Need Some Advice About my Reef

[nightmarepl]

hey guys i need some advice about my reef tank currently i have a 10g tank doing a small little reef for the past 10 months its been running pretty smooth no major issues few changes here and there changed a light change my rock landscape around things like that nothing major my coral growth is extremely slow least imo corals that suppose to grow like weeds really havent developed much, few examples of corals i have, Dunkin Whisker 2 heads for 9 months now, toast stool size of a quarter maybe alittle bigger for 9 months, Green star polyp months no major spread trying to figure out what the heck is going on, friend of mine got me a neon green birds nest branch slowly started to fade its brown skin into the white skeleton and dying off polyps still long and big on it but dying dont even know why

water changes weekly 2 gallons
salt 1.025 ( Reef Crystals ) orange bag
Calcium 480
Alk 10ish ( ATI drop reader )
PH 7.8-8.0 ( always had issues no good fixes to keep it high )
Nitrates 10-20
temp 77ish

Dosing do you guys dose anything? i was told by multiply people that since my tank is small and doesnt use up all my nutrients i wouldnt need to dose. that my reef crystal salt should supply everything.


feeding about 2-3 times daily usually do tiny pebbles, medium pebbles for the crabs and shrimps, mysis shrimp every other day

Equipment 10gallon tank , AI PRIME HD light, Filter is Seachem tidal 55, 180GPH wave maker pointed straight down the tank have about 15 pounds of live rock in 20 pounds of live sand

stock, 4 hermits 5 snails , saddle back clown , regular clown , watchman goby, scooter benny, blood shrimp , cleaner shrimp, all my live stock is pretty much thriving please help me out guys

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Visually, waht is the flow like?do the polyps move on the gsp and others?

How well oxygenated would you guess the tank is with no skimmer ?
Do you have enough surface agitation to allow good gas exchange ?

 

[nightmarepl]

Well my hang on the bsck filter has a surface skimmer so the upper water moves a lot polyps move pretty well I’ll makd a recording today after work but I’d say flow is decent some people recommended getting a air pump to abc a small air stone think that would be required ?

 

[rkpetersen]

Couple of additional questions -
What is your phosphate? Too high or too low can both cause problems.
What spectrum and intensity are you running the Prime HD? It corals aren't growing, too little light should be excluded.
Also, the lower the pH, the slower coral growth. A chronically low pH can indicate inadequate gas exchange, high levels of organic acids in the water, or an elevated air CO2 level in the aquarium room.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Agreed.
Many run super low intensity and limit the spectrum as well lowering par.
A good check is also looking at the hot spot the light will naturally create. Corals on edges may be getting less light than you think.
Most leathers for instance will take a lot more light than commonly though.
“Softie” does not mean low light.

 

[nightmarepl]

Agreed.
Many run super low intensity and limit the spectrum as well lowering par.
A good check is also looking at the hot spot the light will naturally create. Corals on edges may be getting less light than you think.
Most leathers for instance will take a lot more light than commonly though.
“Softie” does not mean low light.

well my prime is about 10 inches off the surface and the current build im using is running 20k

 

[nightmarepl]

Couple of additional questions -
What is your phosphate? Too high or too low can both cause problems.
What spectrum and intensity are you running the Prime HD? It corals aren't growing, too little light should be excluded.
Also, the lower the pH, the slower coral growth. A chronically low pH can indicate inadequate gas exchange, high levels of organic acids in the water, or an elevated air CO2 level in the aquarium room.

well ill be honest i have never tested phosphates wasnt really told to watch those

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What % is it at.

Do check out the specs and the light science calculator , you can get a rough idea of the par and spread at full blast.
http://www.aquaillumination.com/lighting/prime/

The most common reccomendation is 100 par on the sand for a mixed reef and it’s not a super powerful light.
You could , if you like, slowly increase only the peak % of the light and see if you see any changes over the course of a month or so.

