What to do next!

[timmy_55812]

I'm now almost 1 year since I started my 55 gallon tank. I have about 10 corals frags to start and 10 fish. Plenty of inverts. Led lights, canister filter, skimmer 2 powerheads. I dose calcium about every other day, and add Ph buffer once a week. Feeding corals 3 times a week. Water changes 25% every 2 weeks and cleaning canister monthly now, was every water change but it was never that dirty.

So I was wondering what should I be doing now? I'd like to see more coral growth ad my frags don't seem much bigger from the day I bought them.

Any suggestion would be great...

 

[cancun]

I'm now almost 1 year since I started my 55 gallon tank. I have about 10 corals frags to start and 10 fish. Plenty of inverts. Led lights, canister filter, skimmer 2 powerheads. I dose calcium about every other day, and add Ph buffer once a week. Feeding corals 3 times a week. Water changes 25% every 2 weeks and cleaning canister monthly now, was every water change but it was never that dirty.

So I was wondering what should I be doing now? I'd like to see more coral growth ad my frags don't seem much bigger from the day I bought them.

Any suggestion would be great...

Hi!! Looks like a great set up....what kinds of corals do you have? What kind of fish? What are your water parameters?

 

[SPR1968]

Well it looks great so far from what I can see.

Many corals grow slowly, so if you want to fill it out, it’s just a matter of keep adding coral frags and then watch them grow.

There are ways to make corals grow faster, the Red Sea Accelerated Growth program, for example that I used for around 12 months, uses raised levels of foundation elements to encourage faster growth and it certainly works. 11-12dKH alkalinity etc. Take a look at this and the Coral Pro salt.

Just make sure you read up on anything though before you make any changes if everything is running well at the moment

I prefer frags because I’ve found more success as they grow in my water conditions from early on, rather than larger colonies, just my experience. They are also cheaper.

It all depends what you’re trying to achieve. If you want a packed living reef, you just need to keep adding new frags until your happy with the look, or in my case get to a point it’s nearly full!! Lol. But there’s always room for one more........

But again, it looks good now, and it’s your tank.

And welcome to R2R!

 

[SuncrestReef]

What are your alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium levels, and how frequently do you test them? I’ve been keeping my tank at 8.4 dKH, 420 ppm calcium, and 1350 magnesium and I’m seeing good growth on my SPS frags. It will also depend on the type of coral. Here’s my green slimer: (which are notoriously fast growers)

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I'm now almost 1 year since I started my 55 gallon tank. I have about 10 corals frags to start and 10 fish. Plenty of inverts. Led lights, canister filter, skimmer 2 powerheads. I dose calcium about every other day, and add Ph buffer once a week. Feeding corals 3 times a week. Water changes 25% every 2 weeks and cleaning canister monthly now, was every water change but it was never that dirty.

So I was wondering what should I be doing now? I'd like to see more coral growth ad my frags don't seem much bigger from the day I bought them.

Any suggestion would be great...

Sallstrom asks why people worry about the speed of coral growth?
As long as their alive & look healthy, thats whats important.

 

[timmy_55812]

Hi!! Looks like a great set up....what kinds of corals do you have? What kind of fish? What are your water parameters?

Softies, mushrooms, poly, toadstool, blastos, fish-wrass, coral angel,pajamas,firefish,golden sleeper goby, 2clowns, and a longhorns Benny.

Salinity I keep at 1.025 +/- 1. Calcium I keep at 420. Mag and alk I do not t test for, I'll need test kits for them..

But from the posts I've seen so far is encouraging that I'm on the right path and to keep plugin along. Ty.

 

[Dsnakes]

Looking good so far. Which LED lights are you using?

Be sure to keep up with the canister filter, they are notorious for being a nutrient time bomb

 

[Weedy Sea Dragon]

We started to target feed with Reef Roids and it seems to make our frags grow faster then before. What are you feeding yours?

 

[theMeat]

Figure out why you regularly need ph buffer

 

[timmy_55812]

Looking good so far. Which LED lights are you using?

Be sure to keep up with the canister filter, they are notorious for being a nutrient time bomb

Current USA orbit marine Led. Is my Main light, have 2 lamp goose necks to but I just use the blue lights on them. As for my canister filter, YES! When I 1st started I debated hard as I saw all the issues people had, but I still did it over a sump. So far it isn't that bad inside so I just in the last 2 months went to a monthly cleaning to see if there is a differance, so far nitrates are around 10ish +/- and don't spike. I need a par meter though as I don't how much par they put out.

 

[theMeat]

Oh, canister filter explains ph issue. Measure ph before lights come on in morning, and again before light go off at night.
Do you have auto top off?

 

[Fudsey]

I kinda hate to tell you this, but those lights really are not strong enough for most corals. They might work with some LPS and softies. Unfortunately the currents don't put out enough to grow SPS.

 

[timmy_55812]

I kinda hate to tell you this, but those lights really are not strong enough for most corals. They might work with some LPS and softies. Unfortunately the currents don't put out enough to grow SPS.

Truth hurts. But I kinda new this, It was to just get started with, I knew I was going to need an upgrade. Any recommendations for an LED for 55 gallon?

 

[timmy_55812]

Oh, canister filter explains ph issue. Measure ph before lights come on in morning, and again before light go off at night.
Do you have auto top off?

Yah, I will do that this next week and what the Ph closely. No auto top off but I do add water manually when the water drops below my line I set (about 1"). I don't have a lot of evaporation.

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

I've been using a canister filter for 3 years with no issue. I clean mine monthly. Water changes every 2 weeks. As long as you stay on top of maintenance, you should be good. I'm running a Fluval FX6 on a 125 gallon. I don't have sps, only lps and soft corals.

 

[theMeat]

Yah, I will do that this next week and what the Ph closely. No auto top off but I do add water manually when the water drops below my line I set (about 1"). I don't have a lot of evaporation.

I've been using a canister filter for 3 years with no issue. I clean mine monthly. Water changes every 2 weeks. As long as you stay on top of maintenance, you should be good. I'm running a Fluval FX6 on a 125 gallon. I don't have sps, only lps and soft corals.

Canister filter can offer plenty of bacteria “bank” but with no skimmer, or water falling through air (sump drain) not a lot of aeration so ph issues more likely. Fresh air, and lotsa water movement at tank surface is a good idea. Bet a hob filter with a bio wheel would help big time too

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

Canister filter can offer plenty of bacteria “bank” but with no skimmer, or water falling through air (sump drain) not a lot of aeration so ph issues more likely. Fresh air, and lotsa water movement at tank surface is a good idea. Bet a hob filter with a bio wheel would help big time too

Sorry I forgot to add that I do have a hob skimmer as well as 2 powerheads for surface aeration.

 

[theMeat]

Sorry I forgot to add that I do have a hob skimmer as well as 2 powerheads for surface aeration.

If you could run skimmer air intake from outside that should help with ph issue. An auto top off with kalk would too

 

[Fudsey]

Truth hurts. But I kinda new this, It was to just get started with, I knew I was going to need an upgrade. Any recommendations for an LED for 55 gallon?

There are quite a few options and how much you want to spend is a factor. You could look at the Orphek strips and combine a few. Or go with a couple Ai hydra 26 or kessils or radions....

 

[Mr.L3wis]

The Ai hydra series is probably the cheapest option while keeping great controlability. Awesome control interface. The black box grow coral well but you cant dial in specific colors, it also does not ramp up or down.