What am I doing wrong?

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ndz98

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I've had my tank up and running for about 6 months. Everything has been going pretty smoothly. Haven't lost any fish or coral just yet. But as of right now the coral aren't looking to good. It seems like for the past couple months the coral has been looking worse and worse. I can't figure out what could be the problem. I've made sure the skimmer was working properly, made sure I wasn't over feeding the tank, maintained stable levels, adjusted my lights, water changes, etc. It seems that no matter what I do I can't get the coral to stay looking right or grow. My torch coral is looking really bad from when I bought it. Montipora hasn't had a bit of growth. Zoas don't seems to grow nearly as much as I'd expect and some looks like the half way open sometimes. My Alk and calcium have all been pretty stable too for the most part. Mag never gets low. So as the title says, what in the world could I be doing wrong that I need to do better or fix?
 
It seems you are doing everything right, only thing I can think of is your light, maybe a little more adjusting up and down to see how they react.
My tank is only a month older than your and some corals just don't do well or survive. I'm just waiting for the tank to mature.
 
What kind of light are you using? How old are the bulbs? Do you dip all corals before putting them in the tank?
 
What kind of light are you using? How old are the bulbs? Do you dip all corals before putting them in the tank?
I'm using sb reef lights extreme. The lights are a little over a couple months old. No I didn't dip the corals.
 
:)

Feeding

Heterotrophic feed availability is what limits corals in our tanks given all other factors in good standing
check your feed against known coral production threads
We all tend to be hands off, usually fearing tank upset, and feed only the amounts the current work load translates into X no3 or po4 reading. Perhaps that is still too less feed, easy way to tell.

You listed most other factors in good standing so don't concern on them, pick the one thing that is not A+, an exceptional feeding plan. Exceptional feeding plans and export will grow coral. current feeding description sounds common, not A+

A clue was that you didn't mention increased work done and sustained the last three months, water change work, to keep your current params in place but allow for much more spot feeding. Your corals are in neutral nitrogen balance, growth is neutral.

Cup feeding is an option where you cap off some frags on the sand or on a rock ledge with a creative cup/weight arrangement so that the feed you'd normally add to the tank goes into the cup first and that coral eats like a king for a day comparatively

Each feeding round is moved to a different coral. Creative capture or dwell time can feed corals better, not just adding more food overall and spiking nutrients. See if the foods you are using can be found as the sole feeds on other coral growth threads. Waiting on your tank to feed the corals is a choice, also a choice is to do your own feeding and change your wait times, you've already stocked this tank it's hungry and waiting and wanting feed.

if you'll get physically busier with your tank and sustain it three months while feeding much better you'll get growth. You do the work, not buy more gear to take up waste but real water change work to get that tanks metabolism upped. If it works then buy the gear to lessen your work

The fact your corals haven't receded is a statement to your tanks ability to grow good coral when you feed A+

My corals grow with less quality params than yours, solely because my feeding is tops. My tank is so small I grossly over feed it 50x too much and then do three back to back water changes 100% to export all the uneaten massive food. Corals have to be chipped out with dremel and vinegar off the tank walls, problematic growth. Feeding is the trick and the export work to allow it.
 
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6months old? Your tank is an infant! There is a process and maturity your system must go through and achieve to have overall success. More going on than the ammonia cycle. Without knowing anything else it just seems like you rushed things a bit, almost all of us do it. There are always going to be people that add water salt and fully stocked tank in one day and report no problems. This is not the best approach and leads to things like this where things are suffering but you can't pinpoint what it is. At this point, simply keep up with and maintain good husbandry. Over time your tank will acquire the micro stuff it needs.

I feel a, but I waited 3mo before....coming. Too soon for most systems:D
 
My system is only 4-5 moths old and the only "coral" I have is a tiny keyna tree, I got it as a gift from a family member, but It seems to be doing great.
 
I don't think they're pests but they do look kind of like little ants crawling around the rocks and glass sometimes. Maybe pods?
 
Tank pictures can help me decipher what's going wrong

image.jpeg
 
We had discussed capture ideas beyond just spot feeding and matching your feed to coral production threads too but if you are sure it's not the feed I'm sure you'll find the param at fault somehow. Not from above though, looking good. If your light can be found in threads that took frags and added mass to them showing demonstrated growth then you must be narrowing down the field of options
 
your tank looks extremely new for 6 months. i dont see any spots of coraline growth which there should be. theres definitely an issue here. My tank has been up late january and my tank is exploding with growth and coralline. Are you doing any 2part dosing? even if very little to keep parameters stable?
 
My Alk and calcium levels have been stable for the last few months. I have stuff to dose with but I haven't needed to dose. I'm curious too as to why coralline isn't growing.
your tank looks extremely new for 6 months. i dont see any spots of coraline growth which there should be. theres definitely an issue here. My tank has been up late january and my tank is exploding with growth and coralline. Are you doing any 2part dosing? even if very little to keep parameters stable?
 
you need to seed the coralline algae, but are you regularly doing water changes? for the short term you should add some carbon to remove the harmful toxins in the tank
 

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