Help with my dosing!

[Cseque]

Hi all

I'm not sure if im doing things right!

Right now I have a BIocube LED 32. Tank has been up and running for 3 months 26 days

The tank has inside
2 clownfish
1 Diamond watchman Goby
1 Peppermint Shrimp
4 Hermit Crabs
1 Xenia
1 Zoa
1 Hammer
1 GSP
1 Sun Coral

The only corals that are thriving are the Xenia and Zoa. as for the other three de GSP and Sun Coral opened up nicely the first few days on the tank, but then they dont open as much or nicely they used to, and the hammer only extends the polyps about 3mm.

So as I started checking my CA ALK MG parameters, they were very unbalanced MG 1480 CA 380 ALK 10, so my LFS toldme to ramp up the ALK and Ca. SO i did i dosed CA and ALK from red sea (I live in Costa Rica so BRS is not an option :headwally: )

I already managed to ramp up CA to 480 and ALK to 11.2.BUT the hammer and Sun Coral still not opening up, and GSP is getting a lil bit better The tank is consuming alk about 0.5 DKH per day.

I'm also dosing NOPOX and Coral Nutrition from red sea. Doing weekly water change of 5 gal with red sea coral pro salt.

What do you think of those parameters? should i keep dosing alk to maintaining it around 11.2 or just let it get down and get it stable with water change?

Any opinion/advices will be appreciated.

 

[ajoe]

What type lighting are you using and what intensity/settings?

 

[Cseque]

The stock LED biocube comes with. I run them From 12 PM to 8PM

The instructions says

PAR* 53
Peak PAR at 12" 81
LUX* 2200
Peak LUX at 12" 3430

*Average output of a 20" x 16" area at 12" from the light

 

[Cseque]

<a href="https://ibb.co/jMmwGJ"><img src="https://preview.ibb.co/gGaqbJ/Posicion_Corales.jpg" alt="Posicion_Corales" border="0"></a>

 

[kevin_e]

Your numbers seemed fine before and fairly well balanced. Maybe a little low on calc and a little high on mag, but neither were out of an acceptable range.

dKH of 10 is also very ideal, I wouldn't recommend being much higher than that, personally. I keep mine at 10.

I wouldn't dose anymore. There is no way you have demand for dosing. Water changes are more than sufficient. Not sure how your tank is consuming 0.5 dKH with a few small frags and almost no coraline growth. I would retest over the next week and make sure that's accurate.

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[Cseque]

Thanks for the reply!

That`s why I posted this, I don´t understand how this could be happening haha, i`ve been testing everyday! keep doing it to see how i reacts to no dosing at all! How do I manage to keep alk stable at 10 with water change if the salt I use puts the alk at 11 -12??

 

[kevin_e]

Stability is most important with all. Alk of 11-12 is okay, albeit a bit high for my liking, but if that's where water Cha put you, so be it. Just keep it consistent. Swings are the biggest issue.

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[Cseque]

Ok I will keep the water changes constant! Will you recomend changing from the Red Sea Coral Pro to a Aquaforest Reef Salt? or just keep it with the coral pro?

 

[kevin_e]

Ok I will keep the water changes constant! Will you recomend changing from the Red Sea Coral Pro to a Aquaforest Reef Salt? or just keep it with the coral pro?

I'm not familiar with it. Does it mix with a lower alk?

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[Cseque]

Yes! it says that it will be between 7.4 and 8.2

 

[bertoni]

I agree that the parameters are fine as is. I'd look for other sources for the coral problems. Organics in the water column and lighting all are fairly common issues. The stock LED probably is fine, but is it adjustable? If so, it might need tuning. Does the shrimp pick at the corals?

 

[Cseque]

I agree that the parameters are fine as is. I'd look for other sources for the coral problems. Organics in the water column and lighting all are fairly common issues. The stock LED probably is fine, but is it adjustable? If so, it might need tuning. Does the shrimp pick at the corals?

The lights have 3 settings Blues, Light whites and Bright whites. Right now Im running Blues from 12pm to 8pm light whites from 3pm to 6 pm and bright whites from 4pm to 5 pm.

organics are a little high right now, nitrates about 10ppm but getting them to lower with nopox

 

[bertoni]

I'd work on the nutrient levels, and think about adding more light. I don't know much about that setup, but corals can require a fair amount of light. I'd ask around in the other forums to see who else might be using that setup.