What am I missing?

Francis96 · 01/28/2015, 06:03 PM

Hi everyone, I need serious help.
I have a 20 gallon tank, 24 x 18 x 12
No matter what I do, none of my coral I have is very healthy. I use RO water when doing water changes. I feed the tank with Marine snow and Seachem reef plankton once a week. I use Aquavitro Fuel twice a week, (Mondays and thursdays). I have a lumentek 120 light over the tank, about 9 inches up, maxes at 40 on blues and 15 on whites. I have one jebao wp 10, and a fuval sea nano Powerhead. My parameters are as follows.

pH 8.0
Nitrates <5
Nitrites 0
Carbonate Hardness 8 dKh
Calcium 480
Magnesium 1460
Ammonia 0
Phosphate <0.1

What can possibly be the problem? Too much flow? Not enough light? I haven't had any growth whatsoever in the past year. None of my LPS are growing in any way. When the acans I have start to open and grow, they end up just detaching from the skeleton and dying. It makes no sense!

Crooked Reef · 01/28/2015, 06:10 PM

How often do you do water changes and what salt? Also what is the age of the tank? And your salinity, top off schedule?

Francis96 · 01/28/2015, 06:11 PM

Every two weeks, red sea coral pro salt. Tank has been setup for a year and a half or so.

Crooked Reef · 01/28/2015, 06:40 PM

Do you have an automatic top off? If not how much evaporation are you getting and how often do you top off? What is your salinity and how do you measure it?

davidfrances · 01/28/2015, 06:43 PM

pictures might help

1MP3R1AL · 01/28/2015, 06:44 PM

Salinity? Tank inhabitants? Temp?

Francis96 · 01/28/2015, 08:23 PM

Two clowns and a six line Wrasse. Salinity is 1.025 temp is 78

Francis96 · 01/28/2015, 08:34 PM

I use a refractometer to measure it, and I calibrate it every water change

FraggledRock · 01/28/2015, 08:58 PM

What corals?

FraggledRock · 01/28/2015, 08:58 PM

What kind of flow units?

It can be really easy to add too much flown a 20 gallon if you have a hang on back filter it's probably even enough

Francis96 · 01/28/2015, 09:43 PM

http://www.amazon.com/Jebao-WP-10-Aq.../dp/B00INTDJLC

and

http://www.amazon.com/Fluval-Sea-Cir...sin=B009XSGI3S

Francis96 · 01/28/2015, 09:44 PM

various euphyllia, acans, favia, many zoas, and a few shrooms

Spyderturbo007 · 01/29/2015, 07:21 AM

When you say "not healthy" what do you mean? Slow to grow? Pale? STN?

On a side note, you don't need to calibrate your refractometer each time if you don't want. I do mine every few months and it's always stable. If yours keeps drifting, you might want to consider an upgrade to a better quality one.

ryeguyy84 · 01/29/2015, 08:00 AM

Pictures?

MysteryReef · 01/29/2015, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spyderturbo007

When you say "not healthy" what do you mean? Slow to grow? Pale? STN?

On a side note, you don't need to calibrate your refractometer each time if you don't want. I do mine every few months and it's always stable. If yours keeps drifting, you might want to consider an upgrade to a better quality one.

+1, I run a calibration lab at an Aerospace company, all of our refractometers are calibrated annually. .08% come back out of tolerance.

They are very reliable, if you havent dropped it, calibrating every 6 months is more than enough.

jason2459 · 01/29/2015, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysteryReef

+1, I run a calibration lab at an Aerospace company, all of our refractometers are calibrated annually. .08% come back out of tolerance.

They are very reliable, if you havent dropped it, calibrating every 6 months is more than enough.

There's a big difference in what I assume is lab grade equipment that you have there and a $30 brine refractometer with a cheap screw adjustment that most people in the hobby get.

I had a few of those cheap ones that needed constant adjustment. I finally bought a vital sine which was around $100 and is very stable. I still check it against a reference solution monthly but rarely do I have to adjust anything.

Francis96 · 01/29/2015, 03:39 PM

http://postimg.org/image/nkefy80yd/
http://postimg.org/image/tgmv7s1cf/

First is settings on my light. Second is a hammer coral, and my favia. The favia had skeleton shown when I bought it, but I think the flesh is slowly receding.

ryeguyy84 · 01/29/2015, 07:59 PM

I would start with lowering the flow, take out the nano powerhead and run the Jebao on the lowest setting. I also wouldn't dose anything except alk,Cal and mag (if needed). keep it simple, maybe turn the whites up a little to maybe 20 then 25 just do it slowly.

ryeguyy84 · 02/13/2015, 03:18 AM

So any changes?

