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Corals not doing well


Roshan8768

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Hi guys!

 

As some of you may know, I've had my 40 Breeder set up for a little over 3 years now and it is well established. I changed my lights to a Maxspect Razor a little less than a year ago, and ever since the tank has not looked at it's greatest. I use tropic marin salt, and all my top-offs are done using RODI. I don't have a noticeable algae problem, yet the only corals that do well in my tank are softies. To be specific just the anthelia, xenia, GSP, Kenya tree, and devil's hand leather are thriving.

 

Any SPS I have tried have lasted no longer than a couple of weeks tops. LPS fare better, but it's obvious that they are not thriving. My coralline algae growth has slowed down over the last year, but it's still present. My parameters consistently test at:

 

sg: 1.025

pH: 8.0

Nitrate:<5

Calcium:460 ppm

Alk: 8.0 dKh

 

My razor which sits on the mounting legs over my 40 breeder runs @:

w b

10:30 0 0
12:30 35 50
2:30 40 60
6:30 35 50
7:00 0 40
7:30 0 0

 

I don't think I have a phosphate issue, and I don't test for Mg maybe that could be an issue (but my alk is always stable, so I doubt it's incredibly low). I am wanting to add some zoas and maybe some hardy LPS, but I don't want to throw more money down the drain. I feel like I might be missing something here, and it very well could be something other than a water parameter issue. Let me know if you guys have any ideas!!

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Test for stray voltage??

 

I've never tested. Wouldn't fish be affected?

 

do you feed your tank? maybe lack of nutrients because the softies soaking it all up?

 

The tank gets fed NLS Thera+ once a day, 5 days a week, and Nori for the tangs every other day. Frozen mysis once a week. Plenty of food IMO... I would be shocked if the issue was too little nutrients

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I've never tested. Wouldn't fish be affected?

 

Corals are a lot more sensitive than fish

 

Here's a you-tube video of how to test for it.....

 

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I will test this weekend. I run all my equipment out of a GFCI, but I do not have a grounding probe. So the general consensus seems to be < 50V is fine?

 

Why would it only affect LPS and SPS and zoas though? From what I have read about it, certain species are bound to be more sensitive than others, but I find it hard to believe that just the corals that I have been having trouble with would be affected. I am having some solid growth on my softies, so clearly they are not affected at all.I think it has to be more water quality or light related.

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Nice video - some good information for certain. I'm a retired Sr. Scientist from a large high tech company. One thing I didn't hear was what scale the volt meter was on. That should be on the 200v AC range and make sure you can identify which scale. In this case, a scale with 2 or 20 or 200 at the far right is spot on. You will likely have scales for AC and some for DC and ohms and current. Look at the AC volts for this testing. The plug socket pin used in the power strip was the round one. Safety ground. What gives the stray currents are the various electrical things stuck in the water. Pumps of all sorts from flow to filter to high volume filter pumps are suspect. The main filter pump is in the sump and that is the water you want to measure. The water in the tank might have different results. One or another pump might be leaking. Heater might be leaking or the refrig unit even. When speaking of the ground rod, use it only if there is a problem that can't be solved. Turn off pumps / stuff / until the leakage drops. If not, then it is indirectly on the motor. Unplug each and both conductors are open. Currents should stop. The ground rod might drop some but remember the current comes from the motor and between the rod and that motor there will be electricity flowing in the water to zap a fish (they are wary) or you. Lets say you have zero stray stuff. yea. Test another month, year, ... keep on it. Might find a motor going out. Now why I DONT like the rods. What if the ground moves up and down in voltage ? Earth gets dry - less house ground... Lighting hitting the earth can put a jolt of electrons onto the ground line and kill the fish flowing current to all pumps... in the tank! Simply test, like your smoke alarm - test the tank on schedule. Martin Thanks for a good start on the Video!

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Nice video - some good information for certain. I'm a retired Sr. Scientist from a large high tech company. One thing I didn't hear was what scale the volt meter was on. That should be on the 200v AC range and make sure you can identify which scale. In this case, a scale with 2 or 20 or 200 at the far right is spot on. You will likely have scales for AC and some for DC and ohms and current. Look at the AC volts for this testing. The plug socket pin used in the power strip was the round one. Safety ground. What gives the stray currents are the various electrical things stuck in the water. Pumps of all sorts from flow to filter to high volume filter pumps are suspect. The main filter pump is in the sump and that is the water you want to measure. The water in the tank might have different results. One or another pump might be leaking. Heater might be leaking or the refrig unit even. When speaking of the ground rod, use it only if there is a problem that can't be solved. Turn off pumps / stuff / until the leakage drops. If not, then it is indirectly on the motor. Unplug each and both conductors are open. Currents should stop. The ground rod might drop some but remember the current comes from the motor and between the rod and that motor there will be electricity flowing in the water to zap a fish (they are wary) or you. Lets say you have zero stray stuff. yea. Test another month, year, ... keep on it. Might find a motor going out. Now why I DONT like the rods. What if the ground moves up and down in voltage ? Earth gets dry - less house ground... Lighting hitting the earth can put a jolt of electrons onto the ground line and kill the fish flowing current to all pumps... in the tank! Simply test, like your smoke alarm - test the tank on schedule. Martin Thanks for a good start on the Video!

