kurbanas
Community Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2020
- Messages
- 40
- Reaction score
- 72
- What state or country do you live in
- Colorado
Hello everyone,
I have a hammer that has been rapidly receding in recent weeks and some rhodactis (I think, it was a hitchhiker) that are shrinking.
I started my tank Jan 2020. About 6 months ago I moved from a 55 to 75 gal. An identical thing was happening to the hammer in the 55 gal where it receded. The center brace on my 55 gal cracked (literally heard it thunk in the living room) so I had to pretty quickly move all the livestock into a makeshift 55 gal plastic tub setup while I prepared for the 75 gal. All stock, including the receded hammer, was in there for about a week. After I moved everyone into the 75 gal (this was around September 2021), the hammer started thriving again, but has since receded again over the past month or so (I was thrilled about this because I had assumed the hammer was a goner). I am trying to figure out what is causing this.
My 75 gal is a glass bottom and I do 20% water change every two weeks like clockwork. 20 gal sump so right around 95 gal total volume. Right around the 10-12 day mark between water changes, I start to get a little film algae.
Current parameters:
So any ideas on what is going on here? The zoas and GSP seem to be thriving and the fish is healthy.
I have a few theories:
Thanks
I have a hammer that has been rapidly receding in recent weeks and some rhodactis (I think, it was a hitchhiker) that are shrinking.
I started my tank Jan 2020. About 6 months ago I moved from a 55 to 75 gal. An identical thing was happening to the hammer in the 55 gal where it receded. The center brace on my 55 gal cracked (literally heard it thunk in the living room) so I had to pretty quickly move all the livestock into a makeshift 55 gal plastic tub setup while I prepared for the 75 gal. All stock, including the receded hammer, was in there for about a week. After I moved everyone into the 75 gal (this was around September 2021), the hammer started thriving again, but has since receded again over the past month or so (I was thrilled about this because I had assumed the hammer was a goner). I am trying to figure out what is causing this.
My 75 gal is a glass bottom and I do 20% water change every two weeks like clockwork. 20 gal sump so right around 95 gal total volume. Right around the 10-12 day mark between water changes, I start to get a little film algae.
Current parameters:
- SG = 1.025
- pH = 8-8.2
- kH = 6.5-7 dkH
- Ca = 350 ppm
- Mg = 1320 ppm
- NO3 = 3 ppm
- PO4 = 0 ppm
- 1 ocellaris
- 3 turban snail
- WWC Hammer
- Rhodactis? (hitchhiker)
- Eagle eye zoas
- Radioactive dragon eye zoas
- GSP
- Graffiti war coral (also suffering it appears)
- 45 lb (or so) live rock
So any ideas on what is going on here? The zoas and GSP seem to be thriving and the fish is healthy.
- Bottom out nutrients: I have a very low bioload for the size of my tank and there are essentially no nutrients in my water to support the hammer(?). Two weeks ago my NO3 was 0.9 and so I thought I would try to gradually increase nutrients. So for the past 2 weeks I have had my skimmer running 12 hrs/day and I have been dosing KNO3 to raise nitrate (fertilizer used for my planted tank). I have also increased feeding and reef roids. I have also noticed a lot of bristle worms out during the day in the middle of the tank looking for food. I never used to see this before. To me this might indicate they can't find the detritus they need in the rockwork so they have to come out in the open. Crazy idea? I have also seen them crawling all around the corals so maybe that is also an issue.
- Lighting issue: currently running two current USA Marine Pros. All these corals did well for over a year with this lighting setup so not sure if it is the factor here. But I am not opposed to upgrading if necessary.
- Other water quality issue: My Ca/Mg seems low? pH?
Thanks
