crownboy
Reefing newb
Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. I have been doing FOWLR for about 12 years, so I am familiar with the hobby. I came across a deal too good to pass up on Craigslist. Now I am hating every minute of it. I found an established, LED modified Biocube with 40# live sand and 60# live rock for $150. The overflow has also been modified for a refugium. How could I pass that up? I was going to use this to create a reef.
Well, I have been fighting Nitrate ever since. All the other water parameters are perfect except Nitrate. The LFS told me that it is all the waste that is trapped in the substrate and stirred up when the tank was moved. They said “dead reef syndrome”. The Nitrate was at 160ppm and after 7 - 85% water changes it is hovering around 15ppm. Apparently, the seller did nothing but clean the glass.
I don’t know what else to do. I am tired of buying RO water and salt. I am considering taking everything out of the tank and dumping all the substrate and starting over with “fresh” live sand. I just don’t want that big of a change to initiate a cycle. (There is livestock that will get ate if I up them in the FOWLR tank).
What does everybody else think or suggest?
Well, I have been fighting Nitrate ever since. All the other water parameters are perfect except Nitrate. The LFS told me that it is all the waste that is trapped in the substrate and stirred up when the tank was moved. They said “dead reef syndrome”. The Nitrate was at 160ppm and after 7 - 85% water changes it is hovering around 15ppm. Apparently, the seller did nothing but clean the glass.
I don’t know what else to do. I am tired of buying RO water and salt. I am considering taking everything out of the tank and dumping all the substrate and starting over with “fresh” live sand. I just don’t want that big of a change to initiate a cycle. (There is livestock that will get ate if I up them in the FOWLR tank).
What does everybody else think or suggest?