Open up little guys! Why won't they open?

[Luckyduck]

Hey this loves my cheap currrent orbit light over my cheap 15 gallon tank .I have a basic sunrise and sunset mode that ramps up from the blue spectrum to the basic day mode it starts at 8 am blue light from then until 9:30 am then it has the day light mode for nine and one half hours At 8 pm the light begins the sunset mode ramping down to the blue light and shutting off at 9:30 pm

Nice man. That looks good! My dang calcium is really high. 500. Alkalinity is 8.1 & Magnesium 1280. I screwed up the other night when I did the calcium test for the first time and put the wrong part A in it which led the test to read my Calcium @ 90ppm. I was like oh crap! So I doesd 3ml of calcium... Did the test again last night and realized I used the wrong part and calcium read 490 stupid mistake. That could also be what's bothering the zoos? I'm reluctant to do a water change as I don't want to take out the bacteria that is finishing cycling the tank. I am dosing Alkalinity and Magnesium @ 3mls to get those up a little bit more. Will the calcium balance out whe. Alk and Mag levels optimize? What do ya think?

 

[Thespammailaccount]

What brand of salt do you use? What is you alk cal and mag? Unless there is a good portion of stoney corals weekly water changes will replenish major and minor elements. I would stop dosing since there is only some zoas in the tank right now and if something is off it is more than likely testing error since you are just learning how to use them. Right now you do not even need to test alk cal and mag weekly water changes are perfect

 

[Luckyduck]

What brand of salt do you use? What is you alk cal and mag? Unless there is a good portion of stoney corals weekly water changes will replenish major and minor elements. I would stop dosing since there is only some zoas in the tank right now and if something is off it is more than likely testing error since you are just learning how to use them. Right now you do not even need to test alk cal and mag weekly water changes are perfect

Alkalinity is 7.9, Magnesium is 1300 and as I said Calcium is 500. This is the third time doing all 3 of these tests and I'm getting consistent results beside the first time I did Calcium and got 90 because I added the wrong part A . Which led me to add calcium and threw my balance off. Hense why I'm wondering if I should do a water change. Im using a pre-mixed because my tank is small so it made sense cost wise. Nature's ocean Nutrisea is the brand. It is enriched. I have half a jug left which is 2.2 gallons so I would be changing appropriately 15% of my water. Not sure if the bacteria in it will mess with my already established bacteria in my tank. Normally I use Imaginarium water which is just PH balanced no fortifying elements which I don't want. I would rather dose (just a personal desire). Ever since I added that calcium things just havent been opening the same.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Alkalinity is 7.9, Magnesium is 1300 and as I said Calcium is 500. This is the third time doing all 3 of these tests and I'm getting consistent results beside the first time I did Calcium and got 90 because I added the wrong part A . Which led me to add calcium and threw my balance off. Hense why I'm wondering if I should do a water change. Im using a pre-mixed because my tank is small so it made sense cost wise. Nature's ocean Nutrisea is the brand. It is enriched. I have half a jug left which is 2.2 gallons so I would be changing appropriately 15% of my water. Not sure if the bacteria in it will mess with my already established bacteria in my tank. Normally I use Imaginarium water which is just PH balanced no fortifying elements which I don't want. I would rather dose (just a personal desire). Ever since I added that calcium things just havent been opening the same.

The AB+ spectrum on hydras is lacking in par numbers. Over a tall tank like yours, I would definitely crank the whites up a bit. The white channels are where AI lights get their punch. I’m running my whites at 35% on my 26HD. That’s the daylight spectrum and there’s 5 hours in the evening where the whites are cut off and the blue drops down for a blue spectrum. Zoas will do fine with just blues but other corals like euphyllia seem to really open up better for the whites.

 

[Luckyduck]

The AB+ spectrum on hydras is lacking in par numbers. Over a tall tank like yours, I would definitely crank the whites up a bit. The white channels are where AI lights get their punch. I’m running my whites at 35% on my 26HD. That’s the daylight spectrum and there’s 5 hours in the evening where the whites are cut off and the blue drops down for a blue spectrum. Zoas will do fine with just blues but other corals like euphyllia seem to really open up better for the whites.

