I need help PLEASE

[xraided199]

ok, so here's the deal. i'll start with my specs then get onto my question/major concern and i'm beggin that any one of you will be able to help me with this.

30 Gallon breeder, 4x39w Current fixture (got it used, seems like older nova model, only one large reflector...boo) with 3 Blue+ and 1 AB Special bulbs, one Koralia 3 for flow, tank is only about 3 months old, nitrates absolutely 0, nitrites 0, amm 0, phos 0 (using a real tester), alk 9.8, cal 440, mag 1360

Ok, so it's all a problem with my chalices. and ONLY my chalices. go figure right? i did have a 12 gallon nano for a while with EXTREMELY high nitrates, and each and every LPS in there was so darn happy (i know they like some nutrients), but every SPS wouldn't even last ten mins in that tank.

now, my monti's and acro's are doing PHENOMENAL and i cannot seem to keep one darn chalice without having it lose color within sometimes as short as a week. what the heck am i doing wrong? is my lighting too much considering its a very shallow tank? i have all my chalices on the sand/a little shade. i was told my alk could be too high. i didn't have that problem in the nano tank at all. i was told i should have at least some nitrates in there. but wouldn't that annoy the SPS? and i do know many people with very clean tanks and can keep chalices more than fine.

the lighting on my nano was a 150w DE 14k!!! thats a lot of light for a 12 gallon tank, so i figured the T5 wouldn't be bad at all for the 30 breeder. but it seems every single chalice, except one i have had for over a year, is losing color soon after i put it in there...and its killing me. i see everyone's pics of how perfect their chalices are doing, and i NEVER thought i could say my acros would be fine but my chalices would hate life.

any input would be greatly appreciated. i'm at a loss. i've even tried feeding WAY more and lowering the biofuel because in reality maybe my water IS too clean. i don't know if that's possible, but i do know that certain LPS like nutrient-rich water. otherwise, nearly every favia, scoly, and whatever other LPS is doing fine. not PERFECT, but totally fine. it's just the darn chalices, and i really dont kno what to do.

thanks again for lettin me rant, and i hope someone can help me with this and give some advice. i have tried to ask the biggest chalice keepers i know, but there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer. they run low nutrient tanks and have no prob with their chalices.

one last thing, i'll take the sweet surrender as an example. i receive it, i put it halfway up in tank (prob my mistake, should've started it on sand), it grows two new eyes and encrusts on a plug in the matter of about a month. then, within 3 days time, it loses ALL color, and i have to throw it under some major shade. it has tints of the eyes still, but i don't know if there is hope.

so that REALLY put me at a loss cuz i thought the piece was doing great, then all of a sudden POOF no color. thanks again in advance for any help. if anyone could help me out, its this community. take care...

mark s.

 

[xraided199]

i'm so so sorry, can the mods please move this into correct forum? my bad about this. i totally didn't realize i was in LPS ID forum, i didn't mean to post this in here. sorry for any inconvenience.

 

[soccerbag]

So do I understand correctly that you had these chalices under halide and then moved them to the 30b under T5's? How high off the water are the T5 bulbs? IT may sound crazy, but corals do require acclimation time when put under T5's (from halides). You can raise the lights (if possible) or cut down on the photo period. If they are just losing color and not receeding, then that is likely your issue. Parameters look good. If you can't raise the light, then take out one of the bulbs for a week or two. I'm guessing you are shocking the chalices with too much light. Knock an hour or two off of the photoperiod and gradually build up to full light.

 

[xraided199]

thank yo so much for the tip...i honestly never thought that these would need acclimation FROM halides, but i guess because of the spread of light and the shallowness of my tank, it makes sense. some that are losing color came from the halides, but most have been brought directly into the T5 tank from either a friend's tank or someone else's tank. and most of the time, they had it under T5 as well, just much much further away from the light itself. i have been running these T5 for a while now, but i will cut down and slowly build back up to give them a chance. maybe just keep actinics on for most of the day.

and also should i NOT keep the icecap LED's on during nighttime after T5 are off? i didn't think it made much of a diff because they are not really meant for growth at all like reefbrites or others, and i do completely turn off all lights once a week or so, but having LED's on during the entire night cant hurt them too right? just figured i'd ask....and thx so much again for the tip

 

[soccerbag]

No problem xrai. It amazed me as well when I switched from 2 400W 14K's to T5's. I had to raise my fixture up about a foot over the water and lower it down an inch per week until I got to about 8" above the water. When I switch to new bulbs, I do the same thing. Some folks replace one or two bulbs at a time over the course of a few weeks and that can work well too. T5's encompass the entire coral with light and it can shock some corals. With a shallow tank, I think that's what happened here. The blue LED's should not have much effect on things, but you may want to cut them off while your chalices recover (and they will). No need in putting anymore light than necessary into the tank.

Keep us posted.

 

[xraided199]

thats whats up..ima keep the LEDs off during nighttime for now then. and thanks for the good wishes, cuz all i ever wanna be able to do is keep a few high high end chalices, and there is NO way i would rightfully try to get some, only to submit them to such torture in this tank. i know that the maturity of the tank has something to do with it as well, being that it's only a few months old. down the line, things will stabilize even more, allowing me to worry a lot less about this stuff. but i know i have seen very many tanks thrive after the first week they were setup, and don't get me wrong, everything else looks good (at least to me) in here, and seems to be growing and happy. but i will be careful with my chalices and make sure that they get the TLC that they need. thanks again for the help, and i'll be sure to keep ya'll posted.

 

[twinspots_goby]

what's your salinity? I keep my tank about 1.026. lower Salinity might cause coral bleaching as well.

 

[xraided199]

actually, i was keeping it at 1.028 for a while cuz thats what my nano was at and everything seemed pretty happy...now it is fairly steady at 1.0265 (right between 26 and 27 i should say) and all the other corals seem to like it. i did have a little problem with evaporation and salinity rising, but in my nano, oh my GOODNESS it was a daily, even hourly problem where salinity would jump by almost 2-3 points at a time. in this larger tank, obviously the problem is going to be reduced and not magnified, so it may rise by a half a point from start of the day to the end, and i try my best to slowly add RO water back into the tank.

i almost thought my salinity was too high at one point, but everyone i know has it right around where you mentioned, so i figured i'll keep it there too. again, i test nitrates almost everyday, and i know this sounds crazy but I WANT SOME IN THIS TANK!!! i really honestly feel its TOO clean for chalices and certain LPS to be kept, but again, so many people i know don't have any problem keeping them, and their nitrates are usually at 0, maybe 5 ppm.

i think i will actually try raising my lights a bit, because they are only 2.5 inches above the water, and even though the fixture is really not good quality at all, and PAR rating i'm sure is much much less compared to a Tek or ATI fixture for example, it just may be that there is too much light surrounding these corals and they don't need direct beams hitting them all day. thank you everyone for these tips, and i will try my best to keep everyone posted and solve this problem once and for all. i'll be DARNED if i can't keep my favorite kinds of coral in the world!!!! (next to favia's of course...:))