 

Thanks for the info! Will definitely keep this in mind. I am also not a fan of the probe either, and will invest in a decent meter. I am an Electrical Engineering student, so although I am not an expert, I am probably better versed in the subject than most

 

Also, all my equipment is HOB. My tank doesn't have a sump

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What lights were you running before you switched to LED's

 

I had a 4xT5 setup. I lost some coral when I switched due to having the lights too bright too fast. But I've had it for almost 10 months now and I would think that the corals have adjusted.

 

I added my light schedule above so people can weigh in on it being too little/too much. I am happy with the results I am getting with it though, so I don't think that is the issue. Plenty of people on this forum and elsewhere grow coral fine under this fixture.

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If you are running powerheads or a heater you have a chance of stray voltage. My friend lost most of his corals to stray voltage but his fish were fine a powerhead was at fault.

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If you are running powerheads or a heater you have a chance of stray voltage. My friend lost most of his corals to stray voltage but his fish were fine a powerhead was at fault.

 

Right, I will check tomorrow. But did your friend have some corals thrive at the same time?? I fell like only new corals that I have added have done poorly, all my existing colonies have really taken off in growth

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I'd go back to you're t5's.

 

 

Why? That can't possibly be the issue. Plenty of people have success with this fixture. I'm not saying it's better than T5 lighting, but that can't be it. Otherwise everyone with a razor on this forum would be cribbing about how they can't grow anything

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You might have other contaminants like heavy metals. You could try running some polyfilter or cuprisorb to see if that helps. I've never medicated my tank but recently tested on the high side of copper. I've never added anything with copper so if I can get it, anybody can get it. Copper comes in very low levels in foods too.

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I will pick up some poly filter as well, maybe this is it. I havn't had much luck with the 2 shrimp I tried to add in the last year. I thought it may have just been a few bad specimens... hmm. Thanks kat!

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Ok, so update:

 

I checked the entire tank area next to all the various equipment, and recorded a maximum voltage of 1.5 V. This was next to the AC100 output when I had the fuge light turned on. I doubt this is the cause of my issues so we can eliminate stray voltage from the list of suspects.

 

I changed my carbon and after some research, picked up a small carton of cuprisorb and am now running that as well. In other news I picked up a tester zoa frag since I havn't added any new corals to the system for a while now. Hopefully this piece will be a good indicator of any lingering/ unresolved issues in this tank. If it is doing well and showing good growth come Christmas time, I may try picking up a duncan frag.

 

I am officially changing my salt to Red Sea Coral Pro as of tomorrow, and I will be doing a 20% WC to kick things off

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how about nitrite and ammonia? I had too many fish and only tested nitrate which showed ...ok but when I tested ammonia I found out it was bad.

what are you stocking?

how often and how much water change?

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how about nitrite and ammonia? I had too many fish and only tested nitrate which showed ...ok but when I tested ammonia I found out it was bad.

what are you stocking?

how often and how much water change?

 

Nothing that basic. I've had the tank for 3 years, the fish are fine. Full stock list is in my thread with all the details of the build over the peiod of time it's been up. I ran all the tests anyway the other day just to make sure, but sure enough 0 ammonia and nitrite, and less than 5 nitrate. I do a 20 % water change once a month. Once again, just restating in case people are mis-understanding: this is not an issue that popped up overnight. My tank is pretty stable and well established. It just can't seem to grow anything other than the hardiest corals as of the last 4-5 months

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the Salt will help what dose are you putting into the tank ? Even though I use aquavitro salt that has everything in it I still add stuff in

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the Salt will help what dose are you putting into the tank ? Even though I use aquavitro salt that has everything in it I still add stuff in

 

I usually don't need to dose. Maybe a little alk from my 2 part if I miss a water change. There's hardly any uptake because I really only have coralline on the rocks, and there are NO stony corals in the tank atm

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I usually don't need to dose. Maybe a little alk from my 2 part if I miss a water change. There's hardly any uptake because I really only have coralline on the rocks, and there are NO stony corals in the tank atm

Yeah you never know my coralline grows like nuts with added Seachem Plus and trace the extra stuff will help a lot

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I typically don't like to dose... it's not needed if you do your water changes, and it can cause issues if you cant measure how much your adding. I'm doing some work today on my sand bed, cleaning out all the gunk that has accumulated.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just wanted to update you guys... ran some polyfilter and cleaned out my sandbed plus a couple of water changes. Tank looks really good, and the tester zoa frag I picked up is doing well and has shown good growth. My next goal is to get some coralline growing

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