I think its dead!!!! Purple and gold torch

Pau Hana Reefer

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Ok husband said I cant read it and he got between 1.026/27. The refractometor we have say ATC... It was off Amazon and what we could afford. All of our rock should be live rock, from when we first set up our tank back in 2017. We have 1"-1.5" of sand. It is a 37 gallon tank. We have a canister filter and 2 hang on the back filters. One of the back ones job is to draw the water in for the canister amd helps return it to the tank. We have 2 clown fish, a yellow tang, and a couple hermit crabs. There was a star fish but it was tiny and we dont know if its still there... We were testing once a month but now doing 1x a wk. We try to do a 5g water change a week. We vacuum the sand as well. My poor torch literally melted away. It was about half there, I target fed it reef roids and 20 min later poof... It was 100% gone... 6m it was just happy and beautiful then bam dead....
The Viparspectra 300w is far too much
for a 37 gallon tank... and I’m no lighting expert but depending on the type of material that you’re reflecting the light off of and the setting you have you light on, I’m thinking that is definitely a contributing factor.

I have two Viparspectra 150w on my 90 gallon tank placed side by side at 7” above water height. My whites are at 4 and my blues are at 15 and I’m still getting over 300 par at mid tank level. They’re cheap but very powerful LEDs.
 

King Turkey

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How do you keep salinity stable. You top up water manually? Is the canister filter the only filter you have? Do you have carbon in it? Is there a sump or a all in one?
The light seems yes way to bright but let's not stop there let's rely give this tank a pulse more specs please.
 

redeyejedi

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We dont have the light directly over the tank... It gets reflected down bc we knew it was too strong. My torch was happy for about 6m before it decided it was not happy any longer!
I understand what your saying but id bet my whole reef tank that those lights nuked it. You said yourself you dont know what the intensity is set to. Thats a very important bit of information for you to know.
 
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StephyC09

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The Viparspectra 300w is far too much
for a 37 gallon tank... and I’m no lighting expert but depending on the type of material that you’re reflecting the light off of and the setting you have you light on, I’m thinking that is definitely a contributing factor.

I have two Viparspectra 150w on my 90 gallon tank placed side by side at 7” above water height. My whites are at 4 and my blues are at 15 and I’m still getting over 300 par at mid tank level. They’re cheap but very powerful LEDs.
The white is at a 2 and blue is at 5. We knew it was a bit too powerful so its reflected.... I will get a photo of it when its on. How we have it configures is its laying on its side (lights shine out towards you) and we have reflective material above the tank to reflect it. I run a daycare so as much that could contained is. Like I said I will try and get a decent photo!
 
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StephyC09

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How do you keep salinity stable. You top up water manually? Is the canister filter the only filter you have? Do you have carbon in it? Is there a sump or a all in one?
The light seems yes way to bright but let's not stop there let's rely give this tank a pulse more specs please.
Yes we top off manually... See photo. Its a water despenser for a fridge that we have a ball valve attached then a line going into our filter to add. We top off about every other day.
 

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StephyC09

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The white is at a 2 and blue is at 5. We knew it was a bit too powerful so its reflected.... I will get a photo of it when its on. How we have it configures is its laying on its side (lights shine out towards you) and we have reflective material above the tank to reflect it. I run a daycare so as much that could contained is. Like I said I will try and get a decent photo!
Ok here is a photo of our light set up... The light is on its side on the back of the tank and then reflects onto the aluminum down into the tank
 

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StephyC09

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Yes we top off manually... See photo. Its a water despenser for a fridge that we have a ball valve attached then a line going into our filter to add. We top off about every other day.
Ok here is our set up.... Photo 1 tank as seen... 2- manual top off, 3 Aqueon canister filter, 4- wave makers and our power strips,5- access to tank and some of our supplies, 6- hang on filters and view of light (reflected), 7- how light system is set up, 8-manual top off tube into the filter (trickles into tank), 9- so the intake on this hang on filter actual intakes into our canister filter then comes back into the back side of the filter through another line. Its how we could get it to work. Also photo 10 found these dudes on the front glass... Guessing a snail of sorts?
 

