Tank Help!!!!

[Loose tenticle]

First start off with the list of equipment...
DB 75 gallon RR tank48x18x20
2x Aquillumination Vegas
1x Gyre x130+
1x sicces circulation pump cant remember the model
1x Jebao DC 9000 return pump
1x Custom King sump around 20 gallons of water
1x jebao coral box skimmer D700
Apex full unit with module for Vegas, break out box, 2x EB4


No for my most recent parameters
ph average 8.2
ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
phosphate0
calcium 450
magnesium 1400
alk 11.2 dkh


My dilemma is I cant keep hard corlas (birds nest, digitatas, acros) and even the soft corals I keep like zoas don't really die but don't spread out as I thought they would, GSP opens but doesn't take over and from what I heard are like weeds. Im assuming its more of a light issue as the max I put the lights are around 65 percent highest at the moment. Any suggestions.

 

[bkstang]

How old is the tank?
What is the flow?
Could you post a picture or a video?
How often do you feed your fish?
Parameters are good but there are tons of other things.

 

[Loose tenticle]

I feed my fish a few pellets in the morning just enough so they all eat, the afternoon after work I feed them a few more lets just what they consume and some times I throw in a pinch of lrs frozen food. According to the pump info it pushes around 2377 gallons per hour on full power. I have it set to second to last setting since im running a manifold feeding my refugium in the sump,chiller, 2 chamber reactor. The tank I would say has about close to 4 months old but I used most of the water and rocks I had from my 57 gallon when I upgraded.

 

[akma]

If your system is too clean your alk is too high. I ran into a problem where my system was to clean and high alk.

 

[Loose tenticle]

I thought clean was good, is my alk at a bad level?

 

[akma]

Too clean will starve your corals. I lost allot experimenting with prodibio which starved my corals and I feed allot. 11.2 is ok. Little high for me.
Are you using esv salt? When a system is ulns alk needs to be lower and less light. If a system is high nutrient can blast more light and have higher alk. I dropped my alk to about 8-9 now and everything is making a comeback.

 

[Loose tenticle]

Im using red sea coral pro, the ak and mag is a little high

 

[Loose tenticle]

Any clue to how i can dirty my tank a little lol maybe less water changes cut down from weekly water changes to maybe 2 week water changes?

 

[Rookie2reef]

Cut down to two week water change feed frozen everyday that should dirty it a little

 

[Loose tenticle]

1x or 2x a day rookie2reef

 

[Rookie2reef]

Twice a day should bring the nitrates up

 

[BioMan]

Your ph I think should be 8.4 all the time. Thats the only thing I can think of because my tanks are in the basement and if I put the rooms lights on in the early morning night feeders close up and zoa open.

 

[skunkcleaner]

How are u testing p04 ?? If your not using a Hanna or ulr I wouldn't trust it .. Also how do u test your salinity ... If your not using a calibrated refractometer I wouldn't trust that either .. If those 2 are good try feeding oyster feast every other night after lights out

 

[Arnaldo24]

Did i miss whts ur salinity??
How much alk and cal r u dosing daily??
And when did u test for those 2 elements??
If u relying on weekly water changes to keep ur level where u want them then maybe is not enough. Ur current corals might be using too much that by the next water change they are not the same
While this is not "that bad" for lps and zoas it might be bad for ur sps or ur attempt to keep sps.
4 months most likely ur cycle ended (if u had any) and most people (including myself)will set up a succesful sps tank even at that age. If and only if everything is the way it should

 

[Arnaldo24]

I should add that it seems like u dont know if ur set up is "too clean" so i wouldnt suggest make drastic changes like feeding extra or bi-weekly water changes
Find the problem first before u get ur self another 1

 

[Aquadicted]

I also agree that your system can be too new and clean. I'd suggest you get live micro culture before trying to dirty up your aquarium. Without cope pods and other organisms there won't be anything to process tiny foods (pods also act as food for corals). Plus turn your skimmer off for a while. This is risky road you're heading on and I'd suggest you keep a close eye on all levels.


I DO NOT AGREE with doubling on feeding. If you want to do this, make sure you have something processing the food..

I'm a believer in slow and steady wins the race. I always advice people NOT to dump things into their tanks to fix the problem. In this case you obviously have to put more organics into your tank because it does seem like it's a little starved. But be really careful and slow. Don't go crazy adding a bunch of food... Good luck

 

[skunkcleaner]

When trying to keep sps stability is key ..

Maybe I missed it but where do get your water from ??

Do u make it ? If so do u have a good ro/di

 

[Loose tenticle]

My salinity is at 1.025. At one point I do recall seeing copepods in the sump in the refugium but not in the DT. Im not dosing anything at the moment but today I will test since I tested on sunday 2 days after my water change. Post the results later on tonight all thoughts and opinions are appreciated.