Help improving my system, what am I doing wrong (update 1-3)

B

bmd85

Trying to improve my setup. I have a 36 gal. Quater round tank with a modified ten gal. Sump I have it set up as an overflow
I have 150 watts of 14 k halide (coralife) and 96 watts of quad tube 50/50 (coralife) 6.83 wattspg or 250 watts per meter squared and a string of led blue Christmas lights the act as Lunar lights 60 lights total. All set up in an enclosed hood that holds the halide about 7" from the surface of the water
the sump is pumped back to the tank with a quiet one 1200 which at 4' should be 200 gal per hr (flips tank about 5.5 X per hour) I have a 1/10 hp chiller (aqua euro USA) that has it own pump (I think it's a mag 3, 350 gph) it controls a viaaqua titanium heater
the sump has foam and floss, an aquaC urchin skimmer a coralife 18 watt 50/50 that supports a refugium (caulerpa mostly mexicana but also grape and razor).
the tank has a live sand bed and about 40 pounds of live rock and 2 koralia 2 pumps 600 gph each
I have more recently started monitoring my chemistry I am trying to keep magnesium at 1400 ppm, calcium at 450 ppm, and alkalinity at 9 dkH. My current values are magnesium at 1400 ppm, calcium at 450 ppm, and alkalinity at 9 dkH
I have been keeping my tank at 78°F but have heard 82.4 is optimum so I increased it to 83
I am also auto feeding using an eheim feeder and ocean nutrition prime reef flakes I have heard I should probably switch to Dainichi marine fix and reef veggie fix (baby)
I have a true carpet anemonie, rose bubble tips, various acropora (tricolored valida, green slimed, blue tip tenius), birdsnest (pomepe, white, pink), millipora (rose, blue), montipora (purple green and orange capricornis, confusa, orange digitata, purple haze encrusting), platygyra, marulina, caulerpa, halmedia, domino damsel, pink pseudochromis, blue linkia starfish, turbo snail, brittle starfish
I want my coral to look better my problem is my coral seems to want to brown up alot (LE purple monti cap, blue tenius and some struggle to even look healthy (geen and orange monti cap, rose milli) almost all seem to not be growing though all have encrusted. The tricolor valdia and all of the birds nest seems to grow at a noticable rate.
 
Hi,

This sounds like a nitrate/phosphate issue. What are all of your parameters measuring i.e. Am, N02, N03, mg, SG, average temp and average ph. As a note, most flake foods have a lot of phospates in them, frozen does as well. It helps use flake with low phosphates as well as rinsing the frozen prior to feeding. What is your feeding schedule and how much.?? We can better help with more information about yout tank and equipment namely skimmer model/brand. :D A tank temp of 78* is a better number as it allows more room for error, 83* is pretty warm imo.

Cheers,
 
@bimmerzs wrote:
Hi said:
aquaC urchin skimmer with the maxi jet 1200 http://www.marinedepot.com/protein_skimmers_aquac_urchin_pro-ap.html
I have the feeder almost closed just a few flakes twice a day I don't use frozen very often
I do a ten % water change about every week, useing reef crystals
I have the ph well buffed at 8.3
I'll retest everything when I get home latter this week
Sg is 1.026 it stays pretty constant because I have a drip set up
I'll keep the temp at 78° (thanks)

Im worried that i am not turning over my tank rapidly enough between the tank and sump i am doing 5.5 (I think) but maby I should turn it up to 10 or more???

Could the sump/refugium be bogging down too much?

Thanks for your help bimmerzs!!!
Click to expand...
 
your tank is turning over plenty fast enough. I would ditch the foam and floss in the sump and use micro-algae instead or a filer sock if possible and keep them clean every few days by changing them out. I guess would depend on the sump brand style you have. But live rock or chaeto would be better than foam and floss if possible. How are you like that brand skimmer? Is it working alright for you?
 
Agree with the others... if all else is constant and good, ie parameters and you have eliminated nitrates and/or PO4, I would slowly drop that temp over a few days to 78. Temp increases will brown corals out... and stress them out. Not only them, but your fish.

Most of the animals we keep come from water that runs anywhere from 72 - 80 degrees, it can vary a bit depending on weather and time of year, depth they are found etc, but its impossible to provide the ideal temp for everything, so cutting it in the middle is a good approach.

Get rid of the floss and pads though, those are nitrate/PO4 factories.
 
Do you mean macro algae (caulerpa chaeto) or micro which I don't know what other micro there is other than diatoms ect.

