Corals not doing good

[Clipsterzzz]

My corals haven't been doing good for the past few weekends. Actually none of them have grew since I started my tank!(March 2017) 55 gallons. hammer coral polyps grew but no new heads. Hammer coral and gsp have been doing good currently and all other corals were doing very good previously. My lobo has sharp ridges around tissue and looks terrible mid day and night. My monti and acro stopped extending polyps. Barely even see it.I believe it's my nitrates. They're never at 0 and apparently my ammonia as well. I test using API and lfs Always say "has something died, you need to do a wc" I do 10% weekly using ro from lfs and instant ocean salt. I run a Reef Octopus 100 hob protein skimmer and fluval xp canister filter. In my canister I have these bio things like plastic and pebble looking. Above that, I have two pads and a carbon pad finishing off with filter floss at the very top. I will test all other Params besides nitrate and ammonia tomorrow. I will also post a pic of the tank and the stuff inside canister. I've heard they cause nitrates so I was wondering if I should remove a couple of the bio pieces a week and maybe cut one foam pad into half and throw one piece away over weeks because they trap detritus? Here is a pic of nitrates ammonia and ph:

 

[Crabs McJones]

My corals haven't been doing good for the past few weekends. Actually none of them have grew since I started my tank!(March 2017) 55 gallons. hammer coral polyps grew but no new heads. Hammer coral and gsp have been doing good currently and all other corals were doing very good previously. My lobo has sharp ridges around tissue and looks terrible mid day and night. My monti and acro stopped extending polyps. Barely even see it.I believe it's my nitrates. They're never at 0 and apparently my ammonia as well. I test using API and lfs Always say "has something died, you need to do a wc" I do 10% weekly using ro from lfs and instant ocean salt. I run a Reef Octopus 100 hob protein skimmer and fluval xp canister filter. In my canister I have these bio things like plastic and pebble looking. Above that, I have two pads and a carbon pad finishing off with filter floss at the very top. I will test all other Params besides nitrate and ammonia tomorrow. I will also post a pic of the tank and the stuff inside canister. I've heard they cause nitrates so I was wondering if I should remove a couple of the bio pieces a week and maybe cut one foam pad into half and throw one piece away over weeks because they trap detritus? Here is a pic of nitrates ammonia and ph:

Do you know your exact parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, alkalinity, ph, magnesium. Are you testing or is your LFS testing your water? And if so what test kit are they using. If it's a good test kit and you are registering ammonia, that is a large part of the problem. If you have ammonia that means your tank didn't finish cycling. Also I would ditch the canister filter as you said they are notorious for being nitrate factories if not kept in prestine condition.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

My params, will test the test tomorrow. They use strips:/ which I heard is worse than the API I am currently using. Nitrates and ammonia definenlty seem to not be at 0. Can't really tell. What I'm confused on is how can my tank be no fully cycled. How am I keeping corals and fish alive? Been 11 months since start. Corals been doing good with extension just not much for some corals. I will upload pic of my tank tomorrow as well. And for ditching the canister, wouldn't taking it all down at once catch my tank? Because there is bacteria on the bio ceramic things and foam pads?

 

[Katydives]

replace the pads you have in your canister filter and do larger more frequent water changes.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

replace the pads you have in your canister filter and do larger more frequent water changes.

Wouldn't that cause a cycle? Because of bacteria colonizing on it?

 

[dimo]

How long do you let the ammonia test sit before you check the color? I've found with API it will always turn green if it sits long enough.

Also have you ever dosed calcium or alkalinity? If not, get those tested. Low alkalinity will stall/stop growth.

With a canister filter, you'll probably never see 0 nitrates. Too much detritus will collect there and it will always produce nitrates as a result. You'd have to clean it out at least weekly probably to make a dent in trying to lower your nitrate by removing detritus before it has a chance to convert to nitrate as it breaks down.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Wouldn't that cause a cycle? Because of bacteria colonizing on it?

How did you setup the canister filter. I have from bottom to top on my freshwater tank. First compartment, course pad(removes detritus before the next filters. Next compartment fine pad( removes smaller detritus). Next compartment is bio balls and polishing pad. Next compartment is ceramic rings and another polishing pad. Once a month i throw out all of the fine and polishing pads, and clean the corse pad. The bio balls and ceramic rings do the biological filtration and of i see too much detritus i shake them in some tank water. At this time i also dump out what nastiness has collected in the water inside the filter.

