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12/21/2009, 11:32 AM | #1 |
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: byron il.
Posts: 13
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Tank help
I have a 190 Gallon display tank , That is about 2 yrs old. When i first started it , coraline algea was thriving on new rock., it is slowly diminishing , have had trouble with mushrooms , zoas , xenia , and acros "most eventually die or just seem to barely hang on " Corals that seem to do just fine are my brains , leathers , tree corals , frog spawn, green eyed cup , candy cane and button corals. Water perimeters are , salt - 1.025 , alk.-7.4 , mag-1280, Temp - 78, phos- 0.1 , ph-8.0, calc-530. I do a water change every 2 weeks , i do seem to have an abundance of astria stars on rock and glass, but never on corals. spent tons of hours and $$ trying to figure out the problem with little or no affects any ideas?? ( lighting? , circulation ? ) please give me some suggestions!
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12/21/2009, 11:56 AM | #2 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Southeast Oklahoma
Posts: 575
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Ok Snake -- so I'll ask a few things that most everyone else will ask you.
I'd bring your magnesium up a little bit. It's a little on the low side. Are you dosing things in the tank at all or no? How long has this been going on for you with the coralline decreasing? You've definitely got something going on for sure. Calcium is what feeds the coraline. Now with that being said ... have yo been dosing calcium? If so, how old is what you are dosing? How old is your lighting? What bulbs are you using? What are you using for your circulation? What's your equipment list looking like? I'd get a harlequin or something in there to eat the astria stars (as they can be problematic for your zoa's and etc. They eat them .. ) The harlequin shrimps are their predators and will knock them out in no time for ya ... although it will take some time for him to hunt them all down. You may never see them on corals, but you're not watching your tank 24/7 up close and personal, so they could be eating stuff when you're not at home. |
12/21/2009, 12:37 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: byron il.
Posts: 13
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This is basically started when i switched to this tank 2 yrs ago. i realize mag. is low , but check weekly and usual perimeters are usually in range. not doubting astrias stars but problem occurred before they appeared , I'm up at 2 in the morning so i do check the at night to see if they are feeding and i have a harlequin tusk but it is not doing his job .as far as feeding i started using 2 tbs of (reef plus , reef complete, and reef calcium 2 times a week ) no affect, I'm now using Rod's food, marine snow and DT phytoplankton the salt i currently use is H2 ocean . Please note colors of most zoas seem to fade ,never die but never grow and spread out
The equipment i have ..... Tank 30 x 30 x 48 sump - 40X24X24 circulation - genx70 ( 1537 gpm & trade winds 1/3 chiller & hammer head 580 gpm & koralia 4 wave maker X 2 pumps ) Lighting - 2 - 130 w duel actinic p.c. ( on 7 pm to 8 pm ) 2 150s - hqi's 10 & 14 .000 k & 2 250w hqi's 10 & 14.000 k (10 am to 7 pm ) |
12/21/2009, 06:58 PM | #4 |
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: port jefferson, ny
Posts: 73
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The mag isn't too low. The Ca is a bit high which makes you wonder if it is being utilized by your corals. The only things that seem a bit low is the ph which should be 8.3 or 8.4 and most of what I read suggests the kH around 9 to 10. How old are the light bulbs? I bleached out a lot of coraline when I changed bulbs.
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David Current tank: 75 gallon mixed reef + 40 gallon sump ~ 90 gallon volume |
12/21/2009, 07:17 PM | #5 |
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: byron il.
Posts: 13
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bulbs are less then 6 months but this has been going on for 2 years.new bulbs old bulbs ect. seems im leaning towards bleaching but not sure zoas never seem to die off just lose color and never grow or expand much, no luck at all with acros or xenia .
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Tags |
astrea stars, coraline algea, tank help |
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