Coral not doing great?

[Dierker2003]

Hey I have a ten gallon nano tank and it’s seeming like some of the corals aren’t doing amazing. I have a Kenya tree which seems to be doing fine aswell as a purple mushroom. For Lps I have a green kryponite Candy cane that seems to be subtracted quite a bit aswell as a toxic green hammer which was doing well but within a week both heads died. In the tank I have two fish: a blue chromis and clownfish and both are doing AOK.
just tested all my parameters and everything seems to be normalish only thing is is megnesium is a little low at 1100ppm.
Alk is at 7.8 which is a little low where I’d like it to be. Calcium is 415ppm. Today is the first day I’ve tested these parameters as Ijust bought the test kit. Is it possible I just went through a swing? Another concern of mine is my lighting. I have a basic reef light off amazon and it hasgrest reviews but I’m not sure where to set it. There is no dimming the light just are able to adjust the blue to white ratio. Nitrite is 0 and nitrate isbasically 0 aswell. Salinity is 1.024. Temp is 78.8. Any ideas?

 

[Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef]

Hey I have a ten gallon nano tank and it’s seeming like some of the corals aren’t doing amazing. I have a Kenya tree which seems to be doing fine aswell as a purple mushroom. For Lps I have a green kryponite Candy cane that seems to be subtracted quite a bit aswell as a toxic green hammer which was doing well but within a week both heads died. In the tank I have two fish: a blue chromis and clownfish and both are doing AOK.
just tested all my parameters and everything seems to be normalish only thing is is megnesium is a little low at 1100ppm.
Alk is at 7.8 which is a little low where I’d like it to be. Calcium is 415ppm. Today is the first day I’ve tested these parameters as Ijust bought the test kit. Is it possible I just went through a swing? Another concern of mine is my lighting. I have a basic reef light off amazon and it hasgrest reviews but I’m not sure where to set it. There is no dimming the light just are able to adjust the blue to white ratio. Nitrite is 0 and nitrate isbasically 0 aswell. Salinity is 1.024. Temp is 78.8. Any ideas?

Mg is very low, what is your Phos and PH? Alk is low also, should be between 8 and 9 at minimum.

 

[Dierker2003]

Mg is very low, what is your Phos and PH? Alk is low also, should be between 8 and 9 at minimum.

That’s what I was thinking. I’m going to buy some supplement and raise them slowly. For magnesium I’m going to shoot for 1350ppm, alk at 8.5 DKH and calcium 420ppm. I don’t have a test kit to measure phosphate but I use RO water that I check and reads 0 tds. Ph is 8.0

 

[Shirak]

1.024 salinity will give you lower numbers on your calcium magnesium alk. I would raise to 1.026. 10g tank with just a couple stony lps corals you could just do water changes. What salt are you using? That can make a difference too.

 

[Dierker2003]

1.024 salinity will give you lower numbers on your calcium magnesium alk. I would raise to 1.026. 10g tank with just a couple stony lps corals you could just do water changes. What salt are you using? That can make a difference too.

I have a hydrometer to measure my salt in the water and it reads 1.024 but I was told hydrometers actually read 1 below so my salinity would actually be 1.025?

 

[DancingShark]

Dont supplement yet. Just do a water change to raise your parameters. How old is the tank. Can we get a full tank shot. And your lights.
And yeah like @Shirak said bring your salinity up a bit.
When I had a 10gallon I used to do a 50 to 90 percent water change. Just make sure temp is within range.

 

[Uncle99]

You need to check phosphate and ensure it remains in the 0.03 range and nitrate in the 2-10ppm range.
Ensure all parameters are in the range and stable.
Stability in those numbers will obtain great rewards.
High phosphate will inhibit growth.

 

[Shirak]

I have a hydrometer to measure my salt in the water and it reads 1.024 but I was told hydrometers actually read 1 below so my salinity would actually be 1.025?

Yes the swing arm hydrometers typically don't read correctly. It's quite possible your salinity is 1.025 but it could be 1.022 or who knows... I would get a decent refractometer for salinity and a small bottle of calibration solution to have on hand and periodically test the unit. They are not very expensive and will give you accurate and precise readings.

