Coral Help

[kp33]

90 gallon tank, years old, water parameters are generally good, phosphates are sometimes high but not too bad. My issue is I can’t get corals, besides green mushrooms to grow. I have used fuel, reef roofs, and nothing helps especially on my Zoas. I even have pulsing zena and they do t spread either. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[T-J]

90 gallon tank, years old, water parameters are generally good, phosphates are sometimes high but not too bad. My issue is I can’t get corals, besides green mushrooms to grow. I have used fuel, reef roofs, and nothing helps especially on my Zoas. I even have pulsing zena and they do t spread either. Any help would be appreciated.

Please list your parameters. What lights are you using? What are you doing for flow? Filtration?
What kinds of corals are you having issues with? What livestock do you have in the tank? Pics of your setup?
All of these things will help us help you.

 

[kp33]

Really trying to get my zoanthids to spread, they last for a few weeks then die off. Live stock….clowns, pajama cardinals, banji cardinal, wrasse, royal gramma, I don’t know my exact parameters right now but when I check them at my local fish store only thing that is ever off are the phosphates, nitrates are always between 20-30 ph is always fine salt is always fine water temp runs about 78-80. Even at the fish store they don’t have answered based on my parameters. For flow two power heads, filter sock, that I run rowaphos in, run a protein skimmer. Only coral that spreads are green and purple mushrooms. I also have an anemone. I add fuel and use reef roids. Lights are Led, run the blues for about 8 hours and the whites for about 4 while the blues are still on.

 

[T-J]

Really trying to get my zoanthids to spread, they last for a few weeks then die off. Live stock….clowns, pajama cardinals, banji cardinal, wrasse, royal gramma, I don’t know my exact parameters right now but when I check them at my local fish store only thing that is ever off are the phosphates, nitrates are always between 20-30 ph is always fine salt is always fine water temp runs about 78-80. Even at the fish store they don’t have answered based on my parameters. For flow two power heads, filter sock, that I run rowaphos in, run a protein skimmer. Only coral that spreads are green and purple mushrooms. I also have an anemone. I add fuel and use reef roids. Lights are Led, run the blues for about 8 hours and the whites for about 4 while the blues are still on.

Ok, not trying to be difficult or rude, but saying that your parameters are "fine" doesn't tell us anything. Like your nitrates, those aren't fine IMO. They're high.
Buy yourself some good test kits. Every reefer should be testing their water on the regular.
What brand lights are you using? Do you know what kind of PAR you're getting? What about spectrum?

 

[kp33]

No worrries don’t take what your saying as rude, my fish store tells me that for corals my nitrates are fine, maybe 30 is getting on the high side they are generally under or right around 20. I don’t know the park of the lights but I can find out. When my blues are on it’s only blue when the whites come on there are red purple green and white attached is a pic. When I say the parameters are fine that’s going off my local fish store and the only thing they say get high are the phosphates but they also tell me phosphates won’t hurt the growth or corals maybe just the color. I have two of the lights you see in the pic.

 

[Uncle99]

Water chemistry is always the first suspect.
Not enough info to rule out water.

 

[kp33]

I get that I’ll get it tested and post.

 

[kp33]

Here are my numbers

salt 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
Phosphate .7
Ph 8
Calcium 461
Alkalinity 9.9
Magnesium 1353

 

[MaxTremors]

Here ar emu numbers

salt 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
Phosphate .7
Ph 8
Calcium 461
Alkalinity 9.9
Magnesium 1353

Your phosphates and nitrates are both high (phosphates are really high). I recommend phosphates at 0.03 to 0.08, you’re about ten time the max, nitrates should be 5 to 10 (though I wouldn’t worry about them until over 25). While your other parameters appear to be okay, they could be unstable day to day (especially the Alk). What is your water change schedule like? My advice would be to buy your own test kits (buy quality, don’t buy API), and test every couple days for a couple weeks (and log the results) to get an intimate understanding of the chemistry of your tank. Depending on the lfs to test your water kind of removes you from the equation, you’re the one who sees your tank every day, you’re the one in the best position to observe your corals each day and to correlate what you see with your test results. By testing your own water you’ll get a better understanding of the relationships between different parameters (Alk, Cal, Mag, and PH, and Nitrates and Phosphates), you’ll develop a much better understanding of reef chemistry if you take a more hands-on approach to managing it.

