Need the help of Gurus...

[01rs25]

Ok, so I am having problems with my established tank. But I guess thats why we are all here. Uh?

I unforunently was unable to take care of it due to medical reason for the past 2 months so water changes were neglected. But nothing died, luckily.

However, recently with in the past month or so I have been trying to get it back to its former glory. Caught up with my water changes, introduced a new clean up crew, and have had great success. Except for some of the corals that have been in there. Mostly mushrooms and few polyps. They just don't seem to be opening like they used to.

The tank has it sits is a 40 gallon with a 20 gallon sump/ refugium. It gets light from 11 until 9 with a 96watt Coralife PC. The PC bulb is old, but still seems to work fine, its of the 50/50 variety.

As for what else is in the system, theres your normal, Return pump, a huge chunk of Chateo in the sump and the water is protein skimmed and it is also run through a phosphate reactor, for which there is phosban.


Now to the point, my corals, mushrooms, polyps and a few others aren't opening and I was wondering if there is something I should be checking or adding.

My levels this morning were pretty normal I thought:

Calcium- 320 ppm
Phosphates -0
Carbonate Hardness- 8 dKH
Nitrates- 5ppm
PH 8.6
Ammonia- Near 0
Salinity- .027


I know my Calcium is low, and so is Alkalinity, I add B-Ionic daily, and I still seem to have this problem, What could I do to raise it and what else could be my problem.


Is magnesium important, I remember reading a few things about this in the stickied thread at the top of this section.



J

[acrodave]

how old are they bulbs most pc are only good for about 8-9mths

[jdmcivicek9]

ph seems a bit high as does the salinity try to get your ph down to 8.2-8.4 also your salinity is close but i keep mine at 1.025-1.026 magnesium is important because it helps you keep your ca and kh in balance you might want to check your mag level to see if its low...also soft corals dont rely on kh and cal because they have no skeletal structure that needs to grow. but if you ever want to start sps youll have to get your levels in check...pc bulbs also need to be changed about every 8 or 9 months so if yours are older than that i would consider a new one. hope this helps

[01rs25]

Yeah bulbs are about a year old...

As far as reducing PH, what would be my safest bet?


I still want to continue dosing Alkalintity and Calcium to allow the coraline to grow correct?

As for magnesium, what do you add to increase it?


I'm sorry for all of these questions, I know all the answers are probably so simple.

[acrodave]

i bet its the bulbs over every thing eles

[jdmcivicek9]

you may have a higher ph because of dosing kh how often do you dose it?? try a ph buffer that can either bring your ph up if its low or lower your ph down if its high. once your levels are achieved with calcium alk and mag stop dosing and just check your params every once in a while. since you dont have hard corals to take up the cal alk and mag your levels shouldnt drop very fast. as for dosing mag buy a mag supplement like seachems magnesium. but make sure you test before adding it in.

[an411]

magnesium you can supplement if you like.I use the bionic magnesium supplement I would change the bulbs if they are a year old I agree that is the number 1 problem that i see. Even over your parameters.

[01rs25]

Great for the help guys/ girls!

Very helpful with quick responses.

I dose daily per my LFS... Buts its not much.

As for a PH buffer, I do add Proper PH every once in a while is that a suitable product?


I'm heading to My local fish store to purchase a few things, magnesium test kit, magnesium supplement and a new bulb...

Is there anything else I should be purchasing?

[an411]

Should be good to go. Let us new the results with the new lights in.

[acrodave]

only run the lights for about 6hr for a few weeks till the corals get used to the new light.. then go to 8-10 hrs

[01rs25]

Ok, back from the store, the new lights are definetly brighter, I can already tell things are beginning to open a bit better.

Magnesium Test kit showed I was right around the 1200 mark. Is this good?

I remember reading about it being almost perfect there, although it seems to have different effects if its lower or higher.

So I should only leave the lights on for a few hours, whats the downside if they stay on like they normally do?

[acrodave]

if the lights are on to much you can bleach out the corals and grow algae like none other because of the stronger light..thats why only run them for about 6 hrs to start..then after a week or so go back to 8-10hrs

[01rs25]

OK, Great!


Thanks for all the help guys...


What about the mag issues. Is 1200 a good number to have in your tank?

[acrodave]

thats a good number since you have all soft corals