I apologize for what will be a long post. I have searched the archives but can't find what I need there.
I have the most general of problems "“ failure of the tank to thrive. The tank has been set up for 5+ years now with the intention of keeping a variety of mushrooms. The current inhabitants are examples of Discosoma, Rhodactis, and Ricordea. There is also a coral banded shrimp, a Tracey's damsel, and a small fighting conch. There is also a small start of Caulastrea picked up as an impulse buy at the LFS.
The shrimp, fish, and conch have been in the tank for several years. The mushrooms and Caulastrea for months to up to about a year. Over the life of this tank the mushrooms I have introduced has simply failed to thrive. They slowly regress to and fade away. I have not had significant algae issues except for a significant hair algae outbreak on one occasion and a persistent low-level bubble algae issue. The tank has had a variety of snails, but they always die out and were never very effective anyway.
My water quality is always pretty good with the most consistent issue being a lower (than I would like) calcium and alkalinity. These are remedied with ongoing pour- in supplementation with 2-part supplement from BRS. Water is changed at about 7% monthly. Evaporation is replaced with a Tunze osmolater and water filtered through a BRS 5 stage RODI unit.
I have used a Tunze skimmer in the past, but it never really produced much, and it is offline right now. Feeding is exceptionally light, of course, and that probably accounts for the minimal skimate. I have a ball of Cheato in one section of the sump. It has been there for several months and appears to be slowly regressing.
The lighting is a first generation Maxspect Razr running at nearly 100% on both channels. The fixture is mounted much higher than the provided tank mounts for easier access to the tank. It is about 16" over water line and about 34" above the sand bed. I recently dropped the intensity by about 10% for fear that I am frying the mushrooms. Over time the mushrooms slowly lose color and stop expanding. They end up near a tan-brown color before fading away. They never "œtrumpet" up as if they are light starved until I get down to about 50%.
I have one other interesting observation. The most abundant nuisance in the tank appears to be a foraminifera of the genus Peneropolis. It occurs as a brownish sediment on the sand bed. I have photomicrographs of it but I am not sure I am adept enough to post them here. They are about 1mm across and appear to be tiny Nautili. They have a calcareous test. They occur in such great abundance that I think they are pulling my calcium and alkalinity down in a system that should not lose much calcium or alkalinity. They appear to be photosynthetic, or rather they have photosynthetic zooxanthella. If I stir the sand bed, they will largely disappear but then recur in any area of the sand bed receiving light within a few days. I found a reference to them occurring in a large public aquarium where they were described as a more "œsensitive" species. They do not appear to affect any of the other inhabitants of the tank. I don't like the brown sand bed but otherwise they seem to be benign.
I am not sure why I can't get the mushrooms to thrive. My best idea at this point is that the spectrum or intensity of light is not suitable. I pulled the skimmer off line because some suggest that the water can be "œtoo clean". It has only been offline for a few weeks. I am not appreciating an advance n the algae levels yet but that is what I am expecting. I can't find any suggested light levels or settings with this particular fixture.
If not lighting, there must be a water parameter off that I can't measure. It is possible the water is not turbid enough or that I am missing some vital nutrient that I can't measure. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
I have the most general of problems "“ failure of the tank to thrive. The tank has been set up for 5+ years now with the intention of keeping a variety of mushrooms. The current inhabitants are examples of Discosoma, Rhodactis, and Ricordea. There is also a coral banded shrimp, a Tracey's damsel, and a small fighting conch. There is also a small start of Caulastrea picked up as an impulse buy at the LFS.
The shrimp, fish, and conch have been in the tank for several years. The mushrooms and Caulastrea for months to up to about a year. Over the life of this tank the mushrooms I have introduced has simply failed to thrive. They slowly regress to and fade away. I have not had significant algae issues except for a significant hair algae outbreak on one occasion and a persistent low-level bubble algae issue. The tank has had a variety of snails, but they always die out and were never very effective anyway.
My water quality is always pretty good with the most consistent issue being a lower (than I would like) calcium and alkalinity. These are remedied with ongoing pour- in supplementation with 2-part supplement from BRS. Water is changed at about 7% monthly. Evaporation is replaced with a Tunze osmolater and water filtered through a BRS 5 stage RODI unit.
I have used a Tunze skimmer in the past, but it never really produced much, and it is offline right now. Feeding is exceptionally light, of course, and that probably accounts for the minimal skimate. I have a ball of Cheato in one section of the sump. It has been there for several months and appears to be slowly regressing.
The lighting is a first generation Maxspect Razr running at nearly 100% on both channels. The fixture is mounted much higher than the provided tank mounts for easier access to the tank. It is about 16" over water line and about 34" above the sand bed. I recently dropped the intensity by about 10% for fear that I am frying the mushrooms. Over time the mushrooms slowly lose color and stop expanding. They end up near a tan-brown color before fading away. They never "œtrumpet" up as if they are light starved until I get down to about 50%.
I have one other interesting observation. The most abundant nuisance in the tank appears to be a foraminifera of the genus Peneropolis. It occurs as a brownish sediment on the sand bed. I have photomicrographs of it but I am not sure I am adept enough to post them here. They are about 1mm across and appear to be tiny Nautili. They have a calcareous test. They occur in such great abundance that I think they are pulling my calcium and alkalinity down in a system that should not lose much calcium or alkalinity. They appear to be photosynthetic, or rather they have photosynthetic zooxanthella. If I stir the sand bed, they will largely disappear but then recur in any area of the sand bed receiving light within a few days. I found a reference to them occurring in a large public aquarium where they were described as a more "œsensitive" species. They do not appear to affect any of the other inhabitants of the tank. I don't like the brown sand bed but otherwise they seem to be benign.
I am not sure why I can't get the mushrooms to thrive. My best idea at this point is that the spectrum or intensity of light is not suitable. I pulled the skimmer off line because some suggest that the water can be "œtoo clean". It has only been offline for a few weeks. I am not appreciating an advance n the algae levels yet but that is what I am expecting. I can't find any suggested light levels or settings with this particular fixture.
If not lighting, there must be a water parameter off that I can't measure. It is possible the water is not turbid enough or that I am missing some vital nutrient that I can't measure. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
