Looking for some Professional Advice

[yankee26th]

I'm looking for some professional advice about a couple of issues that I have with my system. Thank you :beer:

 

[Rendos]

What are the issues?
And please give as much info as possible about your setup...lighting, filtration, etc. so that we can better understand your problem.

 

[Frankenpora]

In my Professional oppinion you should tell us the issues....
Sorry I could'nt help myself.

 

[fishdoc11]

[welcome]

 

[yankee26th]

Professional Advice

Professional Advice

System ---

150g - main tank / 3 to 4 inch sand bottom on a plenum / live rock / corals
40g - refugium / 3-4 inch filter socks / 1/2 sand bottom / live rock / caulpera
Circulation - 2-Iwaki MD70RLT / 1-Iwaki MD40RLT / 2-Ecotech Marine Vortech powerheads / 1 - Tunze 6080
ETSS Reef Devil Deluxe Protein Skimmer
3-250w DE HQI Metal Halide 12k Reeflux bulbs in Lumenarc III Mini Pendants controlled by CoralVue Dimmable Electronic Ballasts ( MH on for 8 Hrs a day) supplemented with 2-160w URI super actinic bulbs (Super Actinics On for 10 Hrs. a day)
Single Chamber Calcium Reactor
1 Phosban Reactor 150 with Purigen
1 Phosban Reactor 150 with Chemi-pure
4 - Stage Spectra-Pure R.O. unit.

I perform 15% water changes every week using Instant Ocean mixed with RO water
Dosing B-ionic C & A / Magnesium & Kalk+2 (Brightwell Aquatics ) / Prodibio Bio-Optima and Bio-Digest.

Water Perimeters ;
Calcium - 300ppm ( I know this is too low. I'm trying to increase by using Seachem Reef Buffer )
Alkalinity - 2.74
KH - 7.7
Nitrites and Nitrates - undetectable
Ammonia - yellow (using Hagen test kit )
Magnesium - 1250ppm

If any additional information is required please let me know.

Now to My issues ---

Very little Coralline Algae growth
Brown Algae growing in certain areas of tank.
I just purchased a Lavender Montipora Cap 3 days ago. I just discovered brown spots on the cap which is now growing Brown Hair Algae.
I've been dosing my system with Calcium, as stated above, and I can't get my Calcium level above 300ppm.
All inhabitants seem to be doing well, although I just recently lost 1 of the 2 stoneys I had. The second seems to be doing well. I want to add more SPS's to my system but I afraid they will die.

Please provide me with some helpful advice.
Thank you



:beer:

 

[yankee26th]

I forgot two important Water Parameters ---

Salinity - 49.5
PH - Day 8.1 - 8.2
Evening - 8.0

 

[unbreakable]

youre most likely low in magnesium range if you cant adjust calcium properly or something is wrong with your test kit. check your parameters against different test kits. for magnesium i use Elos. API is good enough for me to test ALK, i use API for calcium as well, but used to use Elos

if you can find someone locally who has coralline in their tanks, thatd be great. maybe you could ask them for some scrapings of it in a baggie with water. or if you have some in your tank try to scrape it to spread it

just keep alk in the 8-9 dkh range, calcium 430 range, and magnesium 1300 range. keep everything stable and you should slowly see it in some areas. i find that in my tank it grows in areas where it doesnt receive much light, but its different for other people.

as for the monti cap, it either didnt adjust well and some parts died off and algae grew in those spots or lighting may have had played a factor if it was too close to the lighting. i would add new additions at the bottom and slowly work your way up

 

[unbreakable]

salinity is high.. check with a properly calibrated refractometer; it should be 35ppt and your pH is fine

 

[fishdoc11]

How old is the system?

 

[yankee26th]

I'm using a Pinpoint Monitor for my Salinity. The test kits I'm using are Red Sea for Calcium and Salifert for Magnesium and Alkalinity. The System is about 2 years old.

 

[yankee26th]

Hey Ruben --- What do you think of the Vortech MP40W's?

 

[fishdoc11]

What is Sea Chem reef buffer chemically? I would just dose calcium chloride and do water changes to get your Ca up.
What is your phosphate level?
FWIW there have been problems with the Salifert kits. I haven't had any problems with mine but I think people have had problems with their alk kits, not sure about the Mg kit.
Where are you getting your stonies? Getting healthy specimens and proper acclimation is desirable (as it is with most things reefing of course ) and I often see people that are new to SPS having problems with SPS that are just getting already stressed corals from a poor source.

