john.m.cole3
cyclOps
Hey, my name is John and I can't grow corals.
I've been in the hobby a year now and have had zero success growing corals. They open and close everyday and slowly wither away over months and months of time. I've been brainstorming on this page and with my local club, and nothing seems to work. I, like many other newbies, caught the reefing bug and moved too fast and was trying to be cheap about things. I bought my used 46 gallon bowfront off craigslist and was dying to get it started.
I used a HOB filter along with... you guessed it, tap water! I cycled the tank using BioSpira and threw a pair of clowns in there. I did my weekly 10% water changes with Reef Crystals mixed with tap water. After my diatoms never went away I decided to buy a cheap RODI unit but skipped the TDS meter (trying to cut corners). I added a purple mushrrom that somehow survived all my errors. I was using Orbit LEDs on 100% both channels for 12 hours a day. I put some baffles in a 10 gallon tank and made a PVC overflow. I added a SCA-301 skimmer and I thought I was on top of things.
I found a cheap TDS meter on Amazon and my RODI water was reading 250 TDS. So, I decided to buy my RO water from the LFS and it read 89 TDS. I stuck with that for a while and never tested my water. I bought a refractometer and to my surprise my salinity was ok at 1.025. My substrate was crushed coral. I continued to build up my fish list and was feeding them NLS cichlid pellets... I know.. I know... I finally coughed up the money for some Salifert and Hanna test kits. My levels were as follows
N - 50
P = .04 (how in the heck???)
ca - 320
Alk - 8.15
Mag - 1020
Temp - 78
Ph - 8.1
I talked to my LFS guy and he recommended some Kent Marine products to manually dose, and I did that once a week. I kept things kind of stable for about 2 months. Along the way I killed zoas, duncans, hammers, blastos, montipora digitata, kenya tree, and 2 leather corals. My blue xenia is sowly melting away as we speak. I've got my nitrates down to 25 and my other levels are somewhat in check.
This weekend at the LFS we were talking again and I told the owner I bought my tank used from a cichlid guy (hence the NLS pellets). He told me that the previous owner may have dosed copper in the tank and that could be the reason for all my troubles. I went online and found a used 72 gallon bowfront that was reef ready, had a stand, sump, and broken T5 light fixture for less money than I paid for all of my test kits. I bought it.
Now, I'm going to take a years worth of learning combined with a used SW tank to make my dream of keeping a reef true. So, if you wish, follow along and throw out suggestons as a re-build this 72.
I've been in the hobby a year now and have had zero success growing corals. They open and close everyday and slowly wither away over months and months of time. I've been brainstorming on this page and with my local club, and nothing seems to work. I, like many other newbies, caught the reefing bug and moved too fast and was trying to be cheap about things. I bought my used 46 gallon bowfront off craigslist and was dying to get it started.
I used a HOB filter along with... you guessed it, tap water! I cycled the tank using BioSpira and threw a pair of clowns in there. I did my weekly 10% water changes with Reef Crystals mixed with tap water. After my diatoms never went away I decided to buy a cheap RODI unit but skipped the TDS meter (trying to cut corners). I added a purple mushrrom that somehow survived all my errors. I was using Orbit LEDs on 100% both channels for 12 hours a day. I put some baffles in a 10 gallon tank and made a PVC overflow. I added a SCA-301 skimmer and I thought I was on top of things.
I found a cheap TDS meter on Amazon and my RODI water was reading 250 TDS. So, I decided to buy my RO water from the LFS and it read 89 TDS. I stuck with that for a while and never tested my water. I bought a refractometer and to my surprise my salinity was ok at 1.025. My substrate was crushed coral. I continued to build up my fish list and was feeding them NLS cichlid pellets... I know.. I know... I finally coughed up the money for some Salifert and Hanna test kits. My levels were as follows
N - 50
P = .04 (how in the heck???)
ca - 320
Alk - 8.15
Mag - 1020
Temp - 78
Ph - 8.1
I talked to my LFS guy and he recommended some Kent Marine products to manually dose, and I did that once a week. I kept things kind of stable for about 2 months. Along the way I killed zoas, duncans, hammers, blastos, montipora digitata, kenya tree, and 2 leather corals. My blue xenia is sowly melting away as we speak. I've got my nitrates down to 25 and my other levels are somewhat in check.
This weekend at the LFS we were talking again and I told the owner I bought my tank used from a cichlid guy (hence the NLS pellets). He told me that the previous owner may have dosed copper in the tank and that could be the reason for all my troubles. I went online and found a used 72 gallon bowfront that was reef ready, had a stand, sump, and broken T5 light fixture for less money than I paid for all of my test kits. I bought it.
Now, I'm going to take a years worth of learning combined with a used SW tank to make my dream of keeping a reef true. So, if you wish, follow along and throw out suggestons as a re-build this 72.
