Non of my coral look healthy but I can’t find out why?

[Shirak]

+1 to ICP water test to rule out some unknown wacky thing like heavy metal

 

[FortyFour44]

It can be many things. Lack of stability is likely playing a role as you tweek things with additives and lighting settings in the interim.

Regarding the lighting, BRS did some PAR testing on a 4 ft tank and found that the settings attached led to the best dispersion of PAR for an LPS tank when using 2 Hydra26’s 14” above the water. You can consider gravitating to those settings over a period of time.

Regular water changes can help with any concerns you have over water chemistry, although I’d be curious where you are sourcing your water (sorry if I missed it). Are you using 0 TDS RO water for you salt mix and ATO?

 

[jstncoffman]

Around a year I do water changes of 10% every Saturday I change filter floss around once every three days carbon every month gfo every two weeks roughly depending on po4 levels skimmer cup doesn’t get cleaned often as I don’t feed heavy so there’s not much to skim, I blow of rocks and cyphen sand often and clean glass little that’s all I the maintenance I can think off and I have a ato so fluctuations of salinity arnt a issue

Okay, have you tested your RO water after it goes through your filters ? Also hows the PH , and what temperature, sometimes temp spikes can make things unhappy, also your light specs need adjustment, as stated by others , different spectrums will take a month or 2 for corals to react too, id say around 50% is a good starting point, cyno happens from time to time, also are you dipping your corals, quarantine? Water flow is another biggie, decent flow but flow that collides against its self is key

 

[Dinodanger]

And no I am not advocating for changing anything until you find out where you are at currently. If you do anything you could leave the lights as is and move the coral up?

What about flow in the tank? Cyano is typically an issue with low flow tanks

The flow is definitely not low as I got gyres pounding the top rocks and there’s still cyano growing there I think I lack biodiversity tbh not sure why. I get outbreaks of things like Dino and cyano so bad that must be a contributing factor

 

[Dinodanger]

+1 to ICP water test to rule out some unknown wacky thing like heavy metal

Yeah that’s what I have been leading towards rust in the rear chamber is my main worry as I will have to take the tank apart to get it out

 

[Dinodanger]

Okay, have you tested your RO water after it goes through your filters ? Also hows the PH , and what temperature, sometimes temp spikes can make things unhappy, also your light specs need adjustment, as stated by others , different spectrums will take a month or 2 for corals to react too, id say around 50% is a good starting point, cyno happens from time to time, also are you dipping your corals, quarantine? Water flow is another biggie, decent flow but flow that collides against its self is key

I’m using a new rodi machine which tested 0tds I check everytime I add water to the tank, the ph is at 8.15 last time I checked I will do a test soon! temps at 79f with a temp controller double checked with a different thermometer, I inspect corals and dip certain ones like zoas and ones where it’s not easy to see if there’s pests I have two gyres and the return colliding in the middle an a random flow generator so there is turbulence

 

[jstncoffman]

and you said p04 was below .05 and nitrates was below 5ppm?

 

[Dinodanger]

and you said p04 was below .05 and nitrates was below 5ppm?

Yeah hard to get exact po4 level using Salifert test but below .05 is accurate as I can get and yday nitrates was 4

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

With low phosphates you shouldn't need gfo, as stripping phosphates out can severely effect corals.

 

[Dinodanger]

With low phosphates you shouldn't need gfo, as stripping phosphates out can severely effect corals.

Shall I remove the gfo?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I would say yes as I killed my sps and made my lps unhappy with zero phosphates. But others would probably know better. I have been dosing phosphates for the last 3 or more months now.
I went from

to this with no phosphates they went pale and notlps not as puffy

I lost the sps to stn/rtn, I then started raising phosphates and went from

Back to what I have now, I I haven't purchased any more coral for well over a year it's just filling out and I had to frag what I have and filled gaps.

Every tank is different so what eva changes you do make make them slowly as to not shock corals.

 

[ScottB]

You can run low nutrient with ALK around NSW -- 7.

IMO, your problem is low/no PO4. Error margin on a salifert kit is wide. Getting a Hanna ULR Phosphate or Phosphorus checker and backing that with an ICP is my advice. Even with the Hanna, mine tests HIGHER than what ICP says I have. By a lot. Consistently. I have to target .1 with Hanna, just to get .05 from ICP.

Dose Seachem Flourish or Neo Phos. Or skip GFO all together.

 

[Dinodanger]

I would say yes as I killed my sps and made my lps unhappy with zero phosphates. But others would probably know better. I have been dosing phosphates for the last 3 or more months now.
I went from

to this with no phosphates they went pale and notlps not as puffy

I lost the sps to stn/rtn, I then started raising phosphates and went from

Back to what I have now, I I haven't purchased any more coral for well over a year it's just filling out and I had to frag what I have and filled gaps.

Every tank is different so what eva changes you do make make them slowly as to not shock corals.