I bought the remora because it is so low maintenance I hardly every have to adjust anything even if the water level changes or anything and it makes great foam it has some noise to though About like as if someone left the fauset on
 
Also keep this in the back of your mind.....if your Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium are within NSW ranges, then your PH will take care of itself. A lot of folks get caught up in PH being a set number and that will never be an absolute number in every tank. I would concentrate on getting the "big three" in line and stable and not solely worry about ph. Another thing that could be going on if a swing in your ph and alk while you are trying to keep a ph of 8.3. Just something to keep in mind. :D

Cheers,
 
How long has this system been set up? Sometimes it can take over a year for a system to get fully settled in. The SPS you are not happy with can be very finicky; they may go through an initial acclimation to survive the move and change in tank parameters but can take months to get fully acclimated to your system specifics (water chemistry and parameters, feeding schedules, light intensity and schedules, water flow, etc)

Are you running carbon? if not you should, mixing nems with sps in that small of a system will create some chemical warfare problems for the sps

Like others have indicated, I would suspect nitrates or phosphates as a potential issue but it may be something you can’t measure that carbon may be able to clear up.
 
The tanks been up for 2.5 years but I moved in early June and I did a 100% water change about a month ago when I switched from tap water to RO water about a month ago. But this problem has been going on for the whole time. The purple haze has started to color up since the water switch nothing was harmed during the 100% change. And I bought the Idaho grape monti after the change it's perfectly normal looking other than it's color.

How much should I use, how often, how long??

I have not been useing carbon very often at all because I thought it would remove the calcium and other ions I've been working hard and spending money on to keep them constant


should it constantly be in there?

I'll measure nitrates phosphates ect later today and any synthetic mechanical filters ( a little confused as to where all of that silty waste is going to go.)

thanks SO much for all of the advise I am grateful!,
Bruce

Would the nems be putting chemicals in the water? Or just stinging?
 
I run carbon 24/7, some people less.

Not only does it take out mild toxins form softies (leathers are the worse) it also helps with household airbornes like cooking fumes, smoke, perfumes etc)
 
You should probably consider removing one or both of those anenomes.. 36 gallons is a minute water volume and they do release some funk into the water that can harm your corals.. Filterfloss / berlin bags / etc.. Are perfectly ok for your tank as long as you change it OFTEN.. like daily / every other day.. I run 25 Micron bags and change them daily..

As far as carbon goes, if you're going to run carbon, you need to run it through a dedicated reactor that forces water through it.. Just putting carbon in the sump with do virtually nothing..

Finally, you need to make sure there is no detritus accumulating on / around your rocks..
 
Ok so I have a True carpet (Stichodactyla gigantea) and two rose bubble tip nems which if any would survive in my biocube 29 gallon
it has just soft coral that seems to be thriving. And would it be best to remove all anemones from an sps tank?
I added a description of my 29 biocube at the bottom




Typical 29 gal biocube 2.5-3 wattspg I added a nano koralia removed bioballs to fit a Sapphire Nanoskimmer NC24, little tetra heater (78°), about 40 pounds of live rock, live sand bed
I auto feed using an eheim feeder and ocean nutrition prime reef flakes
I have a gold banded maroon clown, mushroom polyps, zoanthids, a few ricordia yummas, pulsateing and pompom xenias, anthelias, a small accidental colony of acropora, some caulerpa, and two turbo snails

everything looks great in this aquarium
 
I just ran tests for phosphate, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate
all results were 0!!!!!

So where should the problem exist?
Are my results 0 only because I added carbon yesterday?
I can imagine the activated carbon is removing organics I am unable to measure, well see

I wonder if the problem only existed with tap water and the calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity I'll double check those tommorrow. I should just remain patient in the mean time since these have only been corrected for a month?
 
@bmd85 wrote:
I just ran tests for phosphate said:
carbon wont affect your nitrates or phosphates, it may prevent future trates by removing excess organics, but doesn't do much for current levels

even with perfect conditions most acroporas take several weeks or longer to get noticable positive results.

Good read on that carbon

and yes you may still be dealing with tap water issues or other polutants - give that carbon some time and continue to strive for consitant readings. As long as you main parmeters are within desired range, I find consistancy is more important then hitting a specific number.
Click to expand...
 
I checked all the stats
sg 1.026 (plastic thing)
calcium 380 (API batch:march 09)
magnesium 1380 (red sea new)
ph 8.4 (night redsea new)
alk 7.28 (nutrafin new)
nitrate .2 (salifert new)
 
I started a auto doser I am starting it at 11.5 ml of each of the esv b ionic solutions for about 30 gallons set to dose at 3am

does that sound about right

update on coral colors
one of my acroporas that turned more green at first started growing blue tips the monti caps are looking much better the Idaho grape has started leaning to a more purple color but still kinda brown
I have a palmers blue milli that refuses to turn blue (it's brown) but his polyps are extended and he has started encrusting onto the rock
my brain coral that has been in my tank for 2+ years and survived a coral halacoust a year or so ago and caught brown jelly disease this week but is recovering
 
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