Coral/parameter help

[alicia24]

Hello all,
To start I have 90g with 30g sump.
Parameters:
n03 32.2 (hanna)
Sg 1.025
Ph 8.1 (api)
kh 11.3 (goes up to high 12s)
Phosphate 0.13 (hanna) i use gfo but struggle with phosphates
Mg 1110
Calcium 520 plus (api is as high as it goes) this is what it runs when I do daily 5ml alll for reef
I'm new to coral keeping and am struggling with parameters. I use instant ocean (purple box) and all for reef for dosing. My dkh is always high. Calcium is generally low. If I do dose the 20ml daily all for reed recommended my calcium, dkh, and mag all shoot up. I have been trying just 5ml per day. When I do that the calcium runs too low. I was thinking of adding the balling a. My corals grow extremelly slow not so much the euphylias but zoas and I can't keep sps (the one I had bleached out).just need help do I change salt or change dosing? I feed once per week woth benereef and phyo and just started doing twice per week. I have one alveopora that will not open at all. Sorry this is long. Any guidance would help! I just want my corals to grow faster and get this alveopora to open

 

[Snowxcross]

Hi Alicia - how new is your tank? I have almost the same build and use all-for-reef as well. With all-for-reef, dose it based on your alk only. For now, i wouldnt dose any all-for-reef. Try to see if your alk goes down. What are you using for your alk checker? I use Hanna, but have the trident also and the trident is typically .5 less than hanna, which helps me less check via hanna. The thing with all-for-reef is that you need to start out small (like you are doing) but it seems even 5ml is too much, so dont do it all. See what's consuming your calcium - your mag is a bit low too. You want to keep that in or around 1300, i keep mine close to 1500. If you dont have many stony corals or coraline, i cant see your calcium dropping a lot. You may want to try a hanna calcium checker as well. Ultimately you could probably benefit from doing an ICP test. Having a PH of 8.1 is fine, people grow corals just fine with different PH numbers no problem. I think the problem here is keeping stable parameters, you just need to find that sweet spot where your numbers fluctuate but not over the top. Say your alk swings over a week or from 11 to 10.5 or something within the .5 - .7 difference... That's fine, shoot for that range instead of a specific number. Nitrates and phosphates are fine, i run mine a bit lower and often have to add nitrates in some form to keep them within a specific range i target. I ask if the tank was new because this all would make more sense if so (new like under a year). Once you have stability which you know, then your corals will start to take off and grow. As for the one sps you had bleach on you, most sps come from low nutrient tanks, so by putting it in 32ppm of nitrate, it could have freaked it out, but it was probably more sensitive due to the fluctuations in your core parameters.

I'm not sure your flow situation, but it's possible the alveapora needs more or less of that, not to mention lighting? Start by putting it in a low flow/low light area and see how it responds. As for feeding, you're fine. I have a lot of corals in the mixed reef and copepods, i put a good squeeze of live phyto every morning before the lights come on or if not the morning, in the evening before i feed. I also use Benepets, and reefroids. Benepets wont increase your phosphates, but reefroids will. So you're doing fine there. You technically dont need to feed your corals, they'll eat whats in the water column as a benefit.

So in summary, dont dose all-for-reef yet, test your paramenters. Then, test all parameters again in 7 days or so. Jot down in a spreadsheet the difference, do the math and see what's happening each day +/-. Make slight adjustments based on that. Go do a an ICP test to verify your paramenters, seriously wont hurt and will ensure you're making the right adjustments.

 

[alicia24]

Hi Alicia - how new is your tank? I have almost the same build and use all-for-reef as well. With all-for-reef, dose it based on your alk only. For now, i wouldnt dose any all-for-reef. Try to see if your alk goes down. What are you using for your alk checker? I use Hanna, but have the trident also and the trident is typically .5 less than hanna, which helps me less check via hanna. The thing with all-for-reef is that you need to start out small (like you are doing) but it seems even 5ml is too much, so dont do it all. See what's consuming your calcium - your mag is a bit low too. You want to keep that in or around 1300, i keep mine close to 1500. If you dont have many stony corals or coraline, i cant see your calcium dropping a lot. You may want to try a hanna calcium checker as well. Ultimately you could probably benefit from doing an ICP test. Having a PH of 8.1 is fine, people grow corals just fine with different PH numbers no problem. I think the problem here is keeping stable parameters, you just need to find that sweet spot where your numbers fluctuate but not over the top. Say your alk swings over a week or from 11 to 10.5 or something within the .5 - .7 difference... That's fine, shoot for that range instead of a specific number. Nitrates and phosphates are fine, i run mine a bit lower and often have to add nitrates in some form to keep them within a specific range i target. I ask if the tank was new because this all would make more sense if so (new like under a year). Once you have stability which you know, then your corals will start to take off and grow. As for the one sps you had bleach on you, most sps come from low nutrient tanks, so by putting it in 32ppm of nitrate, it could have freaked it out, but it was probably more sensitive due to the fluctuations in your core parameters.

