Have a trace elements question

Spilo26

New member
I dont know whats wrong with my tank. My corals arent growing and coralline isnt spreading. My tests came back as PH 8.2-8.4 Calcium 320 ppm DKH 9 ammonia 0 nitri 0 nitra 15. And i feed tank one cap of marine snow twice a week. Am i missing something? I keep soft corals and LPS and have a 70watt metal halide for lighting.Should i get my Calcium up to 350?
 
Also....Are you checking anything before you dose ?? You should never dose just to dose.

I see that your in Mansfiels OH.....I go to the Mid-Ohio Race course in Lexington a few times a year.
 
Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to run a little mag test also...at least from a coraline standpoint.

When you say the coral isn't growing, what kind of time-line are we looking at? Aside from GSP and Xenia, most softies and LPS don't exactly grow at the speed of light when compared to a colony of well taken care of SPS.
 
I have mostly beginner corals. Anthelia, zoas , toadstool, devils hand, and 2 small acans. Anthelia seems to be the only thing growing at all lol. My tank is a biocube 14 and its about 5-6 months old.
 
Calcium appears low. phosphate? Salinity? Skimming? Using granulated activated carbon?
 
Salinity is 1.025, no skimming currently,phosphate test comes back undetectable (i have a small fuge in the back). And no i only use a filter pad and a small bag of phospure. I just got some C-balance that i was thinking of dosing but...Wanted to get some input first.
 
Oh i also use reef crystals salt. I read that its known for having low calcium levels(guess i shoulda did some research on it =/).
 
Reef Crystals salt has a fine calcium level, so something else is happening. The corals you listed are soft corals, except for the acans. I don't think low calcium would affect soft corals all that much, but it might. Phosphate shouldn't be an issue for soft corals, either. I'd get the calcium level to at least 350 ppm and work from there.

How big is the tank? 70 W isn't all that bright, but soft corals should be okay in a small tank.
 
Tank is a 14 gallon biocube. I assumed this light would be ok to keep the easier sps species of coral and clams. The salt may be a little old because i broke down my tank for awhile during a move. Im just trying to figure out if theres a problem somewhere before i start throwing a buncha chemicals into my tank, ya know?
 
Hmm, well, that should be enough light to keep the soft corals growing well. They might be food limited, I guess.
 
What about easier sps? I like montipora and was hoping maybe a clam. If i get my calcium up. None of my lfs's carry magnesium test kits so i dont wanna dose anything till i can test for it.
 
A Montipora would be a reasonable place to start.

Clams get to be rather big rapidly, and I wouldn't try one in that small a system. I suppose it'd be easy to remove and trade, though.
 
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