Some coral dying in tank. Any red flags in specs below?

[Grebex11]

Hi everyone,

My mixed reef has been set up 11 months now. Overall things are doing well. Frogspawns are massive. Mushrooms and toadstools look great (tho not fully extended). However I cannot keep acans, Duncans, or zoas alive at all. My red monti was growing like crazy but has stopped and lost some color. Below are all the specs on my 36g bow front. Any red flags you see or things you would change?

I was out of town and haven’t done a WC in 3 weeks FYI.

Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.3
Phosphate: 0 (I have a lot of chaeto. Maybe why it’s 0)
Alk: 7.5
Ca: 360
Mag: 1080

Lighting
Ocean Revive T247 LED. Sits 7” above the water
Blues : 7.5hrs. 90%
Whites 6hrs. 35%

Movement
Koralia 850 or 1050
Koralia 240

 

[GugsJr]

Mag, CA, Nitrates, phosphate are low

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[Cubano32]

Hi everyone,

My mixed reef has been set up 11 months now. Overall things are doing well. Frogspawns are massive. Mushrooms and toadstools look great (tho not fully extended). However I cannot keep acans, Duncans, or zoas alive at all. My red monti was growing like crazy but has stopped and lost some color. Below are all the specs on my 36g bow front. Any red flags you see or things you would change?

I was out of town and haven’t done a WC in 3 weeks FYI.

Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.3
Phosphate: 0 (I have a lot of chaeto. Maybe why it’s 0)
Alk: 7.5
Ca: 360
Mag: 1080

Lighting
Ocean Revive T247 LED. Sits 7” above the water
Blues : 7.5hrs. 90%
Whites 6hrs. 35%

Movement
Koralia 850 or 1050
Koralia 240

Cal and mag seem a little low

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[maidia]

Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0 (I have a lot of chaeto. Maybe why it’s 0)
Alk: 7.5
Ca: 360
Mag: 1080

All above are low to me.

 

[IHaveCrabs]

Agreed with the above comments..

How deep is the tank? That light is more powerful than you may think. Center under that light at 65% blue, 7" above the water, and 18" below the water line PAR is likely 250ish. Add the white and it well over 300.

Depending on what corals you have, you are likely blasting them.

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[Grebex11]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone! I was surprised my nitrate and phosphate were 0 tho my bioload isn’t huge. 2 clowns and a 4 line wrasse.

Do you think alk/ca/mag are in a range that can be raised with more frequent water changes?

Also, anything with the lighting that seems off?

- - - Updated - - -

The tank is 21” deep.

 

[GugsJr]

You're probably better off buffing it.

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[IHaveCrabs]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone! I was surprised my nitrate and phosphate were 0 tho my bioload isn’t huge. 2 clowns and a 4 line wrasse.

Do you think alk/ca/mag are in a range that can be raised with more frequent water changes?

Also, anything with the lighting that seems off?

- - - Updated - - -

The tank is 21” deep.

To me it sounds like your nutrient level is way to low given the amount of PAR your system is receiving.

I would reduce your lighting intensity and feed a little more heavily.

Dosing would be important to maintain stable parameters and is much cheaper than performing water changes.

Food for thought!

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[Spartanman22]

I would agree with the issues being more aligned to a low nutrient system as opposed to cal/mag levels. I only mess with Mg when I’m trying to enrich coralline growth. 360 calcium may be low to some, but I know of people running tanks with calcium between 350-400. Hell, I was there for nearly a year and had great growth.

Given the information and which type of corals are struggling my vote would be low nutrients.


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[Grebex11]

I would agree with the issues being more aligned to a low nutrient system as opposed to cal/mag levels. I only mess with Mg when I’m trying to enrich coralline growth. 360 calcium may be low to some, but I know of people running tanks with calcium between 350-400. Hell, I was there for nearly a year and had great growth.

Given the information and which type of corals are struggling my vote would be low nutrients.


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Thanks for the info here! I have never really considered the fact that I should be feeding more as overfeeding is usually the problem. I do have a lot of corraline growth. My back wall is completely covered and I have to scrape the front glass every week or so because it grows so quickly. I've never had coralline grow this fast in a tank before. I guess that could be part of the reason calcium is low.

 

[ultimatemj]

Any pictures? Coralline is a mixed blessing...generally looks nice, but it gobbles up Alk and Mag way faster than you'd expect.

To keep the parameters up, you will need to either do frequent water changes, or begin using Kalkwasser or 2part...and/or try to remove as much coralline as you can.

Based on the description, I agree with the idea your lights might be "too much" in your low nutrient situation...and only SPS is a monti. If it were me, I'd turn the intensity down to 75% & 20%. And maybe even shorten the white cycle to 5hrs.

For reference, I'm running AI26HD 6" over the water and am only running them 50% & 20%.

 

[troublemaker]

I usually have issues like these when my Magnesium drops, but it's usually when its left on cruise control for some time, so that might just be one of the things going on. I didn't see this mentioned and I have been guilty of letting it slip more times than I want to admit, but what is you Salinity at?

 

[Grebex11]

Really appreciate the feedback!

It sounds like dosing is the only way I will be able to get the reef I want! I have also started feeding a little heavier and reduced the lighting. I'm reducing the lighting slowly over a few weeks. I also did some reading on dosing. I do not have a sump or an ATO so it sounds like 2 part is the only option for me. This way I can add it directly to the tank daily when I feed instead of doing a drip method with Kalk. I still need to read up on recommended 2 part solutions. As I've only seen videos with the products from BRS.

FYI My salinity is at 1.024

 

[ultimatemj]

JFYI, you can add kalk the same way you would 2part...with 1 less pump and less to coordinate/balance.

In general, kalk is way less hassle and works just as well...until the load exceeds what it can add.

For that matter, you don't even need to setup "dosers". Just mix up a batch and add a 'cup full' in the morning (to a high flow area) and see how it goes. Note: This effectively takes place of your 'top off' as well, in that it replaces whatever evaporation you have going on.

Yes, dosers can you to allow to reduce "swings", but figuring out how much when requires iterative tweeks and you can easily overdo it.

2cents