What constitutes coral health?

[spykes]

im wondering what's up with my tank, it so hard to find out what's wrong with these guys.

 

[IconicAquariums]

David, what are your parameters? I've found that Alk is a critical factor, especially with polyp extension. What lights are you running? How long has the tank been up? Give us some more information and we'll be able to figure out what's wrong...

joe

 

[spykes]

joe, im gonna try to get my test kits back, and i'll post it up. this new tank has been up like a week with t-5 light + corals and 1 month with cycling.

 

[ShaunW]

I've found that Alk is a critical factor, especially with polyp extension.
joe

Joe, I find that really interesting! How did you come to that conclusions if you don't mind my asking? Since I would think/speculate that both Ca and carbonate would be equal in importance toward calcification, since they separately come together as calicum carbonate.

 

[ShaunW]

joe, im gonna try to get my test kits back, and i'll post it up. this new tank has been up like a week with t-5 light + corals and 1 month with cycling.

Dave, to keep SPS you need a semi-mature tank, i.e. done laying down the nessesary bacteria to have a successful N cycle. Your new tank is still immature, are you really surprised that it is not SPS friendly yet?

 

[spykes]

gave away my coral shaun, right now i only have a green slimer, and few monti digi and caps. shaun what i dont understand was i started my 20 gallon the same way, but the 20 gallon has banging polyp extention and colors until i overdosed kalk and stop doing water changed because of school. I started the 40 the same way and was hoping to get the same results i had last time. maybe this time i just dont have large amount of bacteria in the water as last time or im doing something wrong.

 

[ShaunW]

Yeah but that is not entirely true. You are experimenting with a whole new way of cycling a reef tank. I told you already my impression on what you are doing. While I don't dissagree with what you are doing, you still need to establish the equilibrium between the N excretors and the N utilizers.

 

[spykes]

yeah recently shaun i checked the values of everything and came out to 0 for no3 nh4 etc.. i was experimenting, but afterwards i added few peices of live rock from fellow reefers. i dont know what i should do now, but fishes are in and a feed them very little until i can get a skimmer on the tank.

 

[IconicAquariums]

Joe, I find that really interesting! How did you come to that conclusions if you don't mind my asking? Since I would think/speculate that both Ca and carbonate would be equal in importance toward calcification, since they separately come together as calicum carbonate.

Shaun, having kept reefs for a few years now, i've realized that any major problems I've had always related to my Alkalinity. Calcium may be present and fluctuate, but it seems that a stable Alk is key to a successful tank IME. I remember when I got my RO/DI and did a water change with Oceanic, and had several corals RTN in a previously stable tank. Corals were mostly acros but I did have a lord that suffered which at the time was painful.

Now I really don't worry about much besides keeping my Alk between 8-9.5 dkh. I do 5g water changes every week, and top off daily. I don't even test Calcium(mainly because I need to get a new kit) and only dose every few days.

Dave, I would be careful starting off any system with frags right off the bat. It's not good for the corals and could affect them long term by stunting their growth. Especially without testing the water and knowing what you're dealing with before putting frags in, not even taking into consideration that you don't have a skimmer. I'd say you got lucky the first time. Just think of all the Acros that say Fishtown gets, and they all RTN, because their tank is basically dead to begin with. Patience is the key, especially with SPS.