Drew's 10 Gallon Softie Tank

[Bowen1022]

I'm trying to figure out why I'm not getting the growth I necessarily want with my corals ...my nitrates are a little high but I don't think that's the culprit ...also it seems that my kessil settings were a little higher than everyone else's with this tank so I have lowered it to a max of 60% intensity.... the other thing I thought is that maybe I have too high of flow rate ...I am running a powerhead which is running at about 200 gallons per hour and I upgraded my stock pump so it puts out about 200 gallons per hour and my ghost skimmer puts out about hundred gallons per hour I think... so in total that's 500 gallons per hour in a 10 gallon tank is that too much? Can you have too much?

 

Im assuming your Calcium, Alk, and Magnesium are in check? Your tank looks great by the way

[dferrari13]

Got my new tops from smiz...love them...worth the 150...here is the 5.5 gallon top....I measured perfectly and smiz cut it perfectly.

[dferrari13]

New Nuvo Fusion 10 top

 

[dferrari13]

Yes...mag alk and Cal are all in check...just high on the nitrates...like about a 40..which is way higher than its ever been....but everything else is perfect....I don't understand why im getting the high nitrates and I'm wondering if it is the cause of my SPS to not do so good...I'm also debating whether I'm giving to much light....for a while I was at 90 intensity with the kessil and realized that was too high so I lowered it slowly to 60 peak....let me know what you guys think cause I'm not sure what's causing my SPS to not do well

[dferrari13]

So far I've been cutting down feeding slightly and doing 25% water changes every 3 days to get the nitrates down a bit...it seems to be helping...but I also don't want to starve my inhabitants so it's a thin line

[dferrari13]

I'm thinking my problem might also be caused my the lack of randomness in my flow....I have the spin stream which helps add a little randomness but I'm thinking of taking out my power head and purchasing the Mp10 to create a little more random flow rate/direction

As of now I feel like I'm getting too much of a toilet bowl effect and I've read that may not be good

[reefernanoman]

I'm trying to figure out why I'm not getting the growth I necessarily want with my corals ...my nitrates are a little high but I don't think that's the culprit ...also it seems that my kessil settings were a little higher than everyone else's with this tank so I have lowered it to a max of 60% intensity.... the other thing I thought is that maybe I have too high of flow rate ...I am running a powerhead which is running at about 200 gallons per hour and I upgraded my stock pump so it puts out about 200 gallons per hour and my ghost skimmer puts out about hundred gallons per hour I think... so in total that's 500 gallons per hour in a 10 gallon tank is that too much? Can you have too much?

Ever since I started dosing nanoreef part A and B from Kent Marine I have seen significant growth from all my corals. I dose about 1.5ML every Monday and Friday. My SPS have look better too. My encrusting SPS have encrusted faster and my plating SPS have a growth rim now too (these things began after dosing).

[dferrari13]

Nice thanks....I'll try it

[HarryPotter]

Also added a Crocea clam...I've tried to house two others that were under 2 inches with bad results....this time I went with a much bigger clam

I am pretty sure that is a Maxima. Nonetheless beautiful!

As of now I feel like I'm getting too much of a toilet bowl effect and I've read that may not be good

That definitely could be part of an issue. I would suggest using a cheap wave maker to turn the powerhead on and off every 5 seconds for variety or, as you mentioned, getting a controllable powerhead such as an MP10 or Jebao RW4

[dferrari13]

I thought it was a maxima too...but it was labeled as a Crocea

[dferrari13]

90% intensity? I can't go beyond about 25% without some bleaching of my SPS. My light stays on for only about 8 hours too.

How long have you had the kessil running at that distance from the mesh top?? Also....did you ever measure par at the bottom of the tank....on one hand im wondering if the par rating isn't penetrating all the way through to the bottom of my tank.....because it's at 12 inches from the mesh top....on the other hand I feel like my intensity rating was at 90 percent for a couple of weeks (after slowly increasing over a long period of time ofcourse) and that may be bleaching things

I guess this brings me to my next question...how can you tell the difference between too much light and not enough....can sps die and turn white due to not enough light? Or do they only turn white due to too much light?? And if so how can you tell if there's not enough light?

[dferrari13]

I am pretty sure that is a Maxima. Nonetheless beautiful! That definitely could be part of an issue. I would suggest using a cheap wave maker to turn the powerhead on and off every 5 seconds for variety or, as you mentioned, getting a controllable powerhead such as an MP10 or Jebao RW4

Do you think 500 gph in this 10 gallon tank is too much???? Is there such thing as too much flow?

