Coral issue

[oconn21]

My corals don’t seems to be be thriving and now seem like they are struggling. My torch especially. Starting to get a little algae growth too.

ammonia 0.2
Nitrates 5
Ph8.2
Phosphate0.1
Kh-8
Ca 440
Mg 1380

 

[oconn21]

My corals don’t seems to be be thriving and now seem like they are struggling. My torch especially. Starting to get a little algae growth too.

ammonia 0.2
Nitrates 5
Ph8.2
Phosphate0.1
Kh-8
Ca 440
Mg 1380

For reference this was the torch 1wk ago

 

[IslandLifeReef]

How old is the tank. What test kits are you using. What type of light and do you have a PAR reading. What temp for the tank. You can’t give us too much info, so tell us as much as you can.

 

[Pistondog]

And how long have you had the torch

 

[oconn21]

How old is the tank. What test kits are you using. What type of light and do you have a PAR reading. What temp for the tank. You can’t give us too much info, so tell us as much as you can.

3 months old. Red Sea test kit, temp is 78. I don’t have a PAR reader. Use a kessil 160 tuna blue light. Also have a Nero 3 wave maker

 

[oconn21]

And how long have you had the torch

Torch has been in month

 

[Pistondog]

Torch has been in month

Maybe too early for lps, try a softie if waters ok.

 

[Rickybobby]

Why do you have ammonia?

 

[Patryk1982]

I think the ammonia and phosphates are too high. I mean ammonia should be 0 and the phosphate value of 0.1 is way too high. you should be around 0.050

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I agree with the others, ammonia should be 0 ppm.

We really do need more info on your tank. If you make us ask for every detail, you are going to get a variety of answers, all of which may or may not help.

I have no idea what size we are talking about as well as other set up. I would be glad to help, but you need to give us all of the detail about your system.

 

[oconn21]

I agree with the others, ammonia should be 0 ppm.

We really do need more info on your tank. If you make us ask for every detail, you are going to get a variety of answers, all of which may or may not help.

I have no idea what size we are talking about as well as other set up. I would be glad to help, but you need to give us all of the detail about your system.

Sorry I thought it was all there it’s a waterbox penn 15. Stock filtration comes with sock and carbon. I have a Nero3 wave maker in there. I run a kessil 160 tuna blue light. Live sand and rock. Have 2 clown, 5 turbo,5 nassarius, and an emerald crab. Feed pellet twice a day and some mysis shrimp once a day. Twice a week reef roid direct feeding. I change filter sock 3x a week.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Looks like its getting ready to polyp eject have you tested your alk after lights out?

 

[oconn21]

Looks like its getting ready to polyp eject have you tested your alk after lights out?

I have. It didn’t know that was a thing.

 

[Perthegallon]

It seems like the age of the tank may be the issue it sucks but for unknown reason it seems to be it even if you've done everything correct

 

[oconn21]

It seems like the age of the tank may be the issue it sucks but for unknown reason it seems to be it even if you've done everything correct

It does suck. Cycled it for 2 months with nothing in it and had the spike in ammonia and decline with nitrates going up felt like it was textbook. Had living things for 3 months

 

[Perthegallon]

It does suck. Cycled it for 2 months with nothing in it and had the spike in ammonia and decline with nitrates going up felt like it was textbook. Had living things for 3 months

I just started a new tank over a year ago got Coraline growing all over the tank even had a Neptune trident constantly checking my parameters I thought I was ready for corals they all died but 2 mushrooms and Kenya tree and xenea

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Sorry I thought it was all there it’s a waterbox penn 15. Stock filtration comes with sock and carbon. I have a Nero3 wave maker in there. I run a kessil 160 tuna blue light. Live sand and rock. Have 2 clown, 5 turbo,5 nassarius, and an emerald crab. Feed pellet twice a day and some mysis shrimp once a day. Twice a week reef roid direct feeding. I change filter sock 3x a week.

Ok. That is not a big tank. Smaller tanks are harder to keep stable. Do you run a heater in the tank? What is the Kessil set at?

I am a little concerned with the ammonia. If the tank is that old, you shouldn’t have any ammonia in the tank.

You may be over feeding the tank. Two clowns shouldn’t need a lot of food. Feeding once a day should be enough. I would try reducing your feeding to once very other day for a week and see if the ammonia comes down.

You could also try adding prime to the water to detoxify the ammonia along with the reduced feeding. I would wait at least two weeks if you go that route before testing for ammonia again.

The coral may still recover. Just take it easy with the feeding.

I would also suggest an immediate 3 gallon water change to help get clean water to the corals.

I still have the corals I added immediately after my cycle, so it can be done. I added a frogspawn and a mushroom coral to start with.

 

[oconn21]

Ok. That is not a big tank. Smaller tanks are harder to keep stable. Do you run a heater in the tank? What is the Kessil set at?

I am a little concerned with the ammonia. If the tank is that old, you shouldn’t have any ammonia in the tank.

You may be over feeding the tank. Two clowns shouldn’t need a lot of food. Feeding once a day should be enough. I would try reducing your feeding to once very other day for a week and see if the ammonia comes down.

You could also try adding prime to the water to detoxify the ammonia along with the reduced feeding. I would wait at least two weeks if you go that route before testing for ammonia again.

The coral may still recover. Just take it easy with the feeding.

I would also suggest an immediate 3 gallon water change to help get clean water to the corals.

I still have the corals I added immediately after my cycle, so it can be done. I added a frogspawn and a mushroom coral to start with.

I did a 5 gallon change yesterday and added more dr tims.
Light settings are
9am 0 color /15 intensity
11am 20/30
1pm 50/35
3pm 55/50
5pm 40/30
6pm 5/5

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I did a 5 gallon change yesterday and added more dr tims.
Light settings are
9am 0 color /15 intensity
11am 20/30
1pm 50/35
3pm 55/50
5pm 40/30
6pm 5/5

Ok, you may need to raise the intensity of the light. That light isn’t really that powerful. I would try to get intensity to a minimum of 100 for 4 hours and 70 for another 2 hours. With that intensity, you should be able to provide enough light. How high do you have it mounted above your tank? Rent a PAR meter if you want to be sure. A lack of light will starve your corals. To be safe, I would keep that torch in about 200 PAR. If you do raise the intensity, I would start with a 20% increase, and then slowly increase it to the numbers above over the next 3-4 weeks.

You never stated whether you have a heater in the tank or not. Smaller tanks can be subject to larger temp swings based on the swings in the house temp. The tank should stay at 77-79 degrees IME.

 

[oconn21]

Ok, you may need to raise the intensity of the light. That light isn’t really that powerful. I would try to get intensity to a minimum of 100 for 4 hours and 70 for another 2 hours. With that intensity, you should be able to provide enough light. How high do you have it mounted above your tank? Rent a PAR meter if you want to be sure. A lack of light will starve your corals. To be safe, I would keep that torch in about 200 PAR. If you do raise the intensity, I would start with a 20% increase, and then slowly increase it to the numbers above over the next 3-4 weeks.

You never stated whether you have a heater in the tank or not. Smaller tanks can be subject to larger temp swings based on the swings in the house temp. The tank should stay at 77-79 degrees IME.

Yes there is a heater in the first chamber