I have been keeping SW tanks for about 10 years and have had all kinds. In the past few years I wanted a mixed reef so I got a 90 gal and went to work. I realized in the first couple years I could not keep hard coral alive. I tried/checked everything. I finally after doing a lot of research decided that my problem was twofold in that I had a lot of soft and tons of healthy leather coral and it was probably nuking the hard coral. Also, I have a large Eel in the system and they are known waste generators. That system has high NO3 even with a SRO Skimmer and a Denitrator and only feeding every other day... but I digress.
I decided I like that system with my fish and softies and will start a new reef that I will be more careful with. So I get a 30 gal rimless 24"x"24"x12". I like the shallow design and I design it from the ground up to be a coral system. It has a 150w MH & 2x65w CF pendant over it, (around 12" from the water), sump, skimmer, and fuge. The system is thriving... It looks super, I have 2 huge colonies of Zoos in there that started as single polyps. I also have a corner of Zenia on the glass which is thriving and pulsing beautifully (I like the movement). The tank has great flow and is has over a 10x turnaround. The chemistry is good:
Ammonia - 0
NO2- 0
NO3- 0
PO4- Undetectable
Ca ~420
ALk ~ 9 Both Ca and Alk maintained with BRS 2 part on dosers controlled via Apex
Mg ~ 1300
Sal ~1.024
Temp 79.4-80.0
pH 8.1-8.2
I will say that I have one piece of rock with some hair algae, and my fuge grows Cheato like its going out of style which I prune back regularly.
My problem, I still can't grow hard coral. Anything I put in there melts away within 2 weeks. Doesnt matter where I place it, or if its LPS or SPS. Sometimes they will actually grow and then die. My clam and the clown's RBTA are doing super, I have several small fish all doing well and my clown pair lays eggs at least once a week. I am very lost at this point. Does anyone have any ideas???
I decided I like that system with my fish and softies and will start a new reef that I will be more careful with. So I get a 30 gal rimless 24"x"24"x12". I like the shallow design and I design it from the ground up to be a coral system. It has a 150w MH & 2x65w CF pendant over it, (around 12" from the water), sump, skimmer, and fuge. The system is thriving... It looks super, I have 2 huge colonies of Zoos in there that started as single polyps. I also have a corner of Zenia on the glass which is thriving and pulsing beautifully (I like the movement). The tank has great flow and is has over a 10x turnaround. The chemistry is good:
Ammonia - 0
NO2- 0
NO3- 0
PO4- Undetectable
Ca ~420
ALk ~ 9 Both Ca and Alk maintained with BRS 2 part on dosers controlled via Apex
Mg ~ 1300
Sal ~1.024
Temp 79.4-80.0
pH 8.1-8.2
I will say that I have one piece of rock with some hair algae, and my fuge grows Cheato like its going out of style which I prune back regularly.
My problem, I still can't grow hard coral. Anything I put in there melts away within 2 weeks. Doesnt matter where I place it, or if its LPS or SPS. Sometimes they will actually grow and then die. My clam and the clown's RBTA are doing super, I have several small fish all doing well and my clown pair lays eggs at least once a week. I am very lost at this point. Does anyone have any ideas???
