Corals growth issues.

[Tyguy35]

Hey, I am having some growth issues with my corals. Well only a few corals.
my acans are doing great seem to grow a new head once a week.
As for encrusting corals they don’t seem to do well.

Both my favia and lepto receded to nothing.
i have zoas in my tank as well armour of god, utter chaos and 24k doing well. Utter chaos has the most growth.

watermelon and space monster not doing well seem to shrink.

leptastrea is fat but not growing.

parameters that I have
Ph-7.8
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 5.0
Calcium- 400

I am using a ai prime to light the Red Sea 20g.

 

[Spare time]

What is your alkalinity? You calcium is lower than I would run it (I prefer 450ish) Also I would increase the first 4 channels to their maximum as you are not getting the most out of your light (but this needs to be done slowly).

Also do you feed any coral foods?

 

[Tyguy35]

What is your alkalinity? You calcium is lower than I would run it (I prefer 450ish) Also I would increase the first 4 channels to their maximum as you are not getting the most out of your light (but this needs to be done slowly).

Also do you feed any coral foods?

i feed the corals reef roids. I rechecked my calcium today and I am at 440.I need a new tester the API one is horrible. I don’t have an alkalinity kit yet. What about dosing amino acids?

 

[Michael Gray]

What is your po4?

 

[Tyguy35]

What is your po4?

I don’t have that right now. I had an old test kit. I’ve had a few hole problems I’ve had to pay for so currently those are the parameters I have. Furnace broke and had to make an emergency vet visit for the dog. Money is tight.

 

[Spare time]

i feed the corals reef roids. I rechecked my calcium today and I am at 440.I need a new tester the API one is horrible. I don’t have an alkalinity kit yet. What about dosing amino acids?

Bulk reef supply says that world wide corals (a coral company) likes to dose amino acids to tanks when corals seem to be losing colors or something like that. I was just suggesting this if you haven't tried it out.

 

[Tyguy35]

Bulk reef supply says that world wide corals (a coral company) likes to dose amino acids to tanks when corals seem to be losing colors or something like that. I was just suggesting this if you haven't tried it out.

would there be harm to trying it?

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I don’t have that right now. I had an old test kit. I’ve had a few hole problems I’ve had to pay for so currently those are the parameters I have. Furnace broke and had to make an emergency vet visit for the dog. Money is tight.

Don't buy anything but a hanna ULR. Every single other po4 test kit is completely useless. The shades of blue for po4 readings under 1.0 are almost impossible to read and even then I find when po4 is high they read low.

 

[Greg P]

A 'general' rule of thumb is don't add what you can't test for.
So, get an Alk kit before doing anything.
And if your tank is young, don't dose any amino acids as it will more than likely fuel algae instead of feed your corals.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I don’t have that right now. I had an old test kit. I’ve had a few hole problems I’ve had to pay for so currently those are the parameters I have. Furnace broke and had to make an emergency vet visit for the dog. Money is tight.

Take some water to your local fish store and see if they can test for po4. If anything just make sure there is a trace of it and rule it out as a smoking gun.

What flow do you have? It's a 20G right? Are you just relying on returns for flow or do you have a powerhead in the tank? Water changes should be simple for your tank, are you doing that regularly to ensure it's not something you currently can't test for like trace elements?

 

[Michael Gray]

I agree above. Po4. Hanna phosphorus ultra low kid. When you can. also hanna dkh checker. Money well spent.

 

[Spare time]

would there be harm to trying it?

No. Its just coral food that they can take in through their tissue. You could mix it with your reef roids. If you coral is getting color back, it may speed it up but it isn't necessary.

 

[Spare time]

Alk is the most important thing for you to test. I personally would get that first

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

If your dosing reef roids your phos is likely quite high.

The most most important parameters are nitrate,phos, and alkalinity.

 

[Tyguy35]

Only once a week now with the roids. I use to do it more often. I also do water changes weekly right on schedule. I will look into getting all the tests I need as soon as the home problems are sorted.

the red corals pop fine it’s the greens and gold torch. Greens look kore blue than green and the gold torch is just dull. Even the utter chaos it’s as eye popping. I am using a regular prime.i am also looking to get a HD version.