1, 2 punch to Leathers

[norfolkgarden]

What are your numbers?

Honestly no idea.

I can do a 10 gallon water change and get the Hanna ultra low checker to stop blinking and produce a reading of 175.

My other test kits are all API from the fresh water days and about as old.

Several local LFS are happy to test your water for free except phosphate.
I have had it tested at both about 6 times in the past 2 years.
The ph always comes back low about 7.9.
Everything else is about mid range to a little low.
NitrAtes are usually 20+.


I'm consistent with doing a 10 gallon water change every week on the 75 gallon tank.
There are 3 strainer baskets in HOB Marine land 400 filters that normally have the aluminum beads in them for phosphate export.
I will swap out 2 baskets one week and then one the next week so I don't shock it too badly.
I don't have a skimmer or a sump.

There are no SPS and one token LPS so there's not a lot of uptake except for the coralline.
No dosing except maybe I've added 5 capfuls worth of purple up in the past 6 years.

Back when it was a 6" DSB tank I could get away with anything and grew easy SPS and got it to quadruple in size.

Back then I had no idea the DSB was a nutrient sponge that would reach saturation and everything would stop being so easy.

Guessing I could dose at some point. This was once a solid shell 3 years ago.

 

[Midrats]

I was just wondering why you think you need phosphate export media of any kind since your tank looks algae free. If you are using it to slow the Valonia it's futile. Valonia actually prefers clean water. I'm also not convinced aluminum is your problem. In the early Nineties before GFO was around, aluminum based media like Phosguard was widely used. Most of the tanks back then were full of leathers and mushrooms and we never had any problems. I'm still leaning towards chemical warfare. Gorgonians are well known to be some of the worst offenders.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Lol, The tank stays algae free because I use ridiculous levels of phosphate export media and I'm usually pretty consistent with the water changes.
I like a huge fish load and feed them well.
Otherwise it would look like my display was an ATS.

The Valonia mostly gets removed by hand but that has not been effective enough. And it is increasing. I am not crazy about emerald crabs. The one small one I reluctantly added was pointless.



The original problem was the fact that I cannot keep leather corals alive for more than a month.
Reading the marine pure threads and the aluminum bead threads lead me to believe that aluminum was my issue.

It is very possible that the gorgonians are the reason and the solution is to run more carbon.

Since I have already killed off the toxic green cloves and the fluorescent orange cloves there is no reason not to run carbon anymore.

Would you suggest that I run the carbon 24/7? And maybe 2 of the strainer baskets full?

Just change each 1 out once a week or can I let it go for 2 weeks and alternate like I do with the aluminum beads?
I think I can get away with 2 strainers of phosphate export material. If not, there is room for a total of 8 strainer baskets.

Thanks!

 

[DEWreefing]

20+ nitrates are high you should be running no more then 5 to 10 max for softies. You need to get some decent test kits so your not just wasting money on products.

 

[John494]

I’m sorry to hear you’re having problems keeping some corals and not others, but that has been my experience too. My leathers grow extremely well, even fragged itself multiple times and have new one growing. In my system gonis, galaxea, and torches wither away and die for no reason. A lot of other LPS do well. I think even if you’re doing everything right, there’s still going to be corals that just dont do well in a particular system. I hope I’m wrong and wish you the best on finding a solution, but I just figured I’ll throw it out there and say “you’re not the only one”

 

[BubblesUp]

I have limited experience reefkeeping but my experience has been that the dirtier the water, the happier softies are. It sounds like you have high filtration, super clean water and that's good for sps, lps but not so much for softies. I only run on a canister filter without sump and the longer I leave the filter as is, the better and more prolific Xenia, leathers, etc get. Maybe I'm wrong but that has been my experience, as limited as it is.