Help with New additions dying

[Baldy]

Hello all,

So heres the story. ever since ive started my tank, i havent had a very good success rate with adding new corals. The ones in my tank are doing good, despite a lack of maintenance lately. I currently have a couple zoa/paly colonies, favites, hammer, blastos, kenya trees, toadstool, anthelia, rics, mushrooms, fuzzy mushrooms, and a maxi-mini anem that have been in my tank for a while. most over 2 years. recently ive added a couple zoas, a galaxy torch, and some acans. I also have very good coralline growth.

My params are all where they should be. calc - 440, alk - 7 (working on bringing it up), mag - 1300, nitrates/phos - 0, ph 7.8-8.1, temp 79, salinity - 1.025. things have been like this for a while now, and the existing coral is doing well. I have a diy LED fixture that i need to keep turned down a bit so things dont start receding. and i have a mp40 and a koralia 600 for flow in a 75g display with 95g volume and 100lbs LR.

Ive never had good success with frags. maybe 50-60% survive after adding them. the ones in the tank do very well, with the exception of the toadstool that always seems to be receded and almost never extends its tentacles on the head. I float the bag for 30 min, drip frags for 1hr, and use revive to dip them for 10 min before they go in the tank. after all this, the acans i added are completely receded and it looks like 1 of the new zoas is going away too. my skimmer isnt the best, but it does ok (tunze 9006).

I dont dose for trace minerals or aminos but do dose 3 part brs suppliments. is there something im missing or doing wrong? im toying with the idea of starting a new system from scratch with macro rock to try and get this problem solved.

[Aquattro]

Water change schedule/volume?

[Baldy]

that is what i was talking about with lack of maintenance. normally i do 10g every 2 weeks. but this summer and winter i let it slip pretty bad. im back on track the last couple months. i had troubles with this even when i was diligent about my water changes. and even when i was slacking, i was still getting crazy coralline growth.

[Aquattro]

Coraline growth isn't really indicative of anything, really. I get hardly any. You also stated in your other thread that all nutrients are 0, but chaeto grows really well. That means there's something there to feed it.
By not doing regular water changes, you can create an environment where the water is not nearly optimal, but existing corals adapt. New ones, not so much.
But, if you've had this with both, probably not the cause in this case.

[Aquattro]

And just an IMO note, I'd do closer to 25g instead of 10g :)

[Baldy]

I run GFO and use chaeto to try and control nutrients. I dont overfeed, but i still get a bit of algae on the glass each week and the chaeto does grow quick. what can i do to help? more frequent water changes?

[Baldy]

25g every 2 weeks?

[Aquattro]

25g every 2 weeks?

Yup. That's 25% total volume. I do closer to 35% myself, but it's one of THE most important things in my mind.

[Aquattro]

I run GFO and use chaeto to try and control nutrients. I dont overfeed, but i still get a bit of algae on the glass each week and the chaeto does grow quick. what can i do to help? more frequent water changes?

Algae on the glass once a week is normal. GFO and chaeto are also fine, and I'm sure it's not a NO3 issue giving you trouble.

[dudley moray]

Do you run carbon ? A lot of those corals secrete toxins to kill corals that encroach on their real estate

[Baldy]

Yes I run brs carbon in a phosban 150 reactor.

[Reef Pilot]

I float the bag for 30 min, drip frags for 1hr, and use revive to dip them for 10 min before they go in the tank.
I never drip frags. Don't see the point, since they are transferred around a couple times in different water when dipping, and out of the water at times while fragging and mounting. And my dipping water is always from the destination tank.

I also remove frags from plugs and remount whenever possible to reduce the risk of transferring eggs. If can't, then they go into a QT for multiple dips and observation for a week or two before transfer to my DT.