Corals are not doing good in new reef tank

[askar]

Hi,
I am very new to this group.
I have started a 100gln tank two months back. Added fish after a week on adding shark tank microbs. It has gone through nitrogen cycle. I have added corals like, Gsp, zoathids, mushrooms and some stony corals. Gsp was doing wry good for two weeks then found not opening and corals are looking like stressed.

my tank parameters are;
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate- 0.01
Kh - 9.6
Magnesium- 1250
Calcium- 450
Salinity- 1.025
I am dosing NOPOX - 4ml daily
Coral energy AB+ 10ml alternate days
Light - Nicrew hper reef 50wx2nr

if anybody could help me out would appreciated.

thanks

askar

 

[SPR1968]

Hi Askar

Your water is sterile (so no coral food) in particular zero nitrates and a good target is around 5-10. The phosphate is fine you want it very low.

In the meantime you could try target feeding reef roids, reef energy (which you are) or similar coral foods to feed them

GSP tends to like ‘dirty water’ I have the same problem! lol

Also raise your magnesium a little to around 1300-1350 as it affects the interaction between the other elements and is vitally important

Personally I would go for around 8-8.5 alkalinity but your ok were you are.

And at this stage you don’t need NOPOX, despite what Red Sea might try and sell you. There’s nothing to remove from the system, and unless you raise the nitrate level you could run into other issues like dinoflagellates etc

And Welcome to R2R by the way!

 

[Miguel Negron]

Gotta dirty the eater with some food and you should be good

 

[j.falk]

Yep...more nitrates. Feed more food to your livestock. I had to start feeding several small feedings per day to solve this same problem with my corals.

 

[IKD]

@SPR1968 said it all!

 

[askar]

Hi Askar

Your water is sterile (so no coral food) in particular zero nitrates and a good target is around 5-10. The phosphate is fine you want it very low.

In the meantime you could try target feeding reef roids, reef energy (which you are) or similar coral foods to feed them

GSP tends to like ‘dirty water’ I have the same problem! lol

Also raise your magnesium a little to around 1300-1350 as it affects the interaction between the other elements and is vitally important

Personally I would go for around 8-8.5 alkalinity but your ok were you are.

And at this stage you don’t need NOPOX, despite what Red Sea might try and sell you. There’s nothing to remove from the system, and unless you raise the nitrate level you could run into other issues like dinoflagellates etc

And Welcome to R2R by the way!

thanks a lot for the advice, I thought of this when I read couple of articles but was reluctant and doubtful that it may raise algae issue.

However, it was very helpful. Let me give it a try and update some time latter.

thanks all

 

[askar]

Hi all,

My reef tank is 4months old now. tank volume is about 400ltr including sump.
I had bought several corals but non of them survived. earlier my tank was running with
zero nitrate and phosphate but then i increased levels to nitrate 25 and phosphate 0.5 still nothing works. my tank parameters are ( by salifert test kits );
Calcium - 420
kh -10.2
magnesium-1290
nitrate-25
phosphate-0.5
specific gravity-1.025
temp-77

As you see in the photo, only one stony coral is surviving but it is not growing. even GSP and mushroom corals could not survive. every two weeks i change water about 25%. i dont see any coraline growth. i had sayano issue but it was controlled by using chemiclean it worked well. lights - NICREW HYPPER REEF -50W

could anyone give me some suggestions or advise.

thanks

askar

 

[IslandLifeReef]

First, two 50 watt lights over a 400 liter tank is probably not enough light. You should try to borrow or rent a PAR meter and measure the usable light that your corals are receiving.

Next, keep your tank stable for a couple months. Your parameters have changed quite a bit. Corals like stability.

 

[askar]

First, two 50 watt lights over a 400 liter tank is probably not enough light. You should try to borrow or rent a PAR meter and measure the usable light that your corals are receiving.

Next, keep your tank stable for a couple months. Your parameters have changed quite a bit. Corals like stability.

Thanks, i will keep monitoring the improvement.
but, losing patience ...

 

[aurora.k]

Thanks, i will keep monitoring the improvement.
but, losing patience ...

Four months is not very long for your tank to stabilize- but it is worth the wait!

 

[askar]

Four months is not very long for your tank to stabilize- but it is worth the wait!

but I have seen lot of youtube videos that people are adding corals from the beginning of set up. I had added shark tank microbacterias as well when i set up. should run any reactors ? i have placed two bags (250g each) of carbon in my sump.

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

First, two 50 watt lights over a 400 liter tank is probably not enough light. You should try to borrow or rent a PAR meter and measure the usable light that your corals are receiving.

Next, keep your tank stable for a couple months. Your parameters have changed quite a bit. Corals like stability.

Sorry but I disagree. 100 watts is plenty enough to grow a lot of different corals especially GSP and mushrooms. I have mushrooms literally growing in the dark in one of my tanks. I grew a ton of coral under stock biocube lights back in the day. There is something else going on here.

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

but I have seen lot of youtube videos that people are adding corals from the beginning of set up. I had added shark tank microbacterias as well when i set up. should run any reactors ? i have placed two bags (250g each) of carbon in my sump.

I usually add corals the day my tank cycles and haven’t add an issue. You really don’t even need to cycle for a lot of corals. A lot of soft and lps will do fine in new tanks. People will tell you otherwise but it’s not true.

 

[askar]

I usually add corals the day my tank cycles and haven’t add an issue. You really don’t even need to cycle for a lot of corals. A lot of soft and lps will do fine in new tanks. People will tell you otherwise but it’s not true.

