old reefer /new forum /new troubles

[discusdean]

hi there ,
so a little intro to me and my tank .i have currently set up for over a year a reefer 350 destined to be mixed reef with as much diversity and character as i can maintain .had a few tanks over the years with reasonable success but this one is causing me many headaches and im hoping this may be the place to take stock and get so much needed advice.

so back to the important bit ,my tank.

• reefer 30 in black
• hydra 52 (10inch from water level with a 4hr peak and 4hr ramp )
• quiet drive mp40 and mp10 for flow on random or reef crest
• curve 5 skimmer(set to wet skim and cup emptied every 3 days approx)
• 100ml of carbon run in reactor 24/7 changed every month
• rowa in reactor (changed as p04 start to rise)
• Neptune apex controller

• 
  
• ph 8.1-8.3 (constantly tested via probe)
• temp 25.5-26 (constantly tested via probe)
• ammonia undetectable via weekly test kit (red sea)
• nitrite undetectable via test kit weekly(red sea)
• nitrate <15 tested weekly and reduce with water changes
• phosphate 0-0.03 tested with hanna ultra low checker
• alkalinity 7.5-8 tested every few days with fauna marine test kit
• calcium 400-450 tested with red sea weekly
• magnesium 1460-1520 tested weekly with red sea test kit

i do a 10 percent water change every 7-10 days with dd ocean pro salt and my top up water is kalkwasser mix at rate of 3 table spoons per 23ltr .feedings are auto 3 times a day with granular food and 1 frozen block twice a week.glass cleaning and algae is removed every 3-5 days .

always up for advice and comments .

so here goes with the first issue im dealing with and not sure in which area to post but im struggling with keeping some corals this time around and no matter what i do my mushrooms and xenia have closed up and barely open although my clams show growth and fish all happy and healthy???.

i have had various fraggs that i have bought and been given but have lost due to rtn only ones that are ok but really dont show great polps extension are my monties.

hope there is someone willing to guide this rather frustrated reefer in the correct direction.

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R! No3 looks to be a little high. What test kits are you using?

 

[discusdean]

Red sea tritration tested against fauna marin reference solutions

 

[orbitee2015]

Hi funny as im reading your post i was thinking this is my tank. Same setup but i have black sand and no apex. I know many will not agree but i too started with hydra 26 so i know you have the 52 but may be a similarity due to the brand. I was having no growth and mushrooms and zoas would not fully open. Tried a bunch of fixes but then i decided to try changing the lighting. I purchased an ATI sunpower T5 8 bulb fixture and bang my mushrooms opened up wide and spread and the other softies are looking good. Only thing I miss the Led color and shimmer.

Good luck

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R. Beautiful tank.

 

[discusdean]

Thankyou dbl and i was wondering if the light could be doing it as this is the first led unit i have had .

Has anybody had anyluck with 52s and willing to part with there settings ???

 

[dbl]

As far as corals not opening/growing/polyp extension/etc, here's my input. If you only have one H52 light fixture (as it appears in the picture) I would doubt seriously if that is enough light on a nearly 4 foot tank.

You could try raising it and adjusting the intensity accordingly, but I really don't think you can get away with one fixture. Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[discusdean]

The intention is to have 3 over the tank but due to never having led before and the abundance of posts every where saying tip burn and bleaching i opted to start with one at 10 inch from water .light has a good spread at that height with most channels set at 50 percent at peak except blues at 80 percent peak and uv at 30

 

[JMacedo]

I have been using Hydra52 for more than two years and IMHO they are good enough for any type of corals. I am not sure if lighting is your problem, sometimes is more than one thing, even a bad refractometer can be blamed.

I use salts with parameters as close as possible to NSW and try to keep those same parameters, I could care less about light aesthetics, I only care about the health of my tank inhabitants.

I just grabbed my mobile phone and made this very short video to give you an idea of what am talking about:

 

[discusdean]

Wow love the colour and shimmer would you.ne willing to share your settings

 

[ksc]

I wouldn't worry about his settings. He has, "Lighting: 6x AI Hydra52 modules" over his 5' tank. I think your plan of having 3 fixtures was the right one. You can always turn the intensity down.

 

[discusdean]

Just looking for an indication of levels to work up to to be honest as im concered i will bleach or burn .would going up say 10 percent over a week on whites be to much in your opinions

 

[JMacedo]

Wow love the colour and shimmer would you.ne willing to share your settings

I know it is not everyone's taste but here you go Just think of natural lighting on a summer day! lol

 

[discusdean]

Wow there higher than i was expecting .looks like i could increase mine slowly and see what reaction i get

 

[JMacedo]

Wow there higher than i was expecting .looks like i could increase mine slowly and see what reaction i get

Yeap, I think you could. I live in sunny Thailand and when I am walking outside at 7am to take my kids to school I always think I have my settings way too low!

 

[discusdean]

May i ask the question .from the things i wrote in original post what other things should i be looking at ???? Salty thought n03 a little high so water change today but i do a change atleast twice a month akready

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R

 

[discusdean]

Thanks kj

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Welcome!

You need to increase the intensity of the light
slowly.
The more you increase the light the more food the corals will eat. No and Po are food.
You can check the intensity with a Lux meter. It measures only intensity.

Bleaching generally is a fast increase in lighting. Or lack of nutrients and food in high lighting. alk burn on tips is different.

 

[Chris Adams]

You mentioned you test ALK each day.
Are you testing your params right before WC? Have you had anyone test your ALK, CAL, MAG for you?
I would really be interested in what your ALk is right before wc
Are you dosing anything? If yes how?