caraline and coral growth

C

ct67-72

New member
I have a 29 reef that has been running for roughly 8 months, I have very little coraline growth, maybe only a couple eraser size circles on random things. I keep green star polyps and some zoas. I have a pc 130w light over the tank.
I tested calcium for the first time 2 days ago and it was in the 500's. nitrates and nitrites 0 amonia 0 ph 8.4 ro/di water
light is on 9 hours a day.
I cant figure out why I dont get any growth.
any ideas?
 
Hm, that is odd. With my first tank it really started to take off aroudn the 6 month mark (when I started dosing kalk and got the pH in line).
 
What is your alkalinity? It also needs to be inline with calcium to get good growth. Phosphates affect it also, along with dirty rock. Use a turkey baster to blow off the rock and see if that helps.
 
I have to test the alk its always been good but I will check again. and when I do my water change Ill suck off the rocks and see if it helps.
what gets me is that I have little to no coral growth as well but obviously I will check those things first. Thanks
 
Keeping your Ca, Alk, Mag, and PO4 in check will make everything better. You should have seen more coralline algae by now.

This is a 6 month jump from picture to picture.
ffttss1.jpg

ftssss.jpg
 
Alkalinity is probably the thing to check the most frequently. If you have not checked it in awhile and do not dose then I bet it is low. If your alkalinity is very low, it really does not matter how high your calcium is as the corals need a balance for growth. Not to mention Ca in the 500's is very high! Alkalinity balance for 500 Ca is over 19dkh. Of course you dont want to have DKH over 12 and more so between 8-11, Ca around 420-450.
 
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I cant understand why the ca is so high either. Ill get a new test kit tomorrow and hope its just alk. does anyone know if using instant ocean sea buffer will affect my ph over a certain amount? I stopped using is because the ph is stable. but should probably have been using it for alk
 
You want to use an alkilinity builder and only a buffer if the ph needs help. A comparison would be Seachem Reef Buffer versus Reef Builder. Alkalinity affects calcium as Calcium affects alkalinity. Alot of times if your Ca is high you will find your Alk is low.
 
AH, thanks thats what I wanted to know, so I need to adress alk specifically since ph and ca is good. I will get some
 
I bought a new test kit and checked everything. alk is around 190
ca 500 nitrite and nitrate 0 amonia 0 so im still stumped
oh and ph is 8.4 temp 78
 
yes 190 ppm from an api test kit, should I be using a different kit? its one of the add drops until the color changes things
 
No its a good test kit. Just wanted to be sure so I could understand your alk level, which is also fine. Best bet at this point is to blow off rocks, let your Ca come down a bit, and if possible get a small piece of live rock with good coraline on it and scrape it off into the tank water hoping it might seed it better.
 
yeah my rocks stay pretty clean and there is some growth just very very little. I will try to scrape a little to see if it helps. I really appreciate your comments. so is there a diferent kit I should be using to test? its all they had at the store yesterday
 
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