I Can’t Seem to Keep Coral Alive

[pharazon]

I saw the hermits I have in my tank picking at the corals when I put them in the tank and didn’t think anything of it at first. Then after I saw them dying I immediately put the hermits in the sump. It’s possible they’ve been eating the frags all along but from what I’ve read they usually only eat coral that’s already dying.

Better to eliminate variables, I would have done the same.

 

[John3]

What are your settings on the Radions? The white channel is very easy to set too high and you will kill most corals, especially if trying to acclimate them.

 

[jadwv2210]

What are your settings on the Radions? The white channel is very easy to set too high and you will kill most corals, especially if trying to acclimate them.

I’m using the coral lab ab+ setting so 24% on the white with an overall intensity of 40%.

 

[John3]

Hhmmm I run the same schedule with an intensity of 70%. You might not have enough light, the only reason I say that is because I have some corals that I know want more light than what I am giving them. That said you should have some corals surviving with the 40%.

When you acclimate how long do you do it? Do you drip(I’m not in favor of it myself) have you tried just temp acclimating for 15-20 mins and dropping something in without dips to see if it survives? I know that can be risky but your corals are not surviving anyway at this point. The only corals I have had issue with in the past were when I acclimated or dipped to long.

 

[jadwv2210]

Hhmmm I run the same schedule with an intensity of 70%. You might not have enough light, the only reason I say that is because I have some corals that I know want more light than what I am giving them. That said you should have some corals surviving with the 40%.

When you acclimate how long do you do it? Do you drip(I’m not in favor of it myself) have you tried just temp acclimating for 15-20 mins and dropping something in without dips to see if it survives? I know that can be risky but your corals are not surviving anyway at this point. The only corals I have had issue with in the past were when I acclimated or dipped to long.

I only temp acclimate the coral before I dip. I don’t see a benefit to dripping coral either. They always look great when I first add them. I have not tried adding without dipping though. I’m thinking of doing another order in a month or two to see if what I have now makes it. Not sure if I’ll dip those or not. If all of my current frags die I’ll definitely try not dipping but if some survive I’m not sure if I’d want to risk it.

How big is your tank? I’ve got two XR15 in a 36” space so just for comparisons sake. The lower light corals do seem to be the ones doing better but I didn’t think too little light could kill a monti frag or hammer drag in a couple weeks time.

 

[John3]

I have a 29g biocube with a XR15, so I think that about 20x20.

The lower light will kill a monti for sure. I made a mistake on my lighting and was running the AB+ ay 100% intensity. My orange monti caps showed explosive growth and the brightest color but all my softies and lps did not like that. At 70% everyone seems to be able to grow and look good.

My montis are at the top of the tank about 3” under water under my light. They love the spot but prob poor planning on my part. Under lower light they normally turn brown and then bleach and then loose tissue.

 

[John3]

To give you an idea of what I have placed where.

 

[jadwv2210]

Wow looks awesome. Is that green monti the tyree one? That’s what I had before it died. A bleached spot showed right in the middle and then it just shredded all flesh that night.

 

[John3]

It’s a Hollywood stunner chalice. I understand your pain. I’ve been fragging off pieces of it for a friends tank and it just dies in her tank every time. All her parameters are good enough for it to grow, so it’s a similar situation to yours.

 

[tgp4274]

i thing 1 mp10 is too low....
would prob atleast run 2
also i might have missed but is that your only flow or you have a return for a sump too??
also and yes i know dumb question but you said you put carbon in once a month??
you are rinseing it yes??
carbon dust isn't good

 

[jadwv2210]

i thing 1 mp10 is too low....
would prob atleast run 2
also i might have missed but is that your only flow or you have a return for a sump too??
also and yes i know dumb question but you said you put carbon in once a month??
you are rinseing it yes??
carbon dust isn't good

I’m more strongly leaning towards getting another now. I do have a return pump as well. It was an aqua medic dc runner 3.1. It was rated for 792gph but I think it was well short of that. It just went bad last night actually and I ordered a reef octopus varios rated for 1700gph.

I do rinse my carbon on rodi water before I use it. It’s ROX 0.8 though so almost no dust comes off of it. That does remind though when I first set up the tank I had carbon in one of the mesh bags and the bag ripped on the egg crate in my sump which spilled carbon everywhere. It was all through the sand and in the sump. It’s all visibly gone now but I definitely didn’t get it all out.

Could carbon cause a problem like this?

 

[tgp4274]

i would think not as in the sand would be bout the same as in a bag.......
i was just thinking dust eritating them..

 

[jadwv2210]

Alright,

So I've purchased a PMK module for my Apex and... I'm getting ~130PAR where my leather is sitting in the rocks right now. That's about mid way in my rock work. This is after I turned the intensity up on my lights to 60% last week. I think light intensity may have been my problem all along.

I plan on changing the intensity up to about 80-85% overall and see where I end up with PAR. I'm shooting for about 200 PAR where the sensor is right now. I'm thinking that should give me about 250-300 for the top end and under 200 for the lower.

Looks like the BRS videos may have been a little sensationalist about how much PAR these fixtures produce.

 

[Matt Carden]

Have you figured out what was happening? Have you had any luck growing coral since May?