It's true, but my case what is going on. while my tank one month old i had added frags of GSP and zoanthids in tank and it was doing good. apparently I added an anemoni in my tank, after a few days it was dead while I removed it was in to peices and spread all over my tank. it was netted as much i could and changed water about 30% next day. it was 2 months back and I did several water changes since then. since this happened my corals started closing slowly then even new corals i added were not opening. will this cause a long term issue ?

 

[ReefBeta]

It's true, but my case what is going on. while my tank one month old i had added frags of GSP and zoanthids in tank and it was doing good. apparently I added an anemoni in my tank, after a few days it was dead while I removed it was in to peices and spread all over my tank. it was netted as much i could and changed water about 30% next day. it was 2 months back and I did several water changes since then. since this happened my corals started closing slowly then even new corals i added were not opening. will this cause a long term issue ?

On the dead coral, run some carbon could reduce the risk of toxicity. But I honestly that won't be your problem at all.

Where did you put the GSP? What size is your tank? Is it a 30" high tank? It looks pretty tall. Your rockscape is less than 50% height, so that's good 12"~16" depth for the LED to punch through. 50w LED is at best in the level of Kessil A160. I bet on the top of the rock in the right center of the light is only getting 50 PAR or less. It's definitely not enough for the sps frag there. You might be able to get GSP going there. It's possible that there is not enough light keep even GSP alive on the sand bed.

 

[askar]

On the dead coral, run some carbon could reduce the risk of toxicity. But I honestly that won't be your problem at all.

Where did you put the GSP? What size is your tank? Is it a 30" high tank? It looks pretty tall. Your rockscape is less than 50% height, so that's good 12"~16" depth for the LED to punch through. 50w LED is at best in the level of Kessil A160. I bet on the top of the rock in the right center of the light is only getting 50 PAR or less. It's definitely not enough for the sps frag there. You might be able to get GSP going there. It's possible that there is not enough light keep even GSP alive on the sand bed.

My tank size is 120cm L x 40cm D x 70cm Height, Visually the lights are very brightly hitting on sand bed. I have ordered for 2nr. MAXSPECT JUMP LI65 to replace my NICREW Hyper reef 50W. if that is the issue then it should be solved I suppose.

 

[Brad_95]

Just from what I learned with coral growth and success with this hobby in general is that, rushing into things or trying to drastically change things too fast, will almost certainly lead to failure. For coral growth across the spectrum, good water parameters and stability is key. I noticed most of your params changed a good bit.

I still have problems with growing or keeping certain corals with my tank, and it’s just part of the trade. But like almost anyone here will say, a matured tank paired with good husbandry is the key to success in this hobby. You’re tank is still very new, but granted GSP and mushrooms tend to be some of the easiest corals to keep in the hobby. Once you start getting into SPS and even some LPS for that matter, their sensitivity skyrockets.

Do you have an ATO on the tank? What type of water are you using for your salt mix and Top Off? If you don’t have any metals leeching into the tank, then there are still several other avenues to look at. Also, I wouldn’t be dosing anything this early yet, usually dosing only comes into factor when you can’t feasibly replenish your trace elements and nutrients with water changes anymore.

 

[I’m Batman]

First, two 50 watt lights over a 400 liter tank is probably not enough light.

I was going to say - not sure his lights can power the tank. That’s the one thing I’m prepared to spend $1,000 or more if I’m going LED.

Kh - 9.6
Magnesium- 1250
Calcium- 450

I don’t know if this is relevant or accurate but there’s a BRS chart somewhere, if your mag is low at 1250 and your dKH is 9.6, that would put your calc lower than 450. a teeter totter effect over dKH and Ca.

I’m not a biologist by any means - when I have a problem, corals looking sad, anything out of order - I test dKH, PH, No3, Po4 like a mad scientist at least daily sometimes morning and night for any fluctuations and sometimes I find there’s an issue, sometimes corals can just be weird aka coming back from the dead years later and then growing in really thick. I guess that goes to the new tank syndrome.

Personally I would go for around 8-8.5 alkalinity but your ok were you are.

I’m not challenging you here just curious - If he raises his mag and his dKH is 9.6 - wouldn’t it go up? How do you bring it back down?

i dont see any coraline growth.

I didn’t see any until year 3.

 

[askar]

I am using RO water and TDS of it is about 5 only. Salt I am using Red Sea salt. I do have an ATO my salinity is always maintained in 1.025.

 

[ReefBeta]

Just from what I learned with coral growth and success with this hobby in general is that, rushing into things or trying to drastically change things too fast, will almost certainly lead to failure. For coral growth across the spectrum, good water parameters and stability is key. I noticed most of your params changed a good bit.

I still have problems with growing or keeping certain corals with my tank, and it’s just part of the trade. But like almost anyone here will say, a matured tank paired with good husbandry is the key to success in this hobby. You’re tank is still very new, but granted GSP and mushrooms tend to be some of the easiest corals to keep in the hobby. Once you start getting into SPS and even some LPS for that matter, their sensitivity skyrockets.

Do you have an ATO on the tank? What type of water are you using for your salt mix and Top Off? If you don’t have any metals leeching into the tank, then there are still several other avenues to look at. Also, I wouldn’t be dosing anything this early yet, usually dosing only comes into factor when you can’t feasibly replenish your trace elements and nutrients with water changes anymore.

I have to disagree. This is my 3 months old tank. It's younger than OP's. Tell me how it's not old enough to thrive?

Tank need to be matured to do coral is more of a myth. What need to be mature is the reefer and the husbandry skill and experience. Just leaving the tank be for more months won't magically make it thrive. If things are wrong, it should be addressed quick. The notion of not changing things fast is when things are doing OK. If things are dying, changing it slowly will just ensure their demise.