what can cause this

[mtraylor]

It's is a 48" long tank and my pink acropora bleached over night. My thoughs are, my Dt is at 72.4° and refugium is at 76.5 I have a 300w and 200w heater in the refugium. My Dt temp fluctuates how can I stop that it fluctuates 6° and I think that is affecting my tank alot also. Please help and I know I'm planning on purchasing another light. And what are your thoughts on hanging a small frag rack on the front of my display with different hights and putting my frags there till I understand a little more?

48" long aquariums is nice size, so you will need the second light to get spread evenly throughout the aquarium. As far as buying a frag rack and a light for that and all that stuff. Save your money. Focus your money on your main display and keep that money reserved to resolve issues your are having. JMO.

At this point in the adventure, we have not figured out what is causing the issues in the aquarium. Start testing your alk twice a day at the same time for 3 days to see what is going on there. HOw old is the aquarium again? If your temperature is truely fluctuating 6 degrees then that is a major problem and that will kill all your corals. LEts get to the bottom of that.

How are you measuring temperature in the display vs the refugium? I dont see how its possible to you have 2 different temperatures from the display to the refugium if the tank is all in one. The only way that I can think that can happen is if your refugium/sump is not connected to the display and you havn't noticed that water is not flowing. They should be the same temp. The 2 heaters are fine, over sized but fine. What type of heaters are they? Do they have temperature adjusters on them? Do you have a controller?

 

[declanisadog]

alright get 2 radion xr15s and 3 mp10s and a heater controller and that will help first, also tell us about your prams

Do you work for ecotech or something?

 

[Wiringwizards]

I live in Florida and I like my house cold at night 72 and when Im not home 78 and my tank temp is moving with the temp. At the moment it's cooler then normal outside and I had the window open. I'll test my water now.

 

[declanisadog]

Very strange that you would have such a huge temp difference. What are your heaters set to? It looks like the indicator light isn't on in those pics. Have you confirmed that they are working? I actually had heaters on both of my tanks die in the past couple of months.

Also is that the same thermometer, or two different ones? Those digital thermometers are not the greatest in my experience.

 

[Wiringwizards]

2 different ones same company

Phos-.5
Amm-0
Cal -450-460
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Alk 7.0

 

[mtraylor]

No way that is happening. Something is wrong with your temp guages. Please measure temp in display and sump with same unit and report back. One is bad.

 

[Wiringwizards]

Assuming it will take a few minutes I just took the one from the display and put into the sump and vise versa but both are the same on screen .2° diff

 

[Wiringwizards]

Alsk any secrets on getting rid of the red algae I now the floor and rocks everyday even use a toothbrush sometimes

 

[mtraylor]

Assuming it will take a few minutes I just took the one from the display and put into the sump and vise versa but both are the same on screen .2° diff

Thats more like it.

 

[mtraylor]

Alsk any secrets on getting rid of the red algae I now the floor and rocks everyday even use a toothbrush sometimes

How old is aquarium? what type of skimmer do you have? What is TDS of water from LFS?

 

[Wiringwizards]

I mean it says my sump is 73 and dt is 76.8. tank is around 5-6 months old and I am using a seaclone 100 skimmer

 

[Wiringwizards]

I'm assuming the one saying 73 is bad

 

[mattgsa]

I would suggest one of these
Inkbird Itc-308 Digital Temperature Controller Outlet Thermostat, 2-stage, 1100w, w/Sensor
They are really cheap on amazon. Then get a dosing pump to maintain cal, and Alk. With just a few corals you can simply dose kalkwasser. Large swings can cause the problems you are having now.

 

[Wiringwizards]

Can I use a doser with this directly or do I need to mix it.
I want to set up to drip into this section

 

[mattgsa]

I've never used the Kent calcium, I would assume you can dose it directly. However it will not help you maintain your alk. Kalkwasser is cheaper and it does both, not to mention it will also maintain your PH. I dose it with a BRS dosser that way I can control how much is going into the system. There are other dosers that come with their own timer. I just use my controller to operate the doser. You can also just add it to your ATO water.

 

[Wiringwizards]

Thanks everyone I will purchase stronger powerheads( wavemakers) and a new light soon I appreciate all the help. One last question about flowerpot corals I have a green and I read that they require good water param. It has started a few new heads. I figured if I could keep that alive I would do okay with an arco. Can someone suggest a good Hardy acro with nice color that I can start with. I want to start small to learn how to dose and keep a solid param for my tank.

 

[declanisadog]

Bonsai is pretty bulletproof. Green slimer is a good starter too, but not as hardy as the bonasi in my experience.

 

[madweazl]

I don't believe there is any need for you to begin dosing anything; there is very little in the tank to consume it. Because you aren't dosing, there isn't any reason to check your alkalinity on anything more than a weekly basis right now. Water changes will be enough to maintain a range of parameters that are fine for quite a while yet. You don't need to add any of the Kent calcium supplement at this point.

What I will suggest is testing the water you're getting from the LFS; just run the same tests you've performed on the aquarium and note the deltas. Whatever levels you're getting from that are what you'll want to try and maintain in the future IF that is what you're going to continue to use (provided your test results from it don't show anything undesirable).

To address the temperature difference between the sump and display (little tough to see if you measured both from a single thermometer or not), what size pump are you using for the return? The flow would have to be almost nothing to create such a temperature delta. My house drops to 66° at night and is kept between 71-74° during the day. Two 150w heaters are enough to maintain 78.8-78.9° 24/7 (and can do so from at least 60° in home). One possibility is that the heaters are set to something closer to the cooler end of your homes temperature instead of the desired tank temperature (typically somewhere between 78-80° for most people but the margin for acceptable temperatures is much larger).

 

[Stickboy15]

high quality products will help thats why I recommend what I did, more flow will help with your red slime

 

[Rcollick]

I don't think you need 2K in new equipment to solve your problem. There are plenty of options that would be far less expensive. If your budget allows for it then great. There are plenty of reefers that use much less expensive equipment and have awesome tanks.