Can’t Keep any Corals. Here are my parameters ....

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

Hi.
I have a marine tank at 8 years with a ref supporting cheto and miracle mud (50% change done on schedule) live rock.

A few years ago we had a summer (!) and it wiped out the corals but not the fish.

Since ten I changed my ligh for LED (perhaps not the right spectrum)

I have no coriline algae.

Temp 79 Decrees
Salinity 1.026
Ammonia Nil
Nitrites Nil
Nitrates 20ppm
Phosphates 5ppm
pH 8.2
DKH 13.1
Cal 390ppm

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. TIA

flooddc · Dec 15, 2018

Your Phosphate is super high. Need to bring it way down.
Alk also high too.
Post your led light so we can tell you if it's good for corals.

Kimmi2413 · Dec 15, 2018

DaveyD said:
Hi.
I have a marine tank at 8 years with a ref supporting cheto and miracle mud (50% change done on schedule) live rock.

A few years ago we had a summer (!) and it wiped out the corals but not the fish.

Since ten I changed my ligh for LED (perhaps not the right spectrum)

I have no coriline algae.

Temp 79 Decrees
Salinity 1.026
Ammonia Nil
Nitrites Nil
Nitrates 20ppm
Phosphates 5ppm
pH 8.2
DKH 13.1
Cal 390ppm

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. TIA

I’d say bring your temp down to 77 nitrates to 5 phosphates to .03-.05 dkh to 8.3 and bring cal up to 425. Led lights make sure your not blasting them with whites I’d say nothing past 40% on white channels.

mtraylor · Dec 15, 2018

Totally agree. The water is very dirty so it sounds like the aquarium hasnt been maintained properly. What size is aquarium? Do you have sump? Maintenance schedule? Do you have skimmer? What kind?

At this point the lights are your least worrys. We need to clean up the water. That usually starts with cleaning the equipment to get them working at optimum levels then a nice big water change.

Then we can take a test again and addres alk, phosphates. Nitrates etc

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

flooddc said:
Your Phosphate is super high. Need to bring it way down.
Alk also high too.
Post your led light so we can tell you if it's good for corals.

Thank you for your time.
The lights are just 45w led strips that are 5000k. The over unit broke and could not get replacement caps for it. Happy to buy the proper ones but I only have around £150 to spend. The ones you see for that look like they could be no better.

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

Kimmi2413 said:
I’d say bring your temp down to 77 nitrates to 5 phosphates to .03-.05 dkh to 8.3 and bring cal up to 425. Led lights make sure your not blasting them with whites I’d say nothing past 40% on white channels.

That’s a good point on the whites. They are 5000 Kelvin
Thanks for your help so far.

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

mtraylor said:
Totally agree. The water is very dirty so it sounds like the aquarium hasnt been maintained properly.

Fair point.

What size is aquarium? Do you have sump? Maintenance schedule? Do you have skimmer? What kind?

It’s 100x40x40 and the sump is 76x31x21. The sump had no skimmer (I do have one but not used) on the Miracle Mud system. This has been changed 50% this year. The water evorates 20L a wk so is topped up with RO water. I only change every month 10%.
Before the heat a few years ago I had simple corals: zoas, pulsing Xenia’s, mushrooms and plenty of coralline algae. Now, just white sponges!

At this point the lights are your least worrys. We need to clean up the water. That usually starts with cleaning the equipment to get them working at optimum levels then a nice big water change.

Then we can take a test again and addres alk, phosphates. Nitrates etc

Thank you too for your advise.

jda · Dec 15, 2018

5ppm of phosphate is like poison. Make sure that the measurement is accurate. You need to get this way down to have any chance at keeping most inverts.

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

jda said:
5ppm of phosphate is like poison. Make sure that the measurement is accurate. You need to get this way down to have any chance at keeping most inverts.

Edit: It’s 0.5ppm, sorry.

Thank you. I’ll get a new kit tomorrow and do a salt water change. That is what I read it at (didn’t just want to make it up) but it’s old kit.

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

Sorry everyone. I’m an idiot! It’s 0.5ppm for the Phosphates. The rest is correct.

flooddc · Dec 15, 2018

DaveyD said:
Sorry everyone. I’m an idiot! It’s 0.5ppm for the Phosphates. The rest is correct.

A couple of big water changes will help. Definitely will need new light. Not sure where you live (EU?), but black box reef LED boxes are very cheap these day.

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

flooddc said:
A couple of big water changes will help. Definitely will need new light. Not sure where you live (EU?), but black box reef LED boxes are very cheap these day.

Hi there, I’m in Britain.

mtraylor · Dec 15, 2018

Oh ok. 0.5ppm phosphates is another story.

mtraylor · Dec 15, 2018

DaveyD said:
Fair point.

It’s 100x40x40 and the sump is 76x31x21. The sump had no skimmer (I do have one but not used) on the Miracle Mud system. This has been changed 50% this year. The water evorates 20L a wk so is topped up with RO water. I only change every month 10%.
Before the heat a few years ago I had simple corals: zoas, pulsing Xenia’s, mushrooms and plenty of coralline algae. Now, just white sponges!

Thank you too for your advise.

Oh ok. Yeah I have tried the Miracle Mud system when It first came out around the early 2000's I believe. It can work if you dont have allot of fish and you are not a big feeder and you keep a good ecosystem. Now that your phosphates are actually 0.5ppm, your nitrates are a little high, but that can be fixed with a water change. If you have a skimmer, I would bring it on line and keep your nitrates around 5ppm....but lps really like nitrates if you like those. If you get your Alk down, you should be good to go. What kind of light do you have on there again?

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

mtraylor said:
Oh ok. Yeah I have tried the Miracle Mud system when It first came out around the early 2000's I believe. It can work if you dont have allot of fish and you are not a big feeder and you keep a good ecosystem. Now that your phosphates are actually 0.5ppm, your nitrates are a little high, but that can be fixed with a water change. If you have a skimmer, I would bring it on line and keep your nitrates around 5ppm....but lps really like nitrates if you like those. If you get your Alk down, you should be good to go. What kind of light do you have on there again?

It was a Arcadia Overtank 4 X 38w T5. It could not be fixed so I put 45w of white LED at 5000 kelvin. I would love to buy the correct lights for this size tank. I see loads on Amazon.co.uk but don’t know what to go for. I have only around £150 to spend.

Gregg @ ADP · Dec 15, 2018

You’re going to have a tough time getting anywhere with corals with a 13+ dKH. That needs to come way down.

flooddc · Dec 15, 2018

DaveyD said:
Hi there, I’m in Britain.

Something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076JCG...&pd_rd_r=74b0f5e6-00ac-11e9-b20d-6137d26eb85e

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

Gregg @ ADP said:
You’re going to have a tough time getting anywhere with corals with a 13+ dKH. That needs to come way down.

Thank you. Noted.

DaveyD · Dec 15, 2018

flooddc said:
Something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076JCG...&pd_rd_r=74b0f5e6-00ac-11e9-b20d-6137d26eb85e

Awesome. Thanks. I will look at that. Seems the way to go for a budget?

mtraylor · Dec 15, 2018

DaveyD said:
It was a Arcadia Overtank 4 X 38w T5. It could not be fixed so I put 45w of white LED at 5000 kelvin. I would love to buy the correct lights for this size tank. I see loads on Amazon.co.uk but don’t know what to go for. I have only around £150 to spend.

Yeah like everyone has told you that light is not going to cut the mustard once you get that Alk down. If you have spare bulbs laying around, I would stick with T5, otherwise you could get a nice black box light.