About Had IT With Corals

[erk]

Thanks a lot to answer

No problem. We are all eager to "fix" problems, but each tank is unique. Solutions to other's problems may only cause you new ones. Since you've adjusted your light schedule, I'd stop making any new changes for the next couple days and let things settle. Do water tests and follow your standard daily/weekly maintenance plans. Then after several days or a week, try another method if things aren't improving.

 

[Dan_K1309]

No problem. We are all eager to "fix" problems, but each tank is unique. Solutions to other's problems may only cause you new ones. Since you've adjusted your light schedule, I'd stop making any new changes for the next couple days and let things settle. Do water tests and follow your standard daily/weekly maintenance plans. Then after several days or a week, try another method if things aren't improving.

ok and thanks

 

[Billldg]

Where did you get this, in the presets or manually?

Presets, I also agree with @erk , don't make to many changes to quickly as you either don't know what fixed a problem or just made the problem worse, I should have said that first and foremost.

 

[Dan_K1309]

Presets, I also agree with @erk , don't make to many changes to quickly as you either don't know what fixed a problem or just made the problem worse, I should have said that first and foremost.

Is this it?

 

[MTBake]

I'm really leaning towards too low of nutrients and the lighting not being quite right. I don't have experience with that light so can't really make recommendations on that.

Keep at it. I feel like your close. Get cheap tester frags from the LFS or local reefers every once in a while. Just don't add a lot at once. Focus on making what you have thrive for now. The rest will fall into place.

Investing in a ro/di system eventually is a good idea. Gives you more control over the water used. Saves money in the long run as well.

 

[Billldg]

Is this it?

That be the one, initially it has a lot of blue, but you can tweak it down the road if you like.

 

[Dan_K1309]

We use aquamaxx all in one in the media reactor and continuum in the canister filter for ohosphate control. Use Fuel and Reeef Roids, Rods and Prime flakes for fish.

 

[Dan_K1309]

That be the one, initially it has a lot of blue, but you can tweak it down the road if you like.

We both like it the orange acan really standa out

 

[Dan_K1309]

I'm really leaning towards too low of nutrients and the lighting not being quite right. I don't have experience with that light so can't really make recommendations on that.

Keep at it. I feel like your close. Get cheap tester frags from the LFS or local feeders every once in a while. Just don't add a lot at once. Focus on making what you have thrive for now. The rest will fall into place.

Investing in a ro/di system eventually is a good idea. Gives you more control over the water used. Saves money in the long run as well.

Thanks we ordered a tester for the rodi water

 

[Billldg]

We both like it the orange acan really standa out

LOL, That is does. Like I said you can tweak it down the road as I did, but right now keep it on that for a while. I also made a blue schedule, or I called it a acclimation light schedule for new frags, mainly I took that schedule and took out channels 1 and 4. I would use that for a few days to allow the new frags to adjust and then turn the acan setting on after. Remember also, one of my 1st post talked about the nitrates and nitrites possibly being to low, may need to dirty the tank up a little as LPS like a little higher parameters. You will succeed at this, no question.

 

[Dan_K1309]

LOL, That is does. Like I said you can tweak it down the road as I did, but right now keep it on that for a while. I also made a blue schedule, or I called it a acclimation light schedule for new frags, mainly I took that schedule and took out channels 1 and 4. I would use that for a few days to allow the new frags to adjust and then turn the acan setting on after. Remember also, one of my 1st post talked about the nitrates and nitrites possibly being to low, may need to dirty the tank up a little as LPS like a little higher parameters.

We ordered Red Sea A and B energy that has a lot of that in it,amino acids, vitamins etc.

 

[Dragonreef202]

I have had good success with my hammer coral. I had loss a couple of heads but the one that survived has grown to 5 heads. Still I think I could get faster growth but as long as it's not dying I'm ok with it. I also just got a frogspawn coral and a Duncan coral these lps seem easy to care for.

 

[Billldg]

We ordered Red Sea A and B energy that has a lot of that in it,amino acids, vitamins etc.

Trust me when I say that you will, down the road look at your new frags one day and realize they are growing and it will put such a big grin on your face you will look like the joker, lol. At that point you realize why you started a reef and it will all be worth it.

 

[Dan_K1309]

Trust me when I say that you will, down the road look at your new frags one day and realize they are growing and it will put such a big grin on your face you will look like the joker, lol. At that point you realize why you started a reef and it will all be worth it.

Thank you, you’re a real big help. I will try not to bug you too much. My wife and I are retired and forget that some
people still working. Like I said, we don’t quit at anything.

 

[Billldg]

Thank you, you’re a real big help. I will try not to bug you too much. My wife and I are retired and forget that some
people still working. Like I said, we don’t quit at anything.

