Alkalinity?

[mmw64]

My aquarium has been up and going well since May 2015. It is a 72 gallon Red Sea Reefer. I'm frustrated that a zoa frag I bought along with blue snowflake polyp don't seem to be doing much but holding on. Green star are growing like weeds along with some clove polyps. I have zoa on sand and the snowflake about half way up under Kessels. Temp is 78.3, P.H. 8.36, salinity 1.022, nitrite and ammonia 0. How important is alkalinity to coral growth? I hate to sound stupid but I have no luck running an alkalinity test.I can't even get the starting point color correct. It stays almost purple instead of light blue and the color never changes just gets darker no matter how many drops I add and shake. I'm using (or trying to) the red sea marine care test kit. Next time one of the grandkids comes over will try to learn to post pictures of my tank. So my question is could the alkalinity be off and that the reason these (easy) corals haven't taken off or if not any ideas? Is there an easier alkalinity test or am I hopeless? Also, I do 15 to 20 gallon water changes every month and change filter socks every three days. Thank you for any help you can give me.

 

[marine2463]

Alkalinity is very important as alkalinity calcium and magnesium all work together and need to be corrected together ......
Are you using the Red Sea pro kit ?

 

[mmw64]

Alkalinity is very important as alkalinity calcium and magnesium all work together and need to be corrected together ......
Are you using the Red Sea pro kit ?

No the red sea marine care test kit.

 

[redfishbluefish]

If all you have are softies, no supplementation of alk or calc are needed.

 

[mmw64]

If all you have are softies, no supplementation of alk or calc are needed.

That's what I thought and the reason will house only softies. Don't want to have to supplement. So any idea why "easy corals" are just surviving?

 

[twilliard]

There is so much more involved.
Have you tested no3 and po4?

 

[mmw64]

There is so much more involved.
Have you tested no3 and po4?

Huh? Guess it is time to purchase the pro test kit. Okay stupid question number 102, what are no3 and po4? Maybe I should go back to fish only. Did really well with that.

 

[twilliard]

No3 is nitrates and po4 is phosphate

 

[mmw64]

No3 is nitrates and po4 is phosphate

Thanks Todd. No3 is 0, I don't have a po4 test.

 

[redfishbluefish]

What type of lights do you have? And how high up are they off the water?

 

[jsker]

From what you are posting, it sounds like you should use the "if not broken, do not fix it " rule. what salt are you using? Some salts run high alkalinity.

 

[mmw64]

What type of lights do you have? And how high up are they off the water?

I have two Kessels about 10 inches off the water.

 

[mmw64]

From what you are posting, it sounds like you should use the "if not broken, do not fix it " rule. what salt are you using? Some salts run high alkalinity.

Red sea blue bucket.

 

[Cory]

I find the easiest to read alk test because if sharp color change is API.

Alkalinity is important to hard corals with a calcium based structure, not so much for soft fleshed corals like zoanthids. Unless your alk is below 7dkh alk wont cause harm or slower growth in zoas.

Starpolyps grow very fast compared to zoas. Its not unusual to have 1 new polp per month in some zoas.

Your lighting is good.

 

[mmw64]

From what you are posting, it sounds like you should use the "if not broken, do not fix it " rule. what salt are you using? Some salts run high alkalinity.[/QUOTE

I find the easiest to read alk test because if sharp color change is API.

Alkalinity is important to hard corals with a calcium based structure, not so much for soft fleshed corals like zoanthids. Unless your alk is below 7dkh alk wont cause harm or slower growth in zoas.

Starpolyps grow very fast compared to zoas. Its not unusual to have 1 new polp per month in some zoas.

Your lighting is good.

Thanks every one. Guess I will have to stay patient.

 

[Robink]

FWIW, zoanthids either do well or badly depending on your tank. Palythoa are a little easier to keep than zoas in my experience. They're a little bigger than zoas and a little hardier. Maybe try some purple deaths or another paly and see how they do.

 

[mmw64]

FWIW, zoanthids either do well or badly depending on your tank. Palythoa are a little easier to keep than zoas in my experience. They're a little bigger than zoas and a little hardier. Maybe try some purple deaths or another paly and see how they do.

Thank you. I will try that.

 

[marine2463]

Your salinity is a little low try to bring it up slowly to 1.025 1.026 when we get that number up we could figure out the rest little by little

 

[Homer Allman]

I agree the salinity is too low.

 

[marine2463]

Raising From 1.022 to 1.025 -1.026 should take you about three to four days you want to do this slowly to not shock anything