Corals are ticked yay

[Pkunk35]

Just chiming in, good advice here already,
I 100% think it’s just too much water changing, I did the same on a 32g with 5g changes so I def think cutting it down will resolve in time. Maybe skip a week
Get that phos and nitrate readable but slowly.

anecdotally I think zoas can be sensitive with no nutrient in the water

 

[Rmckoy]

15 gallons and I started two weeks ago. I do weekly water changes of five gallons (same schedule for almost 8 months now). I am gonna go to the fish store and have them test phosphates. But even then i just did a water change last week that was almost ten gallons, and I have only fed reef roids once so i feel I would see some sort of change this week if it was phosphates.

The issue is .
water changes have little effect on phosphates .
even though you believe water changes are removing phosphates similar to nitrates the rocks will leach out enough phosphates over time

 

[Spare time]

Dosing aminos is the best way imo to allow corals to tolerate 0 nitrate.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Hello all. For a couple weeks now I've had troubles with my zoas, duncan, and gonipora. I just started dosing a couple weeks ago and I've been trying to get the tank dialed in, and I can't seem to get everything happy again. The zoas, all of them except the ugliest color naturally, won't open up fully at all anymore. The duncan polyp has been fine, but the green "skin" has slowly been receding. And the gonipora won't fully open. My alvepora also hasn't been open nearly as much as it usually is. Another clue that something is off is that my leptastrea is not fully open either, and thats only ever happened once before.

Tank is a year old
Nitrate: salifert test shows 0 but I feed heavy
Alkalinity: 8.6
Calcium: 450

I dose reef roids twice a week and i feed the duncan twice a week. I haven't done any major changes except for the dosing, and I started that because these corals weren't looking good. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You definitely want some nitrates and phosphates in the system. Make sure you aren't completely stripping the tank. Otherwise you may have to change your filtration up a bit.

Or is your goal to run an ULNS?

 

[dannyd_]

What do you have for lighting?

I have two 36 inch t5 that I have been running since the start.

 

[dannyd_]

You definitely want some nitrates and phosphates in the system. Make sure you aren't completely stripping the tank. Otherwise you may have to change your filtration up a bit.

Or is your goal to run an ULNS?

No I am not trying to do ULNS I honestly just didn't think about stripping the tank of nutrients. I am for sure going to cut down on the water changes.

 

[dannyd_]

The issue is .
water changes have little effect on phosphates .
even though you believe water changes are removing phosphates similar to nitrates the rocks will leach out enough phosphates over time

Well is the idea to have just a steady amount of phosphates? I am honestly suprised that the test came backa s zero becuase I am doing reef roids twice a week.

 

[dannyd_]

Just chiming in, good advice here already,
I 100% think it’s just too much water changing, I did the same on a 32g with 5g changes so I def think cutting it down will resolve in time. Maybe skip a week
Get that phos and nitrate readable but slowly.

anecdotally I think zoas can be sensitive with no nutrient in the water

Yea I am seeing the common suggestion is my water change schedule. Thank you for the input.

 

[Rmckoy]

Well is the idea to have just a steady amount of phosphates? I am honestly suprised that the test came backa s zero becuase I am doing reef roids twice a week.

If it’s a newer system it’s possible the rocks and sand are absorbing the phosphates .
Do you have cheato or other algae ?
If you’re adding reef roids I can almost suggest testing error , or phosphates are bound somewhere

 

[dannyd_]

If it’s a newer system it’s possible the rocks and sand are absorbing the phosphates .
Do you have cheato or other algae ?
If you’re adding reef roids I can almost suggest testing error , or phosphates are bound somewhere

The system is a year old. I don't have a cheato compartment. I'm also thinking that it was testing error, but I'm going to get a phosphate test kit for myself because I had my LFS test for phosphates and it came back zero.

 

[Rmckoy]

The system is a year old. I don't have a cheato compartment. I'm also thinking that it was testing error, but I'm going to get a phosphate test kit for myself because I had my LFS test for phosphates and it came back zero.

If the lfs is using api test kit it can be anywhere below 0.25 and it will show zero
0.25 is excessively high but this particular kit lacks accuracy

 

[reeftankdude]

And last week you did a 66% water change, you are removing all the nutrients from the water. I haven't done a water change on my 75 for 2 months now, was doing 10% weekly, my nitrates are 25-45ppm and phos run from 0.08-0.18. I only feed my fish once per day with quality flakes only for at least 3 years now and my fish are fat and happy for 7 years. I also haven't fed the corals except for phyto 2-3 times a week and My corals are fine.