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LegendaryCG

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The Viparspectra 300w is far too much
for a 37 gallon tank... and I’m no lighting expert but depending on the type of material that you’re reflecting the light off of and the setting you have you light on, I’m thinking that is definitely a contributing factor.

I have two Viparspectra 150w on my 90 gallon tank placed side by side at 7” above water height. My whites are at 4 and my blues are at 15 and I’m still getting over 300 par at mid tank level. They’re cheap but very powerful LEDs.
Agree.. that’s like hanging a sun over that tank. I have 180w on my 70g and I can grow acropora.
 

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Are you able to raise the tank lights. Those 300w beasts should be a good few inches above the tank. Not directly above it even if you are trying to reflect light or not. That is a lot of power for a tiny tank. Imagine staying outside sunbathing 8-10 hours everyday during summer. You wont feel great either lol.
 

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Can you post a picture of the tank, lit up with the lights ON.

I guess I'm still confused on the light mounting.... are you saying the light is mounted on its side, facing sideways, and not facing down into the tank? Can you post a tank level shot with the lights on? Its still hard to see how its mounted in the pictures you posted.

If that light is sitting sideways, I'm going to disagree with the other posters who are saying you are over lighting the tank. if the light is mounted facing sideways, and you have Ch1 at 5% and Ch2 at 2%, then I'm going to say not enough light.

I have the same ViparSpectra 300w, which isn't really 300w. The light is only 203w when both channels are at 100%, which OP isn't anywhere near based on their current settings.
 

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I'm also noticing very little in the way of algae in your tank. Your rocks are green (new), but everything else looks spotless... That sand is pristine...

if this tank really was sky high in nitrates ( 80 ppm?) and phosphates ( 5 ppm?) and the tank was getting nuked with way too much light, then there would be algae everyhwere... and I'm not seeing that.

Your tank is showing Ammonia? .25 ppm? that may just be an testing error on the API kit.

If your nitrates and phosphates truly are that high, then you need to ditch those two bio-wheel filters and get a skimmer instead. bio-wheel filters are popular in freshwater tanks but aren't usually employed in saltwater tanks.

Clean out the canister filter, set it up for only mechanical/chemical filtration. Install a skimmer and turn those light UP, not down, would be my suggestions.

And watch for sales on some better testing supplies.
 

Henryb9

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It looks starved if you ask me, your testing for phosphates and nitrates must be off. If it was too much light, it would retract back to its head.
 
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StephyC09

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Are you able to raise the tank lights. Those 300w beasts should be a good few inches above the tank. Not directly above it even if you are trying to reflect light or not. That is a lot of power for a tiny tank. Imagine staying outside sunbathing 8-10 hours everyday during summer. You wont feel great either lol.
There really is not a way to raise them its inside the cabinet/bookshelf. I have to keep the top of the tank as covered as possible due to running a daycare... Dont want fingers or toys going in!
 
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StephyC09

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I'm also noticing very little in the way of algae in your tank. Your rocks are green (new), but everything else looks spotless... That sand is pristine...

if this tank really was sky high in nitrates ( 80 ppm?) and phosphates ( 5 ppm?) and the tank was getting nuked with way too much light, then there would be algae everyhwere... and I'm not seeing that.

Your tank is showing Ammonia? .25 ppm? that may just be an testing error on the API kit.

If your nitrates and phosphates truly are that high, then you need to ditch those two bio-wheel filters and get a skimmer instead. bio-wheel filters are popular in freshwater tanks but aren't usually employed in saltwater tanks.

Clean out the canister filter, set it up for only mechanical/chemical filtration. Install a skimmer and turn those light UP, not down, would be my suggestions.

