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View Full Version : My reef tank and possible bleaching questions


Dolmo5000
06/08/2011, 09:19 PM
Hello, thanks for reading my aquarium post!
Here are some pics of my 55g reef aquarium. The tank is 7 years old, but I have only had it for about a year. A professor friend of mine decided to take a position in Australia, so I was the extremely happy receiver of a cheap, established, great reef aquarium. I have some general questions concerning the tank, but first, here are the specifics:

pH- 8.01-8.11
salinity- 1.022-1.024 ppt
alkalinity- 4.0 meq/L
phosphates- negligible
nitrates- negligible
temp- 76.4-77.3 F
lighting- power compact hood w/ 2 65w actinics, and 2 65w 10K
sump- 30g, with activated carbon filtration, phosphate, and protein skimmer
protein skimmer- Remora aquaC (unknown exact) but its pretty large
phosphate removal- PhosBan 150 model with new media
additives- All the following are used only as directed. Kent liquid calcium, Kent reef builder and Buffer-dkh (I understand the correlation between the two), Kent iodide, Kent Strontium and Molybdenum.
inhabitants:
16 mushroom polyps
29 hammerhead polyps
52 Duncan polyps
2 small pulsating xenia patches
2 turbo snails
1 algae blenny
1 coral beauty dwarf angelfish

OK. Now I can get to the comments and questions. First, I'm super happy with the tank. My wife and I are both PhD students at Oklahoma State University in the Zoology and Natural Resource Ecology and Management departments. I say this because it means we have a generally high base level of understanding concerning marine life. I love the LPS corals that the previous owner centered the tank around. All I have added is the fish and new 'red' mushroom coral.

Now, here is the part I have trouble admitting. About one month after getting the tank (last May), the electronic (Lab grade) pH monitor which usually was on with probe attached to the side of the tank malfunctioned. In fact, I found out that the probe (which should not have been purmenantly placed in the tank) had algae growth inside the vital components. As a result, I read that the pH was 7.4, and buffered the hell out of the tank up to something around 10.0, at which point all the calcium in the tank precipitated in the form of snowing flaked in the tank.
Deaths: all the mini brittle stars, peppermint shrimp, copepods, and other super sensitive inverts.

All the corals lived and I have since put many man hours into the research and understanding of this trade. Now, here are my questions:

1. I have a total of 260w on the tank, which is 4.7 w/g. I know this is only a general statement about the lighting of the tank. I am also aware that the lighting is generally, a good set up for LPS. My question is, what type of supplementary lighting might I add to pump up the aquarium without eliminating the LPS corals I have currently?
Note: From what I can research, one or two strips of led lighting might fit around my current hood.

2. I just went from glass lid top ( I know, its not good. This is the only part of the aquarium set up that the previous owner, an aquatic ecotoxicology professor didn't do right) to eggcrate with an additional black mesh 1/4in openings atop the tank. I believe that the white coloring in some of my duncan and hammerhead corals is bleaching due to neglecting to acclimate the corals. I have recently read about this subject, and hope this is an accurate diagnosis. Does anyone think that I might be incorrect? I am a general new comer to the hobby and would love to hear other opinions.

3. I have recently become smitten with giant clams, and would like to know how far away in watts, and lumens (PAR) I am away from being able to get one of the smallest and least light requiring clams. I presume that only bad news will come from this question!

4. Lastly, I recieved the tank with a large spaghetti algae clump in the sump. Slowly but surely it has reduced in size. I recently purchased a OCEAN PODS- three species starter culture, and got a large clump of spaghetti algae with the order. The copepods (added to the tank, months before the coral beauty) didn't ever seem to bloom, and the macro algae quickly died out in the sump. Am I missing something that is killing the algae?
Related note: I got the macro, algae blenny, turbo snails, and copepods to help with a medium green algae issue. The turbo snails (properly acclimated) proved to be the winning decision.

All I want is to know if I'm keeping an aquarium that has a large problem I'm missing, and know if the future might allow for some expansion. I will keep the 55g tank and everything in it. I don't have visions of new tanks and set ups, but, if possible, a clam might be all I would add. Thank you very much for reading my extremely long post. I know that you guys are the right people for my questions. Thanks in advance for any help you might suggest. Have a great day/night.