Space's 15g SPS
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spacetime
Active Member
So before xmas got a few corals from WWC's sale, but have also been dealing with GHA. Lost one pally polyp as they had some sort of brown coating. May have lost two tri-color across as they have been having tissue loss I decided to dip them with Seachem Reef Dip. I think it is iodine based. While one has further turned white there is still some red/purple. The other is still red but I still do not see any polyp extension on either piece. I have moved all SPS higher in the tank now and kept the flow higher. MP10 is just above half on reef crest mode.
Livestock: CUC is 1 sand sifting star, 12 small snails, the pet store calls them turbo snails. Fish are 2 blue eyed cardinals and 1 PJ cardinal. I am thinking I may be overstocked and am considering returning the PJ because he is aggressive towards the blue eyes which are normally swimming together.
I have a reactor running with seagel approx 1/2 of a 250 ml bottle. My sump has a jager 75w heater, a tunze nano DOC skimmer, and as much rock as I can fit in there. I have put a bag of chateo in as well, but am looking for a plastic soap dish I can suction cup to the inside of the display to keep it in.
Water changes have been heavier lately with the last three weeks being 5, 2.5 and 5gal again last week with tropic marin bio-actif salt.
Salinity is a constant 1.025
DKH Ca Mg I am unsure of because my test kits are old. I know for certain that DKH test is off. MG and CA were last checked at 375 and 1110.
PH is 8.0-8.1
PO4 is 0.0
NO3 is 0.0
NO2 is 0.0
NH4 is 0.
Feeding: I feed mysis either once or twice a day. When I have time to feed twice I generally feed less than the once a day amount. I generally go through approximately a cube a week. Recently I have been soaking the cube in RO to defrost then straining out the water and storing it in fresh RO. When I feeding lately I have been using a turkey baster and generally let the ricordeas get one mysid and I see if the acan will take either one to three in separate polyps. This is done with the regular feeding amount so I am not feeding more to the tank but just taking a few away from the fish. It actually works better than feeding at the top of the tank to curb aggression because it tends to disperse the food better.
I am not sure if I am feeding too much as all the food is consumed within 30 seconds, but as stated earlier I am considering getting rid of a fish. I knew it was risky putting these corals in a newer tank but did it anyway because of the great deal. Overall I am happy with the health of the tank but obviously something is off because I am growing algae.
I will be ordering new bulbs soon for my aquatic life fixture I plan on getting 2x ATI Blue+ 1x UVL Actinic (the most purple as possible as I am unimpressed with the Geiseman Pure Actinic which I feel is too white) and am currently undecided on the white bulb on whether to order a ATI Coral Light (hints of red and green?) ATI Aquablue Special, or GE 6500 daylight.
I am planning on changing out the seagel for GFO and Carbon. I like the ability to control the amount of GFO to keep phosphate in check and starve out the GHA. I will post photos later today.
Livestock: CUC is 1 sand sifting star, 12 small snails, the pet store calls them turbo snails. Fish are 2 blue eyed cardinals and 1 PJ cardinal. I am thinking I may be overstocked and am considering returning the PJ because he is aggressive towards the blue eyes which are normally swimming together.
I have a reactor running with seagel approx 1/2 of a 250 ml bottle. My sump has a jager 75w heater, a tunze nano DOC skimmer, and as much rock as I can fit in there. I have put a bag of chateo in as well, but am looking for a plastic soap dish I can suction cup to the inside of the display to keep it in.
Water changes have been heavier lately with the last three weeks being 5, 2.5 and 5gal again last week with tropic marin bio-actif salt.
Salinity is a constant 1.025
DKH Ca Mg I am unsure of because my test kits are old. I know for certain that DKH test is off. MG and CA were last checked at 375 and 1110.
PH is 8.0-8.1
PO4 is 0.0
NO3 is 0.0
NO2 is 0.0
NH4 is 0.
