New corals! Help please!

[Evil1]

Like this?

RS has pre programs Is there one for 20k which should be 100% blue and 50% white. Sunrise at 8am sunset at 7pm. I’d choose that and monitor. That’s the program I have been running for 7 years and I have a mixed reef. You can lower if you notice coral is bleaching.

 

[lubashmike]

RS has pre programs Is there one for 20k which should be 100% blue and 50% white. Sunrise at 8am sunset at 7pm. I’d choose that and monitor. That’s the program I have been running for 7 years and I have a mixed reef. You can lower if you notice coral is bleaching.

They have a 15k or a 23k

 

[Evil1]

They have a 15k or a 23k

Ok go with the 15k. Leave the blue at 100. Lower white to 50%

 

[TheNative192]

Hello! Thank you for the help!
I don’t know what i added except the pulsing xenias that are now not pulsing and the Kenya trees that are falling over the rest are just cool things i saw at the show

My perimeters are as follows all checked with Hanna checkers
Ph- 7.8
Salt-1.024
Temp 80.6
Calcium- 451
Alk- 20.0
Phosphate- .18
Ammonia 1.27( which is down from 1.36 yesterday)
NitRATES- 75 (which is up from 42 yesterday)
Copper - .1

It is a Red Sea 200 so 43 display and 10 sump
Reef mat collecting waste and protein skimmer seems to be doing good cup fills every 2 days and is a dark tan
Red Sea 115 i have it set to 20% for 6 hours a day right now

Everything looks sad and i truly don’t know what to do.
I got my all for reef today but i dont know if adding that is going to help
I did add 5 drops of iodine the past 3 days

You need specific spectrum for corals. Usually a more blue focused spectrum and light. Your light looks completely white which would likely be the reason they are not opening. The soft corals you have can have all those parameters. Do not use All for reef as you do not have hard corals and that will increase your alk & calcium.

It is likely flow or lighting

 

[lubashmike]

You need specific spectrum for corals. Usually a more blue focused spectrum and light. Your light looks completely white which would likely be the reason they are not opening. The soft corals you have can have all those parameters. Do not use All for reef as you do not have hard corals and that will increase your alk & calcium.

It is likely flow or lighting

I just turned white for a picture it’s normally really blue

 

[TheNative192]

I just turned white for a picture it’s normally really blue

Soft corals usually sulk for the first bit unless the tank is very established which I don't think is the case here. You picked some hardy corals though so you should be fine. I have zoas in 250 par right now without any issue and I did not even acclimate them.

 

[lubashmike]

Did a 11 gal water change today let it run for 5-6 hours and here are my current parameters

I had the window open all day to help with the ph
Adjusted the lighting for a 12 hour 20k cycle set to 80% intensity and put all of the corals on the sand bed with the exception of the rack which is now 2 inches over the sand bed on the glass

Ph- 8.2
Salt- 1.025
Alk- 16.2
Phos- .12
Temp 77.9
Ammonia- .62
Nitrates- 48.6
Copper in the tank - .01 on the Hanna checker

Should i just let this ride for a few days and just check salty and temp daily?

I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help the past 2 days i feel less stressed with everyone’s advise!

 

[Matthew31]

Did a 11 gal water change today let it run for 5-6 hours and here are my current parameters

I had the window open all day to help with the ph
Adjusted the lighting for a 12 hour 20k cycle set to 80% intensity and put all of the corals on the sand bed with the exception of the rack which is now 2 inches over the sand bed on the glass

Ph- 8.2
Salt- 1.025
Alk- 16.2
Phos- .12
Temp 77.9
Ammonia- .62
Nitrates- 48.6
Copper in the tank - .01 on the Hanna checker

Should i just let this ride for a few days and just check salty and temp daily?

I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help the past 2 days i feel less stressed with everyone’s advise!

Glad you’re feeling better! Hopefully we all got you to spend more time with wet hands than muddy shoes from the garden! Lol. Gardening is cool but reef tanks are cooler

 

[lubashmike]

Glad you’re feeling better! Hopefully we all got you to spend more time with wet hands than muddy shoes from the garden! Lol. Gardening is cool but reef tanks are cooler

Yeah i just hate failing really upsets me when i think i understand something and i don’t so im really trying on this! I wont give up yet!
Thank you!

