New Reefer, little help

[Kozman]

Hi new Reefer here, 50 gallon salt water tank, 2 clowns, 2 damsels, 2 cardinals and a goby. Have a few corals, green star poly, zoas, duncan. It's about 6 months and learning alot. The only issue is my phosphates are kinda high at 1ppg and nitrates are 10ppg. I do 20-30% water changes every 2 weeks.. I have a HOB Seachem Tidal 55 and a powerhead with good flow. My candy cane coral died within a week and my zoa is hurting. Any suggestions why corals are not doing good....

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Welcome aboard~

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

tank pics really help a lot....
What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[Nano_Man]

Most of us battle phosphate but there are methods to reduce ie phosphate removal pouches it’s to do with how much your feeding and how to get rid of the levels of nutrients in the water . Do you run a protein skimmer and are you doing frequent water changes if it helps give us your water parameters so members can help you more and advice you on your corals

 

[kevgib67]

Nitrates are fine but is the phosphates number a typo? Did you mean .1?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree a picture would be useful. Doctors don't diagnose diseases by hearing a patient died and another doesn't look good.

 

[Kozman]

Per API reef test phosphate is 1.0ppm,

 

[Kozman]

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don't see a chemical reason for coral deaths from what you posted about nitrate and phosphate, except possibly a sudden transition from a different environment.

Many corals do not deal well with transport from one tank to another.

 

[Kozman]

This coral has been in the tank for a month, the first few days it looked great , for the last 2 weeks it looks like the pic, hasn't open in a while...I don't run a protein skimmer, with the filter and power head I thought I would not need one. I do 30% water changes every other week. The lighting is set from 8am to 4 slowly increasing light intensity to white(automatic daytime mode)then trends down to moonlight blue, then off for a few hours until next morning

 

[Kozman]

I got my water tested, not too bad but slightly high, Calc 500, alk 11.1, mag 1470, no3 5, po4 .86. My light is a fluval marine 3.0. My prior settings were on way to long and walked out. My current setting in pic. Still not sure my corals are not growing. Any advice?

 

[ReefKatz]

What are you using for salt and what else do you do to the tank. Dosing etc.

 

[ryanjohn1]

With the fluval lights I’ve had. I max out the blue all the way to 100

 

[1112-425XL]

IMO your water parameters are fine. Too much light or constantly changing lite intensity will close corals or prevent them from opening. Find the settings you like and give corals time to adjust. That time could be days or weeks, be patient.
These have been my settings for 2 years. AI Hydra 32hd x2

 

[Kozman]

All I do is water changes, haven't done dosing..I guess it's time I start lol. As far as salt, unfortunately I just used my last bag so I don't remember the brand

 

[I never finish anythi]

Whatvis the salinity? What do you use to test ?

 

[Kozman]

Salt was 1.028, a bit high. I use the API test kit. For salt use a hydrometer with dial..the cheap 10-15 dollar ones. I should probably upgrade..

 

[bgray98]

Per API reef test phosphate is 1.0ppm,

API test kits are okay but they are known for not being the most accurate. If it’s possible I would try to take some water to your
LFS to have them test it. Also you would try another test kit like salifert. I myself use Hanna checkers and they are awesome but a little pricy.

 

[Kozman]

The results I posted were from a test from a local store yesterday so they are accurate. See post 11.

 

[ReefKatz]

All I do is water changes, haven't done dosing..I guess it's time I start lol. As far as salt, unfortunately I just used my last bag so I don't remember the brand

With the coral load that you have, I don’t really think you need to dose as long as you’re doing regular water changes. I will say the swing arm hydrometers are not in my opinion to reliable. An inexpensive refractometer made for seawater from Amazon should do the trick. I think I ended up getting one for $20-$25. Just make sure you check the reviews. As far as the AI test I’ve had spotty success with those. Salifert or Hannah in my opinion are the way to go. Whatever you choose just stay consistent with it. Choose whatever fits your budget. Now when looking at your phosphates that you posted 0.84 seems pretty high I’d like to personally keep nitrates between five and 10 ppm and phosphates at 0.05 to 0.1 ppm. I will say that in my experiences, some Zoe have issues with extremely high phosphates, but again every tank is different. If you’re concerned about any issues, I would recommend getting your salinity to 1.026 and then carry out several 20% water changes over the course of a week. Any change you make try to go slow with it. And if you ever decide to dose any supplements I find that for a tank that size the tropic Marin all four reef works great.