Water quality troubles

[johnfluevogs]

30gallon cube
10g sump
10g refugium
175watt mogal MH
2 x 36watt pc coralife actinic


i had my water tested yesterday at the LFS and the gentleman commented that my alk was a little low and I had a small trace of nitrates. Meanwhile I just changed 25% of the water a few days prior.

I am having trouble with water quality lately and since the end of time I have been having trouble keeping certain corals.

I have few questions...

Even though I dose Bionic and keep my calcium levels at 400-450 I have yet (over a year) been able to grow coralline. Any suggestions?

Second... I have synthetic silicate based black sand bed 1-2". This was not purchased as live sand. It was dry. My understand was that after time it would work just the same? Does anyone have an opinion on such a topic. Would moving to a white crushed coral and rock sand bed be beneficial.


I appreciate everyone’s two cents, thanks.

 

[Omni2226]

I would be the first to say I know nothing of metal halide/coral lighting but is it possible your bulbs are bad? From what I understand they can "burn out" with no noticable (to human eyesight) loss of "brightness".

This may account for littel to no coralline alga and coral deaths.

Just an idea....

 

[trido]

Im far from an old pro at reefing. I would recomend getting your own test kits if you dont have any. THen you can monitor your parameters more closely rather than counting on someone who is in a hurry and has nothing to lose by doing a less than perfect test.

 

[johnfluevogs]

I change out my bulbs on a relativly strict schedual and have entertained the idea of my lights causeing trouble. In response, I have never to this date had coralline alage growth in the year I have had the tank set up.

I do own test kits and do monitor parameter at home, the thing I find is that the test kits expire and the LFS uses theres far more tha I do mine so I know theres is up to date, Also with the alk test kit that I have the card has a color range with low med and high written on it and for a while I figured that normal is where i wasnted to be. As it turns out I have been told according to my test kit (red sea) i want to me closer to the High line (more blue in color). Who would ever know.

 

[Anonymous]

First of all, I'd like to compliment you on your choice of footwear. Fluevogs rock.

Second, I never got any coraline algae on my tanks either until I started to use Seachem Reef Complete and CaribSea PurpleUp, alternating products twice a week, at recommended dosages (so, Reef Complete says x ml twice a week and PurpleUp says y ml twice a week, I'd use x ml of Reef Complete once a week, y ml of PurpleUp once a week). Now I'm getting patches of coraline, and nothing else has changed in the tanks I'm using it on.

 

[smit1260]

Changing your substrate to araginite sand would help with raising your alkalinity and keep you pH stable.

What levels does your pH vary at?

The depressed alk could be the reason for the lack of corroline growth. Using a buffer solution or even just baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) will do the trick.

Are you using ro/di water?

 

[pwj1286]

I will tell you from expirence. When you come to me while the my store is busy...you can expect not so good results.

1. The test is free of charge
2. I could be selling 200 dollars worth of corals
3. Testing water is a hasel for a busy LFS.

Get your own testing kit. Get a nice cheap Doc Well Fish testing kit. Good enough to tell you whats going on for the price.

Dont worry about the coralline thing. It takes a while. Phosphates should be investigated with a good testing kit. Try Fast Test or Sea Test or Sailifert. If you have have phosphates, that can deter coralline growth.

Get a phosban reactor or something similar.
Dont over feed.
Do water changes. Bimonthly to bring it down.

RO all the way and even better RO DI
_________________
Marine insurance Forum

 

[Anonymous]

I've only had my 10g for about 2 months or so, and I already have coraline growth on the glass and powerhead. I test my pH, PO4, an nitrate about once a week. Add a buffer when necessary to keep my pH at around 8.2. Don't test calcium too often, because the test is a pain, but I add a few drops of Kent Ca solution every day. Add a few drops of strontium/molybdenium and a trace element liquid every 4-5 days. My salinity is kind of high, about 36ppt, according to my hydrometer, which I'm suspicious of. The animals, corals, algae seem to be doing fine so I decided to not worry about lowering it for now.
Not sure if all that helps you, but my setup seems to propagate coraline alright for me.

 

[ReefMon]

Besides Alk & Ca, need to make sure phosphates and magnesium are within acceptable prams for good coralline growth.

Are you using RO/DI for make-up & water change water& have you tested the output quality?

 

[johnfluevogs]

thanks so much for all the replies...


First off, I do use RO/DI for water changes and I have a handheld TDI meter that reads 0 ppm.

Second, I have a phosphate reactor and use phosban media. I only add 1/4-1/2 of the media you buy because I have such a small system. (Maybe I should be adding the entire container 1200 g I think)

All my test kits are Red Sea and even with the phosphate reactor my phosphates are still detectable. It turns a very light green which i think is 0.1 ppm I don’t remember exactly. I think that this could be my leading problem and for the life of me I cannot get it do turn yellow or be 0.0 ppm.

Now I am the only one that uses the synthetic black sand, so I haven’t been able to get any positive or neg feedback on it. But I do know that live sand and crushed coral offer some buffering abilities that I may desperately need.

Thanks again.

 

[thebicyclecafe]

I had very good coraline growth up until I changed out new bulbs and then all the coralline that were exposed to the lights bleached, but the areas in shaded regions continue to have that dark purple color. Did you change your lights recently?

 

[johnfluevogs]

I did just replace my PC Actinic bulbs a month ago, as I do religiously every 6 months.

But, I never had any coralline to bleach.

I think my problem lies in the low alk and the trace of phosphates.

Who knows though?