HELP!!!!! My coral is dying HELP!!!!!

seamus2050 · Oct 25, 2013

Tahoe, you probably hit the nail on the head. I do foster care at home all day, everyday. I have lots of time to look at my tank and worry about all changes that I notice. I have vowed not to buy any more coral until things stabilize and I see substantial growth of current corals. I will raise my light 4".

Grew up in AZ, miss the mountains.

Just want to thank all that have commented.

Tahoe61 · Oct 25, 2013

Plus new hobbyist are bombarded with a dizzing aray of products, confusing forums and names, abbreviations.. You see these stunning tanks and you so want your tank to be like that. For me the less I mess with the tank the better it does long term. It's a slow hobby, improvements take forever to see and disasters happen in the blink of an eye. Sounds like you have the potential for a great system with the lighting and sumps. It will come together but there will be bumps. Always just make one change and wait to see results.

seamus2050 · Oct 25, 2013

NanaReefer · Oct 25, 2013

Lady bugs won't harm your tank. I too pull out several this time of the year.

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Tahoe61 · Oct 25, 2013

The tank looks fantastic, now it just has to cook for awhile. Did you do all that work yourself?

seamus2050 · Oct 25, 2013

Did most of the work myself, had a cousin that I bounced ideas off of. Had help moving tank into house. I am most proud of my rock work. Just finished helping my cousin do a 220g with same type of rock work.

mixedreefjunky · Nov 4, 2013

Every acro, milli, and monti I have ever owned will start to die off extremely fast over 80degrees. I'd say that was your main issue JMO. OH and I have never dosed cal or mag.

Flatbrook · Nov 4, 2013

Tahoe61 said:
Plus new hobbyist are bombarded with a dizzing aray of products, confusing forums and names, abbreviations.. You see these stunning tanks and you so want your tank to be like that. For me the less I mess with the tank the better it does long term. It's a slow hobby, improvements take forever to see and disasters happen in the blink of an eye. Sounds like you have the potential for a great system with the lighting and sumps. It will come together but there will be bumps. Always just make one change and wait to see results.

Plus 1.

Flatbrook · Nov 4, 2013

I love the look of your rock work! I have had that look in my head and kicked around different ways of doing it. I settled on making my rock background out of 2 flat DIY live rock sheets. Haven't done it yet, but started getting supplies. I would love to know how you did yours.

fletch999 · Nov 4, 2013

what is your max intensity that your lights ramp up to? I have the same light and I have been running mine at 55% blue and 40% white for 4 hours a day. This light is powerful IMO.

seamus2050 · Nov 4, 2013

45% on blue, 37% on white. 12 hours/ day, running peak for 3 hours.

seamus2050 · Nov 4, 2013

Flatbrook said:
I love the look of your rock work! I have had that look in my head and kicked around different ways of doing it. I settled on making my rock background out of 2 flat DIY live rock sheets. Haven't done it yet, but started getting supplies. I would love to know how you did yours.

I used a tile saw to flat cut my larger rocks. I then used black pond foam to adhear to tank. Two keys to making it look good is to overlap your rock when putting it in and let the foam set up then stipple with sharp object.

seamus2050 · Nov 4, 2013

Flatbrook · Nov 4, 2013

Great job!

NeverlosT · Nov 5, 2013

Id say your lighting is too powerful, keep turning it down and then sloooowly bring it up in intensity. I have two AI Vega Color fixtures and I turned them up to just 40% peak value on blues and only 30% peak on whites and my corals started to lose color and decline. I am now at about 18% whites and 30% blues and things seem to be doing better. LED's are very powerful, and if you have a lot of LPS, they dont like it.

I doubt it is your temp. Corals will do fine into the early 80's, as long as the daily change is not huge. People who claim 1 degree changes in their temp hurt their coral have something else at work there.

Good luck, keep your parameters stable, test your water frequently, and turn the lights down a bit. I think you'll be fine.

seamus2050 · Nov 5, 2013

I have noticed a couple of my bleached chalices comming back over the last couple of days. I moved them to low light, so your light theroy sounds solid.

seamus2050 · Nov 5, 2013

Some good news, one orange and two green yumas have divided from their main colonies. 3 yumas, 2 zoe heads and 3 poly heads all new in the last week. birdsnest, blue chalice and war favia starting to color back up to original.