You can bug me anytime, I actually enjoy helping people when I can. Like I said, you will know what I am talking about when you see your frags growing. I had my 1st frag I bought 3 months ago, and was wondering if it was going to grow, a acan, only saw 1 new polyp, but then I decided one day to turn in around and wouldn't you know it, it had 3 other polyps growing and the smile it put on my face is priceless. I want you to feel that also as it is a great feeling. I have no doubt you will feel the feeling also. So keep us informed as we enjoy it also.

 

[Dan_K1309]

You can bug me anytime, I actually enjoy helping people when I can. Like I said, you will know what I am talking about when you see your frags growing. I had my 1st frag I bought 3 months ago, and was wondering if it was going to grow, a acan, only saw 1 new polyp, but then I decided one day to turn in around and wouldn't you know it, it had 3 other polyps growing and the smile it put on my face is priceless. I want you to feel that also as it is a great feeling. I have no doubt you will feel the feeling also. So keep us informed as we enjoy it also.

Thanks

 

[NewbieReefer11]

Yeah just keep trying. As my name implys im also still a newbie. I am only just starting to see success from my 105 gallon reef and its 2 and a bit years old.

 

[Dan_K1309]

Yeah just keep trying. As my name implys im also still a newbie. I am only just starting to see success from my 105 gallon reef and its 2 and a bit years old.

Thanks

 

[Dan_K1309]

Yeah just keep trying. As my name implys im also still a newbie. I am only just starting to see success from my 105 gallon reef and its 2 and a bit years old.

Thank you very much

 

[ilyad]

Hi Dan,

I see that you have gotten a lot of advice in a very short time frame, but I wanted to chime in as well and give you a bit of help from when I was a beginner. Mostly, I'll give you a few good suggestions that work generally well for this hobby, as well as some of the stuff that you can try out on your tank.

First and foremost, patience is key! This hobby requires a lot of it and nothing happens quickly. Small incremental changes will always get you farther than doing a lot of changes too quickly. When caring for corals, invertebrates, and fish, they prefer stability, hence lots of changes can become very stressful for them.

That being said, in your case, it looks like you may have had a bit too much white light which may have been killing your coral. LED's are incredibly powerful and can bleach and kill corals in hours even. Looks like you may have found a good schedule now, so I would stick with it and let the corals you have adjust to it. Then after some time, if you prefer, you can make small changes to the individual channels to tweak closer to the color you like. As a rule of thumb, blues/UV's/Violets are usually kept at high amounts, whites at medium to low amounts, and reds/yellows/greens should be a little to just tweak the color preference.

Anyways, I also notice that you use quite a lot of various media and supplements for your tank. A lot of those items are typically designed for tanks that are more established, have heavy coral concentrations, and large various micro fauna. For newer tanks, all of those things may actually create more problems than help. For example, I've seen here people suggesting using Amino Acids as a food supplement for coral, but overdosing aminos can in fact thin out the flesh on the coral, and cause it to die if other things create any stress on the coral. Your tank being still a young tank (they don't really mature until 1-2 years), you can have fluctuations in parameters that stress coral. Over dosing various supplementation may cause more issues than solve them. And overdosing a tank with very little coral is very easy to do.

If your LFS is using good water, you maintain a consistent water change schedule, and set up you light, you shouldn't even require any additives, at least at the beginning. Personally, that is what I would do.... I would head back to the basics. Do a weekly water change of 10-20%, use a bit of carbon only, and let the tank settle in. If you are able to place a skimmer somewhere, that would be great. If not, be careful about overfeeding the tank, especially if you attempt to feed your coral. Less is better in this situation. Then test parameters. Get a good tester for Nitrates and Phosphates and test. In most cases, a skimmer and carbon combined with weekly water changes may be sufficient to keep the water at the appropriate levels. If you notice your phosphates or nitrates climb (because you've tested that with a good tester) above the preferred amount, then and only then add media that removes nitrates and phosphates. In the alternative, if you are feeding a lot, reducing the frequency or amount you feed may be sufficient to keep parameters in place without adding media. Then make small changes in your routine: frequency of water changes, how much you change, what media and how much you use, and how much and how often you feed. Eventually you will find a good common ground where you can feed enough and keep the parameters in check. Then you'll only have to make adjustments if you have large changes. In the meantime, you'll create better stability for your tank and things will look a lot better.

After you get a hang of that, you can start experimenting with aminos, booster programs and whatnot to try to improve colors and growth of coral (if you arent happy with the results you'll be getting by then). I bet you though, that if you take it slow, go back to the KISS method and create stability, you'll find you'll be quite content with where you end up.