Bro that's an excellent response, makes perfect sense to me. Thanks for the clear description. I will adjust accordingly. My whites run at 30% for the whole light cycle -1hr ramp up and -1hr sunset so 10 hours. The tank is 25" deep, being a column I knew I needed to get a light with good par. I had the Fluval Nano Marine 25w and returned it after two days and bought the AI Prime. I'm glad I did, I really want to make this a show tank with sweet butt corals. I have a lot of great products (additives) that I'm excited to try out. Red Sea AB+, about 9 different products things from Brightwell Aquatics, Reef Roids target feeder tube. I took a break from reefing for about 7 years and just came back to it. Tank has been setup for 2 weeks yesterday. I'm super excited about this tank.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Bro that's an excellent response, makes perfect sense to me. Thanks for the clear description. I will adjust accordingly. My whites run at 30% for the whole light cycle -1hr ramp up and -1hr sunset so 10 hours. The tank is 25" deep, being a column I knew I needed to get a light with good par. I had the Fluval Nano Marine 25w and returned it after two days and bought the AI Prime. I'm glad I did, I really want to make this a show tank with sweet butt corals. I have a lot of great products (additives) that I'm excited to try out. Red Sea AB+, about 9 different products things from Brightwell Aquatics, Reef Roids target feeder tube. I took a break from reefing for about 7 years and just came back to it. Tank has been setup for 2 weeks yesterday. I'm super excited about this tank.

Just keep an eye on the tank to see how corals respond. Also keep an eye out for algae. I cut red and green off entirely because that’s what will grow the algae. In the white light corals will get enough red and green to happily grow. You just have to be careful with the white because if you add too much white, you’ll end up with algae too. I wouldn’t go any higher than 30% to avoid algae. At 35% I’m having some little algae outbreaks which I’m controlling with a cuc.

 

[Luckyduck]

Just keep an eye on the tank to see how corals respond. Also keep an eye out for algae. I cut red and green off entirely because that’s what will grow the algae. In the white light corals will get enough red and green to happily grow. You just have to be careful with the white because if you add too much white, you’ll end up with algae too. I wouldn’t go any higher than 30% to avoid algae. At 35% I’m having some little algae outbreaks which I’m controlling with a cuc.

I'm already at 30% so I'll just keep it where it is. I have 3% green and 4% red throughout the day. I am starting to see diatioms/red slime but that's natural for a new reef tank. They are not out of control by any means. I'll definitely keep an eye on it and adjust the light accordingly if I see it really starting to take off. My parameters are almost ideal minus the high Nitrites and Nitrates because of cycling. Ammonia is 0, Calcium is at 480 (a touch high) Alk @ 9, Magnesium 1330, Salinity @ 1.025, PH 8.1 & Phosphates @ .05(I have a fuge with Chaeto). Another week or so and I should see my trates and trites drop dramatically. Can't wait so I can get a fish in there! And some mint corals!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Don’t Worry about the calcium. 480 is fine. You could add a fish now to help the cycle. If you chose to get one, pick a hardy fish that you won’t mind in the long run.

I'm already at 30% so I'll just keep it where it is. I have 3% green and 4% red throughout the day. I am starting to see diatioms/red slime but that's natural for a new reef tank. They are not out of control by any means. I'll definitely keep an eye on it and adjust the light accordingly if I see it really starting to take off. My parameters are almost ideal minus the high Nitrites and Nitrates because of cycling. Ammonia is 0, Calcium is at 480 (a touch high) Alk @ 9, Magnesium 1330, Salinity @ 1.025, PH 8.1 & Phosphates @ .05(I have a fuge with Chaeto). Another week or so and I should see my trates and trites drop dramatically. Can't wait so I can get a fish in there! And some mint corals!

 

[Luckyduck]

Don’t Worry about the calcium. 480 is fine. You could add a fish now to help the cycle. If you chose to get one, pick a hardy fish that you won’t mind in the long run.

