# Coral Help



## Reefer_mike (Feb 21, 2014)

Hows it going guys and gals,

I am having some troubles with corals in my tank, Everything from zoas to SPS. I will start with a tank background.

120 gallon 4'x2'x2'
55 gallon sump - 30 Gallon Refugium with cheato
Radion G3 Pro / G2 - Radiant colour preset with max set at 60%
Vortech Mp-40 x2
Bubble King Mini 180
Vertex Bio-pellets
Vertex Carbon
GHL Doser
Fauna Marin Balling Light System
Fauna Marin Colour Elements - 10 ml of each weekly
AquaVitro Fuel - 23 ml bi-weekly
Red Sea Coral Pro Salt - 20 Gallon water change weekly

Water Parameters- All tests done with red sea pro test kits

Salinity- 1.026
Calcium- 450 ppm
Alkalinity- 8.1 Dkh
Magnesium- 1400 ppm
Phosphate- 0.04 ppm
Nitrate- 12-16 ppm (two months ago was 0 ppm, unknown reason)
Potassium - 418 ppm

This tank has been running for the last 5 years. I currently have no algae problems. I use only RO/DI water for everything. The problems i am having are poor colour and health on roughly 50% of my corals.i have some zoas that are absolutely thriving and others that are on the verge of death it seams. All seam to keep growing more polyps yet colours are pale and polyps and not fully inflated. I have a doughnut coral that stays shriveled up all day and also has poor colour, yet expands fully at night. Acans also are not doing well. Yet on the other side of the spectrum i have sps that are growing like crazy and have fantastic colour, and other that have not grown or are very bland. My Blues, Purples, and Reds are very faint.

Feeding consits of

Fauna Marin LPS grow and colour
Fauna Marin Zoa formula
Reef Roids
New era
P.E Mysis

I will try to get some pictures of my set up and corals.





Before

After

Before - Nice green body/ purple tips

After - Growth but faded colour


Current mix of Good/Bad-


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## johnnyriker (Nov 10, 2013)

A couple things came to mind when I read your problem:

One was that they may be getting too much light from your lighting setup. When you mentioned everything opens at night no problem the first thing I thought was lighting. I noticed your running some Radion fixtures. Which generation? Lighting cycle, intensity and distance from water surface would help as well. 

The other thing is are you verifying your water quality is up to par for your RO/DI setup? Without a TDS meter you could be running bad water and not even know it. Carbon and deionizer filters typically only last 3-6 months with normal usage for the average user depending on water quality from your municipality.

I would also check temperature fluctuations during the day to be safe. This one is a big hitter for me lately with the temperatures going up and down so much.

Johnny


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## Reefer_mike (Feb 21, 2014)

hey Johnnyriker,

For the lighting i have 1 G3 Pro and 1 G2. Lighting cycle is the radiant preset for a duration of 12 hrs. The peak intensity is set to 60% and the lights are mounted 9" from the surface. The G3 Pro has the wide angle lenses as well. 

I am currently using a purly H2o Ro/di unit and my tds readings have been 0. I am in the process of upgrading my unit to the Vertex one with the booster pump.


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## johnnyriker (Nov 10, 2013)

hey Reefer_Mike,

When I first got my G1's I had to move the top corals down because they were burning, lower my lights to 80 % intensity, and move the lights up as my canopy was not built for LED's. The corals I moved down were all Montipora. After some tricky hammering I hammered the top out of the canopy and built a shelf extension into it. I think I set the distance to 9". As you have heavier lighting than i did at the time when I got them(G1 non-TIR lens), you would probably have very intense light right below them. Is this where your having most your problems? The TIR lenses do spread the light better but they also take more intensity from the LED itself and apply it to your tank. The only sure way to tell is to rent a PAR meter. Most LFS will rent one out with a deposit. The easier way to tell it so drop the intensity down 25 % for a couple days and check for an improvement. If you see improvement then you figured out your problem. If not, no harm done. Those lights are not made to be used at high intensities at that short of a distance. I just recently got the TIR lens upgrade and have montipora burning again at only 90 % at 9" with G1 and no corals are above halfway up my tank. If you want a side by side comparison of PAR ratings there's a radion review from mr. saltwater tank on youtube.

