Mike in CT
Valuable Member
Hi all, I will try to make this as short as possible. I restarted my 75g around New Years. It has 29g sump, 80 lbs
of reefcleaner dry rock, Tao led's and a life reef skimmer. Tank ran for 2 month with my 2 fish (small and med size) when I added
about 10 corals frags that I had in quarantine and that were doing well and growing. (I got the water for the QT from the DT
so the chemistry was pretty close). At the same time I added a large ball of cheato that was also in QT and had been growing.
Now the ugly..... Went thru some personal stuff and did not keep an eye on the cheato and I am guessing the light I had on
my sump was not good enough and cheato started going bad and by the time I got it all cleaned up it sent my nitrates through
the roof, and that in turn did in some of my snails and it snow balled. Little by little my frags started having problems and
showing stress. (This was my fist experience with corals so it tool me a while before I caught on what was happening).
So this is where I am. Fish are fine, still have a bunch of snails and a hermit, and tons of pods. I have done large water changes but
nitrates are still over 40. I started slowly vodka dosing a few weeks ago and it looks like the corals are a little happier now. I noticed
a brain coral that was totally receded is showing growth and hammer and frogspawn are showing themselves more and more so I
hope I am the right track. My API nitrate test kit totally frustrates me in its fluctuations soI really dont trust it.
Phew....sorry for the long preface! The thing I was wondering was that I have never feed my corals, and I was thinking a little food
might help them health wise, but I am also afraid of raising the nitrate levels even more by feeding them. Should I feed them and see how they respond? Would appreciate any thoughts on this.....I am really jonesing to get this tank on track since it has been up for 7 months now and want to start adding some more coral and see some growth!
.
of reefcleaner dry rock, Tao led's and a life reef skimmer. Tank ran for 2 month with my 2 fish (small and med size) when I added
about 10 corals frags that I had in quarantine and that were doing well and growing. (I got the water for the QT from the DT
so the chemistry was pretty close). At the same time I added a large ball of cheato that was also in QT and had been growing.
Now the ugly..... Went thru some personal stuff and did not keep an eye on the cheato and I am guessing the light I had on
my sump was not good enough and cheato started going bad and by the time I got it all cleaned up it sent my nitrates through
the roof, and that in turn did in some of my snails and it snow balled. Little by little my frags started having problems and
showing stress. (This was my fist experience with corals so it tool me a while before I caught on what was happening).
So this is where I am. Fish are fine, still have a bunch of snails and a hermit, and tons of pods. I have done large water changes but
nitrates are still over 40. I started slowly vodka dosing a few weeks ago and it looks like the corals are a little happier now. I noticed
a brain coral that was totally receded is showing growth and hammer and frogspawn are showing themselves more and more so I
hope I am the right track. My API nitrate test kit totally frustrates me in its fluctuations soI really dont trust it.
Phew....sorry for the long preface! The thing I was wondering was that I have never feed my corals, and I was thinking a little food
might help them health wise, but I am also afraid of raising the nitrate levels even more by feeding them. Should I feed them and see how they respond? Would appreciate any thoughts on this.....I am really jonesing to get this tank on track since it has been up for 7 months now and want to start adding some more coral and see some growth!
.
