What am I doing wrong?

[bonafied]

I have been dabling in Saltwater for the last 2 years, and all my softies seem to do fine.

What I am concerned about, is that when I try to do any kind of hard corals, they do fine for awhile and then die off.

I constantly keep checking my ammonia, nitrates, & nitrites. all seem fine. My salinanty is .023.

I know ONE of my problems is that I do not have a R.O. unit.

My tank is a 100g. w/25gal sump. 2x250watt Metal Halides, Fans in canopy. I have 150lbs live rock. 1 Scopas Tang, 1 Green Cromis. many softies-cabbage leather, mushrooms, kenya tree, etc.

I have tried dripping Kalk(probally didn't do it right) so, I stopped. After reading on the board, figured that I shouldn't add something that I don't have a way of checking to see if I need it.

Have tried to feed Phyto, (guess I didn't do that right either) Didn't seem to help anything, so, I stopped.

The only thing I do now is water changes. And everything seems to be doing better. Except the Harder Corals.

Seems like I have tried almost everything! Somebody help me!

 

[Spar]

what is your KH, Ca, and Mg at?

Consistency is key with those which generally means strict daily dosing of supplements and/or a calcium reactor will be needed to have a better shot at a successful hard coral tank.

looks like you have plenty of light. and you may want to up your salinity to around 1.025-1.026.

 

[Scott817]

are you sure you have enough water flow in your tank? Hard corals needs 40X the volume of your tank per hour. If you can postion your power heads in a random or chaotic pattern this may solve your problem.

You are not treating tap water are you?

 

[bonafied]

I have a Mag 9.5 in my return. Also, the power head you see to the right of the tank in the upper corner pushes around 400gph.

I need to buy the tests for the afore mentioned paremiters. As I have to do this on a limited money basis...I have been trying to get the things I needed most. i.e. Lights, skimmer, Mag. etc.

 

[Scott817]

You are definately low on your flow then. You are running 4X flow and not 40x. You should definately add some more power heads if you want to keep hard corals. The korallias work well but any powerheads will help out.

The mag 9.5x is the return flow. Normally this should be 3X-5X the tank volume. This does not factor into the formula for the display.

Display flow recommendations

20X minumum
30X better
40X for sps to grow

 

[bonafied]

Since my overflow is pretty much at top rating..I guess I'll try adding more powerheads.

Sure SEEMS like I have alot of flow...I have a rio(hate these pumps) that I could work in there for the time being....I think its a rio 2200.

Let the Sand Storm BEGIN!

 

[bonafied]

Would low water flow also account for the kinda crusty layer I get on my sandbed?

 

[Scott817]

yes that would account for it. Think about it like this. How much water do you think would flow throught that same 100 gallon section of the ocean in a hour. Thats why you see people with closed loop systems, surge boxes and wave makers and lots of powerheads in their hard coral tanks.

 

[Wes]

it would be a primary reason for it, increase your flow and you will see drastic changes...also, since you do not have an RO unit, where do you get your water from, and how often do you do it...often times if you have things in there that are fine and new things that do not do fine for long, its a maintanance and water problem, good clean water changed more often could solve it. also, how old are your halide bulbs, old, non efficient and non producing bulbs can have a negative impact

 

[One Trick Pony]

Here are some great articles on Water Flow
Feature Article: Water flow is more important for corals than light

Part 1 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2

Part 2 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature

Part 3 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature2

Part 4 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/11/aafeature

Part 5 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature

 

[bonafied]

~Hangs Head and answers...

Water is from the Great City of Bedford(Tap) I was buying R.O. water until my tank crashed when we moved here. Draining resorces have kept me using it.

Light bulbs are old. As mentioned before...limited funds to devote to my hobby. Am planning on getting new bulbs over the comming weekend.(Hopefully)

I will read the articles on water flow...

Wish the magic genie would come and make everything right

 

[rongleaves]

My brother nearly lost everything in his tank once because he used tap water. He was to lazy to go to Walmart and buy their RO water. I wouldn't use tap water at all, it can cause lots of problems. Flow...flow....flow

 

[bimmerzs]

Hi,

Very good advice you have been given.....I gotta beat the "don't use tap water" part in the ground. If you checked out a water report form what's in your city's water, you would probably never drink it again, let alone put your corals in it. I would not even recommend water from places like Walmart, they use the culligan water stations which get checked every month for like the first year.... then those little reports disappear. Once the initial service plan is up, the filters are not changed as they should be. You should check the water with a TDS meter and run a few test such as phosphates, ammonia and nitrates on it.....you may be surprised at what you find, I know I was and I immediatedly found a good deal on a ro/di unit. Just think of the corals that have perished and what they cost, compared to the cost of a good ro/di unit($150).

Cheers!

 

[jayc]

I apologize for going off-course, but out of curiousity, what kind of Soft Corals do you currently have, and what Hard Corals have you tried? Certain Softies, like Sarcophyton ones (i.e. Toadstool Leathers) are VERY toxic, especially to some SPS Corals.

 

[Wes]

@bonafied wrote:

well, i think you have your problems, and what should be done about them, i would start with flow as you can get a koralia that will add a bunch of flow for cheap and use hardly no more power. beings you are on a budget, this is probably the best start. then, save save save and get an RO unit, and as others have said i cant emphasize this enough. and finally get your lights. i know you said lights this weekend, but i would save that money to fix the previously mentioned items first, and get lights down the road.

 

[washingtond]

@Spar wrote:

Did not see your response to the question above and flow is important but there are many other things that affect keeping SPS corals.

I would suggest that you come to the next meeting where you can ask experienced people in the hobby questions about the “care and feeding of SPS corals” and I am sure that with this interaction membes will have additional questions of you as well. I think that you will find that experience well worth it. This is what the club is here for.

 

[HELIREEFER]

i don't have a lot of experience with sps yet, i do have several though
red, purple and green montipora caps, pink birdsnest, green slimer

i dose 2 part religously every morning and constantly test my calcium, and alk, and mag ---- everyone's advise here is right and all true

flow is important as well as good source water and bulbs that are in spectrum, but equally or more important is the water quality and chemistry, stony corals use the available calicum in the water to grow and if there isn't any or the ratios of mag, cal,alk are off this will definitly hurt, or kill corals.

so i say maybe the first and most important thing to get is some test kits and begin trying to correct and maintain the cal,mag and alk levels in the
tank
cal should be 420-450ish , alk 9-11 dkh and mag 1300-1350ish

HTH!

 

[washingtond]

Just thought of you more thing that you should do. Get a copy of Charles Delbeek & Julian Sprung’s book “The Reef Aquarium Science, Art, and Technology” Volume Three. Yes get volume three first and it will contain most of the information that you need and you can always use as a future reference. Down the road volume one should be next.