I would stop feeding the fuel and reef roids, those aren’t going to make soft corals grow anyway, they’re just adding nutrients. Have you though about running a refugium (even a HOB one of you don’t have a sump)? It would do wonders for your nutrient levels.

Also, are you using RODI water for changes and top-offs? If not, or if you’re buying it from an LFS, I would recommend getting an RODI unit and making it yourself. It’s cheaper, and more trustworthy (I don’t trust any lfs with such an important building block of a successful tank). Overall, my advice is to get more hands-on with your tank, if you want to successfully grow corals, you’re going to have to get your hands wet.

 

[kp33]

Due to my high phosphates I’m wondering if I should t invest in a reactor, I know nothing about them so advice on which one to get would be helpful, or is running rowa phos through the filter sock fine?

 

[kp33]

What is a refugium? All I have in my sump is protein skimmer, pump and filter sock.

 

[T-J]

What is a refugium? All I have in my sump is protein skimmer, pump and filter sock.

It's an area in a sump where you grow macro algae to help keep nutrients in check.

 

[T-J]

Due to my high phosphates I’m wondering if I should t invest in a reactor, I know nothing about them so advice on which one to get would be helpful, or is running rowa phos through the filter sock fine?

Before you do that, you need to figure out where they are coming from. I agree with the earlier post that you need to stop with Reef Roids and Fuel. So many people dump that stuff into their tank thinking their corals are going to grow like crazy, and all they are doing is the opposite by making the water unstable.
Do some water changes. Stop feeding coral foods (just feed your fish). See if PO4 comes down naturally.
Since you've never used a PO4 absorbing material before, I'd hate for you to use GFO or rowa phos and drop them too fast.

 

[kp33]

OK but just as an FYI I do run Roa Foss in a bag through my Filter sock I just know from things I’ve seen that it will work better in reactor than running it through a filter sock

 

[kp33]

Your phosphates and nitrates are both high (phosphates are really high). I recommend phosphates at 0.03 to 0.08, you’re about ten time the max, nitrates should be 5 to 10 (though I wouldn’t worry about them until over 25). While your other parameters appear to be okay, they could be unstable day to day (especially the Alk). What is your water change schedule like? My advice would be to buy your own test kits (buy quality, don’t buy API), and test every couple days for a couple weeks (and log the results) to get an intimate understanding of the chemistry of your tank. Depending on the lfs to test your water kind of removes you from the equation, you’re the one who sees your tank every day, you’re the one in the best position to observe your corals each day and to correlate what you see with your test results. By testing your own water you’ll get a better understanding of the relationships between different parameters (Alk, Cal, Mag, and PH, and Nitrates and Phosphates), you’ll develop a much better understanding of reef chemistry if you take a more hands-on approach to managing it.

I would stop feeding the fuel and reef roids, those aren’t going to make soft corals grow anyway, they’re just adding nutrients. Have you though about running a refugium (even a HOB one of you don’t have a sump)? It would do wonders for your nutrient levels.

Also, are you using RODI water for changes and top-offs? If not, or if you’re buying it from an LFS, I would recommend getting an RODI unit and making it yourself. It’s cheaper, and more trustworthy (I don’t trust any lfs with such an important building block of a successful tank). Overall, my advice is to get more hands-on with your tank, if you want to successfully grow corals, you’re going to have to get your hands wet.

So did another water test today nitrates down to 15 phosphates at .1 so getting lower. Hopefully my corals will start benefiting from the lower numbers.