I'm not sure your flow situation, but it's possible the alveapora needs more or less of that, not to mention lighting? Start by putting it in a low flow/low light area and see how it responds. As for feeding, you're fine. I have a lot of corals in the mixed reef and copepods, i put a good squeeze of live phyto every morning before the lights come on or if not the morning, in the evening before i feed. I also use Benepets, and reefroids. Benepets wont increase your phosphates, but reefroids will. So you're doing fine there. You technically dont need to feed your corals, they'll eat whats in the water column as a benefit.

So in summary, dont dose all-for-reef yet, test your paramenters. Then, test all parameters again in 7 days or so. Jot down in a spreadsheet the difference, do the math and see what's happening each day +/-. Make slight adjustments based on that. Go do a an ICP test to verify your paramenters, seriously wont hurt and will ensure you're making the right adjustments.

Thank you so much for the detailed response!!! I got this tank from someone who had it up and runni g a few years. I just got it in september. Is there something you recommend for calcium supplement? I have tried not dosing all for reef and my calcium drops to mid 300s. But when I use it it shoots up 500 plus even in small amounts. I got a salifert kit for calcium today and it was 500. For alk I use salifert. I did move the alveopora next to another alveopora that is open and happy and it's been a few days and it still won't open. It was open for a few months when I first got it. How often should I try moving it? I know that stresses them out too. I wish this was easier to get stable paramaters. Thank you again I really appreciate how detailed you were! I will check parameters in a week after not dosing.

 

[Snowxcross]

Thank you so much for the detailed response!!! I got this tank from someone who had it up and runni g a few years. I just got it in september. Is there something you recommend for calcium supplement? I have tried not dosing all for reef and my calcium drops to mid 300s. But when I use it it shoots up 500 plus even in small amounts. I got a salifert kit for calcium today and it was 500. For alk I use salifert. I did move the alveopora next to another alveopora that is open and happy and it's been a few days and it still won't open. It was open for a few months when I first got it. How often should I try moving it? I know that stresses them out too. I wish this was easier to get stable paramaters. Thank you again I really appreciate how detailed you were! I will check parameters in a week after not dosing.

It does seem odd that calcium would decrease and increase by that much. I'm dosing 55ml of AFR throughout the day. If i stopped dosing, my alk would tank drastically, but calcium slowly over a period of time. I think for now, try to test calcium with a different test kit, just to rule out your current test is accurate or not. Do you have a tank full of stony corals taking up calcium that much though? You can use any calcium supplement to bump up calcium if you want. I use RedSea to boost my mag when needed, sure i could have used TM balling C i think? but i have a bottle of redsea already. As for the alveapora, if you've moved it next to one that's fine, try just other areas near the one thats open, see if there are any changes in the next few days.

Definitely get an ICP test done, it will show you what's off, and you can then check it against your tests, then make adjustments. Stability and patience is what we need to solve this!

 

[alicia24]

It does seem odd that calcium would decrease and increase by that much. I'm dosing 55ml of AFR throughout the day. If i stopped dosing, my alk would tank drastically, but calcium slowly over a period of time. I think for now, try to test calcium with a different test kit, just to rule out your current test is accurate or not. Do you have a tank full of stony corals taking up calcium that much though? You can use any calcium supplement to bump up calcium if you want. I use RedSea to boost my mag when needed, sure i could have used TM balling C i think? but i have a bottle of redsea already. As for the alveapora, if you've moved it next to one that's fine, try just other areas near the one thats open, see if there are any changes in the next few days.

Definitely get an ICP test done, it will show you what's off, and you can then check it against your tests, then make adjustments. Stability and patience is what we need to solve this!

Thank you!! I do need to be more patient I think. I have a few euphyllias that are pretty big (3) but everything else is just soft corals. I think it takes my system a long time to consume when I dose the all for reef. So I think that is playing in part of the readings. I will not dose for a week & go from there!