01/28/2015, 06:03 PM	#1
Francis96 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 55	What am I missing? Hi everyone, I need serious help. I have a 20 gallon tank, 24 x 18 x 12 No matter what I do, none of my coral I have is very healthy. I use RO water when doing water changes. I feed the tank with Marine snow and Seachem reef plankton once a week. I use Aquavitro Fuel twice a week, (Mondays and thursdays). I have a lumentek 120 light over the tank, about 9 inches up, maxes at 40 on blues and 15 on whites. I have one jebao wp 10, and a fuval sea nano Powerhead. My parameters are as follows. pH 8.0 Nitrates <5 Nitrites 0 Carbonate Hardness 8 dKh Calcium 480 Magnesium 1460 Ammonia 0 Phosphate <0.1 What can possibly be the problem? Too much flow? Not enough light? I haven't had any growth whatsoever in the past year. None of my LPS are growing in any way. When the acans I have start to open and grow, they end up just detaching from the skeleton and dying. It makes no sense!

01/28/2015, 06:10 PM	#2
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	How often do you do water changes and what salt? Also what is the age of the tank? And your salinity, top off schedule? __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

01/28/2015, 06:40 PM	#4
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Do you have an automatic top off? If not how much evaporation are you getting and how often do you top off? What is your salinity and how do you measure it? __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

01/28/2015, 06:44 PM	#6
1MP3R1AL Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: VA/DC/MD Posts: 299	Salinity? Tank inhabitants? Temp? __________________ 24X24X12 Mixed : T5 / 13UP lighting \| Apex \| MP10 \| SCA-301 \| WW/CW/UV Sump Lighting \| DIY dosers 20L AIO SPS frag tank : UV/CW/WW/R/B/L/P LED - GONE

01/28/2015, 08:58 PM	#9
FraggledRock Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: New York, New York Posts: 2,185	What corals? __________________ “For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.”― Jacques-Yves Cousteau MarineBio.org Current Tank Info: 40 Gallon Breeder w/ Bean Animal Overflow 20G Sump, Mixed Reef.

01/28/2015, 06:11 PM	#3
Francis96 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 55	Every two weeks, red sea coral pro salt. Tank has been setup for a year and a half or so.

01/28/2015, 06:43 PM	#5
davidfrances Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Parkville, MO Posts: 666	pictures might help

01/28/2015, 08:23 PM	#7
Francis96 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 55	Two clowns and a six line Wrasse. Salinity is 1.025 temp is 78

01/28/2015, 08:34 PM	#8
Francis96 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 55	I use a refractometer to measure it, and I calibrate it every water change

01/28/2015, 09:43 PM	#11
Francis96 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 55	http://www.amazon.com/Jebao-WP-10-Aq.../dp/B00INTDJLC and http://www.amazon.com/Fluval-Sea-Cir...sin=B009XSGI3S

01/28/2015, 09:44 PM	#12
Francis96 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 55	various euphyllia, acans, favia, many zoas, and a few shrooms

01/29/2015, 07:21 AM	#13
Spyderturbo007 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: PA Posts: 2,564	When you say "not healthy" what do you mean? Slow to grow? Pale? STN? On a side note, you don't need to calibrate your refractometer each time if you don't want. I do mine every few months and it's always stable. If yours keeps drifting, you might want to consider an upgrade to a better quality one.

01/29/2015, 08:00 AM	#14
ryeguyy84 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,753	Pictures?

01/29/2015, 03:39 PM	#17
Francis96 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 55	http://postimg.org/image/nkefy80yd/ http://postimg.org/image/tgmv7s1cf/ First is settings on my light. Second is a hammer coral, and my favia. The favia had skeleton shown when I bought it, but I think the flesh is slowly receding.

01/29/2015, 07:59 PM	#18
ryeguyy84 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,753	I would start with lowering the flow, take out the nano powerhead and run the Jebao on the lowest setting. I also wouldn't dose anything except alk,Cal and mag (if needed). keep it simple, maybe turn the whites up a little to maybe 20 then 25 just do it slowly.

02/13/2015, 03:18 AM	#19
ryeguyy84 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,753	So any changes? __________________ Current tank: 90G mixed reef. Current Tank Info: 90 gallon