Morning everyone, some details:
75g tank 20 gallon sump, setup for almost a year now.
Lightly stocked with 2 black occelaris clowns, 1 firefish and 1 cardinal.
Quite a few corals which are mostly lps and some softies, all are doing very well.
Temp as shown by apex is 76-77 throughout the day in the sump and 77-78 in the dt as it fluctuates throughout the day but never more than 1 full degree.
I recently started running carbon and gfo in a reactor (could this be the issue? seems like before the carbon and gfo the nem was happy, however the nem was still new so I didnt think it was related, now Im questioning it)
I also put Kalk in my ATO and because of the dryness here about 1 gallon a day is lost, I also add calc and alk and mag on the weekend to get my levels right or close to it.
I'll put the specifics here for simplicity
Calc: 420 (last tested yesterday, averages 420-450)
Mag: Averages 1200 ish was 1140 last I tested, I've been slowly adding to raises this.
Alk: averages 7-9 was just a bit over 8 last I tested.
Phos: .03 last I tested about 2 weeks ago
Nitrates: 0 or at least undetectable by api kit.
Temp: 77-79
Cond: showing 35.8 normally fluctuates between 34.1 to 35.9 or so but when i test with the refracto it shows 35 on the dot every time I check.
ORP: (i know this one doesnt mean much but I'll include it anyways) used to always average from 330-400 right now its lower but its been steadily rising for a day now. I think it dropped because I put some epoxy on some of my rocks and they were curing. Thats my guess at least. right now it shows 316.
PH: floats from 8.1-8.35
Lights: LED with 96 leds for a total of 288w at max power, which I havent taken above 40-45% max. Most channels are lower throughout the day, the light ramps up throughout the day. heres a link to the light if you're curious about its specs to help me whether I'm doing too little light or not. https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/aquasanrise-plus-r90/
So because of the addition of a lot of corals, I've raised my lights and turned their brightness down a bit while I acclimate. I was thinking also that the nem was unhappy because of the bright light, so I also raised the lights even higher. He would hide down in the rocks so I assumed I was giving him too much light. After reading around I'm thinking he may be hiding because of not enough light? Seems like it would worsen his situation but hey what do I know. I've started lowering my light closer to the tank again and will be raising the intensity over the next week or so.
Anyone have any recommendations or things to try? Really want to make this guy happy. Could it be the GFO/Carbon? Could it be my lights are not intense enough? What else am I missing? Thanks everyone for the time.
75g tank 20 gallon sump, setup for almost a year now.
Lightly stocked with 2 black occelaris clowns, 1 firefish and 1 cardinal.
Quite a few corals which are mostly lps and some softies, all are doing very well.
Temp as shown by apex is 76-77 throughout the day in the sump and 77-78 in the dt as it fluctuates throughout the day but never more than 1 full degree.
I recently started running carbon and gfo in a reactor (could this be the issue? seems like before the carbon and gfo the nem was happy, however the nem was still new so I didnt think it was related, now Im questioning it)
I also put Kalk in my ATO and because of the dryness here about 1 gallon a day is lost, I also add calc and alk and mag on the weekend to get my levels right or close to it.
I'll put the specifics here for simplicity
Calc: 420 (last tested yesterday, averages 420-450)
Mag: Averages 1200 ish was 1140 last I tested, I've been slowly adding to raises this.
Alk: averages 7-9 was just a bit over 8 last I tested.
Phos: .03 last I tested about 2 weeks ago
Nitrates: 0 or at least undetectable by api kit.
Temp: 77-79
Cond: showing 35.8 normally fluctuates between 34.1 to 35.9 or so but when i test with the refracto it shows 35 on the dot every time I check.
ORP: (i know this one doesnt mean much but I'll include it anyways) used to always average from 330-400 right now its lower but its been steadily rising for a day now. I think it dropped because I put some epoxy on some of my rocks and they were curing. Thats my guess at least. right now it shows 316.
PH: floats from 8.1-8.35
Lights: LED with 96 leds for a total of 288w at max power, which I havent taken above 40-45% max. Most channels are lower throughout the day, the light ramps up throughout the day. heres a link to the light if you're curious about its specs to help me whether I'm doing too little light or not. https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/aquasanrise-plus-r90/
So because of the addition of a lot of corals, I've raised my lights and turned their brightness down a bit while I acclimate. I was thinking also that the nem was unhappy because of the bright light, so I also raised the lights even higher. He would hide down in the rocks so I assumed I was giving him too much light. After reading around I'm thinking he may be hiding because of not enough light? Seems like it would worsen his situation but hey what do I know. I've started lowering my light closer to the tank again and will be raising the intensity over the next week or so.
Anyone have any recommendations or things to try? Really want to make this guy happy. Could it be the GFO/Carbon? Could it be my lights are not intense enough? What else am I missing? Thanks everyone for the time.
