keeping recordia alive

[buffalo123]

In the pass no trouble keeping ricordia now i have trouble keeping them alive. The LFS stores guys say my nitrates are too low.
Thinking of setting up an aquarium just for ricordia.
Any advice on keeping them alive.
Is iodine necessary?
Best lighting ?.
Currently running 250 20000k MH.
Running a nitrate reactor and rdsb, so the nitrates do tend to be low. But i now feed more.

 

[laurarca]

I have a tank filled with ricordea, all under T5's...how can nitrates be too low?? You shouldn't have any!!

 

[austinh]

try putting them in the shade under a rock see if that works mine grow with no direct light at all

 

[iamwrasseman]

shade and low flow will probablybe your best bet . mine like very low flow . they are the size of a quarter to half dollar with no flow 'and the size of a dime or smaller with medium to high flow . some have died under high flow so try to direct the flow away from them and see what happens . it may take a few days till they react so be patient .thats alot of light that you have also ,enough for SPS corals so you may be burning them also.

 

[buffalo123]

Will try more shade. I think the LFS store person meant too low nutrients,
They have already turned white so i'm hoping to be able to save them.
Will iodine help or not necessary

 

[addicted2reefin]

seems like they are getting to much light if they are white. they are very sensitive to changes in light. if u just bought em, slowly acclimate them to ur bright lights.

 

[sks4613]

Mine prefer the bottom with very little flow. Have never had any problem other than the occasional one deciding to release and getting lost in the rocks! They do not like high lights are at least need a long time to adjust to it. Place on the bottom or under ledges. Phyto is great for them to. If they are fading from what I hear you will have plenty of time to react and save them. Best of luck!

 

[sks4613]

Didnt see you said you had MH. T5's are probably best VHO's pushing it. MH will blast them to much for sure IMO.

 

[reefbegood]

MH Is the best i think if you can mount it about 5ft from the water.
my set up

 

[iamwrasseman]

very nice collection you have there !

 

[madadi]

i think your nitrate reactor could be the problem. i had a DSB and had no problem keeping rics. experimented with some vodka dosing and rics were not happy at all. if your nitrate reactor is for your sps, you really cant have both. sps need nitrates too, rics need them even more. i think there is no reason to have a nitrate reactor if you have a good functioning DSB.

 

[Azurel]

If you have really low nitrates then dose amino's to make up for the nutrients. I know alot of the guys doing prodibio and the like also add amino's or the sps will also get lighter and lose color due to the lack of nutrients in the tank. I have all of my rics in MH lighting under 250w 14k Hamilton SE mounted about 8'' from the water surface. All yumas get photoacclimation over a long period of time. All florida ricordea don't and most are under direct lighting with higher flow then yumas. Flow is produced by a Vortech MP20 and return pump. To high nitrates are detrimental to corals as well. There is a big difference between nitrates and nutrients.....Which I think a lot of people get confused or the differance gets muttled and seen as the same thing.

 

[iamwrasseman]

big difference there ,nise to point that out nitrates vs.nutrients very different .

 

[TampaSnooker]

Agreed about big difference in nutrients vs nitrates. The DSB seems to help them by providing a bit of planktonic food as well.

Anyone have any thoughts on temperature? My Yumas suffered a bit this summer when average daily temp approached 82. Floridas in the same system are still thriving.

 

[madadi]

if they are healthy temp is not a big issue as long as its not extreme. i like to keep mine between 78-80. a few days it rose to 89 and even thought that might be deadly for others, corals did not seems to mind at all. i think healthy corals can really take some abuse.

 

[buffalo123]

Well so far the florida rics are still white and shrunken, however i also have yumas two different type and they are doing fine. I originally got the nitrate reactor for the high nitrates and the algae problem. The Rics did fine under those conditions. Now The algaes almost all gone and the rics suffer. I Move them near the sand bed under a little ledge. Will know in a while if they die or start to come back. I might try the addition of some iodine to see if it helps.
My hope is to set up a small ric aquarium hooked up to my existing setup. Placing the ric between the main display and the remote deep sand bed. (Future sometime)

 

[Marchingbandjs]

wow nice collection...