And watch for sales on some better testing supplies.
So thw bio wheel filters really are not being used to filter... We have the intake (that goes into the tank) actually doing the intake for the canister. Our top off and return from the canister go in the reservoir and trickle into the tank by going by the bio wheels. We are not actually using the bio wheels foe Amy kind of filtration. There is lits of algee on them however!
 
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StephyC09

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Can you post a picture of the tank, lit up with the lights ON.

I guess I'm still confused on the light mounting.... are you saying the light is mounted on its side, facing sideways, and not facing down into the tank? Can you post a tank level shot with the lights on? Its still hard to see how its mounted in the pictures you posted.

If that light is sitting sideways, I'm going to disagree with the other posters who are saying you are over lighting the tank. if the light is mounted facing sideways, and you have Ch1 at 5% and Ch2 at 2%, then I'm going to say not enough light.

I have the same ViparSpectra 300w, which isn't really 300w. The light is only 203w when both channels are at 100%, which OP isn't anywhere near based on their current settings.
Heres the best I can get. We have 3 decent sized windows so I had to shut all the curtains to get a true photo of the lights. Also posted a phot of how it is with curtains open. Around 2 more of the blue come on and I close the curtain right by the tank around 3/30 otherwise the setting sun shines in (window faces west)
 

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LeftyReefer

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So the lights always face forward, towards the room, not downward into the tank, correct?

If so, I think you need to turn the lights (intensity) UP. Renting/borrowing a PAR meter would be advisable in this situation, since your mounting isn't going to be like anybody elses.

And have an LFS test for nitrates and phosphates, if possible, to confirm your test numbers would also be helfpful.
 

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First thing I want to point out is the canister filter and the bio wheel. First the bio wheel probly not doing much nor the canister filter. But the canister filter can act as a reactor and you can run carbon. I would use rock work as core filtration. Warning canister filters are not stable filters and can harbor nitrates and phosphates and I have seen cleaning them crash a tank if disturbed unless only carbon is in.That said the rocks have algae thus the phosphate and nitrate reads will be off. Api testing is not the most reliably. But listen you rely need to just wait. Stick with what you have in the tank don't add for a good wail till the rocks clear up maybe 6 months. The green will go away. As for top off goes I am not convinced it is stable enough drip slow 24/7 or alk and pH will swing way more than it should.. you either need to lock it down or invest in auto top off. It needs to be 1.025 all of the time and not change.
After seeing pictures of the set up I would dose dr tims waste away once a week as the bottle perscribs. you will tank me later. It will not only keep nitrates and phosphate low but keep water crystal clean and algae free.
Water changes I would highly recommend doing them once a week 10 percent of the total tank water. Mixed to the same 1.025 as the tank. The water needs to mix and have pH stabilize and come to the correct temp with a heater. Perhaps 1-2 hours of a power head mixing it and a heater warming it.
I know long rant. Just wanna help.
I have a all on one system also and I run carbon in a canister filter have a algae scrubber and a skimmer. My top up is drip method as well. Hear is my corals. Note I waited for the tank to get stable and ready first just take your time.
If you want I'll post my set up tomorrow. Filter and equipment for ideas. As for light I reef90 from red sea at 60 percent.
 

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1guydude

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Uhg. Toss those penguin filtersm toss the canister filter. If ur gonna use the canister. Put carbon in a media bag and ceramic rings or LR rubble. Keep the sponge rinsed in sw from the tank or periodically under the tap water or rodi.
Get a skimmer.
Hob cpr i dont care. Export that ish.
Coral bleaching is usually bright light. They dump all the zoanthexllia stuff that allows them to process the light to sugars and do the photosythesis stuff. Lol.
D
 

1guydude

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Api test equpiment for reef is no good. Go elos or the easier to use red seas test kits. Get some calibration fluid for your refractometer too if you dont have. I really cant comment on your light as im confused if you have too bright or dim
D
 

1guydude

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I would honestly get rid of those filters and buy an ehiem liberty 200. The biggest one. You can put anything ull need in it
D
 

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