Question about coral placement

[Kona26]

Here is a pic of my tank. I have tried to measure out where things are at in the tank. I am wanting to know if I need to move my light or corals..? The top sps coral has turned white and do not see any extension. The other corals I have other then the gsp do not look to be doing ok. Now i know the first question is going to be about water quality and I tested last night and cal was low 310 mag was 1240 dkh 10.4. I am still learning how to balance these out. I do have some kalk powder. But have not used it yet do to not have a slow driping system. I have a toms aqua lifter on the way to use for my ato. I was going to mix into the top of water. I do a 10% water change every weekend. I just did about a 30% last night. I will be testing again in a few.

I am sure that the cal and mag are to blame but am still learning the affects these things have on a tank. I have tried to bring up these things by doing water changes but have not had any luck. I use instant ocean sea salt mixed at 1.026. I have tried to read the forums about keeping tank lvls good but most of the time get over whelmed.

I would like to know if my lighting placement and coral placement are good. I have 2 jebao pumps for flow on either end of the tank...1 set to w2 90% the other set to w1 60%. To me the flow seems good.

Please for give me if I am leaving out info but I will try and answer the best I can.

---I am also battling some brown stringy algae. That covers the corals. I am able to blast if off with a turkey baster but comes back the next day. I am unsure if this is causing the corals to suffer along with the cal and mag lvls being low.

 

[Kona26]

better pic

 

[Kona26]

pic

 

[Kona26]

 

[heathlindner25]

you definitely have cyano going on... and the last two pictures are a Acropora species.....not the easiest coral

 

[Kona26]

Here are some other pics of what's in my tank

 

[Kona26]

dose the first coral to you look dead..?

also do you think raising the light a few in. would help with the cyano..? I have read the chemiclean works but I have been trying a few other things first.

 

[heathlindner25]

The skin is falling off the coral in the first picture ,Imo it will be dead soon....I think you already know it's probably a water stability issue ...sps don't really like 310 calcium and certainly hate instability.

 

[Kona26]

So when I start to dose kalk in my ato. I will be starting with 1 ts. If I remember right with this also raise my ph..? As of this time I do not have any thing to raise cal or mag by them self...just kalk powder. My pump is to big in my ato container right now so it just dumps the water in. So getting the toms aqua lifter to slow it down.

 

[Rory K]

Doesn't kalk raise calcium and alkalinity? If your dkh is above 10 I don't think I would be raising it

 

[jayball]

Question about coral placement

You need to slowly raise Ca to your target level before starting Kalk. You should also be testing alk daily until you figure out your consumption and then base your kalk dosage based on that and your evaporation rate.

If you try to use kalk to bring your Ca levels up that much you are going to spike your alk to very high levels

 

[Kona26]

Any recommendations on what to use to raise ca lvls ?

 

[Kona26]

Here is where I'm at now dkh seems to have gone down. I am using a Red Sea test kit. I am going to have my lfs check it again

 

[Kona26]

I am going to be getting somthing just to raise cal

 

[Kona26]

Just to add I am not the best at testing and getting the colors right can be a pain in the rear

 

[Kona26]

Just ordered 2 part from bulk reef supply. To bring up my lvls

 

[Sk8r]

I'd recommend Salifert tests for alk, cal, mg, as they don't depend on a color chart. They go obviously dark or opaque at a certain precise point during a procedure, and you simply read the gradation numbers printed on the syringe you were dripping drops from and consult a chart, which gives you a precise number.

 

[jayball]

Question about coral placement

See above and 420 ish is a good number for Ca. Do it slowly.

 

[Kona26]

update...
water is better. test as of today. cal 430 mag. 1380 alk 8.3 sal. 1.026 temp 78.4
has been stable from a few days after the first post. the acropora are still not opening up during the day. At night I can see the feelers out. during the day they still look like the first pics I posted. Is that normal...? or should there be polyp extension..?