gallon refugium. I have done a 44 gallon water change every 2 days so I have done three water changes. I also changed out the charcoal in the tank. I read up on this concept and the largest concern was the algea bloom that would happen crashing the oxygen. The next day the tank looked like milk but I already had my power heads rippling the surface water to help increase the air production. All the fish have been fine and remain fine to this day. The corals are a different story. The zoas were all closed for several days and are just now opening up as of today. My soft corals are the most impacted, xenia trees, mushrooms, and gsp are all closed and just today the gsp are peaking out. So everything seems to be on the mend and the water is clearing more and more every day. The nitrates were at 50 ppm and now nitrate / ammonia / and nitrite are all gone completely. I have not tested the tank tonight but I will this test was done on saturday.
My main reason for posting this is a new observation I made today. The tank is starting to have a smell too it, not necessarily a foul smell but it smells salty. In all 6 months the tank has been up I have not smelled it after it was set up the first time. The skimmer is also kicking out a crazy amount of thick foam and is overflowing every day from foam. The last observation is that the three filter socks have clogged up ever day but have not been turning brown inside like the used to do in the past when they would clog from fish poop every few weeks.
Everything seems to be improving but im concerned about the skimmer / smell / and socks as this is all recent. Does anyone have any tips or advice or experience with a problem like this? As the water is still cloudy I thought about buying some beneficial bacteria and adding it to the tank after another water change tonight. Please let me know and if it would be easier to talk on phone about it send me a message and ill send you my number. THanks yall!
My main reason for posting this is a new observation I made today. The tank is starting to have a smell too it, not necessarily a foul smell but it smells salty. In all 6 months the tank has been up I have not smelled it after it was set up the first time. The skimmer is also kicking out a crazy amount of thick foam and is overflowing every day from foam. The last observation is that the three filter socks have clogged up ever day but have not been turning brown inside like the used to do in the past when they would clog from fish poop every few weeks.
Everything seems to be improving but im concerned about the skimmer / smell / and socks as this is all recent. Does anyone have any tips or advice or experience with a problem like this? As the water is still cloudy I thought about buying some beneficial bacteria and adding it to the tank after another water change tonight. Please let me know and if it would be easier to talk on phone about it send me a message and ill send you my number. THanks yall!