Little to no growth and dying corals

[Lineatus]

Fish are
2 ocellaris clownfish
Flame hawkfish
melunaras wrasse
2 flame cardinal fish
Goby

We had a small naso tang that lasted a month. Have not tried another

That’s pretty understocked for a tank that size . Don’t give up on tangs because of one bad experience. Nasos have not been shipping well lately, lot of people reporting issues with them unfortunately (obviously I wouldn’t recommend that fish for your size of tank anyways).

 

[Reef_puck]

Should I remove the corals I have and donate to the LFS and wait another year before trying again?

Change the rock out?

 

[MrGisonni]

Your big three are all low now. And you haven't had any stability since the beginning of this thread, four months ago. I think that's what's hurting you a lot. Calcium is okay, alkalinity and magnesium are low. I would work to get those higher and then start dosing a product like tropic Marin All for Reef to keep them nice and stable.

 

[MrGisonni]

Alkalinity is probably best between 8 and 9. Calcium 420 to 450 and magnesium 1300 to 1500. If you can keep your nitrates between 5 and 20 and your phosphates between 03 and 1 and keep it relatively stable you'll start seeing success with you reef. Stability is the key.

 

[Lineatus]

Should I remove the corals I have and donate to the LFS and wait another year before trying again?

Change the rock out?

Nobody is advising you to do that
Try keeping your nutrients in order and stable before doing something drastic.

 

[Reef_puck]

Was thinking that as corals keep dieing off. Should I reboot the tank from scratch? All new water and LR to have nutrients correct from day 1. If there are not enough corals do I keep dumping corals foods into the tank if there is no consumption? What is a timeline for adding anything again? 6 months? Am I to test for nitrat and phosphate a once a week, twice?

 

[Reefanonymous]

What mean is typically higher nitrates and phosphates equal a lawn on the rocks. If that happens then I just dump the tank( oh the money that would be wasted).

I will retest the alk later.

If you gradually bring your levels up to what’s been posted above you won’t have a “lawn of algae” it’s your choose either correct the issue or have a dead reef ‍

 

[Reef_puck]

Besides the Alk that will be corrected by a bunch of water changes over a few weeks. And putting in Reef Roids. Is that it? Or do I need to dose anything else?

What do I do with the corals that are remaining? There are some Zoas, 4 single head frogspawn/hanmers, a1 remaining torch frag, 1 dieing toadstool, a Kenya tree, 1 mushroom, 2 blasotmussa frags,. Should I let them ride and see what happens? Set up a small 10g tank and try to keep them alive there until the tank ever stabilizes?

I want to set expectations and I know nothing will change in a month or 2 but am I looking at 6 months, a year of trying the keep phosphates at .1 and nitrates at 25. Before trying anything else? Or at least seeing something live?

If these numbers go higher then do more water changes?

Tank has ~100-105 gallons of total volume. Water changes of 10%,20%,30%, weekly, biweekly, monthly? Mixed water from a LFS? Hire the LFS to manage the tank for a while?

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Besides the Alk that will be corrected by a bunch of water changes over a few weeks. And putting in Reef Roids. Is that it? Or do I need to dose anything else?

What do I do with the corals that are remaining? There are some Zoas, 4 single head frogspawn/hanmers, a1 remaining torch frag, 1 dieing toadstool, a Kenya tree, 1 mushroom, 2 blasotmussa frags,. Should I let them ride and see what happens? Set up a small 10g tank and try to keep them alive there until the tank ever stabilizes?

I want to set expectations and I know nothing will change in a month or 2 but am I looking at 6 months, a year of trying the keep phosphates at .1 and nitrates at 25. Before trying anything else? Or at least seeing something live?

If these numbers go higher then do more water changes?

Tank has ~100-105 gallons of total volume. Water changes of 10%,20%,30%, weekly, biweekly, monthly? Mixed water from a LFS? Hire the LFS to manage the tank for a while?

why is it going to take weeks to adjust alkalinity, it can be adjusted in a matter of minutes?

nitrates and phosphates can be easily measured and adjusted/maintained every few days with n03 and p04 additive the amounts are easily figured out to do adjustments.

with steady dosing major elements (alk, cal,mag) can also be maintained the tank sounds new waterchanges especially 30% one's can be unnecessary in your situation. if your needing to add n03&p04 I wouldn't do large waterchanges only enough to remove detritus and built up solidwaste.

if you start with easy corals and have growth work your way up with more corals. it takes time to get the hang of things alot of these issues seem like you may still need a little practice and time to get the hang of things, continue with your research and allow the system to mature, I wouldn't reset the system and lose all your time invested IMO. it just needs adjustments and time

good luck

 

[Yang’s Blue Paradise]

Personally from what I have read in this threads so far is that lots of suggestions of what the water chemistry should be. But the biggest factor should really be stability. Softies & LPS shouldn’t be hard corals to keep. I would fine a good trace element range and try to keep it stable with auto dose or manual. I been using “All for reef” since my tank set up super easy one part dose.

