Couple of things... need direction

[FishGuyBri]

So, my tank is 6 months old. I have two clowns and two chromis. They're doing well. Both QTd and eating and yadda yadda. My green cloves are dead and gone, my first casualty. My zoas are on the way out. I'm not going to replace them for a while because obviously I don't know what I'm doing :-( and can't seem to really figure it out. I can't determine if it's a lighting issue, flow issue, or something else. Params are good, validated by LFS. Diatom bloom and algae has ended for now. I added a chaeto ball that seems to be ok after a week and has stabilized my ph, although lowish at 7.7-7.9. My questions:

Is it possible to spin my chaeto ball too fast? It's spinning pretty good and seems to be dying off a little but has compacted and is mostly bright green.

Also, what else do I need to do in the meantime to better prepare for my next attempt?

 

[Pockets]

If the chaeto is dieing off could mean there's not enough nutrients in the tank to keep it growing. How long have u had your zoas in the tank

 

[FishGuyBri]

So i melted my last cheat because my nutrients were too low. This one seems to be doing better, but I'm afraid it's spinning too fast. I have a R-200 e-shops refugium with a central fuge, and i needed to get flow so i put in a cobalt M-1200 and it's spinning it, but it seems to be going too fast. As for the nutrients, I think now I have enough to keep it going - once I put the cheato in, my nitrates are at 1 and my diatom and GHA bloom is gone (in a week). My tank is 5 months old, still very new. I have a PH problem that the cheato really helps with (was going 7.5 to 7.8 and now 7.7-7.9). That's WITH a CO2 scrubber and the doors open.

 

[Pockets]

Yea I'm not sure about the spinning speed I would assume as it's under water and in direct light spinning speed shouldn't matter but I've been wrong before. And yea tanks very young so chances are your gonna experience swings. Patience is key. I have 4 kids and my wife pumping co2 in the house I combat it with house plants and open the windows once in awhile air things out

 

[FishGuyBri]

Never thought about using house plants. I wonder if I can incorporate that into my hood build. I'm building a hanging hood that would look great with some plants...

 

[FishGuyBri]

I've got to do something with my aquascape. It's hideous.

 

[Pockets]

Check out mangroves there pretty cool looking. But yea I just have house plant around the living room. Well my wife does but to my tanks benifit lol

 

[PatW]

Bulk Reef Supply just did a video on chaeto. They found that the light source made a really big difference.

 

[Jakepen]

Would help if you posted numbers. Alk calcium mag, also nitrates and phosphates.

 

[FishGuyBri]

Alk 7.4 Ca 527 (don't ask but hi I know) mag 1360 nitrates 1, phosphate now undetectable (was 0.08) ammonia 0 nitrite 0. Sorry I've got two posts on different things and thought I posted numbers on both.

 

[FishGuyBri]

My question really is can you spin chaeto too fast and how does the light schedule look?

 

[FishGuyBri]

 

[FishGuyBri]

And I really wish I could take all the helpful hints I got from everyone for aquascape but it looks horrible to me

 

[don_chuwish]

I've never gotten chaeto to spin at all and it still would grow just fine. Try letting it be for a while.

 

[FishGuyBri]

I've never gotten chaeto to spin at all and it still would grow just fine. Try letting it be for a while.

That ok if it sinks?

 

[don_chuwish]

Mine just sat where it would, a small ball would sink to the bottom but eventually grow to fill the space. The idea of keeping it turning is just like turning a houseplant in front of a window - keep all sides growing evenly. What are you using to light the chaeto?

 

[FishGuyBri]

Mine just sat where it would, a small ball would sink to the bottom but eventually grow to fill the space. The idea of keeping it turning is just like turning a houseplant in front of a window - keep all sides growing evenly. What are you using to light the chaeto?

Right now a underpowered LED. I'm going to get a new light tomorrow, still not sure what kind but probably a simple clip lamp from Home Depot with a 6500k led bulb

 

[Pockets]

You could try stacking your up to make caves and tunnels so fish and water can pass through I usually end rearranging my rocks every so often change things up I put the flat peices on the bottom and build off that there's always a crevis to stand a peice in there and lean another against it. Like Tetris lol then I bump it alittle make sure it's not gonna fall over. You can use zip ties too to hold it then it's not permanent in case you gotta hunt down a fish. Plus your making high and low spots for different light demanding corals