frustrated reefer

[Company101]

hello all , i am new 6-7 months in to my tank.... over the last 2 months or so i have ben loosing what little coral i have... fish and inverts doing great.... we were feeding twice a day , ( yes i realize this is not good in some opinions ) but have cut back to twice a day. have a wild green hair algae out break and i can't seem to figure out why this is happening... also the rocks just look " dusty ".

calcium : 380
KH : 161.1
High Range : 0 ppm
ammonia : 0 ppm
nitrite : 0ppm
nitrate : 0 ppm
phosphate : 0ppm
salinity 1.023
temp is around 80

the coral in the tank is as follows

corky finger
finger leather
bubble coral
Kenya tree
Duncan
pink tip condy
green bubble anenome
these seem to all be doing good

i have a branching hammer ( dead ) or looking that way
branching frogspawn ( dead ) or looking that way
and a huge field of star polyps ( looking dead haven't come out in 2 weeks...

i have 8 fish in the main display and 2 in the sump

my system is a 55 gallon tank with a 36 X 15 x 15 refugium ( which my cheato has died ) i have a brs dual chamber gfo carbon reactor
and a protein skimmer.

i am running a metal halide T5 combo w/ moon lights.

i recently upgraded this light fixture from a coralife t5 light .

if there is any suggestions i am open to anything.... i am extremely frustrated.. as i don't understand what is going wrong or could be going wrong.....

i was dosing biofuel for a little while but i honestly didn't see much effect.... maybe i quit to soon.... i also got microbacter to assist with the bio fuel

we started out not doing regular water changes but has since changed this... we do 5 gallons every saturday

i will try to upload pics if anyone wants to see .....

sincerely FRUSTATED

ps i didn't get into the hobby to kill things


i lost already a hollywood stunner and a 7 head of trumpets

 

[saltykisses]

Well if all the tubes on your lights are new ... I'd do a couple of things

Up my water changes.

Cut feeding down to every other day..

Run rowaphos (or other phosphate remover) change that every 14 days..

Blast your rocks with z turkey Baster give it about 6 months and provided you keep on top of it .. It should be all gone..

Also lawn mower blennie .. Mexican turbo.. Or seahare to help..

 

[ws6kid]

When you changed the type of lighting, did you shorten your photo period or raise the light higher off the tank? Corals are very sensitive to lighting. Metal halides can be a lot more intense depending on what you upgraded from. Also, I know that natural sea water is 1.025 specific gravity and that fish do well in lower density, but corals not so much.

I don't see the need to be dosing much with the corals and setup you described. You should be able to maintain all that you need from the small water changes weekly.

Algae is usually caused for me by over feeding or TDS over 0 in my RO water. Most of the animals you are keeping other than fish don't need much other than light to do well.

Get anything that looks bad away from the direct lighting to recover. Raise the lights or shorten the photo period to acclimate the corals for 2 weeks at least. Do a few more water changes and be sure the RO water used for the mix has 0 TDS.

 

[Company101]

my feeding are about 2 times a week now... sorry forgot to mention that...

i have 7 hermits, 3 turbo snails, 2 other type of snail, in snail that doesn't have a shell( he just kinda showed up) , 1 pistol shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp,

i have tested the RO water and it is 2 ppm

the light currently is abut 6 inches off the water... when i first started it i have it all the way down, ( newbie ) and the temp shot up... i didn't realize i needed to raise it or to acclimate the corals....i am looking for a hanging hit but the company is out of stock on the hanging kit.....

 

[FL_Reefer]

I would also bring up your salinity to the range of 1.025-1.026 I notice a big difference in my corals when it drops below these levels.

 

[HiddenUser]

Calcium looks a little low. I try to keep my calcium levels between 450 and 480ppm...If you're truly at 0 nitrates that could be causing some unhappiness with your LPS. I notice that my Frogspawn, Torch, Acans, etc are much happier with some nitrates in the water.

Phosphate may be a false reading...If you have an algae outbreak it's being fueled by something. The algae may be consuming all the phosphates, thus your test results come back with 0.

