xenia
- Thread starter doconnell
- Start date
You don't feed your coral at all?????? hmmmmm. I was told you had to feed them several times a week. The other additive is the dKH with Ray already told me to stop. I'm think I'm going to stop believing the guys at wetpets as they are the ones that told me to do both of those.
raynist
New member
Ok, I tested your water and here are the results. I am posting this here so we can get the opinions of others as well as mine.
Salinity - 1.021 (30 ppt - parts per thousand)
I think this is too low for a reef tank. I personally shoot for 35ppt which is 1.0264 I think. That is the level of natural sea water.
alkalinity - 11.8 dKH
This is a little high for my tastes, I would say keep it around 9 or 10 if possible. NSW is around 8.
Calcium - 305
This is low. It should be around 400+, especially with high alk, there is a balance between alk and ca. I will try to look it up.
Magnesium - 930.
This is low also. It is supposed to be 3x your calcium level, which it is, but your calcium level is low. Typically Mg should be around 1250 to 1300.
PH - 8.3
This is fine.
All of the test above except ph were done with Salifert test kits. The salinity was measured with a refractometer (much better than a hydrometer!!).
Unfortunately I do not have a nitrate test kit. I suspect your nitrates are high if you are feeding your corals.
Based on these test results I am guessing you are using the regular instant ocean salt mix. I would suggest yo buy some decent test kits for alk, calcium and nitrates and test at least once a week. I would not add any additives to the tank yet. Once you get the kits I can help you out with getting your calcium and magnesium up to the right levels. It also might nit be a bad idea to try a different salt mix, something with more calcium and magnesium. I like red sea coral pro the best. It is expensive locally, howeve ADHDOnline goes out to premium aquatics regularly and can get a good price. I think he is gong there this week. Of the salt mixes I have tested and tried this comes closest to the parameters I like. Reef crystals by instant ocean is ok also.
None of these results are dramatically bad, but they certainly can be improved upon. I would first slowly get your salinity up to the correct level and the calcium and mg levels will probably rise closer to what they should be.
--Ray.
Salinity - 1.021 (30 ppt - parts per thousand)
I think this is too low for a reef tank. I personally shoot for 35ppt which is 1.0264 I think. That is the level of natural sea water.
alkalinity - 11.8 dKH
This is a little high for my tastes, I would say keep it around 9 or 10 if possible. NSW is around 8.
Calcium - 305
This is low. It should be around 400+, especially with high alk, there is a balance between alk and ca. I will try to look it up.
Magnesium - 930.
This is low also. It is supposed to be 3x your calcium level, which it is, but your calcium level is low. Typically Mg should be around 1250 to 1300.
PH - 8.3
This is fine.
All of the test above except ph were done with Salifert test kits. The salinity was measured with a refractometer (much better than a hydrometer!!).
Unfortunately I do not have a nitrate test kit. I suspect your nitrates are high if you are feeding your corals.
Based on these test results I am guessing you are using the regular instant ocean salt mix. I would suggest yo buy some decent test kits for alk, calcium and nitrates and test at least once a week. I would not add any additives to the tank yet. Once you get the kits I can help you out with getting your calcium and magnesium up to the right levels. It also might nit be a bad idea to try a different salt mix, something with more calcium and magnesium. I like red sea coral pro the best. It is expensive locally, howeve ADHDOnline goes out to premium aquatics regularly and can get a good price. I think he is gong there this week. Of the salt mixes I have tested and tried this comes closest to the parameters I like. Reef crystals by instant ocean is ok also.
None of these results are dramatically bad, but they certainly can be improved upon. I would first slowly get your salinity up to the correct level and the calcium and mg levels will probably rise closer to what they should be.
--Ray.
raynist
New member
Get the test kits for sure. I would get the salifert kits. I think aquaworld sells them or you can get them online.
I would raise your salinity to 1.025 to 1.026 and then test the calcium and alk again as having a stronger salt mix should result in higher levels. 1.021 is in the acceptable range, but when the salinity in the ocean is 1.0264 I think we should try to replicate this as closely as possible. Don't change the salinity all at once as this will stress everthing. Raising it .01 a day would be safe.
Really, i don't think any one if these things is causing the problems. Do you have a lot of algae in the tank? It might me high nitrates it phosphates that are causing problems with your soft corals.
I would raise your salinity to 1.025 to 1.026 and then test the calcium and alk again as having a stronger salt mix should result in higher levels. 1.021 is in the acceptable range, but when the salinity in the ocean is 1.0264 I think we should try to replicate this as closely as possible. Don't change the salinity all at once as this will stress everthing. Raising it .01 a day would be safe.
Really, i don't think any one if these things is causing the problems. Do you have a lot of algae in the tank? It might me high nitrates it phosphates that are causing problems with your soft corals.
I noticed that I sometimes see a white spider like web in the tank. Is this good, bad or doesn't make a different.
