Something is wrong and no one can tell me why, please help!!!

[Bayareareefer18]

Prime are good lights but I agree others that two would be lacking on a 4' tank. You probably have adequate light directly under each unit but it will fall off drastically as you move away from the center point of the light.
BRS has great videos about the par and spread of many lights including the primes if I remember correctly

Yeah the water change is 20-25% and my tank guy always runs the test before and after, so I am trusting him and he always says my levels are good.
with the lighting, I thought Prime were good lights? Do you agree on upping the peak time from 4 to 6 or 8 hours and only having ramp up and down 1-2 hours?

 

[Qasim]

Hello looking at the photos above, I see lots of Asterina starfish that disturb coral very easily. they climb on corals for food sometimes the coral becomes their food. I have had alot and they were munching my zoas. Now I dont see them anymore as I had to manually remove them whenever I spotted one. I have had corals opening very well with 50 ppm of nitrates and higher check your water temperature. and yeah heavy bioload will cause other issues on the long run such as cyano and brown slime algae, especially if your loose a fish and you couldnt find it.

 

[Paul B]

Your other corals look fine,, I still like my theory the best.

(I also have so many asternia stars that my tank looks like the Milky Way Galaxy)

 

[tehmadreefer]

First off welcome
Agreed with above that you have a heavy bio load for your tank size.
I’d guess your main issue is several fish listed a NOT reef safe. These include coral beauty , butterfly fish and fox face, all known coral eaters.
Past that do not obsess on specific numbers, it will stress you out and never brings good results. Stability is more important although your nitrates are much higher than SPS like.
Good luck

Fox face doesn't eat coral...

 

[stanleo]

Ok, first, when you say "your tank guy", who is he? Where does he work? To some people, the minimum wage clerk at petco is their tank guy, and others its someone they pay to come to their house once a month to do all the maintenance. Regardless, I think you should get your own test kits and do them yourself for a while.

Second, water changes aren't meant to just knock down problem numbers. They are used to keep everything stable. I do 20% biweekly water changes to keep my nitrates at 2 ppm and phosphate at .03ppm. And I fully expect the need to adjust this as I put more fish and corals into the tank.

If you truly have no algae than the asterina stars are turning to coral for food. That plus the butterfly and others are having some lunch.

I agree that the lighting is wrong. I have two Red Sea Reef 90s. They ramp up on white and blue lights for an hour starting at 8am from 0 to 100% and ramp down starting at 6pm for an hour. I have softies, LPS and SPS though not many yet. They are all growing well.

I agree you have too many fish in a 75 gallon, could be why your nitrates climb so high. Do more frequent water changes, Start at 20% biweekly or 10% weekly and change your lighting schedule. Also, might not hurt to get those harlequins unless you have other echinoderms that you love.

 

[ScottB]

Agree other comments regarding lighting and suspect fish.

As to asterina stars, in my experience, they are not a problem until their population gets out of hand, and then you have a problem. At least with your zoas. (Not sure about GSP.)

They spend all their time crawling all over your zoanthids causing them to close up. Eventually, they find a colony with less toxicity (Rastas in my case) and will munch.

If you can rent a harlequin they will certainly get it done. They are murderous and effective little guys, but will starve in a month or two so plan and returning them.

Cheaper and equally effective is to grab your long tweezers and pluck them out.

 

[MnFish1]

Yeah the water change is 20-25% and my tank guy always runs the test before and after, so I am trusting him and he always says my levels are good.
with the lighting, I thought Prime were good lights? Do you agree on upping the peak time from 4 to 6 or 8 hours and only having ramp up and down 1-2 hours?

If your nitrate is 20 ppm and you change 20-25 percent of the water - it will drop by 20-25 percent - it cannot go to 0 for 2-2.5 weeks - something doesnt make sense. Prime are good lights - I guess when I look at lighting - I picture what happens outside on a sunny day - coral is usually getting full sunlight for longer than 4 hours/day. Now as the sun 'moves' throughout the day coral will be under different light - but 4 hours seems short

 

[MnFish1]

Agree other comments regarding lighting and suspect fish.

As to asterina stars, in my experience, they are not a problem until their population gets out of hand, and then you have a problem. At least with your zoas. (Not sure about GSP.)

They spend all their time crawling all over your zoanthids causing them to close up. Eventually, they find a colony with less toxicity (Rastas in my case) and will munch.

If you can rent a harlequin they will certainly get it done. They are murderous and effective little guys, but will starve in a month or two so plan and returning them.

Cheaper and equally effective is to grab your long tweezers and pluck them out.

A harlequin 'what'? Just curious because there are several varieties of fish that use that name

 

[tankstudy]

Is your tank still pretty cloudy like this??

 

[Water Dog]

A harlequin 'what'? Just curious because there are several varieties of fish that use that name

I’m guessing he means Harlequin Shrimp, who feed exclusively on starfish.

 

[serwobow]

Fox face doesn't eat coral...

Tell that to my foxface. And also tell that to my PC rainbow and strawberry shortcake...which are the unfortunate victims. Foxfaces love to graze - they try everything, and when they find something tasty, they keep tasting. My foxface takes nips of my acros all day long. Some of them he does substantial damage to, but most others just retract their polyps during the daylight hours. When I got him 7 years ago I would have shared your opinion, because he never nipped corals, but for the last 2 years he has been a real pain my corals' butts.

 

[MnFish1]

I’m guessing he means Harlequin Shrimp, who feed exclusively on starfish.

Thanks - Harlequin tusks (I have one) are supposed to decimate clean up crews - mine doesnt touch them (or the occasional star that I see - thats why I was wondering

 

[ScottB]

A harlequin 'what'? Just curious because there are several varieties of fish that use that name

Harlequin shrimp. Their diet is exclusively sea stars. Cute little guys. Often difficult to source.

 

[Qasim]

I caught my foxface eating my Zoas and disturb my other corals he is a gonner

 

[BeejReef]

I see you don't mention phosphate.
That's not unheard of. Not everyone has every kit or runs every test every time.
Still, if I had a "tank-guy," I'd certainly expect all basic parameters tested and logged.
I guess I'd also expect him (or her) to at least have a theory as to why the tank is struggling and be pursuing some sort of plan to remedy it.

 

[ianryd]

I would look at lighting and nutrients. If you like the look of the AI lights, upgrade to a pair of AI Hydra 26 (or whatever the new ones are) and try shorter ramping, longer peak. I don't think you mentioned having a refugium in your sump. I would look into that to help with nutrient export. Try getting those nitrates down under 10. Also get a phosphate test kit. I have a similar setup and since adding the 2 things I just mentioned my tank has improved 100%. I would also agree you might have a few too many fish. As far as zoas go, they are pretty fussy in my experience. I wouldnt consider them an easy coral. I have about 6 different kinds in my tank all in the same area, some do great, others just kinda survive. Hope that helps!

 

[SeaDweller]

I will have to ask my tank guy on that one. I will get back to you

What do you mean you have to ask your tank guy? Are you paying someone to just put things together and you’re sitting back and “enjoying” it? Is someone maintaining your tank and stocking it? Is that person checking your parameters for you?