freebies on a piece of LR

J

Jnickles85

New member
I purchased a piece of LR on Feb. 25th. I was still in my cycle phase so I purchased the LR to try and speed things up. It was not until Saturday morning March 1st that I turned on my blue LED's and boom! Orange and green polyps showed up right away. So Saturday I gave the tank its first 10 hour day time lighting and today will be the second. Two of the polyps barely open the rest stay closed. I have an LED light fixture that came with my 24g Fluval M60. The only lighting details given are 312 LED's and its 25000K. Myself personally have no clue what that means. The rock is placed about half way up in the aquascape. Ill post a picture and I am going to get water specs for today.

PH = 7.8
Ammonia = 1 (looks like I haven't fully cycled I figured I haven't)
Nitrates = color was 0 but it had a little more color to it but not fully a 5
Nitrites = 0

Firstliverockadded.jpg
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Its on the right. Only real color I have in my tank for now.
 
Oh I guess I should have asked my question :/ I was wondering if the the corals are up to high in the tank or is it the presence of ammonia keeping them from opening? I know the tank is less then a month old but I want to try and keep these "free" guys alive!
 
The tank is waaay too young, but the polyps can survive there. Looks like the cycle is almost finished (30 days or so).

I'm not sure if the info you gave us is correct about your fixture. 25000K isn't what normally we find. That would be much bluer than what is actually showing in your picture.

The adaptation to your light and intensity would be the important factor.

If you've got a Fluval fixture it's more than likely that intensity isn't too strong. I've heard that the reef version of the Fluval fixture is very weak and isn't really what it's supposed to be!! So, to tell you the truth I would think that the Fluval fixtures are kinda weak.
Perhaps others with more experience on LEDs, specially knowing about the Fluval fixtures, could please help me on this, please!!

I would just leave it alone for now and give them some time.
If your fixture is really weak you'll need to do a search and find something better.
But weak intensity wouldn't make the zoas to close.

That should be only adaptation. Normal.
Not big deal.

Your "salinity" could come up a little. Perhaps 1.023. Some people like to keep it at 1.026!
I like to keep temp around 79°F. Some people suggest higher, around 80/81°F.
Prepare yourself to get other more important kits: calcium, magnesium and alkalinity.

Your pH is too low!!! 8.2 is what we are looking for during the day. That alone could be the reason for them to close!!
Alkalinity should be around 8 - 9.
Calcium from 380 - 400ppm.
Mg ~1350.

Grandis.
 
Last edited:
Thanks a million for the reply. Right now I am using the fluval salt that came with the fluval all in one package. So I am guessing once I get better salt my PH should hopefully rise. The info about the lights I pulled straight from the fluval website. The light is listed as 312 LEDs and 25000 K that's all it says. For tank update wise I do have a 12000 MJ on the way to increase tank flow.

Because my tank is brand new is there anything I can do myself to help these guys?
 
Also a little off topic but which salt mix would you recommend for my nano? Really just going to stick with soft corals. I was told by the LFS that my lights could grow and house softies.
 
Again, I'll be waiting for other to talk more about the fixture...

I use Instant Ocean, which is fine to keep my tank running.

The alkalinity, relating to your pH problem, should be raised by buffers also, not trusted only on partial water changes.

There is nothing else you can do to your tank besides wait for it to get mature. That's why normally we need to wait to add polyps/corals. Specially because of the algae that grows at the beginning of the process.

Maxi Jets are good power heads!

Sorry, I can't see much on that pic.

Grandis.
 
No reason to be sorry. They are still super small.

I understand about waiting for others to talk about the light fixture.

I read a little bit about certain salt mixes causing higher PH levels then others. Is that not entirely true?
 
Jnickles85 said:
No reason to be sorry. They are still super small.

I understand about waiting for others to talk about the light fixture.

I read a little bit about certain salt mixes causing higher PH levels then others. Is that not entirely true?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've heard about the salt mixes too, but you can get one of the best in the market and you'll still have the alkalinity going down. Just the way it is.
What I want to tell you is not to rely on partial water changes as the only way to control alkalinity. Buffers will be the best for that.

Grandis.
 
Okay I totally understand now. Are there certain buffers and chemical/vitamin supplements that you recommend ? or ones that you use ?
 
LOL! Nice green ones!!
I really like the fluorescence in your zoas.

In regards to the chemicals, I use mainly amino acids today, sporadically. I dose really small quantities for the percentage of zoas I have and that is just to give some "taste to the water" I guess. I would think it helps the zoas somehow with their absorption needs.
Some people dose lots of aminos. I've heard good things about the Elos Omega Amino Acids and therefore I'm trying now. It's a concentrate one. I've used lots of stuff and I can't really tell you what works, because I didn't do any systematic trials, nor scientific experiments here. I just try to add and find any "sign" that will really convince me about a better way to keep the zoas healthier, reproducing faster or bigger. They all do fine, but not major differences.

I think main thing is a good spectrum, right intensity and target feeding as needed or when you can, not too much.

I can tell you that I do believe in the need of iodine for zoas and target feeding for the long run, small amounts. The vitamins and aminos are just the "side dish".

I use the buffer from BulkReefSupply and I add as needed, testing every 2 weeks or so. I still didn't do my math to automatize it, but it's one of my plans.

It would be great to open a thread about it and see what people say...

Grandis.
 
Just bookmarked the new thread.

I was looking around last night online and a local store here sells a two part buffer. One is Calcium and the other alk. They also contain iodine, magnesium, and other trace elements. Soon as pay day rolls around I'm going to start giving a little dose to the tank. Just because my PH sucks.
 
Grandis,
I emailed Fluval about the LED light fixture and they ended up having to forward my question to one of their experts, they called it, for an answer. This was his response.

The M series Reef Aquariums and LED's will effectively grow SPS corals up to a depth of 10". However, light requirements for corals varies greatly and some higher light requiring SPS species may have to be placed within the top 4" to 6" to receive adequate light. LPS and Soft corals can be placed in the tank up to 16" deep but some corals may also do well deeper depending on where they were grown (ie. aquacultured or wild).

I thought you would like to know since no one else came to our rescue in the thread.

My next question is, since my tank is 14" from top to bottom where should I place the Zoas? They are about 8 1/2" from the top right now. I do not want to risk cooking them. Since the LED's can grow heavy light dependant SPS up to 6" Should I drop the Zoas down to the bottom and see how they do ? That would place them about 12" from the lights.
 
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