Re: My First Reef Tank

[Steve Sells]

What are the other water parameters? What is your water source?

> Why am I losing my other corals slowly. I want the tank to prosper but
seem to be failing here.
> Help!!
>
> Thanks!!
>
> George

[Dragon Slayer]

your salinity for corals and inverts needs to be 1.025 at minimum.

kc


"Admin" > wrote in message
...
> Hello All!
>
> I am working on my first reef tank. It has been established for about 8
> months now and at the 6 month period we have replaced the bulbs.
> Unfortunatly many of the corals such as the bubble coral, fox tail, many
> small pollips (star polips) and leather fingers are slowly
> deteriorating. I need help here. What is going on. I perform a 5 %
> water change once a week. I maintain the salinity at 1.022. The water
> temp is between 78-80. It is a 56 gallon high tank with 3 power heads,
> 1 protein skimmer, 1 particle filter. The fish are doing great and
> other corals appear to be doing great as well. Why am I losing my other
> corals slowly. I want the tank to prosper but seem to be failing here.
> Help!!
>
> Thanks!!
>
> George
>

[Reef Boy]

Greetings!

Probably more folks will ask this question, but hey what the heck. :)
Water params?
Some you've posted.

Ie. Temp, Salinity, PH, Calcium, Hardness or DKH, Ammonia, Nitrite,
Nitrate(last 3 probably low in your case doing a nice 5%), and not as
critical, but helpful Phosphate& Silicate.
What type of filtration? Rock?
Sand bed?

You did mention a particle filter. I'm a bit leery with these unless they
are kept maintained quite often. Detris can accumulate and cause more of a
problem than benefits. Don't use any filter mesh at all unless I run into
some wild algae outbreak, then I change and clean every 3 days.

What kind of light?
I'd consider moving the sickly ones to a different location maybe with a
*bit* more water flow and little lower.
Did it happen after the bulb replacement?

Good Luck!

Reef


"Admin" > wrote in message
...
> Hello All!
>
> I am working on my first reef tank. It has been established for about 8
> months now and at the 6 month period we have replaced the bulbs.
> Unfortunatly many of the corals such as the bubble coral, fox tail, many
> small pollips (star polips) and leather fingers are slowly
> deteriorating. I need help here. What is going on. I perform a 5 %
> water change once a week. I maintain the salinity at 1.022. The water
> temp is between 78-80. It is a 56 gallon high tank with 3 power heads,
> 1 protein skimmer, 1 particle filter. The fish are doing great and
> other corals appear to be doing great as well. Why am I losing my other
> corals slowly. I want the tank to prosper but seem to be failing here.
> Help!!
>
> Thanks!!
>
> George
>

[Admin]

It started before after the bulb replacements. Unfortunatly I do not have any
R/O units and havge to use tap water. I do let it distill over a few days.
The particle filter I clean every other day.

Temp 78-82
Salinity - 1.022
PH - ?
Calc - 459
DKH - 9.6
Filtration - Protein skimmer, partical filter, and live rock
Light 2 65 w compact flourscent
crushed coral substrait

Any more info I can provide let me know



Reef Boy wrote:

> Greetings!
>
> Probably more folks will ask this question, but hey what the heck. :)
> Water params?
> Some you've posted.
>
> Ie. Temp, Salinity, PH, Calcium, Hardness or DKH, Ammonia, Nitrite,
> Nitrate(last 3 probably low in your case doing a nice 5%), and not as
> critical, but helpful Phosphate& Silicate.
> What type of filtration? Rock?
> Sand bed?
>
> You did mention a particle filter. I'm a bit leery with these unless they
> are kept maintained quite often. Detris can accumulate and cause more of a
> problem than benefits. Don't use any filter mesh at all unless I run into
> some wild algae outbreak, then I change and clean every 3 days.
>
> What kind of light?
> I'd consider moving the sickly ones to a different location maybe with a
> *bit* more water flow and little lower.
> Did it happen after the bulb replacement?
>
> Good Luck!
>
> Reef
>
> "Admin" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hello All!
> >
> > I am working on my first reef tank. It has been established for about 8
> > months now and at the 6 month period we have replaced the bulbs.
> > Unfortunatly many of the corals such as the bubble coral, fox tail, many
> > small pollips (star polips) and leather fingers are slowly
> > deteriorating. I need help here. What is going on. I perform a 5 %
> > water change once a week. I maintain the salinity at 1.022. The water
> > temp is between 78-80. It is a 56 gallon high tank with 3 power heads,
> > 1 protein skimmer, 1 particle filter. The fish are doing great and
> > other corals appear to be doing great as well. Why am I losing my other
> > corals slowly. I want the tank to prosper but seem to be failing here.
> > Help!!
> >
> > Thanks!!
> >
> > George
> >

[Mort]

"Admin" > wrote in message
...
> It started before after the bulb replacements. Unfortunatly I do not have
any
> R/O units and havge to use tap water. I do let it distill over a few
days.
> The particle filter I clean every other day.
>
> Temp 78-82
> Salinity - 1.022
> PH - ?
> Calc - 459
> DKH - 9.6
> Filtration - Protein skimmer, partical filter, and live rock
> Light 2 65 w compact flourscent
> crushed coral substrait
>
> Any more info I can provide let me know
>


It seems to me that you do not have sufficient light.

They way I understand what you just wrote, it sounds like you have 130 watts
total.

I'm new at this but my research indicates you are supposed to have 3-4 watts
per gallon. (wpg)

If I understood you right, you are running at about 2.33 wpg.

Not only that but you said you have a 56 gallon "high" tank which means you
need to go heavier on your wpg because of the extra depth. (Did I explain
that right?)

What do the rest of you think?

~Mort

[Marc Levenson]

The WPG rule isn't really a good deciding factor, because of some of the things
you pointed out. Depth of the tank, not to mention the various dimensions all
come into play.

It is better to determine the type of creatures that will be held in the
specific tank to answer the question of what type of lighting is ideal.

Marc


Mort wrote:

>
>
> It seems to me that you do not have sufficient light.
>
> They way I understand what you just wrote, it sounds like you have 130 watts
> total.
>
> I'm new at this but my research indicates you are supposed to have 3-4 watts
> per gallon. (wpg)
>
> If I understood you right, you are running at about 2.33 wpg.
>
> Not only that but you said you have a 56 gallon "high" tank which means you
> need to go heavier on your wpg because of the extra depth. (Did I explain
> that right?)
>
> What do the rest of you think?
>
> ~Mort

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