 

[Matthew31]

Glad you’re feeling better! Hopefully we all got you to spend more time with wet hands than muddy shoes from the garden! Lol. Gardening is cool but reef tanks are cooler

You only fail if you quit! I quit for a year because I could not get rid of aptasia. Worst thing I ever did. Got super overwhelmed, thought I tried everything and just gave up. Rehomed all my livestock (a lot of which I cannot replace) and put my equipment in storage. Just recently started a new tank myself.

 

[dwest]

Did a 11 gal water change today let it run for 5-6 hours and here are my current parameters

I had the window open all day to help with the ph
Adjusted the lighting for a 12 hour 20k cycle set to 80% intensity and put all of the corals on the sand bed with the exception of the rack which is now 2 inches over the sand bed on the glass

Ph- 8.2
Salt- 1.025
Alk- 16.2
Phos- .12
Temp 77.9
Ammonia- .62
Nitrates- 48.6
Copper in the tank - .01 on the Hanna checker

Should i just let this ride for a few days and just check salty and temp daily?

I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help the past 2 days i feel less stressed with everyone’s advise!

I’d let it ride except….if the alkalinity is 16.2 dKH that sounds very high. Hasn’t it been either normal (8 ish) or very high? Just wondering what could be going on there.

 

[lubashmike]

Did a 11 gal water change today let it run for 5-6 hours and here are my current parameters

I had the window open all day to help with the ph
Adjusted the lighting for a 12 hour 20k cycle set to 80% intensity and put all of the corals on the sand bed with the exception of the rack which is now 2 inches over the sand bed on the glass

Ph- 8.2
Salt- 1.025
Alk- 16.2
Phos- .12
Temp 77.9
Ammonia- .62
Nitrates- 48.6
Copper in the tank - .01 on the Hanna checker

Should i just let this ride for a few days and just check salty and temp daily?

I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help the past 2 days i feel less stressed with everyone’s advise!

I’d let it ride except….if the alkalinity is 16.2 dKH that sounds very high. Hasn’t it been either normal (8 ish) or very high? Just wondering what could be going on there.

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

 

[lubashmike]

Did a 11 gal water change today let it run for 5-6 hours and here are my current parameters

I had the window open all day to help with the ph
Adjusted the lighting for a 12 hour 20k cycle set to 80% intensity and put all of the corals on the sand bed with the exception of the rack which is now 2 inches over the sand bed on the glass

Ph- 8.2
Salt- 1.025
Alk- 16.2
Phos- .12
Temp 77.9
Ammonia- .62
Nitrates- 48.6
Copper in the tank - .01 on the Hanna checker

Should i just let this ride for a few days and just check salty and temp daily?

I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help the past 2 days i feel less stressed with everyone’s advise!

I’d let it ride except….if the alkalinity is 16.2 dKH that sounds very high. Hasn’t it been either normal (8 ish) or very high? Just wondering what could be going on there.

Also learned do not listen to anything they say at petco! my LFS doesn’t have store hours that work with my work schedule so I’m going to have to relay on online suppliers unfortunately

 

[dwest]

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

18 dKH is too high. Are you adding something that is increasing alkalinity (kalk, 2 part, AFR, baking soda, etc)? If so, I’d stop. How is it being measured?

 

[Marine Betta]

Did a 11 gal water change today let it run for 5-6 hours and here are my current parameters

I had the window open all day to help with the ph
Adjusted the lighting for a 12 hour 20k cycle set to 80% intensity and put all of the corals on the sand bed with the exception of the rack which is now 2 inches over the sand bed on the glass

Ph- 8.2
Salt- 1.025
Alk- 16.2
Phos- .12
Temp 77.9
Ammonia- .62
Nitrates- 48.6
Copper in the tank - .01 on the Hanna checker

Should i just let this ride for a few days and just check salty and temp daily?

I sincerely appreciate everyone’s help the past 2 days i feel less stressed with everyone’s advise!

I’d let it ride except….if the alkalinity is 16.2 dKH that sounds very high. Hasn’t it been either normal (8 ish) or very high? Just wondering what could be going on there.

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

I’m glad the water change helped. I seriously doubt that Fuel would be the source of elevated copper. Copper is actually present in natural seawater in trace amounts, 3 micrograms/L, and it’s necessary for a lot of biological processes which is why Fuel’s guaranteed analysis is 1 microgram/gram. You would need to use an obscene amount of Fuel to get Copper to 0.1 ppm. I still suspect metal leaching into the water.