What flake food are you using. thanks

 

[jabberwock]

Instead of weekly water changes. Try changing a 16 oz red solo cup of water everyday. Then do a clean up water change every 2 or 3 moths of 10 to 15 percent.

 

[anthonygf]

What flake food are you using. thanks

I have mostly Ocean Nutrition- Prime Reef Flakes, Formula One and Formula Two Flakes has a good variety, Zoo Med's- Spirulina 20 all this mixed up into one container. Formula One Pellets for bottom feeders. Nori 2 to 3 days a week for my Yellow Tang and Filefish and they also eat plenty of flakes and pellets.

 

[anthonygf]

I have two 36 inch t5 that I have been running since the start.

That may not be enough light, I don't know. You may need to do a par reading. I have never done one myself but I think I have enough light on my 75 gallon 4 foot tank, 3 LED fixtures putting out a total of 380 watts. I think your t5's are at most 40 watts each meaning 80 watts total for the system.

 

[dannyd_]

That may not be enough light, I don't know. You may need to do a par reading. I have never done one myself but I think I have enough light on my 75 gallon 4 foot tank, 3 LED fixtures putting out a total of 380 watts. I think your t5's are at most 40 watts each meaning 80 watts total for the system.

The corals haven't had issues ever and the zoas haven't had issues for months. Something changed recently and I can't figure out what it is. The lighting has been working with all the corals good so far.

 

[dannyd_]

Instead of weekly water changes. Try changing a 16 oz red solo cup of water everyday. Then do a clean up water change every 2 or 3 moths of 10 to 15 percent.

This is a good idea I will go ahead and try this!

 

[anthonygf]

The corals haven't had issues ever and the zoas haven't had issues for months. Something changed recently and I can't figure out what it is. The lighting has been working with all the corals good so far.

Well maybe your lighting is sufficient, don't forget the fluorescent tubes degrade quicker than LED, I hear 6 months or 1 year they should be replaced. I have a LUX meter, it checks the candle power of light. When the light is new I get a reading and recheck it over time. It will tell you when the light output is reduced and will give you an idea how weak your light gets over time and maybe when to change them. Mine is called a Digital Illuminance Meter.

 

[dannyd_]

Well maybe your lighting is sufficient, don't forget the fluorescent tubes degrade quicker than LED, I hear 6 months or 1 year they should be replaced. I have a LUX meter, it checks the candle power of light. When the light is new I get a reading and recheck it over time. It will tell you when the light output is reduced and will give you an idea how weak your light gets over time and maybe when to change them. Mine is called a Digital Illuminance Meter.

Yes I was beginning to wonder if it was the age of my bulbs, as they are around 6 months old. However I was told by a couple reef stores they should be good too around 9 months. But I was thinking this was worth a look into. I will check out the LUX meter. Thanks for your input!

 

[wculver]

Hello all. For a couple weeks now I've had troubles with my zoas, duncan, and gonipora. I just started dosing a couple weeks ago and I've been trying to get the tank dialed in, and I can't seem to get everything happy again. The zoas, all of them except the ugliest color naturally, won't open up fully at all anymore. The duncan polyp has been fine, but the green "skin" has slowly been receding. And the gonipora won't fully open. My alvepora also hasn't been open nearly as much as it usually is. Another clue that something is off is that my leptastrea is not fully open either, and thats only ever happened once before.

Tank is a year old
Nitrate: salifert test shows 0 but I feed heavy
Alkalinity: 8.6
Calcium: 450

I dose reef roids twice a week and i feed the duncan twice a week. I haven't done any major changes except for the dosing, and I started that because these corals weren't looking good. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have questions as do others including what the Phosphate looks like and also what the Nitrate number really is. Using either the Red Sea test or a Hanna checker will be useful for that. If the Nitrates are literally at zero that is a part of your problem. I've had SPS die over night from a bottom out when I was also feeding a couple times a week.

That said, you may have more than one issue and may be why it's hard to solve. If the Gonis for example are also slowly slipping away they may actually need some liquid aminos, something like Acro Power. Without it, mine waste away over the course of months.

You also mentioned you are dosing, are you also including trace elements in this regimen? I've had an issue where as I increase the dosage I have to mix the trace elements, especially the heavy metals, at a far lower ratio than what it suggests.

Hopefully these are some helpful thoughts.