Chris

 

[yankee26th]

Originally I had this system up and running great for 3 years. I even had a Percula Clown at one point, from one system to another, for 10 years. But for some unknown reason I had sort of a crash and almost had to start from scratch. This present system has been operational for 2 years. I have many inhabitants that are doing very well. I would like to get back to where I was previously. I enjoy growing stonies. What test kits would you recommend? I get my Stonies locally, if I see something interesting, but for the most part through the net. Do you have any suggestions on where to purchase corals. I've probably been to almost every site on the net. I noticed one of your hobbies is Scuba diving. I've been diving since 1985. I was contemplating replacing my protein skimmer with a Reef Octopus Extreme 200. In the description of my system, do you see any place for improvement. Please let me know.
Thanks ---
Chris

 

[fishdoc11]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13285345#post13285345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yankee26th
Originally I had this system up and running great for 3 years. I even had a Percula Clown at one point, from one system to another, for 10 years. But for some unknown reason I had sort of a crash and almost had to start from scratch. This present system has been operational for 2 years. I have many inhabitants that are doing very well. I would like to get back to where I was previously. I enjoy growing stonies. What test kits would you recommend? I get my Stonies locally, if I see something interesting, but for the most part through the net. Do you have any suggestions on where to purchase corals. I've probably been to almost every site on the net. I noticed one of your hobbies is Scuba diving. I've been diving since 1985. I was contemplating replacing my protein skimmer with a Reef Octopus Extreme 200. In the description of my system, do you see any place for improvement. Please let me know.
Thanks ---
Chris

I know lots of people are using API test kits. There are people on the board that know a lot more than me about the current state of test kits so I would defer to them.
I normally recommend tank raised corals and Montiporas (digitatas and capricornis) are good first corals to gauge your tank with.
Local reefers are the best place to get corals IMO and getting involved with your local reef club (assuming there is one in Miami) is the best way to get healthy frags cheap.
Your skimmer isn't the best and an upgrade would probably help but that's hard to know without your phosphate level. I don't know anything about the Reef Octopus.
You can look for more info on skimmers and test kits and start threads with your questions about them here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=212
hth, Chris

 

[toothman]

I am not sure what 49.5 means re salinity. Could be a major issue.

Ca is easily raised with ca cl. Like real easy.

Mg is easily raised with mg cl. Also real easy.

You might also really have too low a nutrient level, I have found that reef tanks like some nitrate .01 -2 ppm and some phosphate .01 to .02. and carbon. Ca,Mg, Kh must also be up to acceptable levels, if not corals will not grow and pull out nutrients out of the water.

 

[MCsaxmaster]

1) What have you been using to raise calcium? How much and how often?

2) How old is the tank?

3) Is that salinity reading in mS cm-1? (milli Siemens per cm)

 

[yankee26th]

I'm using a Pinpoint Salinity Monitor. In the instructions it states that salinity level should be kept at 49.5.

DOSING -
Presently I'm using Seachem Calcium Buffer and dosing B-ionic Calcium and Alkalinity and Kalk+2 made by Brightwell Aquatics. I also use Prodibio Bio-Digest and Bioptim. I was thinking about going to ESV Calcium Chloride. Do you think that would be a good idea? Or what would you recommend my mixture should be?

I've had the tank for a total of 5 years. The first 3 years everything was great, but for some reason I had a crash and basically had to start from scratch. The system has been running in its current condition for almost 2 years. Before I never had a problem trying to grow Stonies. Now I can't grow them like I did before. I think one of my problems is that my protein skimmer is inadequate. I'm presently using an ETSS Reef Devil Deluxe. I'm thinking about moving up to a Reef Octopus MSX Extreme 200. What do you think?

As for Magnesium I'm dosing Brightwell Aquatics Magnesium Concentrate. My level is at 1250 right now. I'm going to increase my dosage. I'm trying to get it up to 1400 - 1500.

Do you think my Calcium reactor could be playing a roll in this?

Thank for your help

:beer:

 

[cutegecko3]

Calcium reactors can be tricky to zero in.I don't know how that would effect your mag. levels directly,maybe some of our chemistry pros can elaborate further.

 

[ryancaudill]

I am currently wondering about the accuracy of the salifert nitrate I have. I use instant ocean test for alk. Easy for me to read and use. I have also used the instant ocean for calcium and am not a big fan of it. I think I will try the API.

I guess just because something cost more doesnt necessarily mean it is more accurate.

 

[toothman]

I have tried several nitrate test kits and salifert is a good one. I would just use it as follows: If there is any pink looking through the side consider lowering nitrate.