Trouble growing corals

[SlightlyOutraged]

Hey All,
I’ve been at this for almost a year to the day. I have the 36gal bow front. Parameters are Sal 1.024. Amo 0. Nitrite 0. Nitrate 0. Phos 0. Cal 492. Ak 10. Mag 1336. temp around 78.4. Some small salinity changes. Not much. Ai prime lights on a 12 hr from a World Wide Corals website.
But I can’t get he corals to grow. I have soft corals thinking they would flourish. But nothing. I feed the fish twice a day and dose with reef nutrition A+B and dose phyto twice a week. Last water change was two weeks ago.
Why are my nitrates and phos so low.

Thanks in advance.

 

[fishski13]

I would say the biggest problem hear is your 0 nitrates, for most coral to grow there needs to be some kind of nitrogen for them to feed off of. I have also heard that some softy coral grow like wild weeds with more nitrate than what most people aim to have in their tanks.

What test kit are you using for your nitrate and phosphate readings?

Another problem could be stability, most corals wont grow without stability in the tank, how's that looking for you?

 

[Lavey29]

You will never be able to have successful corals with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphate. You need nitrates at 10ppm and phosphate. 05 to .1. These are the nutrients your corals need to survive.

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

You will never be able to have successful corals with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphate. You need nitrates at 10ppm and phosphate. 05 to .1. These are the nutrients your corals need to survive.

How do I get them up, I have the nitrates in a bottle stuff, but I'm not sure I want to use it. It says it will lower phos

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

I would say the biggest problem hear is your 0 nitrates, for most coral to grow there needs to be some kind of nitrogen for them to feed off of. I have also heard that some softy coral grow like wild weeds with more nitrate than what most people aim to have in their tanks.

What test kit are you using for your nitrate and phosphate readings?

Another problem could be stability, most corals wont grow without stability in the tank, how's that looking for you?

i use the salifert for nitrate test an have a hanna ultr low phosphate tester,sometimes i double test use api to check nitrates as well to double check.The stability has been on an off the temp an salinity have been stable for the most part unsure of how to keep things stable alk was on the high end but has lowered by 1 was at 11 now is at 10 but it fell slowly not too quickly.i do have Neonitro product to raise nitrates but a little afraid to start dosing.what do you recommend?

 

[davidcalgary29]

How do I get them up, I have the nitrates in a bottle stuff, but I'm not sure I want to use it. It says it will lower phos

Feed the fish more. They'll probably love it.

What are you feeding them, and how much at a time?

 

[Lavey29]

How do I get them up, I have the nitrates in a bottle stuff, but I'm not sure I want to use it. It says it will lower phos

When my tank was new I had trouble getting nitrates and phosphate too. Normally feeding more using coral vitamins will bump those up along with dry skimming and cutting to biweekly water changes. I ended up double dosing neophos and neonitro for multiple weeks to get my numbers up.

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

Feed the fish more. They'll probably love it.

What are you feeding them, and how much at a time?

Frozen mysis shrimp, 2 cubes in a small squirt bottle with ro water. Lasts about 3 days. About a second long squirt...... Giggiddy

 

[LeftyReefer]

An ALK of 10 is likely too high for how low your nutrients are.

I'd lower your ALK to the 8 range and start dosing a bit of nitrate and phosphate.

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

An ALK of 10 is likely too high for how low your nutrients are.

I'd lower your ALK to the 8 range and start dosing a bit of nitrate and phosphate.

that quick of a drop would kill my corals. I dont know how to drop it anyway.

 

[radfly]

Get salinity to 1.026, Study this site and learn passively from those that have successfully survived the hobby for a few years.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Wow. How many fish do you have?

Frozen mysis shrimp, 2 cubes in a small squirt bottle with ro water. Lasts about 3 days. About a second long squirt...... Giggiddy

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

Wow. How many fish do you have?

i have six fish. 4 goby, lawnmower blenny & wrasse

 

[LeftyReefer]

An ALK of 10 is likely too high for how low your nutrients are.

I'd lower your ALK to the 8 range and start dosing a bit of nitrate and phosphate.

that quick of a drop would kill my corals. I dont know how to drop it anyway.

who said to drop it quick? (I didn't)

I assume you are using a high ALK salt mix?

 

[Dom]

What are the tank dimensions (LxWxH)?

When it comes to lighting, there are two things to consider; spread and penetration.

Spread is the area of light that covers the footprint of the tank. You can adjust your spread by raising or lowering the light to and from the water line.

Penetration is the amount of light that reaches the bottom of the tank. Unfortunately you can not tell if penetration is adequate without a PAR meter.

Also and has been previously mentioned, Nitrates can be beneficial, particularly if you are trying to grow corals.

I feel lighting may be your biggest problem.

 

[Mystersynyster]

Don't forget most coral use the algae inside them to photosynthesis the light for food. Ot is extremely hard for algae to grow with zeros like everyone has stated. What are you running in your sump for filtration, maybe lay off the water changes to once a month with heavy feeding and monitor. Your alk, cal and mag seem good I would try and keep them where they are and make sure your salinity is where it needs to be

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

who said to drop it quick? (I didn't)

I assume you are using a high ALK salt mix?

yeah i've been using reef crystals ALK range says 8 to 12 .i was doing water changes once a week 10percent but stopped .Then started doing them every two weeks .

 

[Mystersynyster]

What kind of softies are you growing

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

What are the tank dimensions (LxWxH)?

When it comes to lighting, there are two things to consider; spread and penetration.

Spread is the area of light that covers the footprint of the tank. You can adjust your spread by raising or lowering the light to and from the water line.

Penetration is the amount of light that reaches the bottom of the tank. Unfortunately you can not tell if penetration is adequate without a PAR meter.

Also and has been previously mentioned, Nitrates can be beneficial, particularly if you are trying to grow corals.

I feel lighting may be your biggest problem.

length 30 inches
depth 20 1/2
width 16
i have a ai prime light
im going to start feeding more to hopefully bring up the nitrates

 

[SlightlyOutraged]

What kind of softies are you growing

green kenya tree ,yuma mushroom,indo ricordea yuma mushrrom,gsp,bob marley zoas