Need reef help

[Slipknotnos]

HI I started my 40 gallon breeder tank about 7 months ago. this is my first atempt at reef keeping and it is not going well. First my stats
40 gallon breeder
4X 96 watt Orbit PC light. 2 10K 2 antinics
50lbs of live rock
40lbs of live sand
1 yellow watchman goby
1 purple firefish
2 black and white false percs
1 regular false perc
several turbo snails
I have tried pulsing xenia , mushrooms and zoo's.
Everyone of them lasts about a week. the zoo's never opened in my tank but I gave to a buddy's and they opened for him.
SG 1.025
PH 8.2
Temp 80.1F
Cal 430
Nitrates .2 PPM
Alk 13.7
Phos 0
Remora skimmer
emperor 350 Hang on filter
These are all the test kits that I have. One friend says that it's a phos problem. I do have green and red algee growing. Another friend says that the lights I have are too high. at almost 10 watts per gallon I do have to consider it. The second friend works at a petstore. The zoo's I bought were from there tank. And they had acro growing right next to it . He said to try acro and if it grew I just had too mcuh light. That's what I'm tring now. I'm getting really frustrated and I don't know what to do. Any help would be great
Thanks
Matt

 

[wrott]

So all of your fish are alive, right? Have you ever treated w/ copper or has the rock ever been in a fish only tank that might have had copper? It could be an acclimation problem, what is your water source (ro/di)?

 

[Ali]

I had a 40 breeder for about a year with approx 400W vho only a few inches above the water and everything including zoas placed midway in the tank did well. I highly doubt it is the lights...

I was thinking copper myself...possibly from the tank, rocks or sand...but you mentioned that you have snails so if they are OK then it cannot be copper...I am not sure if there are other heavy metals whihc may be harmful to corals but not other inverts...

 

[sharkboy]

it's dangerous to have two different types of clownfish in the same tank. (the orange and black) one might kill the other. in a 200 i had, 2 maroons killed my true perc, and those two were only temporary! 1 day too late

 

[Slipknotnos]

I have never treated with copper. but I'm going to get my water tested for it.The whole reason I went for the 400 Watt lights was so I didn't have this problem. But like I said. I'm still learning. Also I inly use RO seince I had an alge bloom a few months back

 

[reefshadow]

How do you acclimate?

My first thought was "wow, that's alotta light". Could be a case of acclimation shock if the light is significantly different than at the lfs. With that much light on a shallow tank I would definately drip acclimate and then start the corals off low in the tank, possibly even partially shaded.

Corals should be carefully acclimated to flow as well. In my tank mushrooms, xenia and zoanthids all prefer light to moderate flow and will melt or wilt away if subjected to too heavy a flow.

If your algae's bad enough if could also be irritating the corals, if toughing/growing on them.

Good luck!

 

[WorldNation]

"the lights I have are too high"


haha, where he work, petco? (sowwy ) ;p

anyways, i doubt its the lights. might be chemical.

have you switched salts?

how long has the tank been up, and how long did you wait before starting to add the corals?

did you leave anything that was dieing in the aquarium?

what are you measuring your salinity with? hydrometer? if so, is it properly calibrated? (when i got my first SW tank, mine was f'ed up and my salinity was around 1.032 when the hydrometer was reading it at 1.024/1.025) (is it a coralife hydrometer? ;p )

 

[Slipknotnos]

I actually did drip aclimate the zoo's for 2.5 hours and they where on some rock. then I moved them to the sand for a couple of days. and nothing changed. I use a instant ocean hydrometer. and How can I calibrate it? Also Another pet store saidI had too much light and to try a piece of brown acro. He said if it lives it's too much light for the zoo's and if it die's or discolors there something wrong with my water. It's been a week and the acro is the same color , for whatever that helps.

 

[WorldNation]

well, i dont think its the light. i kkeep polyps and acros in the same tank. the too much light comments do not make any sense. lol. good advice to add something so it could die, lol. ph boy. *sigh*

anyways, you can calibrate your hydrometer against a refractometer. take it into your local shop and ask if they cna measure it against the refractoeter to see how far you're off, if at all.


does it look like there are any lil white/gray nudibranchs running around the polyps?

 

[reefshadow]

I keep sps and soft corals in the same tank too, but I acclimate them to the light, unless they came from another aquarium with a very similar light set up. It definately wouldn't hurt to try acclimating them in the future. I doubt if you have "too much" light but after being held by the importer, shipped and then under unknown light at your lfs they can be shocked by the sudden intensity in your tank, refuse to open and slowly decline.

Maybe you can try a hardy frag from an established aquarium with similar light?

Good idea to check your hydrometer against a refractometer. They can really be off.

How are you measuring your temp? Do you have temperature swings?

The fact that fish and inverts are doing good would tend to argue against copper, chemistry problems like amm, nitrite. A pest is a possibility but I can't think of any single one that would feed off of all those corals (mushrooms, xenia, zoas). They are usually fairly specific with their food preferences.

How bad is the algae in your tank at this point? Hair algae, cyano and bryopsis in particular can be quite irritating to corals.

Out of curiosity, what's the Emperor for? Carbon?

 

[Slipknotnos]

After I took the zoo's out and gave to a friend to keep till I figure out my issue. he said they started opening the night he put them in. I'm not sure what kind of alge but mostly all brown then now it's lots of green.