I do have that dark purple film algae mainly on the ground. I try to take as much out as I can and flip the rest in the sand. I did notice some floresent green starting yesterday but there isn't that much in there. it is only on two rocks. It actually is pretty.
I do have that dark purple film algae mainly on the ground. I try to take as much out as I can and flip the rest in the sand. I did notice some floresent green starting yesterday but there isn't that much in there. it is only on two rocks. It actually is pretty.
raynist
New member
The spider web stuff is from worms that spread a web to catch food, they are harmless.
That algae sounds like just a regular phase of a new setup.
Do you have an long hair algae?
Usually the brownish algae that grows on the sand can be removed by siphoning it. You can also increase the flow in the tank, but my 40g that I setup 9 months ago went throgh a bad phase ofnthat at about the 6 month mark.
That algae sounds like just a regular phase of a new setup.
Do you have an long hair algae?
Usually the brownish algae that grows on the sand can be removed by siphoning it. You can also increase the flow in the tank, but my 40g that I setup 9 months ago went throgh a bad phase ofnthat at about the 6 month mark.
captstinky
New member
Did the salesman tell you that the corals had to be fed? hmmmm....
some respond to feeding well, like the acans mentioned. Xenia won't take meaty food the same way, but seems to respond to phyto. I had trouble with xenia starting out 1st year. Now, I prune monthly. Keep temps below 84, keep alk steady, keep Ph steady. Add Iodine daily. Weekly water changes are great, but get expensive; once you find what your tank requires, you may be able to back off water changes, and simply add some 'vitimins'
Each system is like a kid- with its own personality. I have a 40g DT that gets a water change when I see build up of detritus on the substrate. Other than that I add Strontium, Magnesium, Kalk, Iodine, and top off with fresh water. I might do 2% a month- the water changes amount to how much vacuuming is required. It works for that tank, but not all tanks...the biggest lesson is that nothing good happens quick.
some respond to feeding well, like the acans mentioned. Xenia won't take meaty food the same way, but seems to respond to phyto. I had trouble with xenia starting out 1st year. Now, I prune monthly. Keep temps below 84, keep alk steady, keep Ph steady. Add Iodine daily. Weekly water changes are great, but get expensive; once you find what your tank requires, you may be able to back off water changes, and simply add some 'vitimins'
Each system is like a kid- with its own personality. I have a 40g DT that gets a water change when I see build up of detritus on the substrate. Other than that I add Strontium, Magnesium, Kalk, Iodine, and top off with fresh water. I might do 2% a month- the water changes amount to how much vacuuming is required. It works for that tank, but not all tanks...the biggest lesson is that nothing good happens quick.
cloakerpoked
New member
I'd like to see the alk lowered and calcium raised. One of the reasons it's so low probably is that the magnesium is having a hard time keeping it in suspension. I'd expect to see a lot of presipitate on pump impellors, glass etc. The alk is still high probably from your dosing. It doesn't take much alk suppliment from a 2 part solution to raise alkalinity levels pretty substantially.
In my experience, feeding corals (unless they're non-photosynthetic like dendros) is always un-needed. LPS especially may grow faster if they are target fed something like mysis, but it usually isn't necessary for their survival. I have frogspawn that grows like a weed and is never target fed. I did target feed my acans at the beginning and went from 4 to 12 polyps in 3 months. Then I stopped and the growth is much much slower.
The numbers I shoot for in my tank are pH 8.0-8.5, calcium 450, alk 9 dkh, temp 80, salinity around 1.026-1.028. Running salt so high is a risk for ich, but is also closer to NSW. I use reefcrystals salt and get great results from it. I also dose 2 part from bulkreefsupply (cost me like $30 for something like 7 gallons of both parts) and test with salifert test kits. Nothing beats a very sensitive titration in my opinion/experience.
Are you using R/O water, or tap? might've missed it. Phosphates could also be an issue here. Xenia usually does better in tanks with some nitrates (usually in the 10 ppm range.) so if everything else is ok, I doubt if nitrates are the problem here.
In my experience, feeding corals (unless they're non-photosynthetic like dendros) is always un-needed. LPS especially may grow faster if they are target fed something like mysis, but it usually isn't necessary for their survival. I have frogspawn that grows like a weed and is never target fed. I did target feed my acans at the beginning and went from 4 to 12 polyps in 3 months. Then I stopped and the growth is much much slower.
The numbers I shoot for in my tank are pH 8.0-8.5, calcium 450, alk 9 dkh, temp 80, salinity around 1.026-1.028. Running salt so high is a risk for ich, but is also closer to NSW. I use reefcrystals salt and get great results from it. I also dose 2 part from bulkreefsupply (cost me like $30 for something like 7 gallons of both parts) and test with salifert test kits. Nothing beats a very sensitive titration in my opinion/experience.
Are you using R/O water, or tap? might've missed it. Phosphates could also be an issue here. Xenia usually does better in tanks with some nitrates (usually in the 10 ppm range.) so if everything else is ok, I doubt if nitrates are the problem here.
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