Vlad12
New Member
Hello
I started my journey with saltwater about 8 months ago. It was a slow process—the cycling took me a long time. I added live rock and one coral (GSP) in April, and this coral is doing great. Then I added more corals in June, and they also did well. Later, I added even more, including a Candy Cane coral and several soft corals.
Everything was looking great, but during testing I noticed that my phosphate (PO₄) levels were very low—undetectable on my Salifert test. I began dosing PO₄ and started acclimating two molly fish to saltwater, hoping they would naturally increase the phosphate levels in the tank.
After acclimation, I added the mollies to the tank and turned off the wavemaker to reduce their stress. One of the molly fish died, maybe I did not acclimated right . I kept the wavemaker off for a week to avoid stressing the remaining molly.
About a month ago, I added a toadstool coral and turned the wavemaker back on. After that, my Ricordea yuma and Discosoma corals started to shrink. I suspected the flow from the wavemaker was too strong, so I turned it off again. About five days ago, my GSP frags closed up, and now my Zoas are shrinking as well. I’ve done extra water changes, but I’m not sure what else to do. I test my water very often, but it's hard to tell from the Salifert test if my PO₄ is below 0.03 ppm—it’s difficult to read at such low levels. Doing a big water change will just crash my po4 again. I want to increase my alkalinity slowly with all for reef starting tomorrow.
My candy cane look unaffected. My toadstool is open but colapses during the night. I know that my lights are low, but I don't want to stress my corals more.
For water change I use distilled water that is safe for aquariums. I also have an ATO.
I started my journey with saltwater about 8 months ago. It was a slow process—the cycling took me a long time. I added live rock and one coral (GSP) in April, and this coral is doing great. Then I added more corals in June, and they also did well. Later, I added even more, including a Candy Cane coral and several soft corals.
Everything was looking great, but during testing I noticed that my phosphate (PO₄) levels were very low—undetectable on my Salifert test. I began dosing PO₄ and started acclimating two molly fish to saltwater, hoping they would naturally increase the phosphate levels in the tank.
After acclimation, I added the mollies to the tank and turned off the wavemaker to reduce their stress. One of the molly fish died, maybe I did not acclimated right . I kept the wavemaker off for a week to avoid stressing the remaining molly.
About a month ago, I added a toadstool coral and turned the wavemaker back on. After that, my Ricordea yuma and Discosoma corals started to shrink. I suspected the flow from the wavemaker was too strong, so I turned it off again. About five days ago, my GSP frags closed up, and now my Zoas are shrinking as well. I’ve done extra water changes, but I’m not sure what else to do. I test my water very often, but it's hard to tell from the Salifert test if my PO₄ is below 0.03 ppm—it’s difficult to read at such low levels. Doing a big water change will just crash my po4 again. I want to increase my alkalinity slowly with all for reef starting tomorrow.
My candy cane look unaffected. My toadstool is open but colapses during the night. I know that my lights are low, but I don't want to stress my corals more.
For water change I use distilled water that is safe for aquariums. I also have an ATO.
Aquarium Overview
- Tank: Waterbox 20
- Volume: ~76 liters total
- Lighting:AI Prime
- Current settings:
- UV: 5
- Violet: 10
- Royal Blue: 25
- Blue: 20
- Green: 2
- Red: 2
- Cool White: 2
runs for 10 hours, with 2 hours ramp-up
- Current settings:
- Wavemaker: Jebao MLW-5
- Was set to minimum power, W2 mode
- now is stoped
- Filtration:
- No protein skimmer
- Filter floss changed every 3 days
- Carbon added
- Maintenance Routine:
- 500 mL water changes every 2 days to maintain temp/salinity stability
- Occasionally dose phosphate (Aquaforest PO4 Boost)
Latest Water Parameters (Most Recent)
| Parameter | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Salinity | 34 ppt | Fluctuates between 32–34 ppt; BLAU refractometer used (ATC); calibration checked |
| Temperature | 25 -27°C | Fluctuates during the day. |
| Ammonia (NH₄) | 0 ppm |  Good |
| Nitrite (NO₂) | 0.05 ppm |  Slightly elevated |
| Nitrate (NO₃) | 15 ppm | Acceptable for softies/LPS |
| Phosphate (PO₄) | 0.03 ppm | After dosing |
| Alkalinity (dKH) | 6.7 dKH |  Too low |
| pH | 8.5 | High — likely due to low CO₂ buffering |
Current Corals
Soft Corals:
- Zoanthus sp. (Zoas) – several types
- Palythoa sp. (Pallys) – several types
- Clove Polyps (Clavularia sp.)
- Xenia sp. ("Glass Xenia")
- Green Star Polyps (GSP) – 2 types: Green & Purple, including one on the glass
- Toadstool Leather Coral (Sarcophyton sp.)
- Discosoma
- Ricordea yuma
- Hairy Mushroom Coral (Rhodactis sp.)
LPS Corals:
- Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea sp.)
Livestock
- Fish:
- 1x Molly fish (Poecilia sphenops, converted from freshwater)
- Inverts (Cleanup Crew):
- 2x Cerith snails
- 1x Trochus snail
- 5x Nassarius snails
- Asterina starfish found and removed (caused zoa irritation)
Additives & Feeding
- Phosphate:
- Aquaforest PO4 Boost
- Dosed 0.5 mL/day
- Feeding:
- Target feeding corals with Aquaforest AF LPS Food (intended for LPS, but used on mushrooms and zoas)
- Feeding
