Trying to find balance

[Gutruf]

Hey all,

I hope you are doing well!

To prefix I had a 350 prior and it was way easier to keep my levels correct. So not fully green just struggling.

I moved to a new place and only have space for a smaller tank, I now have a 50L tank I am struggling with my LPS not opening fully, they are really temperamental, however my frog has 2 baby heads forming and hammer is splitting, so they aren’t unhappy just not fully opening.

My mag and calcium are slightly low but if I keep up with the regular water changes 20% daily and 50% once a week, I lose the nutrients in the water so I am stuck, do I dose for the missing mag and calcium?

2 clowns
2 Pyjama cardinals
1 shrimp
1 hermit

Feed daily with shrimp, pellets and reef roids spot feeding.

1 Hammer
1 Torch
1 Frog
1 Elegance

Par ranges from 100-150.

If I can give any additional info I will do.

Thanks all.

 

[jrmailo]

Correcting Ca and Mg would be the first step.

Smaller tanks are harder to keep stable for various reasons. If you are worried nutrients, I would just feed less since you do not have a heavy bioload.

Beside that focusing on maintaining stable ALK, Ca, and Mg should be your priority for your LPS.

 

[Dan_P]

Hey all,

I hope you are doing well!

To prefix I had a 350 prior and it was way easier to keep my levels correct. So not fully green just struggling.

I moved to a new place and only have space for a smaller tank, I now have a 50L tank I am struggling with my LPS not opening fully, they are really temperamental, however my frog has 2 baby heads forming and hammer is splitting, so they aren’t unhappy just not fully opening.

My mag and calcium are slightly low but if I keep up with the regular water changes 20% daily and 50% once a week, I lose the nutrients in the water so I am stuck, do I dose for the missing mag and calcium?

2 clowns
2 Pyjama cardinals
1 shrimp
1 hermit

Feed daily with shrimp, pellets and reef roids spot feeding.

1 Hammer
1 Torch
1 Frog
1 Elegance

Par ranges from 100-150.

If I can give any additional info I will do.

Thanks all.

Are you satisfied with the light level and water flow in the aquarium are what the coral need?

 

[scotty333]

Wait a minute , first thing is you’ve got no nutrients so your corals are starving , my euphyllias love high nutrients, like .15 phosphate and maybe 15 nitrates
I would address that first
My calc and mag is also low at 380 and 1170 and am working on slowly raising it but none of corals are affected by this , if I drop my po4 to <.10 they’re less inflated

 

[Gutruf]

Are you satisfied with the light level and water flow in the aquarium are what the coral need?

Heya, yeah lighting is set for LPS:
UV 40
Violet 40
royal blue 50
blue 60
green 4
deep red 4
moonlight 1
cool white 6

friend with a Par reader was here to get the set conditions.

As for flow my wavemaker is push a little too high for the tank even on 1% power, however the corals flow very lightly, they aren't being blown away.

 

[Gutruf]

Wait a minute , first thing is you’ve got no nutrients so your corals are starving , my euphyllias love high nutrients, like .15 phosphate and maybe 15 nitrates
I would address that first
My calc and mag is also low at 380 and 1170 and am working on slowly raising it but none of corals are affected by this , if I drop my po4 to <.10 they’re less inflated

What would you recommend for getting nutrients in without increasing my feeding. I used to use redsea AB+ but struggled with GHA. Thanks.

 

[scotty333]

I have trouble getting them down ! Ha

Well, I also use ab+ which is why I have to dose lanthium chloride to reduce the po4 it adds to the tank , just feed a little more till you at least get some readings

 

[Gutruf]

More food it is! Will keep it up for a while and see what results I get from it. Thanks all will keep you updated.

 

[scotty333]

Keep us posted n good luck , go slow though don’t whizz a bucket in ha