Feeding: I feed mysis either once or twice a day. When I have time to feed twice I generally feed less than the once a day amount. I generally go through approximately a cube a week. Recently I have been soaking the cube in RO to defrost then straining out the water and storing it in fresh RO. When I feeding lately I have been using a turkey baster and generally let the ricordeas get one mysid and I see if the acan will take either one to three in separate polyps. This is done with the regular feeding amount so I am not feeding more to the tank but just taking a few away from the fish. It actually works better than feeding at the top of the tank to curb aggression because it tends to disperse the food better.
I am not sure if I am feeding too much as all the food is consumed within 30 seconds, but as stated earlier I am considering getting rid of a fish. I knew it was risky putting these corals in a newer tank but did it anyway because of the great deal. Overall I am happy with the health of the tank but obviously something is off because I am growing algae.
I will be ordering new bulbs soon for my aquatic life fixture I plan on getting 2x ATI Blue+ 1x UVL Actinic (the most purple as possible as I am unimpressed with the Geiseman Pure Actinic which I feel is too white) and am currently undecided on the white bulb on whether to order a ATI Coral Light (hints of red and green?) ATI Aquablue Special, or GE 6500 daylight.
I am planning on changing out the seagel for GFO and Carbon. I like the ability to control the amount of GFO to keep phosphate in check and starve out the GHA. I will post photos later today.
spacetime
Active Member
So an update. I've been dosing Aquavitro Fuel and have little algae growth... nearly none on the glass. Does this mean my PO4 and nitrate is too low? Much of my SPS frags are not coloring up how I want them to. The tri tips are still pale with some purple, although they are growing a base (I've moved them lower as per LFS advice). A new acro frag middle placement is growing but is brown, and the last is higher up and is somewhat blue, but looks brown in normal light... i think I see some flouresence coming in the base.
I've notice that my calcium dropped way low for the past week 300 as per salifert, and I've had to up my alk dosing. I do not have a reliable MG kit so I am just adding reasonable amounts each day until I see the coraline take off, (last tank that how I knew MG was in the right place)
I have no algae growth and my skimmer is pulling out some gunk but not much. I am down to only a single PJ as he killed the both of the blue eyed cardinals. I over feed him and target feed the corals every day with cyclopeze and mysids... I am doing approx a 2 gal water change each week with Bio Actif.
How can I get these SPS to shine? My lighting is a 4x24 Aquatic life with 1x Geiseman Pure Actinic & 1x ATI Blue+ for my blue lights (8 hrs) and 1x ATI Coral+ and Blue + for daylights 6 hours.
Is my PO4/NO3 (both at 0) too low? Are my lights too crappy for this 15g display or are they too bright? Am I running too much GFO in my reactor (4 tablespoons w/ 2 TBS of Rox Carbon)? Or do i just need to give it time?
I've also noticed that my PH is 8-8.1 never any higher. Should I look into removing my ATO and topping off each night with a Kalk mix, or maybe one of those PH to 8.4 alk supplements?
I've notice that my calcium dropped way low for the past week 300 as per salifert, and I've had to up my alk dosing. I do not have a reliable MG kit so I am just adding reasonable amounts each day until I see the coraline take off, (last tank that how I knew MG was in the right place)
I have no algae growth and my skimmer is pulling out some gunk but not much. I am down to only a single PJ as he killed the both of the blue eyed cardinals. I over feed him and target feed the corals every day with cyclopeze and mysids... I am doing approx a 2 gal water change each week with Bio Actif.
How can I get these SPS to shine? My lighting is a 4x24 Aquatic life with 1x Geiseman Pure Actinic & 1x ATI Blue+ for my blue lights (8 hrs) and 1x ATI Coral+ and Blue + for daylights 6 hours.
Is my PO4/NO3 (both at 0) too low? Are my lights too crappy for this 15g display or are they too bright? Am I running too much GFO in my reactor (4 tablespoons w/ 2 TBS of Rox Carbon)? Or do i just need to give it time?
I've also noticed that my PH is 8-8.1 never any higher. Should I look into removing my ATO and topping off each night with a Kalk mix, or maybe one of those PH to 8.4 alk supplements?
