What am I doing wrong? Or am I just being impatient ?

[mandyplo]

My tank has been running for a year - did a move from my bfs house to mine 2 months ago - tank has finished cycling since the move and looks better than ever.

I am now using RO/DI for the first time (about 2 weeks now) and I have the dual carbon an gfo reactor from BRS (although I don't think it's working properly that's another story I'm trying to get that fixed)
I have my first sump ever running now and a protein skimmer but I haven't turned on the skimmer yet (wanted to make sure the sump system worked properly first).

Anyways I picked up a frogspawn colony 2 days ago and a favia frag and a derasa clam. These are the first corals/inverts I'm trying in the tank. (other than that I have a chromis 2 anthias a kole tang and a fire shrimp)

The frogspawn has 5 heads and has not opened up fully yet he looks very sad. The clam was more open on day 1 when I finished acclimating him than he is now.
I drip acclimated everyone for 2.5 hours.

I'm adding 5 ml of zoo plankton into the water once a day since I put the corals in. I have everyone at the bottom and the fellow I bought these corals from has the same led lights as me so I did not acclimate them to the lights.

An I doing something wrong? Should I get my protein skimmer working and see if that makes a difference ? Am I just being impatient and they take time to open up or am I missing something??

Thanks guys I'm just worried is all. I want to be successful at reefing it maks me so sad when I can't keep things alive in my tank

I can add pictures when I'm home from work so you guys can see and tell me what you think about the health of these guys.

[rhody605]

What's your parameters at?

Calcium, alkalinity

Phosphate? Nitrate.

Need some more info to source any issues.


Mike

[Aquattro]

As above, give full parameters. I'd also stop adding anything to feed the corals, you're not at that point yet where you need to worry about it. The tank timing sounds fine, so I'd be looking at water quality. The fish can take a lot poorer quality than corals can. If you have a skimmer, then yes, you should get it going

[Albertan22]

+1 on getting the skimmer running. It sounds like you've got a decent bioload in the tank to not have a skimmer going. Also, give the corals some time, 2 days isn't a great indicator for judging the happiness of your corals, they're probably still aclimating to your lights. You do have lighting that will support a reef right?

[mandyplo]

Hi here are my params. The only test kit I don't have is phosphate
Ammonia 0.00 ppm
Nitrate 0-2.5 ppm
Nitrite - 0.00 ppm
Magnesium 1300 mg/L
Alkalinity 11 dkh
pH 8.2
Calcium 400-410 mg/L
Salinity 1.024

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by Albertan22

+1 on getting the skimmer running. It sounds like you've got a decent bioload in the tank to not have a skimmer going. Also, give the corals some time, 2 days isn't a great indicator for judging the happiness of your corals, they're probably still aclimating to your lights. You do have lighting that will support a reef right?

I have a 55 gallon tank 48" wide, with 2 kessil A350W lamps hanging 1.5-2 feet over the tank (is that too far away?)

[albert_dao]

Alk is high. Are you vodka dosing or anything? High Alk + probiotic = lethal.

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Alk is high. Are you vodka dosing or anything? High Alk + probiotic = lethal.

Hi no I don't dose anything. I am using RO/DI water why would my alkalinity be high and how can I bring it down and how can I prevent that from happening again?

[albert_dao]

Probably your salt mix. What brand are you using? Can you test the salt after you've mixed it overnight prior to adding it to your tank?

[rhody605]

I use this page as my basic guide.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Any questions feel free to ask.


Mike