what am i doing wrong?

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 20, 2014

first off hey im steve new to r2r
so i started 2 years ago and recently upgraded from a nano to a 55
i built my setup completely diy sump, diy pvc overflow to a tank i made.... pretty proud it took all of 6 months. it was up and running what i was told was 250w MH. it cycled about 8 months ago but was doing alright zoas and an acan. they spread but i waited to start dumping money into coral. after almost a year it almost seemd as if the MHs where burnig my acans. like an idiot i bought an led strip from petco. fluval full spectrum marine 263 leds 46watts 25,oook. im pretty dumb ill just say that first but i dont know if thats good or bad. in two weeks my phosphates shot sky high and my tank took a huge swing. ive gotten all under control but its not that 100% look. my corals are not dyng but just not nice and tight. maybe 80% id like some help as to what i need to keep an eye on, or any trick to giving your reef that extra push.

my levels are
salinity 1.023
cal. 500
ammonia 0ppm
nites 0ppm
phosphates were.......5.0! now down to .25 thanks to a combo of vodka/vinegar dose.
ph 8.2 day 8.0 night
temp 78f
rimless 16 deep 4' long.
20 gal sump housing a skimmer
thats about it.

seems like the softies like the leds but they sound really weak. ill post some pics in the morning.

chefjpaul · Dec 20, 2014

Welcome!

Salinity seems low.
Do you test alkalinity? Very important!

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 20, 2014

no i do not. or mag. still learning. i recently lowered salinity from 26 because i read it will help lower calcium. seemed to work and all my softies kinda tightened back up. sorry ive been drinking first message was badly worded. hahaha im just trying to keep my corals alive. they seem to be ok. i spot feed once a week. but i know they have more in them

chefjpaul · Dec 20, 2014

http://www.reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/articles/articles-by-topic

Here are some great reads.

Check out Randy's forum / page on here also.

Need to be testing all three major chemicals to keep them balanced.
With a good test kit.

Keep your salt level @1.026.
Just need to get the basics down and understandable, then everything will start making sense.

Go slow.

brandon429 · Dec 20, 2014

In my opinion we need full tank shot to solidify

and off numbers alone things seem starved, i would increase spot feeding and water changes exponentially for two mos and reassess.

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 20, 2014

okay I will be kicking my salinity up slowly within the next week then I will be taking a photo I wasn't able to sign up on my cell phone which has all the pictures I had to do it on my laptop so I'm out and about I will post some shots as soon as I figure out how to...I'm out of the house right now and unfortunately this is the only full tank shot I have I will get back to that in an hour or so

brandon429 · Dec 20, 2014

Excellent

this is my brainstorm off your pics

-clean system not storing up pockets of waste (corners of tank, under live rock, typical w age)
-some fish bioloading which by association will give nutrients to the corals, but spot feeding the corals as well is a big part of speeding up growth and maybe the most important
-when full tank shots show any signs of calcification on the tank walls, some coralline or some tubeworms, ie small detail changes in the rock this can be used to infer things about the corals environment. when a tank is new its harder to infer that since things are so bare clean, but at least we can see you haven't overdone bioload for example. its a decent balance

-your lighting is a recent change. acclimation to it is likely whats going on, to solidify questions about your lighting you simply

need to locate threads where just that exact light grew out sps for example (calcification details) or literally grew some soft corals into frags or documented larger colonies

that is extremely blue, not that it wont grow coral but its not the most common so it w be interesting to see what kind of full grow out threads exist for your light, so that we aren't guessing as to its abilities especially in that much blue. want to see what corals have done for others long term under that bad boy

water params dont seem to be an issue here so far imo, they are in ranges known to produce coral

any doubt about water params can be mitigated with large water changes until you are sure. when in doubt, change some gallons matching temp and salinity of the water thats enough. I see this as an acclimation and lighting verification issue so far. full tank shots are that helpful.

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 20, 2014

Thank you so much. I still want to use mh but want to see what the LEDs do. I keep the blues on only till I sleep. Its daylights for 10 maybe 9 hours a day.

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 20, 2014

Thank you so much. I still want to use mh but want to we what the LEDs do. I keep the blues on only till I sleep. Its daylights for 10 maybe 9 hours a day.

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 20, 2014

all those pictures were taken just now the lights have been on for about 15 minutes

brandon429 · Dec 20, 2014

have you been target feeding mysis to the acans during their stressful period? Its nice that no skeleton is showing around the corallite, full tissue recession.

closed up polyps that dont show bare septa imo means something different than closed up polyps that do. short term variations in being open never amounted to much in my tank. I think your corals dont look bad at all, perhaps that was a bit high up in the aquascape for acans but they didnt bleach, look ok.

have they been target fed recently, if so what did you feed em

the lighting changed up what was visible in a neat way. some calcification is evident in the lower sandbed areas to indicate some age, its those rocks w no coral that really stood out above and looked newer than what they are. big plerogyra appreciates some mysis thats for sure, big coral needs mass maintenance.

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 20, 2014

iSpot fed everything about 2 times to 3 times a week but when I realize my levels were up drastically I quit to about once a week yes it's fed mysys shrimp. See I know they are not dying I'm just confused as to why they are not 100% and yes I need to clean the hell out of the glass. Figured the lights kicked a new cycle into play and was just letting it do its thing .

Gotasplinter · Dec 27, 2014

any updates?? following along

PatrioticAquaholic · Dec 27, 2014

As of now I picked up a master red sea test kit. Mag alk and cal. My dKH is 7 calcium is 550 and mag is 2000... Pretty out of whack. Trying to figure out how they affect each other and how to balance and lower my levels. Once I get these figured out I think that it will be 100% again..... My nano I never had to worry bout this. Had a new and two clowns. Was a nice little tank. + when I went to the shop to pick up my test kit I picked up a ZOA frag. has 3 different colonies