Alk should be between 7 and 12 dKh.12 dKh is still too high for most tanks. Most people like to run their Alk between 7.8 and 8.3. Do you know how it got that high? That’s two tests that have shown extremely high values. I’d confirm that the Hanna checker is working properly.

 

[lubashmike]

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

18 dKH is too high. Are you adding something that is increasing alkalinity (kalk, 2 part, AFR, baking soda, etc)? If so, I’d stop. How is it being measured?

i check using a Hanna checker. I think i figured it out there, i added reef buffer few days ago to help increase ph.
Should i do a small water change to drop it or just let the tank eat it to come down?

 

[Marine Betta]

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

18 dKH is too high. Are you adding something that is increasing alkalinity (kalk, 2 part, AFR, baking soda, etc)? If so, I’d stop. How is it being measured?

i check using a Hanna checker. I think i figured it out there, i added reef buffer few days ago to help increase ph.
Should i do a small water change to drop it or just let the tank eat it to come down?

That could do it. How much buffer did you add? If you’re adding buffer, use small amounts in a single use. A little goes a long way. You can always add more if need be. I would continue doing daily water changes. The corals will also consume it, but water changes will normalize it faster. The water change will also help lower your ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates.

 

[lubashmike]

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

18 dKH is too high. Are you adding something that is increasing alkalinity (kalk, 2 part, AFR, baking soda, etc)? If so, I’d stop. How is it being measured?

i check using a Hanna checker. I think i figured it out there, i added reef buffer few days ago to help increase ph.
Should i do a small water change to drop it or just let the tank eat it to come down?

That could do it. How much buffer did you add? If you’re adding buffer, use small amounts in a single use. A little goes a long way. You can always add more if need be. I would continue doing daily water changes. The corals will also consume it, but water changes will normalize it faster. The water change will also help lower your ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates.

Should i do another 5 gals today since i did 10 yesterday?

 

[Marine Betta]

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

18 dKH is too high. Are you adding something that is increasing alkalinity (kalk, 2 part, AFR, baking soda, etc)? If so, I’d stop. How is it being measured?

i check using a Hanna checker. I think i figured it out there, i added reef buffer few days ago to help increase ph.
Should i do a small water change to drop it or just let the tank eat it to come down?

That could do it. How much buffer did you add? If you’re adding buffer, use small amounts in a single use. A little goes a long way. You can always add more if need be. I would continue doing daily water changes. The corals will also consume it, but water changes will normalize it faster. The water change will also help lower your ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates.

Should i do another 5 gals today since i did 10 yesterday?

Yes, let’s see what that does. We want ammonia and copper to be zero and not detectable, respectively, as soon as possible. Once that happens, you can start doing smaller water changes, 1-3 gallons, every day to lower alkalinity, nitrates, and phosphates.

 

[Marine Betta]

Was 8 ish on 3/2 but been climbing since was at 20 yesterday before the water change.

On 3/3 i did start adding Seachem clarity(i know now is Bs and doesn’t help with ammonia) and Seachem fuel (maybe that’s why i had the copper in the tank?)

Is 18 alk a at a point where it is toxic? How do i remove?

18 dKH is too high. Are you adding something that is increasing alkalinity (kalk, 2 part, AFR, baking soda, etc)? If so, I’d stop. How is it being measured?

i check using a Hanna checker. I think i figured it out there, i added reef buffer few days ago to help increase ph.
Should i do a small water change to drop it or just let the tank eat it to come down?

That could do it. How much buffer did you add? If you’re adding buffer, use small amounts in a single use. A little goes a long way. You can always add more if need be. I would continue doing daily water changes. The corals will also consume it, but water changes will normalize it faster. The water change will also help lower your ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates.

Should i do another 5 gals today since i did 10 yesterday?

Yes, let’s see what that does. We want ammonia and copper to be zero and not detectable, respectively, as soon as possible. Once that happens, you can start doing smaller water changes, 1-3 gallons, every day to lower alkalinity, nitrates, and phosphates.

Good target values for nitrates and phosphates for most reef tanks are 5-20 ppm and 0.03-0.1, respectively. In very established, stable tanks, some people are able to run elevated levels of both, but the values above are good targets.