Need a bit of help

[sirrealism]

So i was at the meeting last night and was looking at rogers tank"Must say they look fantastic, Much better then the last meeting, not that they looked bad last meeting but just much better this time" and I realize that my tanks are doing dismal in comparison. So today its time to figuar out why. So first off I have 5 reef tanks "Soon to be 4 as I am taking one down in the next few days" First off I have never run heaters and this morning I see water temp down to 74. Is this to cold for corals to be happy? I do not have a controler but will be watching my temps. I am doing full tests on all of my tanks today so i can get a base line to start with. I am not really loosing corals but I also have very little Growth and colors are poor. I had been changing lights around to see if I had issues there. Not the issue. I will post my tests a little later today. Other then water changes and the doser for the 93 which I have to have because of the clams. I am not really dosing much of anything. Thanks for reading and now its time to get to work.

 

[toddmau5]

As far as the temperatures go, one thing you need to focus on is consistency. Consistency with lighting, nutrients, chemical levels, temperature, corals don't like random fluctuations. Get a heater, you don't need a controller, they come with a built in thermostat that will get you close, keep an eye on your temperature and set your heater for close to your max ( as long as it's not too high like 84 or something crazy) that will help keep your temperature stable within a degree or two, unless you want to start running a chiller and heater to keep the temp at an ideal range. Right now with no heater I bet you are getting insane temperature swings from night to day. Don't worry about going crazy and buying insane equipment. Try to focus on just keeping all your parameters stable and consistent and watch your corals, they'll tell you when they're happy and when something is wrong

 

[CuzzA]

Heaters are so cheap I would go ahead and add them. You mentioned it's not lighting, but without using a par meter there's absolutely no way to tell if you're providing enough light. TBRC has one you can rent. After that, the only other thing to look at is water quality and like toddmau5 said, consistency is key. I'm not familiar with your system, but if you're not supplementing/dosing your tanks, my guess is your corals are depleting your calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. Couple that with depressed parameters and a large swing when you do your water change, I would think that would be retarding coral growth.

 

[ChadRaay86]

I'd keep my tank at 78.5 and have it flirting with 80 during the summer. I get worried at anything under 76.5

As far as lighting goes, if it use reef lighting it should be good. If you try and use old bulbs or other than reef lighting you'll never get anywhere.

If you do get things in order and your levels are good now, test often as healthy tank will demand a lot more in terms of supplements.

Also, what's your salinity? I wouldn't do anything under 1.025 and prefer 1.026

 

[rfalvey89]

agree with all the above. I would start with :
heater
Salinity
and PH
once we capture those readings and stabilize we can find out which has too much or too little.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

When I went to corals on my 1st tank I noticed MUCH BETTER results after correcting my Magnesium.

 

[janes_mw]

I'd keep my tank at 78.5 and have it flirting with 80 during the summer. I get worried at anything under 76.5

As far as lighting goes, if it use reef lighting it should be good. If you try and use old bulbs or other than reef lighting you'll never get anywhere.

If you do get things in order and your levels are good now, test often as healthy tank will demand a lot more in terms of supplements.

Also, what's your salinity? I wouldn't do anything under 1.025 and prefer 1.026

+1 here, exactly what I do

 

[sirrealism]

Thanks guys. So I tested all my parms in the tank I am having the largest issues with.
Sal 10,26
N03 2 salifert
P04 0 salifert
Alk 7 salifert
cal 380 salifert
mag 1280 red sea
Temp was 74. I put a heater in as I have a box full and started raising my temp. I will set it for 79. In the summer it has always stayed pretty close to 78 but I will admit this winter the house has been cooler then years in the past. I have not used heaters in years but most of my systems have been canopied and only in the last 2 years have I done systems with out.
I have a 90g holding tank Just like rogers. I wanted to make sure my new water was good. Thinking my TDS meter on my RO system may be faulty. My tank was full and had been sitting for several days so I used a hand held TDS meter and checked. The water was 1-2 tds which I think is prob ok. I dont know if anyone has ever tested there RODI water after it has sat for a week?
Next I removed the marine pur block as Roger had his water tested and found high levels of aluminum. I have 2 of these and yes both of those tanks are the tanks I am having the biggest problems with. So I did 50% water changes on both
As far as lighting I have LEDS over both tanks but when I stated the issues were not lighting what I meant is I have tried several different lighting combos in the last 6 months from T5s to MH all with new bulbs. None have made any difference. I end up back with my LEDs because they have always done well for me in the past. Some might remember me asking if LEDs loose there PAR over time a wile ago.
I have used the PAR meter 2 times and know what my lights are putting out. I am not under 200 in anyplace in my tanks and about 500+ at the top.
I did not test the other 4 reefs I have but I will. 2 of my systems are doing well but just not as well as I saw with rogers which is what started this. I am not loosing corals. I also remembered that I need to use chlorimine remover which might be my problem to start with. I used to use it and all was great. Ran out and forgot about it so I maybe have been poisening my corals all this time. I need to go to FIOS and get the carbon block that removes it. I run 2 carbon blocks in my RO system but none of them say for chlorimines. Just 1.0 and 0.6 microns which I changed both yesterday along with my pre filter and DI.

 

[kcsnook]

Stability is the key imo... Nitrates and Phosphates are the biggest color inhibitors.

I have always had stellar growth but colors can be dull from time to time which I can personally attribute to nutrient control in my tank.

Alk for me has been the biggest contributor as far as growth goes but again stable parameters goes a long way and salinity too.

I do spot feed and I swear by it but others may disagree, that is the challenge with the forums is what works for some may not work for all but you will drive yourself crazy comparing.

Have fun with and if you implement change do it one at a time to see what makes the biggest difference for your tank. Do not go looking for any on reason because everyone's set up is different. Different lights, skimmers, etc...Different atmospheres.

Some corals will grow like weeds in some peoples tanks and slow in yours and what may be slow in others might be very fast in yours.

It is all relative Brant, as I said at the meeting "We all are our own worst critics".

 

[sirrealism]

Thanks KC. yes I have people tell me my tanks look fantastic and of course I point out well that coral is loosing color ect ect. Agreed with some corals do well in certain tanks where they dont in others. My 90 kills all zoas yet my 55 grows them like weeds. I understand all of this. Its all that something has changed in the last 4-5 months. I have always treated my tanks the same way which has worked for the 15+ years I have been doing this. Mind you I have not done much in SPS until the last 1.5 years. Example I have some different birdsnest that went crazy with growth then 4-5 months ago it all stopped. Not dead but not growing. I think between the removal of the marine pur block and the chlorimines is my problem but keeping the temp stable will help too

 

[rogergolf66]

I think u will see great improvements after removing the marine pure block.

But to answer your questions. The temp will be a big help. Salinity is number 1 and make sure what u check salinity with is very accurate and calibrated properly. These seem to be the most important in my opinion. Then for stony coral alk will be the next most important thing. Calcium if balanced with alk and always dosed evenly shouldn't be a problem. Mag would be the next most concern. If mag is off it can cause issues with calcium though. But if doing your weekly tests that you should be good as mag changes happen slowest.

 

[toddmau5]

I think there is still debate on the marine pure blocks. At wwc I got the chance to talk to Jake from reef builders, Tony Vargas, Julian sprung, mike paletta and triton testing became a long discussed topic. It seems it's something with our country vs Europe it seems a very large majority of the water tests are high in aluminum and very low in another element that I can't remember regardless of marine pure blocks being in use or not.