Im doing something wrong and not sure what.

[Gavin Noy]

Good evening everyone.

Im 5 months into my evo 13.5, i have 3 fish, some life rock, 2 torch corals, a zoa frag and a tripple head of candy cane.

Prams are
sal - 1.026
mag 1440
calc 380
alk 11.5
phos 0.08
nitrates 5ppm
ammonia and nitrite 0

My torches are doing ok, slowly splitting but nothing fast, My candy cane is doing rubbish. Iv moved it out of the flow. lowered lighting times.

My tank runs at zero phos if i do not dose.
Battled cyano a wile ago but touch wood on the other side of it now. I add mag and calc to my water change water and i do 10% a week.

Is my alk far too high? I have no idea why its so high. It never comes down.

I have just bought some reef roids to try and spot feed the candy cane, only done it once so far and it still has clumps of it stuck to it 2 days later. Doesn’t open up at night like it used to.

Any ideas or help would be great hopefully i have provided enough info. New to it all so learning every day. Thank you.

 

[Katrina71]

This is just my opinion, but your tank is still new. I'd stop dosing anything and just do water changes. Let it find balance naturally.

 

[Gavin Noy]

This is just my opinion, but your tank is still new. I'd stop dosing anything and just do water changes. Let it find balance naturally.

Its around 5 months old. I had a really bad cyano outbreak and my nutrients were at zero nitrates and zero phos. Was recommended to dose both to combat the cyano. You think just leave it now?

 

[Katrina71]

Its around 5 months old. I had a really bad cyano outbreak and my nutrients were at zero nitrates and zero phos. Was recommended to dose both to combat the cyano. You think just leave it now?

I would

 

[Brandont21]

Personally id leave it as well. Feed more if you need more nutrients. Dont run skimmer 24/7. 5 months is still extremely new

 

[ryanjohn1]

Its around 5 months old. I had a really bad cyano outbreak and my nutrients were at zero nitrates and zero phos. Was recommended to dose both to combat the cyano. You think just leave it now?

What kinda salt mix are you using?

 

[Gavin Noy]

Personally id leave it as well. Feed more if you need more nutrients. Dont run skimmer 24/7. 5 months is still extremely new

I dont have a skimmer and feed twice a day. One feed on flake then one on frozen.

 

[Gavin Noy]

What kinda salt mix are you using?

Im buying pre mixed from the LFS so to be honest i have no idea

 

[ryanjohn1]

Im buying pre mixed from the LFS so to be honest i have no idea

Have you tested brand new water from them for the alk? If they are using Red Sea black bucket its really high alk

 

[Gavin Noy]

Have you tested brand new water from them for the alk? If they are using Red Sea black bucket its really high alk

Thats on my tomorrow’s to do list, when i first started my tank my alk was 8 so will see if they have changed what salt they use. I assumed it was down to dosing neo phos, mag and calc.

 

[Gavin Noy]

Might do a mid week water change for a couple of weeks.

 

[ryanjohn1]

Thats on my tomorrow’s to do list, when i first started my tank my alk was 8 so will see if they have changed what salt they use. I assumed it was down to dosing neo phos, mag and calc.

 

[ryanjohn1]

Red sea black is supposed to mix up at 11 for all so

 

[Gavin Noy]

Thats on my tomorrow’s to do list, when i first started my tank my alk was 8 so will see if they have changed what salt they use. I assumed it was down to dosing neo phos, mag and calc.

Red sea black is supposed to mix up at 11 for all so

Jesus

 

[Gavin Noy]

Jesus

Red sea black is supposed to mix up at 11 for all so

Is my alk an issue?

 

[Gavin Noy]

The tank seems ok to be honest. Torch corals seem ok. cyano is under control at last, its just the candy can lookes nothing like it used to. It still opens uo but nothing like when i bought it.

 

[ryanjohn1]

Is my alk an issue?

IMO it a bit high. But some people run it that high.

 

[ryanjohn1]

The tank seems ok to be honest. Torch corals seem ok. cyano is under control at last, it’s just the candy can lookes nothing like it used to. It still opens uo but nothing like when i bought it.

I had a cane that looked like it was dead for a year then exploded with growth. Like for 2 dead looking heads to 40+ in a year.

 

[Gavin Noy]

I had a cane that looked like it was dead for a year then exploded with growth. Like for 2 dead looking heads to 40+ in a year.

Do you spot feed?

 

[Nano_Man]

You can dose nitrate and phosphate but if you’re doing regular water changes u shouldn’t have too dose calcium or mag because your replenishing it with new sea water or you could cut back on water changes and let nutrients build up and if it doesn’t build up then dose nitrate and phosphate .My alk runs at 8