About to Quit

[Rmckoy]

Sub corals do best under a shelf or in a cave .
Problem with in a cave , is covering them up feed .

I agree with a lot of the comments above .
the tank looks too new and sterile for corals .

I can add white rocks to mine and within a few days to a week they are no longer white

parameters all look good other than alk . But how stable are they ?

don’t quit yet .. you got this !

 

[jeffchapok]

Don't give up yet. 3 months old is nothing. I couldn't even grow zoas until my tank was 9 months old, then boom!

Nothing good in this hobby happens quickly.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I stopped reading your post after I saw “3 months”.
Your tank is too new. I totally get it. Waiting for your tank to mature sucks. But you have to do it. Keep throwing in corals and they will just keep dying.
this is what I would do. Make it a fish only tank for about a year. After that I would add some easy corals then go from there.
don’t give up.

 

[ZoWhat]

Quiting this hobby with a 3mos old tank is like a Farmer giving up on his corn crop after 2 weeks of planting seeds

"These stalks should be at least 6ft tall by now... its been 2 weeks!"

 

[Brady4000]

I don’t know what your doing wrong. Maybe it’s just I run more white then you... but your tank looks totally different than mine at 3 months. But there’s always amazing advice here on R2R, if not already given to you, I am sure someone here has the answer.

(Don’t look at the coral, look at the rock). Edit: added the original photo for clarity.

This photo was taken almost exactly at the three month mark.

 

[Brady4000]

It kinda looks like my mantis tank that can’t even support algae, because I don’t run any light in it at all.

 

[Brady4000]

Sorry for posting three times, just something I noticed. Your QT has algae in it but your DT doesn’t. Maybe they are getting a lot more light in your QT and that’s why they aren’t doing good in your DT.

Edit: I saw the small amount of algae On the highest point of your rock... still seems like too little light.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Turn the.flow.up.
Turn the.lights up
Feed.more.or.get.more.animals.to.feed. stop.putting the bottle.bacteria and prime.in ur water. Rodi only.please.
Give.it.time..you should see.improvement. hths
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Check salinity. Ph. And alk please.
D

 

[Crustaceon]

From experience, there’s a few things that really stands out to me. First off, your tank is only a few months old, but even then, those rocks look way too clean. I’d say within a week of starting with dry reef rock, they should be kermit the frog green. Not seeing that progression tells me the light intensity isn’t enough. Now an AI prime is rated at 90w. 15% of that is only (if my math is correct) 13.5w. Times two and we’re at 27w.... That’s REALLY low, even for an efficient set of LEDs. I’d honestly start with 50-60w total (25-30% on each light), give it a few months and go from there. You want your tank to look gross at first. Rocks, sand, panels, you want to see all manner of greens at first and hopefully purples as the tank matures. Secondly, for maintenance, simplify it. I’d remove carbon, marinepure, etc. for now. Make your life easier and just religiously do a 10% water change, perfectly temperature matched once per week. I promise it will be PLENTY enough to control excess nutrients. If you have a skimmer, run it. If not, it’s not a big deal either and you can do 15% water changes instead IF needed. Just be consistent with everything you do to your tank and it’ll work itself out and corals will thrive.

 

[zukihara]

Obviously some great advice in this thread.

Mine would be get a hold of a bit of live rock and rid yourself of this sterile state. Make sure your salinity and temp are right then let all the nasty go by. Laugh during that process. Rodi is mandatory.

Then it will all get better.

 

[zuri]

Well guys, I am sorry to say, I’m really considering quitting this hobby. I am so far beyond frustrated with this stupid tank that I literally don’t even know what to say. I have 7 corals that are all slowly dying in my DT while they were thriving in my QT, for now the second time. I don’t get it. I don’t know what to do. My tank is a 38-gallon that is a few months old. Tests show nothing wrong with the water, both pistol shrimp and my gobies are doing great, I use the same RODI water in both tanks with the same salt mix and keep them at the same temperature and salinity.

I added 6 pounds of cured live rock to my display to try and help things along and I’ve added bottled bacteria more times than I can count. I turned down my lights to 15% when I added the corals and they are still dying.