If you recently upgraded your lights that could also cause your corals to be unhappy. Maybe move them back to the bottom to let them readjust to the new lighting?

 

[reeffirstaid]

I would recommend you get on board with the Red Sea Reef Care Program. They have paired test kits to additives, so you are testing for exactly what you are dosing. Also, it offers a chart to tell you what to dose, depending on your test results, and overall has taken a lot of the guess work out of reef aquarium maintenance, especially for a new reefer. It's possible your tank is still, "stretching its legs." 6-7 months feels like a long time, and we expect our tanks to be cycled in running, though in reality it takes several years for a reef aquarium to become established. During this time algae outbreaks and other frustrating things occur. Though, your corals shouldn't be dying. Both your calcium and your KH are low. 161 ppm translates to 9.0 dKH, and I recommend a higher dKH or 12-14. Calcium as well should be 400-450, though for your soft corals, 400 would do. You didn't post your ph. Does it swing a good bit between night and day?

 

[fishroomlady]

I'm just going to take a guess on this, I would raise your salinity (1.024-1.026) and my guess is that your coral are reacting to the change in lighting....you have some lower light corals that are adjusting to the intensity of MH......I would cut your lighting period for a bit while they adjust....if they are not already toward the bottom, I'd move the ones that are not looking good to lower points in the tank and gradually move up as you increase your lighting schedule so they can adjust slowly......I think 9.0 dKH is fine - I wouldn't try and chase 12-14. Again, there's always differences of opinion in this hobby as I'm sure you've figured out

 

[Pete polyp]

I'm just going to take a guess on this, I would raise your salinity (1.024-1.026) and my guess is that your coral are reacting to the change in lighting....you have some lower light corals that are adjusting to the intensity of MH......I would cut your lighting period for a bit while they adjust....if they are not already toward the bottom, I'd move the ones that are not looking good to lower points in the tank and gradually move up as you increase your lighting schedule so they can adjust slowly......I think 9.0 dKH is fine - I wouldn't try and chase 12-14. Again, there's always differences of opinion in this hobby as I'm sure you've figured out

+1 to all if this.

 

[Reefing Madness]

I don't see a Magnesium reading?
SG should be between 1.025-1.027
Cal should be between 380-460
ALK between 7-12
MAG between 1250-1350
What are you reading your phosphates with? If you have HA in there Im going to guess you have alot of phosphate that needs removed. Try and get the Hanna Low Range Checker.

You can acclimate your corals to the new light by not running them as much as you did the others at the start. Gradually raising them up in time over a few weeks time frame.

 

[declanisadog]

The snail without a shell is called a stomatella. I agree that it is most likely the added light intensity shocking the corals. If you want to get rid of algae relatively quickly, you may want to look into carbon dosing.

 

[reeffirstaid]

I fully agree on the lighting intensity. Metal Halides are powerful, and I assumed that you acclimated your corals, but you know what happens when you make assumptions. If you didn't, most definantly moved the corals to lower light areas, and monitor the amount of time the lights run. These corals are susceptible to injury from high lighting, especially if it was not acclimated. As for phosphates, what are you using to test? There can be a big difference between different test kits, and often a low range digital phosphate checker is a cheap way to get better results. Your hair algae is contributing to your phosphate reading, as it is absorbing those nutrients to grow.

 

[Company101]

yeah those 7 test are the only ones i have , i am going to go down to the LFS tomorrow and have a complete and thorough check of the water.... i have turned off the MH and just left the t5 lights on.. tok a board and covered up the green star polyps as i can't move them down any lower....
going to try and do anything i can to get this back on track.... i feel as though i am stuck and can't move forward... esp since i don't know where any phosphates are coming from.... nothing is Dead in the tank.... and feed very minimal twice a week.... have simply just gone to straight fish food no miso shrimp....

this is a real bummer as i was about to start a huge project to build a 180 gallon tank... i have all the material .. and have got some practice in welding acrylic..... have done a ton of research....

and i have blow off the rocks about 3 times last month... turn off system .. waited for still calm water.... went to work with turkey baster.... and then syphoned out all the crap to do a 5 gallon water change....