got a hurting coral could use some advice.

[cracker]

Good evening, The corals seem to be responding very well to the new lighting. A couple of big water changes also helped. Parameters improved, Mg, Alk, Ca are all higher. will test in a few more days to see if these levels are stable. I'm also feeding the corals a lot more. I hope this will help as well. I'm not too concerned about too much as I have like zero Po4 .
Oh, I almost forgot ! The new T5 fixture is set at 75 %. It's pretty high above the tank. The par readings at the bottom are 120/130 . Think it's too high? I can easily lower the % to 70. & see what I get. I'd actually like to lower the fixture a bit. Thanks for any OP's

 

[Shaddow_wolf169]

Unless your running sps I would leave the light that's a good pat for the bottom probably put you around 400 up top. Let your corals acclimate to the lights over a months time.

 

[Timothy Butler]

Mal. thanks for the reply. This tank is 75 gallons.19 months old. Yes on the carbon. I'm using regular red sea salt I use kalkwasser with my ato. Parameters are stable until I do a water change then they drop. I have to dose Mg & stump remover for some trates. Your hammer looks a lot better than mine ! my stony lps are slowly fading. the corals just look lack luster. not growth just living. I had a used steve's led fixture,it died. So I hung some 165 box's . Until I could afford a better light. I just ordered a T5 fixture,should have it mid next week. Hopefully it will be "good" lighting. I'm just working on one factor at a time to get this right . Thanks agains Everybody.
sal 1.025
No3 less than 4 (I have to dose stump remover)
Po4 0 ( this happens every water change, been feeding 3 small fish pretty heavy)
Mg 1260
alk 7.0
Ca 375

What kind of lighting do you have over your aquarium LPS art easy kept inbred this should not be a problem it should grow in the same parameters as that hammer Coral I might take it out and put it in an isolation tank just so something bad doesn't happen to the rest of the corals I have isolation tanks I put new specimens in 410 215 days to look for disease and pests this should be done with any thing you put in your tank how long or when did you notice the coral not responding

 

[Timothy Butler]

Yes if you have the ability to control the power to the light turn it up or turn it back and see how the coral responds should be exactly like the hammer Coral they're very similar so if your Hammer corals not bothered have you done anything to the other Coral moving it more light more water over it or did it just stop responding after being a healthy specimen

 

[cracker]

Thanks for the insight Tim, I Just installed a 6 bulb T5 from ATI . This is my 1st T5 fixture so I have no experience with this type of lighting. I "had" an older Steve's ( I think) led fixture I bought from a friend. Well it died after a year so I hung a couple of black box led's until I could get another. I have moved coral pieces around trying to find a good spot they liked. The corals started looking bad when the old led fixture died. I've had other issues like low KH & stability . Ya know, the usual beginner stuff. So as of now, I'm concentrating on keeping Mg,Alk ,Ca levels stable. The new lighting? I just want the par to be within OK range & see how things progress.
Also On a side note, today I put my hand in the tank & felt that stray electricity tingle. it wasn't too bad, Believe me I have felt the BITE ! I started unplugging stuff & found an old power head . Now I was bare foot so I might of been acting as a ground, not sure. This "could" have been another issue. Goes to show Ya, in this endeavour all kinds of little things need to be watched .

 

[cracker]

Evening Folks ! The T5 fixture has been up for a few weeks now. The corals seem to be responding well. The lobo looks better now. Still having issues with dropping CA & ALK levels. I was really hoping the Kalkwasser/ATO would be would handle it. So now I'm pondering whether to just break out the wallet & set up a doser of some type. Maybe adding vinegar will increase the amount of dissolved kalkwasser would do the trick, A separate kalk doser maybe? Anyway lot's of questions. After all if this hobby was easy I'd lose interest.