In saltwater if i ran this it would just be pads and perhaps a chemical filtration. The live rock providing the biological filtration, and the filter just polishing.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Water flows in goes to bottom -> up.I have bio stuff on the bottom followed by a filter pad, then another one. Above that is a carbon pad then filter floss at the very top. I heard I should just ditch the bio stuff and both pads but am wondering if that would kill everything and could do it slowly as cutting pads into pieces one by one. Also, how would I know if my tank would be able to handle the bio load etc

 

[ot7]

I have a 45gallon tank and I do a 15% water change weekly, maybe youd want to increase your water changes. But before you do a water change you might want to do a 35% water change just so your sure that anything affecting your tank is partially out. For the canister filter, I use one to, I have 4 filtration pads all the way at the bottom and the rest is live rock. I use to use ceramic rings and bio balls but I saw that it held a lot of detritus. I've had my tank running for almost two years and everything has been growing nicely, mostly lps and softies.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Water flows in goes to bottom -> up.I have bio stuff on the bottom followed by a filter pad, then another one. Above that is a carbon pad then filter floss at the very top.

What model filter is it? Most ive seen the water goes bottom to top. But as long as it is mechanical-> bio you are good . But yes you can toss the pads and not effect your cycle

 

[Clipsterzzz]

What model filter is it? Most ive seen the water goes bottom to top. But as long as it is mechanical-> bio you are good . But yes you can toss the pads and not effect your cycle

The filter is a fluval rena filstar xp. I clean it weekly. For ammonia it sits 5 minutes and always looks like that. I clean it weekly.

 

[Gareth elliott]

If they are still the way they used to be its from the bottom corse and fine pads, bio stars middle, polishing pads, and chemical filtration.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

So I should remove the bio stuff and see if nitrates are down and if they aren't I should remove one pad? ANd see if there's any progress

 

[Gareth elliott]

Do you also use live rock in the aquarium?

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Bought it as dry, seeded it with live sand and bacteria. Been almost a year, so yes. Here is the tank and sunset monti(all polyps use to open and give nice colors)

 

[dimo]

Make some fresh saltwater and test it for ammonia, to rule out there is an issue with the test kit you got. If fact when you test it, also test tank water at same time to compare the results.

There should be no reason for ammonia to be present this far along unless you're somehow preventing the tank from cycling to begin with. When you clean the filter media are you using old tank water or tap water?

Also, I'm surprised your rocks still look that white after a year.

 

[40B Knasty]

What kind of lights do you have?

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Sorry for the late response. Just tested, both new saltwater and tank water ammonia are at 0. When cleaning, I grab the pads and squeeze and soak them in old tank water. I am using fluval marine and Reef 2.0 led lights

 

[40B Knasty]

Sorry for the late response. Just tested, both new saltwater and tank water ammonia are at 0. When cleaning, I grab the pads and squeeze and soak them in old tank water. I am using fluval marine and Reef 2.0 led lights

From what I seen from a thread on R2R those lights do work. Now have you tested your water quality with a 5g white bucket? Just syphon out the water column without agitating the sand bed or rocks. If your tank water is not blue and it has more of a yellowish tint. The water will reduce your par. Run a good carbon like BRS Rox .08. That will help clean your water to give optimal use of your lights to feed the zooxanthellae that gives your coral energy.
I would also test the water parameters of the LFS you buy it from. Alk especially. Some salts are below the recommended value for alk, mag, and cal.
If your water is clean/blue in a white bucket. You might want introduce a nutrients. Try using Reefroids or Reefchili. Some coral foods can have a negative impact. Those 2 do not.
If there is any ammonia in your tank. Dose a bottle of Nite Out ll. It is just beneficial bacteria. Put that on your C nodes/ceramics/biological media. You might want to beef up your biological media. The surface area on those are very low. Like in the 380 range. Get a Marine Pure block or spheres. The surface area is 2300-2400. That is 6x the amount of beneficial bacteria it can hold. Plus with the porosity it can hold anaerobic bacteria. Which is what turns/processes nitrates into the gas form of the nitrogen cycle to help finish it off. Cnodes do not have that capability. If you have bioballs as a biological media. The surface is around 170. That is garbage for holding beneficial bacteria. Hope that helps.

 

[tgrick]

All the above is really good advice. I've had tanks like this in the 80s. I think one thing you are missing with this canister setup is aeration. I would drop an air stone and wait to see what happens. Better yet...a hang on back filter that cascades water into the tank. The Aqauclear line has aftermarket baskets that you can customize with media. I do believe part of the issue here is oxygenation and lack thereof.