purple frilly gorgonian help

[reefwars]

they dont share a sump i have moved into a newer tank as mine was getting old scratched and i was wanting the corner overflows i let the tank sit with sand and liverock from my established tank and swapping water through water changes and used prodibio then let it sit for a few weeks after test were clear i moved coral and moved fish over the following week

amonia,nitrite,phosphates-0
nitrates-20
salinity-1.024
temp- 78-82ish
cal-460

my nitrates have always been this high wish they were lower...

[Myka]

You say your tanks have always had high nitrate, but this tank is new? You really shouldn't have high nitrate in a new tank. Eeep! Have you double checked your test kit?

I think the Gorgonian will be fine. Don't try to remove the sloughing except maybe with a turkey baster if you really can't help yourself. It does look like it needs more flow though. That will also help with the sloughing, but by the amount that is still half tangled up on the Gorgonian suggests the Gorgonian doesn't have enough flow at the best of times. You can expect it to look this way for 2 days to 2 weeks before it will be done shedding, and the polyps will come out with a whole new zest. They usually look really good after shedding.

[reefwars]

the tank origionally always had high nitrate from the day we bought it we had gotten it down considerately. we have a 180 and decided to downgrade to a 110 because it is a nicer tank and am now scrapping the 180 we only moved everything 3 feet and now we are left with one tank lol sorry for the confusion

[Myka]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh ok. Nitrate can be stubborn to lower when you have old rock in the tank. It takes time, a lot of it - as you've probably noticed.

[reefwars]

i have indeed lol its unbelieveable to believ but we got this tank next to nothing and for a good reason it was gone to hell it was a fowlr the nitrates were off the chart literally i thought my test really was bad only for i have other tanks they work fine on lol the tank was completely covered in algae all bad lol the rock was very old the tank was ten yrs old and was given up on.

we took it on as our own little project turned it into a reef tank got the nitrates down and the rocks cleaned switched to sand over crushed coral and up graded in to a working sump with refugium id like to get new rocks some day but if i do i think it will feel like im starting over again lol

to tell you the truth id love to show the guy i bought the tank off what it looks like now thanks for your advice

[Myka]

Wow, that's a lot of work! Meh, don't get rid of the rock. Rock is almost always "fixable" with enough time, patience, and fresh saltwater! Sometimes old rock can use a good seeding with some fresh uncured rock to seed back a good variety of little critters.

[reefwars]

myka you were right on the button my gorgonian is shedding ,its almost done now and it is coming back in way nicer colour, ive never seen it this bright

im thinking im going to pick up some new uncured rock and use a large bin to see if i can revive some new life

thanks again