I would love to! My buddy is gonna give me his black clown for free! And it's perfect size for the small tank. My Nitrites are still like 4 though. Won't that cause the fish to suffocate? I had read a bunch of stuff about the Nitrogen cycle not being what we thought it was 10 years ago so if you think I can get a fish I'm definitely down! My Nitrates are really high too at like 50ppm just because I don't have the bacteria colony large enough yet to to take care of it. Sounds like you really know your stuff, I appreciate the time you're taking to share in conversation man

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Usually it’s the ammonia that will cause fish to suffocate. What test kit are you using to test nitrite. You could always go the lfs and get a $3 chromis. They’re peaceful and I’ve always used them to help cycle my tanks.

I would love to! My buddy is gonna give me his black clown for free! And it's perfect size for the small tank. My Nitrites are still like 4 though. Won't that cause the fish to suffocate? I had read a bunch of stuff about the Nitrogen cycle not being what we thought it was 10 years ago so if you think I can get a fish I'm definitely down! My Nitrates are really high too at like 50ppm just because I don't have the bacteria colony large enough yet to to take care of it. Sounds like you really know your stuff, I appreciate the time you're taking to share in conversation man

 

[Luckyduck]

Usually it’s the ammonia that will cause fish to suffocate. What test kit are you using to test nitrite. You could always go the lfs and get a $3 chromis. They’re peaceful and I’ve always used them to help cycle my tanks.

I have all RedSea test kits. & I plan on ordering a Salifert Strontium & Boron (if I can find the Boron it in stock). I have a bunch of additives from Brightwell that I want to experiment with so I want to make sure I can test all my levels so I don't over or under dose. I worry about the fish because the same buddy gave me some corals too and they just don't seem to be doing well. Had them for about 10 days now. Only the larger of the two zoo colonies is doing good. Hence this original post of one of the smaller colonies of Zoos not opening, the ricordea rock with 3 oranges have shrunk down to half the size of my pinkey nail, the Acan Echinata is very slowing receding off its skeleton and my anemone was doing good but has been pretty small for the past 2 days after it let go of its spot on the rock. I did dose Red sea AB+ once or twice this week to try and help the corals and target fed reef Roids (small amount twice) Everything seems to be on with my parameters except Nitrates and Nitrites. Maybe the high levels of those are stressing the corals? I did a 16% water change mid last week against my better judgment (don't want to remove the already small bacteria population). Im gonna do a full round of all my tests today so I can report back to you with current levels. Thanks for taking the time by the way to help me out and answer my questions.

 

[Luckyduck]

Few shots of the premature inhabitants.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Few shots of the premature inhabitants.

Yes it’s definitely the nitrate and nitrite.

 

[Luckyduck]

Just tested parameters. It's gotta just be the high Nitrogen elements present in the water because of the cycle that's stressing the corals. I really should not have accepted the free corals so early, rookie mistake. Temperature 78.5, Salinity 1.025, Ammonia=0, Calcium=500 (touch high, not dosing) Alkalinity=8 (dosing slowly to get it to 9) Magnesium=1280 (dosing slowly to get it to 1350)
Phosphates=.08, Nitrates 50ppm Nitrites=4ppm . I think I just need to give it time for the cycle to finish and the Nitrites and Nitrates will drop on their own. I feel bad for the corals I put in there... I really should have known better as I am not new to the hobby. Hopefully I can nurse them back to health once the nitrogen components come down to comfortable levels.

 

[supernanoguy]

Hey this loves my cheap currrent orbit light over my cheap 15 gallon tank .I have a basic sunrise and sunset mode that ramps up from the blue spectrum to the basic day mode it starts at 8 am blue light from then until 9:30 am then it has the day light mode for nine and one half hours At 8 pm the light begins the sunset mode ramping down to the blue light and shutting off at 9:30 pm

Hey thanks for posting your schedule like that. I have one of these lights coming in the mail and your schedule sounds perfect. Cheers!