[HarryPotter]

Do you think 500 gph in this 10 gallon tank is too much???? Is there such thing as too much flow?

That's 50x turnover, not too much. The only way to have too much flow is if:

 

1. Water is splashing out

2. Sand is everywhere

3. Your critters don't like it

[dferrari13]

I would also like input on the feeding schedules of people who have the same tank and similar occupants.... I'm worried that I am either overfeeding for under feeding sometimes.... I would just like to know some feeding schedules that you guys have had positive results with...thanks

My issue is a lot of my SPS corals are not doing that great and I'm not seeing the growth I would like from any of the other corals either so it leads me to believe that this is a feeding issue or a lighting issue and maybe possibly a flow issue not sure which.... my water parameters are spot on except for an excessive amount of nitrates which has been recently alleviated but besides that all is perfect

[Drew11]

How dirty are the chambers? if you don't have an InTank media basket with some floss to catch any food that might make it through the overflow, food is just decaying in those back chambers. I cleaned mine out with a syphon about a month ago and I have noticed my tank being much cleaner now.

 

Also, with the kessil... It takes a lot longer for a coral to die because it's not receiving enough light rather than being struck by too much light. So always start out on the low end and ramp up if needed.

 

Lastly I would say keep feeding light for now to see if that helps. Sometimes I even skip a day of feeding and make the fish go to work for some food that might be in the tank already. I think They'll survive.

 

Your tank looks great though!

[dferrari13]

Thanks...the main concern of mine is that everything is doing well...with the exception of all my sps...also things aren't growing that great at a lower depth in my tank leading me to believe the kessil isn't penetrating the water deep enough...I have it placed the recommended 12 inches above the water line....and I have ramped it up over the course of a year all the way to about 90 intensity. ..with great growth but I feel like that was then too high for the depth of the tank....so it's hard to find the sweet spot

Now I'm at 12 hour light cycle with 3 hrs ramp up then 6hrs at 60% intensity then a ramp down for 3hrs

[dferrari13]

I recently came across some info about leather corals secreting a toxin that can effect sps corals...so I'm thinking this may be the issue...so i have removed my Kenya tree coral...and the only other leather I have is a toadstool....but it's stem is embedded in the rock work and I'm not sure how to remove him

[dferrari13]

I recently lowered my light from 12 inches above the waterline down to about 6 inches above the waterline

While doing this I lowered my spectral controller down to about 50% Max but I stayed with the same 12-hour ramp up time

[reefernanoman]

How long have you had the kessil running at that distance from the mesh top?? Also....did you ever measure par at the bottom of the tank....on one hand im wondering if the par rating isn't penetrating all the way through to the bottom of my tank.....because it's at 12 inches from the mesh top....on the other hand I feel like my intensity rating was at 90 percent for a couple of weeks (after slowly increasing over a long period of time ofcourse) and that may be bleaching things

I guess this brings me to my next question...how can you tell the difference between too much light and not enough....can sps die and turn white due to not enough light? Or do they only turn white due to too much light?? And if so how can you tell if there's not enough light?

Don't know about the PAR, but the light has been there for like 4-5 months now. SPS turn brown when there's not enough light and white when there's too much light. Also your LPS will shrivel up when there's too much light.

[HuyHa114]

Your maxima clam would love more light. I think they prefer to be up near the top on rocks like how they are in the wild.

[dferrari13]

I'm learning slowly that there is a thin line between light penetration and the height of your fixture above the waterline and the intensity setting..... there's a happy medium when you are getting the correct amount of penetration but also you have the correct intensity settings

So I really think that the bleaching of my SPS corals was due to the fact that I had my kessil settings all the way up to 90% intensity even though the fixture was set 12 inches above the waterline

[dferrari13]

I wanted to post this picture to get everyone's opinion... it seems like my montipora has been bleaching for a little while and a bit of algae has been growing on the bleached parts and I have been told that this is an indication that the coral will not recover ...is this true?

 

Any suggestions? ?

[dferrari13]

I am pretty sure that is a Maxima. Nonetheless beautiful! That definitely could be part of an issue. I would suggest using a cheap wave maker to turn the powerhead on and off every 5 seconds for variety or, as you mentioned, getting a controllable powerhead such as an MP10 or Jebao RW4

Where would I buy a cheap wave maker that turns on and off powerhead

[HarryPotter]

Where would I buy a cheap wave maker that turns on and off powerhead

JBJ Wavemaker works, I have one I could send you for $25 bucks.

[dferrari13]

Thanks man...I appreciate that but I just ordered the Hydor smart wave...50 bucks brand new