Opinion on hardware and setup

Have had a 90g with in tank overflow for 4 years. I've always purchased my items based on what my LFS has recommended and the bare basics on reading online.

I've tried corals and had no luck so I've come to the conclusion it's my lights or my water quality. Currently have a 1.5inch sand bed and 100lbs of live rock. Fish: blue tang, sailfin tang, 2 clowns, 2 shrimp and a diamond goby. So here goes.

I currently have 6x54w t5's that I'm replacing with a DIY custom led build that is similar to the radion but more LEDs. In my opinion that will remove the lights from even being close to an issue.

Next I have a mega flow 3 sump with the original bio balls still in place. A octopus skimmer in sump. Then I have a 10g refugium as well as a 2 little fishes phosphate reactor. My pump is a mag drive 9 to go back up to the tank. In tank I have 2 of the old style koralia 3's and 2 of the new style non controllable koralia 3's.

What prompted this post is not a soul at my LFS has ever used a reef keeper or apex controller.

So to the masses, what should I replace or add to make my water quality better?

 

Whats it matter if they have or havent ever used a reef keeper or apex controller?

Anyways, the lights shouldnt have really been too much of an issue to begin with. as for the water.....what are your parameters?

 

Yah tough to tell without knowing what your params are.

Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/sg/phosphate/temp

From everything i've read bio-balls should be removed. What size skimmer?

6x54w t5s should be able to grow alot alot of corals, maybe not SPS.

How often are you testing your water. and if you're not testing your water no amount of equipment is going to fix it.

 

Ph looks to be 7.8
Nitrite 0
Nitrate over 200
Dkh is 10.
Temp is 80.5 but I think this rises as high as 83 cause of the t5 lighting.
I don't have a way to measure the other criteria. I'm trying to go from dabbler to enthusiast

 

Your nitrate is really really high.

You want that to be 20 ppm and ideally as close to 0 as possible if you're going to keep corals.

Ditch the bioballs as I have a feeling that is what's causing your nitrate problems. Do a large water change to dilute your nitrates.

Please test for phosphates as well if you can. Do you have alot of algae in the tank?

Your temperature looks ok to me. How long are you running your lights? If you don't have any corals you can run your lights less if you want to keep your temps down.

If you have alot of detritus in your tank siphon that up when you do your water change.

How often are you feeding?

 

I feed once a day.

I would hope my phosphates are low since I have the phosban reactor. I have some algae but it's not out of control. My snails don't go hungry.

I run the lights on a timer typically 12 hours.

 

Well for starters you should remove the Blue and Sailfin Tangs as neither of these fish is appropriate for a 90 gallon aquarium IMO. Next as others have stated your t5's should have been just fine for corals as I have used them on my 90 for over a year.12 hours is too long a light cycle IME and it should be closer to 9. Nitrates are definitely your issue but the bioballs are not the cause. Contrary to popular belief bioballs just give surface area for bacteria to grow and do not produce Nitrates out of thin air. Unless they are clogged up with detritus they are just fine IMO.If you are concerned about high temp. in the tank you may want to consider ditching that Mag Drive as these are like running a heater on the tank.Good luck!!

 

I think if you get the tangs out you will start to see some improvment in water quality.

 

I appreciate everyone's help. I'm kinda surprised no one mentioned a reactor with a denitrate bio pellet. Is that an option or just more junk under my tank?

 

+1. i have a 90 and used to house a yellow belly, powder blue and a yellow tang and my nitrates cannot be controlled. once i let go of the powder blue and the yellow belly my nitrates dropped without any other changes made to the system. tangs are voracious eaters and produce a lot of waste.