Little to no growth and dying corals

[Reef_puck]

Ro/di has high silicon. Probably need to change the filters again.

 

[Reef_puck]

What else could this be? Lighting?

 

[Reef_puck]

changed the lighting to use the World Wode Corals LPS lagoon template and dropped the schedule to 40%.

 

[Reef_puck]

Next step is a 30g water change. Keeping the lights tuned down and mostly blues. Will continue to monitor for a few more weeks and if no improvement then it’s snot meant to be and I put the setup on the curb.

 

[Reef_puck]

Did a 30g water change last week no change in response so far. One colony of Zoas is open. The colony next to it won’t open anymore. other colonies barely open.

1 hammer single head. Opens but no growth in months. I have a devils hand that opens but has not grown in a year. 2 mushrooms that don’t grow/split.

All other hammers, torches, frogspawns are gone.

Snails, crabs fish appear ok.

Changing the lights to a bluer setting has not change anything in the tank. I know things take time but I don’t see any change at all.

If the ICP test shows nothing. Coraline algae has covered everything. Fish live. I guess it can only be the lighting. Either I spend $600 on a PAR meter or maybe replace the lights. Or figure out how to tune them.

I would love for a fellow reefer in the area to come by and give me their thoughts or what I am missing here.

 

[Glowurm]

Did a 30g water change last week no change in response so far. One colony of Zoas is open. The colony next to it won’t open anymore. other colonies barely open.

1 hammer single head. Opens but no growth in months. I have a devils hand that opens but has not grown in a year. 2 mushrooms that don’t grow/split.

All other hammers, torches, frogspawns are gone.

Snails, crabs fish appear ok.

Changing the lights to a bluer setting has not change anything in the tank. I know things take time but I don’t see any change at all.

If the ICP test shows nothing. Coraline algae has covered everything. Fish live. I guess it can only be the lighting. Either I spend $600 on a PAR meter or maybe replace the lights. Or figure out how to tune them.

I would love for a fellow reefer in the area to come by and give me their thoughts or what I am missing here.

So you can rent a par meter in the US (like took me a minute to google this).

7-Day Rental - MQ-210 Underwater Quantum PAR Meter

Rent an Apogee MQ-210 PAR Meter for 7 days! Ideal for T5 and Metal Halide Lights Knowing the total intensity of your aquarium lights can dramatically help with coral growth and health, but the meters are very expensive and only require a couple uses right when you get your lights set up and...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Im fairly new to this but strikes me you’re adding hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of coral, both SPS, LPS and softies in quick bursts, then not reacting to changes in your nutritional requirements of the tank or worse you’ve not checked basics like the PAR levels of the tank.

Whats the rush? Everything I’ve read to date suggests nothing good in this hobby happens quickly!

 

[Reef_puck]

I have added different coral over the course of 1.5 years. The last while waiting on the contest was not touching the tank for 2 months. Nothing changed. I am not expecting a full recovery but corals still fading away is my concern.

I’ll try to find a par meter.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Hello,

Looking for some ideas for little to no growth in corals. Mushrooms fade away or never grow, Zoas grow very slow, some don’t open. Frogspawns hammers don’t grow and eventually die after months. Have a toad stool leather that barely opens. Ricordeas start off strong then all shrink. Coralline however is all over the place. Tried a few SPS frags. They last a few weeks.

Tank is a 90g reef running 2x Radion XR15 Blues (tried 60% to 70% over months). Flow is an MP40 and a MP-10. Apex controller for monitoring and Bluebird for heater controller. Eshopps skimmer. Could run a fuge but that I have tried chaeto months ago and it died off.

Water parameters
Alk 9.3
Cal 400
Msg 1050
Amon 0
Nitrate 2.5
PO4 0
Temp 77-78
ph 8-8.3
Sal 1.024
Orp 400-420

Use Red Sea Salt

Fish: red hawk, 2 small ocealaris clowns and a goby. Various snails, and few snails.

As others have said phosphate , msg. Are low, but I think your nitrates are low as well. My tank stays between 15 and 25ppm

 

[Reef_puck]

According to the icp test they are all inline.

 

[Glowurm]

According to the icp test they are all inline.

I'd stop chasing numbers, folks got wildly different parameters which have been built up over X years, strikes me they will all be different due to the biology of there system.

Get the Par measurements, maybe slow down a little. I know you've said this is over 18 months, was there a period when things were moving along nicely? Do you have the parameters you were running during that period to hand?

 

[Reef_puck]

What a mess. Got a par meter and if it’s correct the Radions are crap at PAR

Attached is a drawing of the tank and readings. AB+. ( all LEDS on)

40%
60%
80%
100%

Will test again tomorrow but this is not good for there Holt Grail lights.

 

[Reef_puck]

What a mess. Got a par meter and if it’s correct the Radions are crap at PAR

Attached is a drawing of the tank and readings.

 

[Glowurm]

What a mess. Got a par meter and if it’s correct the Radions are crap at PAR

Attached is a drawing of the tank and readings.

Wow those are bad, i was expecting you might have poor spread but didnt expect what is a relatively expensive light having such poor results.

What are the dimensions of the tank? How far off the water line are they?

Also did you mention a glass lid?

 

[Reef_puck]

Glass lid. Lights are mounted using the RMS kit. 7 inches above the glass and the water is 1-2 inches below that.

90g reef. 48x18x24

 

[Glowurm]

Glass lid. Lights are mounted using the RMS kit. 7 inches above the glass and the water is 1-2 inches below that.

90g reef. 48x18x24

Lid was off when you tested?

 

[Reef_puck]

Lid was off when you tested?

Lid on like it always is. I will do more testing later. Will retest all the points and will try some without the lid as well.

 

[Reef_puck]

Measured some more. And including pulling the glass tops. What a difference.

Readings are AB+. All channels 100
40%
60%
80%
100%
85% no glass.

Pic is no glass

 

[Reef_puck]

So 1 week no glass. Brown film algae over glass. So I guess the glass too was blocking allot of light.

And topoff went from 4 gallons a week to 10 gallons. Need to redesign the topoff

 

[Daniel Rosenwinkel]

I would recommend dosing brightwell neophos to get the phosphates up

 

[Formulator]

As others have said phosphate , msg. Are low, but I think your nitrates are low as well. My tank stays between 15 and 25ppm

None of the water testing numbers are going to kill corals though. Yes, they are not perfect or ideal, but not out of suitable range. Not enough light is my bet. Why would you take a successful profile from WWC and tune it down 40%? I don’t know why people with LED’s are so afraid of lighting intensity. Look at the growth in some of the metal halide tanks running at 3-4x the PAR…. Turn up the dang lights!