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Unread 06/27/2015, 10:52 AM   #1
GandolfDavid
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Join Date: Jun 2015
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Beginner Reef Tank Help

Thank you for whoever can help me with this to start....

anyway I've had a saltwater fishtank for about 3 years now. This summer I began to make it a very basic reef tank so I was not planning on having any serious hard to care for corals.

First I'll do the specs of the tank. The tank is 55 gallons. I have 2 under the tank filters with the outakes blowing outward in opposite directions from the middle of the tank. The hood I have only allowed for 2 bulbs so I have one actinic blue bulb. and a 10k daylight bulb. I've had hermits, snails, 2 ocellaris clownfish and a sailfin tang for about a year now. This winter I added a royal gramma. At the beginning of this summer I added some live rock and dead live rock, a condy anemone, and a mandarin goby. I feel them arctipods, pellets, flakes, brine shrimp, algae, everything I am supposed to.

Now to the corals...

Pom Pom Xenia- I added a small piece of the xenia about 3 weeks ago. It opened and looked great until about this last week. It will not open and looks shriveled up almost. I've tried it in the sand, lower rocks, higher rocks and nothing helped it. It is now about 7 inches from the lamps and still will not open.

Flower Pot Coral- added the flower pot coral about 2 weeks ago. It is about 12 inches from the bulbs. It opens pretty inconsistently, sometimes all will open sometimes only one or two.

Button Polyp- added this about 4 days ago and I don't think it has opened yet because i'm yet to see the wavy tentacles that I saw in the store when I bought it. It is 10 inches from the bulbs.

These are all tiny pieces of coral, they have sufficient space in between them to grow. There aren't dead spots in the tank due to the filter outakes pushing the water in opposite directions. I add Kent Marine Coral-Vite and also some Kent liquid phytoplankton stuff. The anemone just died today, so I tested the water and the pH is 8.2, 0 for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and the temperature is usually 78.7-79.4.

My question is what is wrong with my corals and what can I do better? The xenia looks unhealthy, the inconsistent opening of the flower pot (is this normal?), and the button is yet to open. Also have no idea what could have caused the death of the anemone its been looking great. Thank you for whoever takes the time to read this and helps!

Edit: Also forgot to say everything I buy is aquacultured



Last edited by GandolfDavid; 06/27/2015 at 11:03 AM.
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Unread 06/27/2015, 11:04 AM   #2
Jrambo88
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I'm not an expert by any means but, under the tank filters do you mean under gravel filters? They are used for fresh water. Your lighting is insufficient for the flowerpot and the button. Dead rock do you mean dry rock right? Do you have a skimmer? I don't think it sounds like you have the proper setup for corals at all.


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Unread 06/27/2015, 11:07 AM   #3
GandolfDavid
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jrambo88 View Post
I'm not an expert by any means but, under the tank filters do you mean under gravel filters? They are used for fresh water. Your lighting is insufficient for the flowerpot and the button. Dead rock do you mean dry rock right? Do you have a skimmer? I don't think it sounds like you have the proper setup for corals at all.
sorry, I meant canister filters. no protein skimmer, and yes dry rock.


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Unread 06/27/2015, 03:29 PM   #4
codyreed29
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Usually corals close up as you move them up. Meaning move the coral downward to get it to open up.

I have a lot of light on my tank. When I put LPS up high they tend to close up more when I put them low in the tank they open all the way up to get more light. You should leave it on the bottom or mile to low.


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Unread 06/27/2015, 03:44 PM   #5
outssider
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I think you need to do some research on how to keep a reef tank. It's a lot more involved than hanging a light over some salt water, adding a filter and putting in corals. Fish are pretty easy and you can get away with pretty easy husbandries...corals not so much !


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Unread 06/27/2015, 06:37 PM   #6
anthonys51
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ok if you kept fish alive you should have some basic understand but yes corals are different and there needs are a little more demanding and different. what is your salinity, it should be 1.026 . use a refractometer only. your flowerpot is going to die those are hard corals to keep, so if you can return it and never take the advice of the person who sold that to you. your button and Xeinia are easier what kind of lights 10k and blue actinic isnt enough info. are they t5 or led what wattage


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