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saltybench

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My Galaxia just recently started looking like this. Is it a definite goner?

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saltybench

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Not necessarily. Can you post parameters, time coral spent in tank, and how long tank has been running?
I only have the basic api testing kit, the nitrate and nitrites are near 0, no ammonia, ph is 8.1 saline is 1.025 specific gravity. I’ve dosed 2ml of the Red Sea 3 part dosing kit once a week for the last two weeks. The tanks been running almost 9 months fully cycled. I’ve had it for almost a month and a half, it was doing fabulously up until maybe three days ago. Would too much flow do that to it? That’s the only thing i can think of.
 
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sfin52

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I only have the basic api testing kit, the nitrate and nitrites are near 0, no ammonia, ph is 8.1 saline is 1.025 specific gravity. I’ve dosed 2ml of the Red Sea 3 part dosing kit once a week for the last two weeks. The tanks been running almost 9 months fully cycled. I’ve had it for almost a month and a half, it was doing fabulously up until maybe three days ago. Would too much flow do that to it? That’s the only thing i can think of.
Whats you phospate, calcium, alkalinity and magnesium?
 
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MaxTremors

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I only have the basic api testing kit, the nitrate and nitrites are near 0, no ammonia, ph is 8.1 saline is 1.025 specific gravity. I’ve dosed 2ml of the Red Sea 3 part dosing kit once a week for the last two weeks. The tanks been running almost 9 months fully cycled. I’ve had it for almost a month and a half, it was doing fabulously up until maybe three days ago. Would too much flow do that to it? That’s the only thing i can think of.
The issue is that you don’t really know what your water quality is. You’re dosing stuff you don’t have tests for. If you want to keep coral and be successful, you really do need quality test kits. If money is an issue, I would start with Alkalinity, Phosphates, and Nitrates. Are you checking your salinity with a refractometer or a swing-arm hydrometer? If it’s the latter, you really should get a refractometer (with some calibration fluid). Also, are you using RODI water for water changes/top-offs and what kind of lighting do you have? Without more, specific information, we can’t point you in the right direction. Start with the test kits and we can go from there.
 
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ahiggins

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I want to say it’s more likely a spike of something via dosing is the culprit. We have all made the mistake of one thing or another over the years. For me is was using coral pro salt before I had anything that was sucking up the alk/calcium. For others it’s dosing or throwing a nem into a freshly cycled tank lol
I would stop dosing for now unless you have a ton of sps and lps & get some Hanna or insta checkers for alk calcium and magnesium.
what helped me was keeping a journal of my parameters for the first few months of the tank until it became stable (I don’t do sps so I’ve never needed to dose).
 
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saltybench

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The issue is that you don’t really know what your water quality is. You’re dosing stuff you don’t have tests for. If you want to keep coral and be successful, you really do need quality test kits. If money is an issue, I would start with Alkalinity, Phosphates, and Nitrates. Are you checking your salinity with a refractometer or a swing-arm hydrometer? If it’s the latter, you really should get a refractometer (with some calibration fluid). Also, are you using RODI water for water changes/top-offs and what kind of lighting do you have? Without more, specific information, we can’t point you in the right direction. Start with the test kits and we can go from there.
The issue is that you don’t really know what your water quality is. You’re dosing stuff you don’t have tests for. If you want to keep coral and be successful, you really do need quality test kits. If money is an issue, I would start with Alkalinity, Phosphates, and Nitrates. Are you checking your salinity with a refractometer or a swing-arm hydrometer? If it’s the latter, you really should get a refractometer (with some calibration fluid). Also, are you using RODI water for water changes/top-offs and what kind of lighting do you have? Without more, specific information, we can’t point you in the right direction. Start with the test kits and we can go from there.
I’m dosing the smallest dose i can, the recommended is a lot more than I’m doing, but we’re looking into getting the nicer testing kits they’re just hard to come by at my lfs we were trying to get them from there vs ordering online. I have a refractometer, and i get the mixed salt with a water conditioner, and we have two lights on the tank, ones for a fresh water tank we just use as supplemental light and the other is i think a marine life reef light the 38” one. We’ve been looking into getting better lighting but the deal i had fell through. I also moved it from a higher up place in the tank lower, it was getting quite a bit of light and flow so i thought maybe that could be it
 
