corals all die every time

You're right, with ppm his Alk is fine. I thought I read dKH in there somewhere. Anyway, you're going to want to do large water changes every few days if your Ca is really that high. This will bring down you Nitrogens as well. However, you need to stop dosing for Ca and alk. If you're just trying to keep softies, your water changes should be enough to keep them in check, if you are doing regular water changes. Just keep an eye on them. The key is stability.

As far as nitrogens, maybe he is just going through a die-off right now. If this is an on-going issue though, you need to step up your biological filtration; in particular, the nitrifying bacteria.

As far as lighting, you would be roasting SPS in your tank with that much light. I have personal experience with CF, LEDs, and Halides. For your tank, you will want to pick one and go with it. You can use either your CF, LEDs, or Halides for your tank, but no need to combine them. And DEFINITELY no need for two halides over your tank. Not only will one halide provide more than enough lighting, one bulb will also give you the spread that you need too. For CF, you could use a couple of bulbs over your tank, and that would be fine. Honestly, you could probably grow softies with just one CF bulb.

As far as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, those will be fixed with the water changes. I don't think that overfeeding is your problem. Even if it was, the algae would have grown enough to keep them in check, and your corals would be fine. Not to mention, softies tend to do just fine in "dirty" water. The real issue is lighting and Ca. Get those two in check, then worry about the Nitrogens. Also, I strongly recommend starting with softies this time. Once you can get those to grow and thrive, then move on to LPS. Repeat, then you are ready to take the jump to SPS.
 
I have a fowlr 150 gallon tank that is up but Im hesitant to put the fish or inverts in it because that tank was dosed with copper years ago a few times due to ich and also I have it setup as a semi aggressive tank, have a unicorn tang, naso tang, niger trigger, Koran angel, porkfish, and watchmen goby.
 
How much live rock do you have in the tank?

Again, I'm thinking that if he has an adequate amount of LR, there's no way his Ammonia is getting that high. He must be in the middle of a spike. If so, then the water changes should bring the number down to manageable numbers.
 
I don't know if I trust this led, its a odyssea snakeeyes 36x 3 w led half day/half actinic, Ive heard nothing but bad things about it after I bought it, I bought it before it even had reviews so in my case bad move but it didn't keep alive polyps by itself so I added the mh back which seemed to help but even with mh it just kept the polyps in an almost dead state, no growth, almost no polyps opening or extending. cf was the same, couldn't get anything to thrive like Ive always seen in the stores or at my buddys tanks. Maybe I have always had too much light, Im gonna try to move the gsp down and under a ledge.
 
funny thing is is that I managed to go all these years without doing a single water change and have always had good numbers. just no corals live. I have a friend who has done the same and he has the nicest reef tank Ive ever seen. Ill try to do a water change once a week for a few weeks I guess.
 
Alk of 143 is about 8 dkh. Perfect.
I'd try another kit for calcium to make sure.

There should never be any trace if Ammonia or Nitrites in a cycled tank unless you've had a large die-off that is beyond your tank's capacity to process it.
 
With that much live rock, I'm thinking that a large die-off is probably the case. However, water changes are the best tool you have in our tool box. Why not do them? With that small of a tank, water changes are a cinch. As far as lighting, just put one of the halides over the tank and call it a day. That's probably the most proven type of lighting.

On a different note, find someone in your area that successfully keeps what you would like to keep and emulate them. Don't reinvent the wheel.
 
Im almost certain its the ten year old rock releaseing phos in ntrate into the water. Among other things but top 5
 
10 years without a water change? Everything you put in the tank has trace impurities, to include things like copper and other nasties. How are you exporting that stuff? What does your skimmate look like?
 
Why are you still adding stock to the tank when everything is dying! ! figure the problem solve it, then add stock "slowly "
 
skimmate is a little darker and is more watery now, it used to be a thicker consistency and I am getting a lot more now. I think I had a large die off as well, between the cyano, the green algae then the peroxide, afterward my rock looked like it had been bleached, not sure peroxide is the best thing for live rock anymore. My levels indicate exactly that. I am hoping that I can drop the levels down again shortly. Fish all seem to be doing well as of now, anenomes are a little shrunk in more then normal.
 
I'm sorry but this makes me cry....how do you have a reef for 15 years and not know what to do

+1

also who told you it's a good idea to go 10yrs without a water change....

10yrs no water change and you're baffled as to why all corals die :hmm3:
 
Ammonia = 8 ppm?

Nitrites = 5 ppm?

Ph = 8.2?

NOTHING that I know of (coral, fish, CUCs) would survive if those readings are simultaneous and accurate. Worrying about your lights or coral viability with test results like that is, IMO, like worrying about whether you turned the stove off in your oceanfront cabana during a major tsunami.

If there is any sign of life in your tank, the test results are not accurate and you need to carefully read the test instructions before doing another test.

Good luck,

Mike
 
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Ammonia = 8 ppm?

Nitrites = 5 ppm?

Ph = 8.2?

NOTHING (coral, fish, inverts) would survive if those readings are simultaneous and accurate. Worrying about your lights or coral viability with test results like that is, IMO, like worrying about whether you turned the stove off in your oceanfront cabana during a major tsunami.

If there is any sign of life in your tank, the test results are not accurate and you need to carefully read the test instructions before doing another test.

Good luck,

Mike

I've been trying to say that but noone thought it was a problem. Were more worried about acclimation Alk and MG oh and lighting than ammonia and nitrites off the charts.
 
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