Hope this helps.






johnnyriker


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## Thoreffex (Dec 31, 2013)

Nitrates or pests would be my guess, I run my radions 60% and they produce great color on my 18" deep display. I also find color spectrum plays a roll i cant get the color with natural mode with the smooth arch in power. I did artificial reef 12k/20k and it works great for me changes are not seen over night but over a couple weeks. If you make a change let thing adjust before you make another.


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## Reefer_mike (Feb 21, 2014)

im leaning towards nitrates as they are not dropping even with weekly 20 gallon water changes which is probably only 15%. I am considering doing a much larger 50 gallon water change with a through vacuum of the tank bottom and using a power head to blow out the rock work. I also have brought my lights down to 50% max and removed a table spoon of pellets. I will keep posted my results.


Would it be of any value to set up a tank just for fish. I have been considering starting a frag tank in my basement. Would it be safer to place the fish in a separate environment while reducing the nitrates?


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## swissgaurd (Sep 28, 2011)

poor color could be the carbon.i would remove the carbon and see if this helps.
how high are the nitrates
unless your at 10ppm I wouldn't really worry to much

vic


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## Reefer_mike (Feb 21, 2014)

All the symptoms were in place a month or so before putting carbon back onto the system. My nitrates i believe are as high as 16 ppm right now. I also have noticed a green type algae covering the sand. Almost like cyano but green.


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## swissgaurd (Sep 28, 2011)

how long you been using pellets


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## Reefer_mike (Feb 21, 2014)

Pellets have been running for a few years. Earlier this year i topped up my pellets (vertex brand the whole time of use)


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## johnnyriker (Nov 10, 2013)

To prove out it's not the lighting try moving one of the problem corals down lower like some zoas. If they start opening up fully again after two weeks then you have too much light. Nitrates don't typically cause problems in corals unless they are very high. 

I would also think about testing the ALK in the middle latter of the day as this is when they will be the highest. Carbon dosing can be a blessing or a curse depending on how much CO2 you are putting in the water. With biopellets come higher levels of CO2 and ALK. This can burn tips if not used correctly. I've made my ALK soar to 12+ previously with biopellets. 

You are also using two dosing methods. How come? You may want to simplify this for yourself.

Also check to make sure that all your test kits have not expired as they may give false readings.

John


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## Reefer_mike (Feb 21, 2014)

Just wanted to bump this old thread back up due to some Success.


After a couple months of tinkering and getting back to basics i am seeing

- Corals Colour Enhancing/ regaining former colour
- New growth seen daily
- Better polyp extension daily

The what i did list

- Slowly removed pellets
- Changed back to Reef Crystals from Red Sea Coral Pro (Coral Growth Formula)
- Changed RO Membrane
- Purchased Booster pump / New TDS meter as i had doubts about both my old ones
- Started feeding more regularly and more variety
- Addition of Supplement T5 lighting 4X54w

Reasons-

At the beginning i was unsure if the addition of the new pellets shocked the system. I began reducing the amount over a period of a couple months. At the end i noticed no change, only noticed the amount of algae increased slightly.

After some more time with no success i decided to change back to reef crystals after seeing other reefers with beautiful SPS systems using this salt. The second point to the change was the parameter swings i was inducing with the red sea coral growth salt (constant ALk swings). 

I was still not sure about the root cause of my algae and nitrates. My TDS meters both read Zero but I was flying through DI resin. I decided to purchase a new meter and membrane. Low and behold my old TDS meter was out by 15- 20 TDS. The addition of the booster pump was nessicary as i was running at 40 PSI. 

The addition of T5 was solely to give the corals and extra boost at peak hours. As well as to rid some SPS of bleaching in shadows.

Lastly i have been feeding my fish and corals more frequently

- New Era Pellets
- Omega 1 Flake
- Frozen Brine
- Reef Roids
- Polyp Booster
- Cyclopzees
- Fauna Marin LPS pellets
- Fauna Marin Zoa food

Also still dosing AquaVitro Fuel and Fauna Marin Colour Elements.


So After all of this. KEEP IT SIMPLE! KEEP IT SIMPLE! KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Theres a ton of products out there that some may find necessary or nuisance. But keeping it simple will most likely yield the best results. Good Water! Good Trusted Salt! A good skimmer! and proper husbandry. 

Thanks everyone who helped out. I will try to take some pictures to post.


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