Water Chemistry Issues

Hey Everybody,


I have been keeping a saltwater reef setup for about six months now. After an SG spike (I was adding straight saltwater every time I needed to add water) I got all levels stabilized. Here's my setup:
47g bowfront
coralife 96w PC 12 hours daily
36" actinic HO (separate fixture)
aquaclear 70 powerhead
prizm pro skimmer rated for a 300g
50-75 pounds live rock
sand bed
juvenile emperor angel
two lightfoot crabs
candy cane coral
mushroom coral
condy anemone
random snails/hermit crabs

First of all, YES I know a 47g isn't going to hold the emperor for much longer, he's going into my 210fw at that point. Currently the candy cane is starting to recede a bit, and I want to stop it before it's too late. My levels are:
Ca 550 plus (off the chart)
KH 6/107.4 ppm
pH 7.8/7.9
NO3 80 ppm (I know?!)
PO4 10ppm
temp 78-80

The mushrooms are thriving, but they are pretty simple obviously. Also, the anemone is doing great, so I'm guessing lighting isn't an issue here. I had the candy cane up high in the tank about 4 inches from the lighting near the skimmer return, and I recently moved him down to the bottom away from the lights and the water flow. So two questions really 1)what to do about the crazy NO/PO levels? Water changes ASAP? And 2)what to do for the candy cane. It is rarely open and really starting to look thin. I feed oysterfeast and phytoplex for the corals every few days as well. I recently had a horrific algae bloom (a friend was feeding but not cleaning while I was away). Any help/advice info would be greatly appreciated.

 

the Nitrate and Phosphate are not going to be helping those corals feel at their best IMO John

water changes will help, but can only help reduce pro rata - so if you perform a 20% water change your nitrates will still be at 64 and your Phosphate will be at 8

You dont run a sump I note - your filtration is Via the aquaclear ? whats in there and how often do you rinse it? probably accumulated detrius in there IMO

Do you have a spare external cannister filter?

In order to get the levels back down to more manageable ones - a series of 30% water changes twice a week would be a great start
during these water changes make sure you blast the rock work with a PH to remove crud
remove and clean the filter media in the aquaclear
once you get the Nitrate down to sub 20 and the PO4 below 3 then you can polish off, put the finishing touches to zero these levels as below

I would hook up an external cannister filter and run it with
Carbon - coffee cup full, change every 4 weeks
GFO - phosphate remover and you are going to need to change it regular until the number comes down to 0
Purigen - by Seachem - this product will lock up your nitrates and again will need regenerating when its dark brown or when your nitrates stop coming down or they start to increase again.

once I had got the tank clean / cleared of the Nitrate and Phosphate generating waste in the tank, I would utilise the above 3 chemical media to maintain them

feedings - reduce to every other day - its not just uneaten food that causes the problem, its the excessive pooping done by overfed fish that does the damage and a emporer angel is a greedy fish

also emporer angels develop a taste for corals IME so are you sure its not harrasing your coral when your not looking

thats just my 2 cents - others will have equally if not more so, effective means of dealing with the issue
Steve

 

Definitely do regular water changes. I can't say that i'm fond of the prizm pro skimmer. I would recommend a better one for what you are trying to keep.

Consider cutting back on the feedings to twice a week or less for the corals. They shouldn't need to be fed that often.

What kind of flow do you have in the tank?
I would convert the existing aquaclear to run carbon and gfo and rinse it out every few days to make sure it's not trapping detritus. You shouldn't need anthing else in there.

Beefing up your skimmer will help increase removal of nutrients and the water changes and lowered feeding will decrease them being added. Right now you have too much going in and not enough coming out so you have to establish a balance.