GtTap 75 (Keeping It Reef)

[markalot]

Half of my acro is faded is that because of light?

 

No idea.

 

First off, make sure you are not running any media except carbon for now. Well fed acros do not usually up and die, so get some food in the tank and remember, low nutrients and phosphate removing media has killed more corals than phosphate ever will.

 

You say you haven't tested in two weeks, have you been doing water changes? The SPS corals will get happy and start sucking up Alk and Calcium and if these get too low the corals will stop growing and sometimes die.

[GtTap]

No idea.

 

First off, make sure you are not running any media except carbon for now. Well fed acros do not usually up and die, so get some food in the tank and remember, low nutrients and phosphate removing media has killed more corals than phosphate ever will.

 

You say you haven't tested in two weeks, have you been doing water changes? The SPS corals will get happy and start sucking up Alk and Calcium and if these get too low the corals will stop growing and sometimes die.

Well ive been running carbon and gfo but that started about a week ago before that i was just running carbon. i just got some coral frenzy on tuesday so fed that 2 time so far. tested alk and cal today got 10 dkh and 400 cal.

[markalot]

Excellent numbers. Get the GFO offline quickly and let the nutrient levels climb back up for a while. IMO.

 

Young tank, GFO goes online and strips all phosphates, stuff suffers and dies. Low phosphate is good, but can be dangerous if the tank is not mature and lots of food available in the water.

[GtTap]

Excellent numbers. Get the GFO offline quickly and let the nutrient levels climb back up for a while. IMO.

Thanks alot Mark. i was also wondering my sand is very large, im thinking about taking all of my sand out and doing bare bottom.

[markalot]

Thanks alot Mark. i was also wondering my sand is very large, im thinking about taking all of my sand out and doing bare bottom.

 

yea. maybe. I use a large grain in my 40 and I like it because I can easily vac it to get the crap out, but I can't get over 60X flow or it starts blowing around. I don't think you'll have that issue in a 20. I also liek the fact I have a ton of worms and pods and all kinds of critters in the sandbed. Heavy feeding really increases their population.

[GtTap]

yea. maybe. I use a large grain in my 40 and I like it because I can easily vac it to get the crap out, but I can't get over 60X flow or it starts blowing around. I don't think you'll have that issue in a 20. I also liek the fact I have a ton of worms and pods and all kinds of critters in the sandbed. Heavy feeding really increases their population.

Should i give bare bottom a go or leave my sand?

[markalot]

Should i give bare bottom a go or leave my sand?

 

Oh now, you have to decide what you like. I say sand is fine, leave it for now and get some experience down with keeping these corals alive and healthy. This is the tough phase, I killed many corals because I didn't get it yet and was focused on algae reduction instead of coral health.

 

You can always remove the sand later if you want, but don't add any additional stressors at the moment.

[GtTap]

Oh now, you have to decide what you like. I say sand is fine, leave it for now and get some experience down with keeping these corals alive and healthy. This is the tough phase, I killed many corals because I didn't get it yet and was focused on algae reduction instead of coral health.

 

You can always remove the sand later if you want, but don't add any additional stressors at the moment.

Thanks Mark your a big help.

[NorthGaHillbilly]

I'm all for bare bottom, I wouldn't run a tank another way, but I'd say get things back happy and stable, then go bb.

[GtTap]

Oh now, you have to decide what you like. I say sand is fine, leave it for now and get some experience down with keeping these corals alive and healthy. This is the tough phase, I killed many corals because I didn't get it yet and was focused on algae reduction instead of coral health.

 

You can always remove the sand later if you want, but don't add any additional stressors at the moment.

Should i feed heavy. Give me a plan. these are the foods i have besides frozen, flakes and pellets for fish, Fuel, Coral Frenzy and the zeovit nano pack.

[markalot]

Should i feed heavy. Give me a plan. these are the foods i have besides frozen, flakes and pellets for fish, Fuel, Coral Frenzy and the zeovit nano pack.

 

You have to observe and see how everything does, but my general plan is to try and feed the corals every other day and the fish multiple times, sometimes every time I'm at the tank. I have learned to love hermits for the cleanup crew since heavy feeding will lead to some algae issues. The younger the tank the more issues. Scarlet hermits (small, red legs) are the best for smaller tanks. These guys keep my 29 spotless. Trochus snails can defend themselves from hermits so they are my snail choice, though I've never seen a scarlet show any interest.

 

I feed Reef Roids ever other day, a pinch or two into a high flow area. I also do the occasional squirt of Kent Coral Accel which really seems to speed coral growth but can be overdosed and will lead to increased algae, especially on the glass. In my observations if the glass doesn't need cleaned every other day then the tank is too pristine for healthy colorful corals.

 

That's opinion based on my observations and could be wrong.

[GtTap]

You have to observe and see how everything does, but my general plan is to try and feed the corals every other day and the fish multiple times, sometimes every time I'm at the tank. I have learned to love hermits for the cleanup crew since heavy feeding will lead to some algae issues. The younger the tank the more issues. Scarlet hermits (small, red legs) are the best for smaller tanks. These guys keep my 29 spotless. Trochus snails can defend themselves from hermits so they are my snail choice, though I've never seen a scarlet show any interest.

 

I feed Reef Roids ever other day, a pinch or two into a high flow area. I also do the occasional squirt of Kent Coral Accel which really seems to speed coral growth but can be overdosed and will lead to increased algae, especially on the glass. In my observations if the glass doesn't need cleaned every other day then the tank is too pristine for healthy colorful corals.

 

That's opinion based on my observations and could be wrong.

ok ill take your word. after 2 days my glass barley has any film algae on it so might be too clean. ive been dosing kents part a and b.

[GtTap]

Leaving the military need to downgrade to a 10 gallon sumpless.

[markalot]

Good luck man, and thanks for serving!

[GtTap]

Good luck man, and thanks for serving!

Thanks im not out of this hobby yet just need to go simple for a little while and ill be back at it full force.

[GtTap]

Well it looks like ill be getting a 29g biocube instead. trading my 20 and some equipment for the biocube, some diy leds a 8 high end zoas.

[GtTap]

[markalot]

Allright!

[GtTap]

Allright!

Its still a work in progress. trying to get some tonga branch and make a very nice scape and let it cure and cycle, then swap stuff out.

[Roshan8768]

Looks pretty good... hopefully you can get those SPS growing

[GtTap]

Looks pretty good... hopefully you can get those SPS growing

SPS starting to drive me nuts lol i have them up on a forum trying to sell them right now, i only want to keep the birds of paradise.

[Roshan8768]

Haha nice... I personally am done with trying acros. I might try a birdsnest or monti frag and if those don't work pretty much not getting SPS

[GtTap]

Haha nice... I personally am done with trying acros. I might try a birdsnest or monti frag and if those don't work pretty much not getting SPS

Lol i feel you sps are a pain in the ass. i should say acros lol.

[GtTap]

Ok so I need answers on 2 of my sps corals. Are the red acro and purple acro monti digi corals that I've been calling acros this whole time. Help please thank you.

[markalot]

Acros are Acropora. Monti digi corals are Montipora digitata. I'm not sure you have any acros, just Montipora. Acropora generally have distinct polyp structures, little bumps on the coral that house the polyps. Montipora generally has polyps that emerge right from the base without and raised area exclusively for the polyp.