Torch Coral

[xXReeferXx]

OK so my tank has been up for 6 months. I decided to try my hand at coral. Im running a innovative marine 16 with the stock lights, down sizing from a 75 with two AI SOL one would be to much. It's towards the top of the tank (highest i can get) and was wondering what i need to do to keep it alive as all other coal I've had fir the last 3+ years had died and i simply cannot figure out why.

[gus6464]

Torch like a lot of LPS prefer low to medium flow and light. Also it helps to spot feed every once a while. Also why can't you run a SOL in your IM16? You can dim to light instead of having it at full blast.

[jservedio]

If you want to figure out why you can't keep coral and want our help doing it - you are going to need to take a systematic approach and provide us with a LOT more information.

 

First - test everything you can and have it checked against the LFS. You are going to want to get Salinity, Temperature, Ammonia, Nitrate, Phosphate, Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium. Also, at least for a little while, you are going to want to test all of them weekly to ensure things are stable and keep a log. What is your water source and how do you filter and treat it - is it RODI or tap?

 

Second - describe all of the livestock you have in your tank and if something doesn't seem right, take a picture of it. Also, describing how your coral is dying and taking pictures of anything unhealthy will help. List out all the equipment on your tank, filtration, etc. that you didn't mention in the original post.

 

Third - create a list of everything that has gone wrong with the tank in the last 2-3 months. Algae outbreak, dinos, fish died, etc.

 

The more information that you can provide the better. BTW, an AI Sol is perfectly fine over a 16g tank as long as you dim it down - start it at a low intensity like 20% and slowly increase it - I run a Radion Pro over a 20g just fine.