Good Morning RTN

[sumpfinfishe]

Well i woke up early to go into work for some overtime, instead i now have to deal with a major SPS RTN event! Pulled out 6 frags so far and more to go. My biggest concern is the fish as my NO3 are at 40ppm.
I have done one 5gl wc with 10gl more mixing. The tank is only 33gl btw.

My question for you all, in 15yrs i have never experienced a mass RTN event such as this, just a frag or two in previous years. All other parameters are good, so should i pull all the SPS out and cut my losses to save the fish or should i simply continue with water changes all day and try to flush the system to save the remaining sps?

[Aquattro]

The fish can handle the NO3, just do a large water change. Unfortunately for the SPS, often once it starts on a big scale, there's no stopping it.
How did NO3 get so high?

[sumpfinfishe]

Thanks Brad
I have no idea as i checked everything just two days ago, all was normal except my pocillipora was looking kinda drab, i had a small PH drop to 7.8 so i figured thats why the pocillipora was looking the way it was( closed up but no tissue loss). I checked and double checked all parameters and everything was fine and within normal ranges. Could the RTN have started on thursday and slowly been polluting the reef causing the NO3 spike? The pocillipora was the only frag that was 100% bare rtn, the other 5 frags have 30-50% tissue loss.

I added two mp10's just last week, thats the only thing that has changed. Speaking of which should i run the pumps at 100% nutrient export mode to help give the system some added flush or leave them set at 75% in reefcrest mode.

[Aquattro]

should i run the pumps at 100% nutrient export mode to help give the system some added flush or leave them set at 75% in reefcrest mode.

Don't think it matters at this point. Biggest fix is a big water change.

[sumpfinfishe]

I hear ya! gonna do another 10gl once its up to temp and then another 10gl in a few hours. Would the rtn event over night have caused the NO3 to spike? Or do you think there is something else im missing, like i said everything was fine two days ago and the NO3 wasnt reading a thing. The only other thing i can think of is i got a few frags off a fellow reefer last weekend and his system was polluted with high nutrients but i did not add any water from that system into mine.

[mrhasan]

Try dipping the corals in furan 2. Stopped rtn twice for me.

[riceboy]

For rtn I would frag up a good side and super glue the cut, like brad said huge water change and try to save frags of everything u can.

[Aquattro]

Not sure a few frags would jump the NO3 that high, certainly not overnight. Skimmer dump anything back into tank?

[freezetyle]

For rtn I would frag up a good side and super glue the cut, like brad said huge water change and try to save frags of everything u can.

+1

[sumpfinfishe]

No, nothing dumped into the tank, i have emptied it this morning tho as it was getting on the full side, but not over flowing. Thats why i simply stumped what would cause such a huge spike. All fish are ok so far and inverts seem ok too but my cleaner did molt last night.

[sumpfinfishe]

I sure wish i had more RO water kicking around tho, this waiting period for my 50gpd really sucks!

[sumpfinfishe]

Ok so while im waiting for my ro to brew and my other water to temp i have been trying to analize why such a high NO3 spike. Is it possible that after adding two vortech mp10s to my reef last week-which created a bit of a stir up including the sandbed, could this have caused a nutrient boost???

Just took out four more bigger frags and clipped the healthy branches off, i now have all sps in a bucket with safe water and a small pump running until i can get the levels down in the tank. Thanks for your advice!

[sumpfinfishe]

1245pm update
Well almost 7hrs of making and performing water changes i have the NO3 levels down from 40ppm to 5ppm, with hopefully only two more pails to go! I have 8 frags drying in the sun but things are looking better. My small open brain looks better already, gorgonian is fully open again, and the remaining sps are starting to shows signs of polyp extension.
I lost a large piece of pocillipora, 4 small bottlebrush/milli of varying colors, an ultra green bali, a poker star monti, and a bright red cap.

Still no idea as to the cause of the NO3 spike?
All i did was replace to korallia pumps with two mp10's last weekend, so do you guys think this added flow could have stirred up my tank enough to cause the nutrient spike?

Thanks for the support this am,
i was loosing it-literally:mrgreen:

[sumpfinfishe]

http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w476/sumpfinfishe/20140607_130816_resized.jpg (http://s1077.photobucket.com/user/sumpfinfishe/media/20140607_130816_resized.jpg.html)

[ReEf BoSs]

Problems after changing something are usually the thing you changed causing the problem.so my guess is yes your pumps kicked up something from somewhere unless you just had something die. How deep is you sand bed must be more than an inch.

[sumpfinfishe]

I have about an inch an a half of sugar sand. I think i know what might have died, its a sand sifting invert i got a few months back. Just wish i could remember what the da%n thing is called, about two inches in oval lenght pale white in color and feelers like that of a small tuxedo?