As regarding the phosphate and nitrate issues I think is alright to have an under stock tank just need to turn off skimmer and let those nutrients rise up over time. And can turn it back on or do water change to bring them down.

If you’re worried for algae growing in tank you can always add more clean up crew.

Regarding lighting intensity you will never know how much light the corals are getting unless you get a par meter. I feel like most LFS will rent them. If not you can rent from BRS. Softies and LPS shouldn’t need a lot of light to grow. I would look up BRS recommendations.

Big problem with constant adjustment will eventually stress them out no matter how easy they’re to take care of. If stability doesn’t work I would sent and ICP test to check everything else. RUN CARBON sometime because you have leather corals and when they shed they can release toxin in tank.

You can check out my tank. These advice is base on what I do in my tank.

 

[Reef_puck]

Just looked in the tank and the toad stool just separated itself from its base. Should I toss this coral and chalk it up on the list?

 

[Toob]

I don’t think this is an issue of having alk not quite right or phosphates not stable long enough. Something ain’t right with the biome in your tank, IMO, if corals are just giving up on life like that.

I had a similar issue in my tank and ended up just starting over with new live rock. Tank is about 9 months old now and has been growing coral since the first couple weeks. I wouldn’t even say I have perfect (or even perfectly stable) water chemistry.

 

[MrGisonni]

Don't reboot your tank.... if you get your Alkalinity between 8 and 9. Calcium 420 to 450 and magnesium 1300 to 1500. Keep your nitrates between 5 and 20 and your phosphates between 03 and 1. Keep these parameters stable for a month and you will have success.

 

[Reef_puck]

water change 1 done. Alk at 7.7. Will do another next week.

Question on light duration. Currently set for 2:30-9:30 using the World Wide Corals mixed reef setting. Maybe a 10 min ramp on each end. Not that I am planning on changing unless it’s a problem.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

water change 1 done. Alk at 7.7. Will do another next week.

you raised the alkalinity 1dkh from one water change? I guess im not understanding why your changing water to raise alkalinity? you can raise .5 dkh something like every other day ontop of daily consumption with no issues. are you dosing any alkalinity and calcium daily or does your tank not require daily dosing to maintain levels?

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Question on light duration. Currently set for 2:30-9:30 using the World Wide Corals mixed reef setting. Maybe a 10 min ramp on each end. Not that I am planning on changing unless it’s a problem.

I run my tanks at 12 hours....

 

[Troylee]

water change 1 done. Alk at 7.7. Will do another next week.

Question on light duration. Currently set for 2:30-9:30 using the World Wide Corals mixed reef setting. Maybe a 10 min ramp on each end. Not that I am planning on changing unless it’s a problem.

Run the ab+ spectrum and crank those lights up! They are poor for par… id also run them 10hours min… I’d also run some carbon on your tank if you’re not! Could be chemical warfare going on with leathers and other softies.. raise your mag and alk a tad and then keep it all stable and enjoy your tank.

 

[MrGisonni]

7.7 is near natural seawater...that's solid. Maybe continue to raise it s bit.. shoot for 8.5. photoperiod between 10- 12 hours should be fine

 

[Reef_puck]

Picked up the Hanna nitrate and phosphate checkers so I don’t have to guess at the Salifert colors.

PH 8.0
Nitrate 17.5
Phos 0.18
Mag 1290
Alk 8.2
CA 430
Temp 77

 

[MrGisonni]

Ok Phosphates are still high, maybe some rowaphos. Magnesium is low still. Shoot for 1300. +. Nitrates are ok. Have you started a dosing regiment? If you bring that magnesium up and start All for Reef. Your calcium alkalinity and magnesium will stabilize and stay put. One less thing to worry about. A water change will bring nitrates down and the rowaphos will bring phosphates down. You are one trip to the aquarium store from getting where you want to be. Get a magnesium supplement like brightwell magnesion, bring that up, some rowaphos and a filter sock to lower phosphates to below .1 some All for Reef, and maybe a cheap single dosing pump if you can. Add everything prescribed above then do a 10% water change. Test parameters in a few days again. This is the best and simplist way for you to get on track. Others will chime in I am sure.