im going crazy

[zippopunk1]

for the last few days one of my staghorns (sps) has been losing its flesh its been happening pretty slowly but everyday that goes by there is more skeleton showing. im not sure why this is going on. this coral was one of my sps that was doing the best. i have it under a 400watt mh my water parameters are
calcium-460
nitrates- about 10
nitrites-0
ph- about 8.4
salinity-1.025
so what can be going wrong
my tank has been set up for about 6 to 7 months

 

[demonsp]

Do you know the phosphate level. A pic would help.
Do you use tap water. How many fish ? what do you use for flow ?
Do you see any spots on the sps ?

 

[zippopunk1]

no spots, i us ro water from the lfs, i have 4 fish, i have 3 power jets that my cousin gave me im not sure what there rated but he was using them on his 90 gallon, i dont know the phosphate levels because i dont have that test yet. speaking of which what r the most important things to test for in a reef. i already have individual tests for calcium and ph and i have been relying on strips for nitites and nitrates. on a side note my algae isnt growing that fast but i do have a species of seaweed plant that is growing pretty quickly over my rocks im not sure if that would tell me my phosphates are high

 

[demonsp]

Do you feed DT or marine snow? Dont dip the strips in the tank.
The seaweed would be consumed by a omnivore.
And i would not truse the LFS water. Get a good test kit very needed.

 

[zippopunk1]

i have more than one test kit. i have a calcium one and a ph one seperate, then i have 2 different test kit strips one is from the lfs that i dont really trust because i know the ph is wrong on it then i have the ones i get from work which we use for testing urine but it works really well for testing nitrites nitrates and ph. i dont really feed my corals i just feed my fish when i do feed the corals and my clams and scallop i feed them dts so what do u think i should do im new so if u can give it to me in steps i would appreciate it

 

[demonsp]

Whats dts ?
Your coral needs good flow , light and poyto plankton.

 

[zippopunk1]

ive been hearing from a lot of people that it i dont have to feed my coral as long as i feed my fish. i think there is a lot of flow especially where i put those coral

 

[demonsp]

sps means small pyolp stony and they require small food. Also need to turn off your skimmer for a few hours or its a waste. And if the pyolps only open at night then he is missing out.
I know there are some coral that dont need plankton but im not sure on the ones.

 

[zippopunk1]

so u think i have a feedin issue and thats all

 

[zippopunk1]

i just read that alk should be between 8 and 10 dkh i went to the conversion page and mine is only about 40ppm which when converted gives me about 4dkh is this a probem

 

[demonsp]

Assuming you do regular water changes with RO water and you let the new batch of water is circulated atleast over night before adding and your readings are true then this would be a good guess. Read the specs on this sps.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=745

 

[zippopunk1]

do u recommend any good tests for phosphates how improtant is low phosphates for coral growth i had always thought if algae wasnt a problem then phosphates wouldnt be high

 

[demonsp]

Many bad algea like red slime thrive on high phosphate readsings.
Any good drip test im sure would work.

 

[zippopunk1]

ok ill go to the lfs and buy a test asap. if its high how do i get it down

 

[demonsp]

25% water change then 10% weekly changes. if your readings dont drop then come back and thread that subject.