I’ll take out the gfo but I only added it to stop gha people say to leave nutrients but then I get gha which is easy to treat fast with reef flux and gfo

 

[Dinodanger]

You can run low nutrient with ALK around NSW -- 7.

IMO, your problem is low/no PO4. Error margin on a salifert kit is wide. Getting a Hanna ULR Phosphate or Phosphorus checker and backing that with an ICP is my advice. Even with the Hanna, mine tests HIGHER than what ICP says I have. By a lot. Consistently. I have to target .1 with Hanna, just to get .05 from ICP.

Dose Seachem Flourish or Neo Phos. Or skip GFO all together.

Okay I’ll remove gfo thanks

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Tanks been running around 1year total half way through I had serious Dino from bottoming nitrates out with a fuge nothing would get rid of the Dino so I move all coral and a did a 2month lights off period whilst dosing nutrients abit obsessive but i wasn’t taking any chances since then corals never really flourished

I think the tank was never cycled properly.
Synbiodinium in corals is dino!
Adding organic carbon may remove the previously installed autotrophic carrying capacity wich in a new tank is low. The moment the organic carbon addition is stopped suddenly the heterotrophic based carrying capacity is no longer supported and as the autotrophic carrying capacity may have been replaced or has never been there, it may take a week or two weeks and a lot longer, before the tank is able to reduce all produced ammonia and nitrite again.
Cyano's are part of the coral holobiont and are essential for most biosystems.
If one is able to remove microbial mats containing cyano by adding Nopox, by supporting high heterotrophic growth rates using up all nutrients, I think the corals present will not feel very happy by the situation.
It is normal for a new tank to have brownish stuff. If you have patience and wait at least 3 weeks or more for the tank to cycle properly you will see the brownish disappear and be replaced by greenish.
Switching off the light, in my opinion, was a very bad idea as you also stopped the development of the competitors for the brownish.
it may all start over again!

 

[jstncoffman]

Shall I remove the gfo?

I would pull the GFO , you want and need po4 and nitrates for your corals, then need some to help with their tissues to keep it simple, a coral will stay closed when it feels its threatened, alot of opinions on the perfect levels but i keep my mixed reef at .05 phosphate and 10ppm on my nitrates, I also run just carbon, when my po4 goes lower I feed more non organic foods, when my nitrates go a lil low I feed more organic foods,

 

[Dinodanger]

I think the tank was never cycled properly.
Synbiodinium in corals is dino!
Adding organic carbon may remove the previously installed autotrophic carrying capacity wich in a new tank is low. The moment the organic carbon addition is stopped suddenly the heterotrophic based carrying capacity is no longer supported and as the autotrophic carrying capacity may have been replaced or has never been there, it may take a week or two weeks and a lot longer, before the tank is able to reduce all produced ammonia and nitrite again.
Cyano's are part of the coral holobiont and are essential for most biosystems.
If one is able to remove microbial mats containing cyano by adding Nopox, by supporting high heterotrophic growth rates using up all nutrients, I think the corals present will not feel very happy by the situation.
It is normal for a new tank to have brownish stuff. If you have patience and wait at least 3 weeks or more for the tank to cycle properly you will see the brownish disappear and be replaced by greenish.
Switching off the light, in my opinion, was a very bad idea as you also stopped the development of the competitors for the brownish.
it may all start over again!

The tank was definitely cycled correctly I had a bad batch of salt which kept giving me ammonia I thought the same thing but after adding hundreds worth of bacteria it was still present bcus of all the water changes

 

[Luisreefmexico]

I was using nopox that’s what’s caused the cyano since then I’ve discontinued nopox and are currently leaving nitrates to raise naturally whilst keeping po4 down with rowaphos to get the nutrients in balance

How did you check the po4?

Did you check the Ph?

How many rock do you have? and what is the flow rate? sometime when you have a low flow the ph have variations and i think is a very important to check it.

Also if you are using rowa you will need be more careful with it

 

[Mikedawg]

In person it’s quite obvious somethings not right, the tanks 20inch deep with two ai hydra 26hds 10inchs above the water and here are the settings

Looks pretty much like the NanoKaren light profile and I use it; my tank and led's are same as yours. That said, I have had pretty good coral growth of softies, lps and some montis and digitatas. Water changes, dosing, maintenance practices are where I would continue my evaluation. Good luck

 

[Duncan Tse]

I think the 2 main culprit may be either too low nutrients or water stability issue.

Get a hanna ulr po4 checker as relying on the salifert is not accurate and you may actually have 0 po4. For me, I tend to keep my po4 around 0.03-0.1. When it bottoms out to 0, I see my corals start closing up. No need to dose any po4 for now if you just take your gfo offline which may be stripping your po4 out.

As for any tanks, water stability is key. Even though your parameters are good, the fluctuations may be a problem. Are you testing your parameters alk cal and mg weekly? Have they changed drastically over the past few weeks? Are you dosing?

As some ppl mentioned about your light settings, I don't think that is the reason. LPS can thrive in a whole range of par from 50-150+ and it is usually the water chemistry that's the main problem.