I am posting to confess my sins for not performing any measurements in my tank for the last 4 months except specific gravity for water changes. I transferred my livestock from a 72 gallon bowfront to 110 gallon tank about 6 months ago. Once the new tank had cycled I stopped measuring nitrate, nitrites ect... I have the following livestock, flame angel, hippo tang, 3 anthias, baggani cardinal, perc clownfish, melarinus wrasse, midas blenny,fire fish, tiger starfish and assorted crabs and snails. I also have some soft corals some of which that are doing well some of which seen to be struggling.I currently do a 7 gallon WC per week with salinity salt. For lighting I have 10 of the exotic panorama pros (16W each) with 5 blue, 3 white 2 red blue. I have a 90 sump with a refugium with a DSB, live rock and macro that runs lights 24/7. I have kenya tree coral, yellow polyps, blue clove polyps and red ring zoos that are also doing well. However my acan, toadstool and red mushroom are not doing so well. My new years resolution is to turn the tank into a very colorful soft coral display with as simple a maintenance schedule as possible. With this in mind what parameters do I need to start measuring to get the tank in shape for better soft coral growth? Also what brand or kits do you recommend? Thank you for your help.
confession and advice
- Thread starter jmhartney
- Start date
+1 to alternating sump lighting opposite of your display lights with a 1 hour overlap. EX. main lights on at 8am sump light off at 9am.... sump light on at 7 pm tank lights off at 8pm.
For test kits prefer api for phos, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia. For Calc, ALK, and Mag I prefer Salifert test kits. and if your a coral addict, I like to monitor some of the odder levels like potassium, iron, and iodide. Red Sea makes these test kits. They are fairly difficult to use but i have been getting awesome colors in my coral after i have been maintaining my trace elements through water changes and dosing. (NOTE: you never need to dose iodide due to water changes replenishing it.)
Key to awesome SPS colors: Stability, good light, and high in tank flow(adding a small amount of iron and potassium helps as well
).
For water changes, I suggest doing at least 20g a week to hit the 10% weekly water change.
For test kits prefer api for phos, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia. For Calc, ALK, and Mag I prefer Salifert test kits. and if your a coral addict, I like to monitor some of the odder levels like potassium, iron, and iodide. Red Sea makes these test kits. They are fairly difficult to use but i have been getting awesome colors in my coral after i have been maintaining my trace elements through water changes and dosing. (NOTE: you never need to dose iodide due to water changes replenishing it.)
Key to awesome SPS colors: Stability, good light, and high in tank flow(adding a small amount of iron and potassium helps as well
). For water changes, I suggest doing at least 20g a week to hit the 10% weekly water change.
sethsolomon;285455 said:
+1 to alternating sump lighting opposite of your display lights with a 1 hour overlap. EX. main lights on at 8am sump light off at 9am.... sump light on at 7 pm tank lights off at 8pm.
For test kits prefer api for phos, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia. For Calc, ALK, and Mag I prefer Salifert test kits. and if your a coral addict, I like to monitor some of the odder levels like potassium, iron, and iodide. Red Sea makes these test kits. They are fairly difficult to use but i have been getting awesome colors in my coral after i have been maintaining my trace elements through water changes and dosing. (NOTE: you never need to dose iodide due to water changes replenishing it.)
Key to awesome SPS colors: Stability, good light, and high in tank flow(adding a small amount of iron and potassium helps as well).
For water changes, I suggest doing at least 20g a week to hit the 10% weekly water change.
For test kits prefer api for phos, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia. For Calc, ALK, and Mag I prefer Salifert test kits. and if your a coral addict, I like to monitor some of the odder levels like potassium, iron, and iodide. Red Sea makes these test kits. They are fairly difficult to use but i have been getting awesome colors in my coral after i have been maintaining my trace elements through water changes and dosing. (NOTE: you never need to dose iodide due to water changes replenishing it.)
Key to awesome SPS colors: Stability, good light, and high in tank flow(adding a small amount of iron and potassium helps as well
). For water changes, I suggest doing at least 20g a week to hit the 10% weekly water change.
If I read this correct youve got roughly 200 gallons of water volume between your display and sump and your only doing a 7 gallon a week water change? Thats like 3.5%. I dont think thats enough of a change to even make a difference to impact anything.
Your not removing enough of anything that may be building up in the water column and your not replenishing anything thats being used up by the live stock.
In my opinion I would simply start with bigger water changes. I do 20% weekly on mine and hardly have to dose any trace elements or chemicals.
Your not removing enough of anything that may be building up in the water column and your not replenishing anything thats being used up by the live stock.
In my opinion I would simply start with bigger water changes. I do 20% weekly on mine and hardly have to dose any trace elements or chemicals.
+100. Start by doing real water changes, test your water for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, calcium, and alkalinity.
Salinity is notorious for being inconsistent. Mike and I (and the vast majority of the maintenance companies) use Kent Salt.
If you're not having algae issues, don't worry about phosphate testing.
If everything else is fine but calcium is low, and it doesn't respond to regular dosing, then test for magnesium.
In short, start with the big stuff before you dive down into the weeds on the less critical stuff. And make changes slowly to avoid a crash.
Salinity is notorious for being inconsistent. Mike and I (and the vast majority of the maintenance companies) use Kent Salt.
If you're not having algae issues, don't worry about phosphate testing.
If everything else is fine but calcium is low, and it doesn't respond to regular dosing, then test for magnesium.
In short, start with the big stuff before you dive down into the weeds on the less critical stuff. And make changes slowly to avoid a crash.
To all,
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I did about 5 consecutive( every other day) 25 gallon WC followed by a weekly 25 gallon WC. I started measuring the suggested parameters and found my phosphate to be really high 1PPM. I started running GFO in a reactor and have dropped it down to .3PPM in two weeks. Corals look much better. Thanks again to everyone with all of their suggestions.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I did about 5 consecutive( every other day) 25 gallon WC followed by a weekly 25 gallon WC. I started measuring the suggested parameters and found my phosphate to be really high 1PPM. I started running GFO in a reactor and have dropped it down to .3PPM in two weeks. Corals look much better. Thanks again to everyone with all of their suggestions.
If you were at 1ppm of PO4 after almost a 100% WC over the course of a week then you have/had a major PO4 issue.
Your water changes are being done with RODI water correct? Tap water can be a major source of PO4. If you are using RODI, have you done a PO4 test on the RODI to make sure that it is coming out clean? The other major cause of PO4 is overfeeding the tank.
Running the GFO may be handling the excess PO4 in the water, but you need to determine how that PO4 is getting into the water in the first place. Taking care of the underlying issue will help your tank even more in the long run.
Either way, congrats on getting it down and seeing improvement.
Your water changes are being done with RODI water correct? Tap water can be a major source of PO4. If you are using RODI, have you done a PO4 test on the RODI to make sure that it is coming out clean? The other major cause of PO4 is overfeeding the tank.
Running the GFO may be handling the excess PO4 in the water, but you need to determine how that PO4 is getting into the water in the first place. Taking care of the underlying issue will help your tank even more in the long run.
Either way, congrats on getting it down and seeing improvement.