OP
OP
Diggler
Active Member
Thanks for the nice comments, There a few questions here so I'll try and answer them as best as I can and how I would personally go about changing things. I'm no expert and I'm sure there's many on these forums who are.
"Have very high cal and alk even though we never dose alk and stopped dosing cal"
Ok, how high is high and how are you testing? How are these high if your not dosing? are you doing frequent water changes with a salt that provided high KH and CAL? try and use a salt that provides similar params to what your aiming to achieve. I use salifert test kits. Stability is key in this game. I would test at the same time every 2 days to get an understanding of what the tank is using.
"Ph stable with co2 scrubber and very small amount of balance"
I've personally never tested PH so I can't comment on that
"Feed reef roids and aminos a couple times per week"
I've found coral foods and additives to be very nutrient rich, they always raised my N03+P04 so I don't feed them. Corals will survive and thrive with correct and stable water conditions and decent light. I would recommend stop adding things like those you have mentioned for a couple of months to let things settle and see how things go.
"Made some light adjustments when we noticed the white on base of Acro"
All my corals I let acclimatise on my sand bed for a week to 3 weeks before placing them on the rockwork (sometimes longer if they have came from a tank which isn't lite by LED's). If it starts to STN/RTN after a while I know its not the lights. I've lost a few acros to STN/RTN but they have always been new purchases. I've saved a few by applying a putty bandage around the white areas and the healthy coral has grew over it.
Can I ask what you have your lights set at???
Yeah, my lights at peak are 100% blues and 50% whites, the other colours around 20 -30% with 4 hrs ramp each side. I woundn't worry too much about your lights, you have more than enough power there, water quality is more important than the lights. I have Acros growing on my sand bed in around 70 -90 PAR
"Our birds nest large colony I wanted to try did great for two months and started encrusting on rock then just started turning white one day"
I would hazard a guess and say this was caused by water parameters fluctuating, most probable KH
"Phos is using low like 0.1 and nitrates 0. Started adding nitrates this week. Feed heavy 2x/day"
How are you testing P04 and how are you controlling it? I use Rowaphos and my algae bed helps
How are you testing N03 and how are you controlling it? My algae bed keeps mine N03 in check
Again, this is just how I would get things in check. I would double check those test results and maybe even buy new test kits and would cut down on the feeding. I only feed 3 cubes of frozen every second day and a pinch of flake every other day. If your feeding that heavy I'm surprised you have zero N03
"Have you ever been to US?"
Yeah, I've been quite a few times. I've friends in Kansas City which I've been to a few times, I've also been to New Hampshire a couple of times, Vegas, Miami and my wife and I got to New York last Christmas which was excellent. I love getting to the states for a trip.
Anyway, I hope what I've posted above helps in some way.
The key thing is correct water params and stability. That coupled with good flow and decent light and your good.
I would stop adding corals foods etc and start testing more to understand whats happening in your tank.
If theres anything else I can help with just let me know
All the best,
-Tony