 

[rkpetersen]

well ill be honest i have never tested phosphates wasnt really told to watch those

Phosphate and nitrate are the two main 'nutrient' ions that can either get too high or too low. I would guess that most hobbyists keep an eye on phosphate (or elemental phosphorus) levels, as well as nitrate levels. There are several hobbyist test kits for phosphate although many like the Hanna ULR Phosphorus Checker, once you've established the proper low but non-zero level in your system. What level to shoot for is subject to opinion, but I aim for a phosphorus reading of 10 - 30 ppb, which corresponds to a phosphate level of 0.03 - 0.09 ppm.

 

[nightmarepl]

What % is it at.

Do check out the specs and the light science calculator , you can get a rough idea of the par and spread at full blast.
http://www.aquaillumination.com/lighting/prime/

The most common reccomendation is 100 par on the sand for a mixed reef and it’s not a super powerful light.
You could , if you like, slowly increase only the peak % of the light and see if you see any changes over the course of a month or so.

at max zone its 75%

 

[nightmarepl]

Phosphate and nitrate are the two main 'nutrient' ions that can either get too high or too low. I would guess that most hobbyists keep an eye on phosphate (or elemental phosphorus) levels, as well as nitrate levels. There are several hobbyist test kits for phosphate although many like the Hanna ULR Phosphorus Checker, once you've established the proper low but non-zero level in your system. What level to shoot for is subject to opinion, but I aim for a phosphorus reading of 10 - 30 ppb, which corresponds to a phosphate level of 0.03 - 0.09 ppm.

mm so youll recommend getting a test it and start watching it so getting a phosphate of 0.03-0.09 is recommended? would getting a seachem posguard be good idea?

 

[rkpetersen]

mm so youll recommend getting a test it and start watching it so getting a phosphate of 0.03-0.09 is recommended? would getting a seachem posguard be good idea?

Yes to the first question. As far as Phosguard, you certainly don't need any now but I always keep some (as well as GFO) on hand.

 

[nightmarepl]

Yes to the first question. As far as Phosguard, you certainly don't need any now but I always keep some (as well as GFO) on hand.

What’s the best stuff to run in your filter do you run GFO non stop?

 

[rkpetersen]

Post removed!

 

[nightmarepl]

Couple of other things, though. Just my opinion.

With your nitrate that high, the most efficient way to reduce it dramatically is with water changes.

You might want to taper the carbon dosing off or down, as you're likely to keep running into the problem of chaeto disintegrating for lack of nutrients while your phosphate is being so rapidly consumed by bacteria, which grow faster than algae. Unfortunately this would limit your nitrate reduction, so adding phosphate may be necessary (if you don't want to do those water changes. )

So you think my phosphates are too low or too high? I was told having 10-20 nitrates is good

 

[rkpetersen]

What’s the best stuff to run in your filter do you run GFO non stop?

I use Rowa-Phos in a very fine mesh bag. I rinse it well although this particular manufacturer recommends not to. They may well all be similar products. I don't run it all the time. If I see my phosphorus creeping up to 30, I add 30g of RP to the reactor and check it again in a few days; almost always down to half or less. Remove the bag of RP and save it for reuse in a couple of weeks. If the level doesn't come down after a few days, the RP is exhausted and is replaced by fresh.

 

[rkpetersen]

So you think my phosphates are too low or too high? I was told having 10-20 nitrates is good

Big difference between 10 and 20. I was basing my thoughts on 20. I like to keep mine around 3 - 5.

 

[rkpetersen]

I think probably the bigger thing here is the light intensity, as salty also mentioned. Try ramping it up to near 100%, over 6 weeks or more, and see what happens.

 

[rkpetersen]

My apologies, I was partially confusing you with someone else with a phosphate/nitrate issue! (And have removed one of my posts above.)

I don't know what your phosphate is. It might be fine or on the high side. Test first and then proceed.

 

[nightmarepl]

My apologies, I was partially confusing you with someone else with a phosphate/nitrate issue! (And have removed one of my posts above.)

I don't know what your phosphate is. It might be fine or on the high side. Test first and then proceed.

Ordered my kit coming in Friday I’ll test and inform y’all ASAP pushing the prime HD to 100% on a 10 gallon really?