It just makes no sense. I have done water change after water change and it makes no difference. I’m at the end of my rope. If I pull all of my corals out again and put them back in quarantine, what the heck is even the point of having a display?

I don’t know. Somebody please pull me off the edge before I jump and tear it all down.

your literally on the cusp of the tank's life expecting corals to flourish in a tank that hasn't taken off yet lay off the water changes let life happen it's going to get dirty just like life stop fighting it an let it happen, no excessive water changes 10% aweek bump your nutrients up dont c any fish an rehome the sand sifter
you started with dry the uglies will come regardless of what you do but if you keep a sterile tank long enough there are worse things that hair algea that end some reefers tanks

 

[AutumnReefs]

marine pure leaches aluminum.
I replaced all of my blocks with seachem matrix.
haven't lost a single coral since.

Marine pure doesn't kill corals. You can have successful tanks with marine pure. I have run several setups with marine pure and had no casualties. I know this is an anecdote, but so are the cases of marine pure supposedly leaching a supposedly bad form of aluminum. These tanks I refer to also run nothing but mechanical filters.

 

[zalick]

What is the Coralife light? LED or flourescent

Sounds like a lot going on. The advancements in the hobby have sure made things more difficult in many respects. You used to be able to get live rock, a tank, saltwater, heater, lights (power compact, T5, MH) and within a few days growing corals like crazy.

From the sound of it, your lights might be the issue....

 

[Brady4000]

Marine pure doesn't kill corals. You can have successful tanks with marine pure. I have run several setups with marine pure and had no casualties. I know this is an anecdote, but so are the cases of marine pure supposedly leaching a supposedly bad form of aluminum. These tanks I refer to also run nothing but mechanical filters.

+1 I started my tanks with marine pure. Just barely removed it. The media bags were catching too much crud. Other than that... no problems.

 

[Wannabereefvet]

Well guys, I am sorry to say, I’m really considering quitting this hobby. I am so far beyond frustrated with this stupid tank that I literally don’t even know what to say. I have 7 corals that are all slowly dying in my DT while they were thriving in my QT, for now the second time. I don’t get it. I don’t know what to do. My tank is a 38-gallon that is a few months old. Tests show nothing wrong with the water, both pistol shrimp and my gobies are doing great, I use the same RODI water in both tanks with the same salt mix and keep them at the same temperature and salinity.

I added 6 pounds of cured live rock to my display to try and help things along and I’ve added bottled bacteria more times than I can count. I turned down my lights to 15% when I added the corals and they are still dying.

It just makes no sense. I have done water change after water change and it makes no difference. I’m at the end of my rope. If I pull all of my corals out again and put them back in quarantine, what the heck is even the point of having a display?

I don’t know. Somebody please pull me off the edge before I jump and tear it all down.

My advice is about to be the easiest thing you could possibly do.

buy 3 or 4 soft corals that have corraline algae on their base plug/rock

buy two clownfish

do zero maintenance for two months. Feed super light, and just enjoy the tank.

I think you’re driving yourself crazy by trying to do too much and control it all. Just let it ride out and watch things grow and take place.

 

[Samanthabea]

What's magnesium and calcium my husband's tank is fairly new but have very successful coral but unless coraline is growing the tank isn't coral ready

 

[blasterman]

Most of my observations have been covered. This tank is way too clean for 3 months.

If there's a local reef shop see if they can scoop up some substrate from their most seasoned tank after you explain the situation and dump it in yours. A 3month old tank with .07 phosphate and reasonable nitrate has to have some nuisance algae. Its a right of passage.

Next, quit with the water changes. The biggest myth in this hobby is water changes reset a tank to 'default'. So far from the truth.

This is a wild card, but might be something screwed with the salt mix. Potassium or iodine maybe. However, if you are using the same salt mix in your QT its a mystery.

 

[Buffalou]

Well one thing you know for sure you have a heck of a support team routing for you, stay the course!

 

[RobertTheNurse]

At 3 months I started to add a few snails and hermit crabs. 4 months I added my first fish. 6 months 1 zoa frag. That's patience lol this is where I'm at 1 year 3 months.