 

[Dierker2003]

Dont supplement yet. Just do a water change to raise your parameters. How old is the tank. Can we get a full tank shot. And your lights.
And yeah like @Shirak said bring your salinity up a bit.
When I had a 10gallon I used to do a 50 to 90 percent water change. Just make sure temp is within range.

It’s only been 5 days since I did my last water change should I still do another? It

Dont supplement yet. Just do a water change to raise your parameters. How old is the tank. Can we get a full tank shot. And your lights.
And yeah like @Shirak said bring your salinity up a bit.
When I had a 10gallon I used to do a 50 to 90 percent water change. Just make sure temp is within range.

Tank is almost 4 months old. Lighting is the Lumination Pixie 30. It has only been 5 days since my last water change should I still do one? It was 30%.

 

[Shirak]

What salt are you using?

 

[DancingShark]

That was my next question what salt.
It could just be the salt. I wouldn't worry to much about alk being 7.8 tho. I keep this tank at around 7.

As long as number aren't jumping around you are good. You know stable. I haven't seen mag that low tho. Test your new saltwater when ever you decide to do a water change so you can get an idea of what parameters you are starting with.

 

[Shirak]

That was my next question what salt.
It could just be the salt. I wouldn't worry to much about alk being 7.8 tho. I keep this tank at around 7.

As long as number aren't jumping around you are good. You know stable. I haven't seen mag that low tho. Test your new saltwater when ever you decide to do a water change so you can get an idea of what parameters you are starting with.

I agree mag being low is unusual since it drops slowly and I don't think there is much in the tank using it plus the 30% water change recently. Which leads me to further believe the salinity is low and possible below what the hydrometer is reading.

Percent wise, how much are you doing in water changes on a monthly basis?

 

[Dierker2003]

Tank is almost 4 months old. Lighting is the Lumination Pixie 30. It has only been 5 days since my last water change should I still do one? It was 30%.
[/QUOTE

What salt are you using?

corallife marine salt

 

[Dierker2003]

I agree mag being low is unusual since it drops slowly and I don't think there is much in the tank using it plus the 30% water change recently. Which leads me to further believe the salinity is low and possible below what the hydrometer is reading.

Percent wise, how much are you doing in water changes on a monthly basis?

I do a 30% water change every Sunday.

 

[DancingShark]

Umm. Looks like magnesium is within parameters for that brand of salt.

 

[Dierker2003]

Umm. Looks like magnesium is within parameters for that brand of salt.

Yea I noticed this. Does that mean I should either add magnesium or switch salt?

 

[Shirak]

Increasing your specific gravity will increase the concentration. The way I read it is you should be getting 1250ppm magnesium at 1.023 sg. Since you have stated you are running 1.024 you should have high 1250-1300, provided your hydrometer is correct (which it probably isn't).

So next questions.. What test kit are you using? Could be your test kit or a combination of low salinity and test kit error.

 

[Dierker2003]

Increasing your specific gravity will increase the concentration. The way I read it is you should be getting 1250ppm magnesium at 1.023 sg. Since you have stated you are running 1.024 you should have high 1250-1300, provided your hydrometer is correct (which it probably isn't).

So next questions.. What test kit are you using? Could be your test kit or a combination of low salinity and test kit error.

It’s a brand new Red Sea reef foundation kit.

 

[Dierker2003]

Hey guys I just wanted to add in I’ve noticed the tank being fairly cloudy for the last couple weeks and still is. Could this be a result of precipitate from having low Magnesium??

 

[Shirak]

It’s a brand new Red Sea reef foundation kit.

So your test readings should be pretty good. I would mix up a batch as suggested and test the newly mixed saltwater so you can rule out bad salt. If you are doing 30% water change every week there is no reason your numbers shouldn't be pretty much exactly what the salt mix is.

As far as your light. Sorry I can't help there. There are so many lights and so many factors determining light levels the corals receive. Best always to err on the side of caution and start with lower power and work your way up or put new corals in a less bright area and slowly move them over a few weeks into brighter light.

Your nitrates are 0 you said? So feeding is a question.. Have you tried feeding the candy cane directly at night?