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I’m dosing the smallest dose i can, the recommended is a lot more than I’m doing, but we’re looking into getting the nicer testing kits they’re just hard to come by at my lfs we were trying to get them from there vs ordering online. I have a refractometer, and i get the mixed salt with a water conditioner, and we have two lights on the tank, ones for a fresh water tank we just use as supplemental light and the other is i think a marine life reef light the 38” one. We’ve been looking into getting better lighting but the deal i had fell through. I also moved it from a higher up place in the tank lower, it was getting quite a bit of light and flow so i thought maybe that could be it

It seems to me that you are doing a lot of guessing without a lot of experience in reef tanks. Water quality/stability, light, and flow are very important to keeping coral.

I don't know what salt mix you are talking about, but if you need a water conditioner in your salt mix, my guess is you are using tap water, not RODI.

As was mentioned above, you shouldn't be dosing ALK, CALC, and MAG unless you are testing for it. You definitely don't dose those in equal amounts. How do you know what the recommended amount is if you never tested what you have in the tank and how much you use each day?

I wouldn't wait for your LFS to get the test kits you need. If they don't have them, order them online. You are going to waste a lot of money chasing problems if you don't know the condition of your water in a reef tank.

If you want to keep coral, a light for fresh water probably won't provide what your coral need.

That coral can definitely survive. IMO, you need to do some more research/reading on keeping a reef tank in order to not become frustrated and waste a lot of money.
 
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saltybench

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It seems to me that you are doing a lot of guessing without a lot of experience in reef tanks. Water quality/stability, light, and flow are very important to keeping coral.

I don't know what salt mix you are talking about, but if you need a water conditioner in your salt mix, my guess is you are using tap water, not RODI.

As was mentioned above, you shouldn't be dosing ALK, CALC, and MAG unless you are testing for it. You definitely don't dose those in equal amounts. How do you know what the recommended amount is if you never tested what you have in the tank and how much you use each day?

I wouldn't wait for your LFS to get the test kits you need. If they don't have them, order them online. You are going to waste a lot of money chasing problems if you don't know the condition of your water in a reef tank.

If you want to keep coral, a light for fresh water probably won't provide what your coral need.

That coral can definitely survive. IMO, you need to do some more research/reading on keeping a reef tank in order to not become frustrated and waste a lot of money
I just got test kits for the dosing stuff, the lfs don’t have the nice digital ones but I’ll get those when i can. The freshwater fish light is just a supplement for us to be able to light down the back of the tank, the main light is a marine reef light. My issue is reading a lot of conflicting info. Some sources say high light, some say low. Like i said he was doing great for a good while but he just took a weird turn
 
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TCoach

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How big is your tank?

1. Turn your lights down by 50% while this is worked out. That will be 1 less stressor on the coral.

2. Stop dosing until you can test.

3. Perform several large (25% or more) water changes. If your tank is small enough, (20gal or less), I would consider a 100% water change.

Go slow, and make sure you can test before dosing. On smaller tanks, simple weekly/bi-weekly water changes can restore and keep the tank moving forward.
 
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TCoach

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Btw, I Live Hanna testers. They are easy and no color reading. With the $$.

Get Alk, Ca, HR Nitrate, then ULR Phosphate.
 
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IslandLifeReef

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I just got test kits for the dosing stuff, the lfs don’t have the nice digital ones but I’ll get those when i can. The freshwater fish light is just a supplement for us to be able to light down the back of the tank, the main light is a marine reef light. My issue is reading a lot of conflicting info. Some sources say high light, some say low. Like i said he was doing great for a good while but he just took a weird turn

Post your test numbers on here. Specifically, NO3, PO4, Alk, Mag, Calc and SG. If you are using a refractometer for SG, do you calibrate it before use?

I am not familiar with the light you mentioned and can't find it online. Any idea what the max wattage and max PAR are for that light and what the PAR would be for the bottom of your tank? That coral can take at least 180 PAR if not more. Most LPS can take 250 PAR easily.

Also, as someone else asked, how big is your tank and what other equipment do you run in it? What do you use for water when you do water changes, RODI, tap, or something else?

The more information you give us, the more likely it is that we can help you. I wouldn't suggest turning down your light or doing anything else drastic until you give us more information. :)
 
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