Frustrated

[Mindi]

I hope this doesnt degenerate into a total whinge but I am having frustrating results after 7 years of inexperience. I have a 530l tank, I believe the parameters are pretty OK.... 26.5 deg, pH=8.0, Alk = 3.4meq/l, Ca=420-440,Mg=1400, I have Aquasanrise 4ft LED light. Yeah pH could be a little higher but new house with lots of CO2...it takes a scrubber to get it to 8.0. I dose 45mls of Randy Recipe 1 each part daily, ( actually 46 mls Alk part and 43mls Calcium part) and 5mls of Seachem Reef Plus. I feed my 12 fish 3 frozen blocks each morning and a few flakes evening. Coral feeding is occasional Seachem Zooplankton....rightly or wrongly I associate this food with phosphate increase so I am careful with it.
My fish are really good..3 large Tangs (Blue,Yellow, Gold Shouldered ) Coral Beauty, Barrier Reef Clowns...2 large Leopard Wrasse etc etc ... fish no problem at all. SOME corals very successful...Cynarina, Hammer, Elegance, Duncans,Frogspawn, Lobos, Pavona,Zoas. My few attempts at Acropora have been failures...lose colour and die.
But my most consistent failure has been with BTAs. They always bleach white in weeks and die after 3-4 months. I run my lights up to about 70% max during a 10 hour light period. I do 10% water changes at least every two weeks using NSW which tests as expected.
The nutrient situation is that I easily control Nitrates to about 1-2 ppm using 13-14mls of NOPOX daily into 530 litres of water and run GFO in a small reactor. This keeps Phosphates down to around 12-15 ppm on Hanna ULR Phosphorus Checker, but this is inconsistent and a constant battle and I get an unacceptable amount of green algae clumps on my rock if I dont keep right on top of it. I assume I introduce the Phosphate with feeding.
so......I am so frustrated at inability to move from beginner to intermediate performance ( as defined by coral colour and growth sufficient to justify trying more SPS...and BTA survival/growth) that I am tempted to walk away...but I wont of course.
So why do I kill my Anemones...? and how do I feed my corals for better colour and growth without a major Algae war..? actually I am a bit suspicious of the Acros I have tried so I am less convinced of my guilt there...but if I could work out why my BTAs go to white I think I would be some way towards better reefing.
I have really strong coralline algae without ever using a purpling product, ...so there is some good stuff happening....and my fish are happy.
I cant find access to a PAR meter locally or I would check how much light I am delivering...!...so having got all that off my chest any suggestions would be very welcome ..Some mixed photos.

 

[tdileo]

Try feeding your anemones mysis shrimp and when it is big enough pieces of krill and table shrimp. While they are photosynthetic, they will majorly benefit in terms of color, growth, and even health just like LPS corals will. You can also feed them pellet foods. Mine are not picky and will eat anything I put on them, the only thing I haven’t tried is flakes.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Make sure you get a healthy specimen of BTA. Look at the feet (no sign of injury and should be sticky to the touch) and the mouth are not gaping. When I was into BTA, I will drip acclimate and put it on a floating basket for a few days. Properly lighted tank shouldn't burn it to death. If it is healthy, fully inflated, stick properly and will accept some meaty food than it should be ready for release.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

@Mindi what light is that one again please?

Edit. What model

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Look for a Lux meter. About 15 us.
Measure the light at the top of the tank.
Like this.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lighting-upgrade-with-a-lux-meter-saltyfilmfolks.248417/

Devide the Lux by 60 to get an approximate par.

Are you using rodi water?

 

[Mindi]

Light model is Aquasanrise R120 from ReefBreeders

I do feed the Anemones....pieces of shrimp, atlantic salmon..they take the pieces keenly for a while but then stop and I know they are on their way out. But I do feed them..usually about once every week.

Yes I do my topup with RODI water.

Thanks the quick replies.

 

[Mindi]

thanks the Lux meter tip...good work. Will look for one.

 

[Peter K]

Make sure you get a healthy specimen of BTA. Look at the feet (no sign of injury and should be sticky to the touch) and the mouth are not gaping. When I was into BTA, I will drip acclimate and put it on a floating basket for a few days. Properly lighted tank shouldn't burn it to death. If it is healthy, fully inflated, stick properly and will accept some meaty food than it should be ready for release.

+1 on this, my LFS actually lets me massage the anemone off what it is attached to check the health of its foot when I buy mine. I'd be extremely wary of a foot that looks even slightly damaged or a gaping mouth on the anemone. It's super easy to damage them and I have seen absolutely horrible ones being sold in fish stores with employees preaching they are healthy.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm kinda baffled looking at the tank. IMO. It's been easier for me to overlight acros. But I've never heard of it with a bta.

Sorry I could not find the par specs on that light.

You have sps growing in there. How odd

It's just a beautiful tank overall.

Is that real corraline on the rocks?
Are you on rodi water?
What is the peak percentage of the light?
Is it a ramping light? And how long is the ramp?
How much gfo are you using in the reactor?

 

[Donovan Joannes]

I'm kinda baffled looking at the tank. IMO. It's been easier for me to overlight acros. But I've never heard of it with a bta.

Sorry I could not find the par specs on that light.

You have sps growing in there. How odd

It's just a beautiful tank overall.

Is that real corraline on the rocks?
Are you on rodi water?
What is the peak percentage of the light?
Is it a ramping light? And how long is the ramp?
How much gfo are you using in the reactor?

Agree with proper lighted (not overly bright or intense) tank shouldn't kill BTA. I had a few tricolor BTA and they walked up high to the highest peak where my SPS are, splitting and bubbling to the max. Do you (thread owner) have picture of the said anemone?. Maybe it is not a BTA as they loves light very much.

 

[Mindi]

Will put up a pic of the BTA. My peak lights are 70% with a ramp up and down about 4 hours each side. I have about 300gms of GFO and maybe that is not enough..? Yes the coralline algae is real and everywhere...I put it down at least partly to my habit of running fairly high Alk to help with pH, but that may not be anything to do with it. This tank is only 20 weeks old to give an idea of how quickly the coralline has built up from nothing.

 

[garethwood]

thats alot going on for a 20 week tank.. i thought by the way you were talking your tank was well established. can I be the one to say it.... slow down abit, maybe to much going on?

 

[Mindi]

only bad things happen fast..? maybe that's the advice I need ..thanks . Although I do have bad BTA prior history and think I am doing something wrong with them. Yeah maybe back off a bit.

 

[garethwood]

I cant talk haha ive made some disasterous decissions over the last 2 yrs but learning from mistakes is the way i do it best : )
have you tried other nems? i only ask because i have 0 experience of btas but i do have a condy that is no joke bloody bomb proof!! and has survived all my "oops" moments. good luck with your quest.