Tank Maintenance - Seeking wisdom from the greats

[element291]

Hello everyone,

I have a 215 gallon tank with a 75 gallon sump, reef octopus regal 300 ext skimmer, and I have been checking my nitrates regularly to avoid any problems with my fish health.

I used to have a 75 gallon tank that I did water changes on every other week and it did great. I have since upgraded that to my 215G setup around May this year.

I have probably 350-400 pounds of rock and about a 3 inch sand bed, 4 inches in some spots. Tank temp usually 78-82 at its lowest and highest ranges.

I have got away with very low phosphates and next to no nitrates 0 ammonia to of course for about 2 month increments then my nitrates go up around 60ppm I change 80 gallons of water on the system.

Currently I have 1.023 salinity normal CUC few cleaner shrimp an urchin, crabs snails, sand sifting star, brittle stars along with a blue hippo tang, bunch of clowns, foxface, few chromis, goby to name the majority.

My corals have been doing great in my 75 gallon but in my 215 they all have noticeably stopped growing as well as my GSP that was covering many rocks is seeming to do fine on some rocks but totally dying and peeling right off the majority of them. My kenya tree shrunk up and withered away, my xenia was taking over a lot of rock in my 75 gallon but has since disappeared off many rocks and I only have a tiny bit left that looks fine but does not extend as much as it used to, nor is it growing at all anymore.

I know I changed params by stopping the frequency of my water changes.
I tried running a hanna calc test the other night and got 520ppm both tries which is pretty high from what I have read. I do not have an alk test kit which yes i know why test calc without alk, I need to get on this asap.

I run npx biopellets a skimmer, grow 4 mangrove trees, have cheato that never grows but maintains same size and stays nice and green though...

My tank is only 1 foot higher than my old tank I am using same lights that used to work great on my 75. I have kept the coral 1 foot away from the bottom of the tank to avoid any sitting in a low light spot and I am really wondering why 75% of my coral looks great but many of my zoas gsp and xenia are all crapping out (all the easy corals too! ARG) I have a huge frogspawn that looks great everyday, green button, big brain, umbrella coral, all look mint but these fast growing nice polyp corals are seeming to have a rough time...

Sorry for the novel but I really hope I have given the correct information to get me on the right track to some helpful suggestions.

I know I should be dosing if I am going for over a month with no water changes right? What is the best suggestion for a newbie to dosing? I plan to get an apex once I move into my new house Oct 21st.

Thanks for your time I really appreciate any assistance in getting my params up to snuff. I am more looking into dosing so I can save the large volume water changes involved with an approx 300G system.

[element291]

Here is a pic of my tank at least. Not the greatest picture but I will take some more tomorrow when the lights are back on.
I started with cured rock from store on my 75 gallon then mixed together a bunch of rock that filled a 120 gallon from another guy who had it in his tank for about 2 years so everything had been cycled.

I will take some pictures of my GSP that is coming off the rock and you can see where the rock is ligher in colour where the coral used to cover.

The lights are Coralife aqualight LED. Here is a link,

http://www.coralifeproducts.com/product/aqualight-led/

[whatcaneyedo]

Salinity is low, 1.025 should be your target. Definitely start monitoring your alkalinity, 8-9DKH is a nice range and stability is very important. Temperature stability is also critical, try to keep it as close to 78 F as possible as swings will negatively affect coral growth/health. A controller to turn a cooling fan on and off for you is pretty handy.

[gregzz4]

I agree with Russel, except I run my tank @ 1.026 instead of 1.025.
Either way, your current Sg is too low for the long-term health of many corals, even the most easy to keep ones.
Running your tank @ 1.023 is pushing the limits of near death for many inverts too ... hermits, snails, shrimps, all the life on your rocks such as copepods, isopods and amphipods and such, mysids, sponges, the list goes on ...

I know, seems like it's not much of a difference, but ya, that's all it takes.

Slowly bump your Sg up to what we recommend and see how things go after a month or so.
And when I say slowly, I mean no more than 1 point per day. Otherwise you'll upset or kill what you have left.

So, today is 1.023. Add enough salt to make tonight 1.0235
Tomorrow night make it 1.024 and so on.

Slow and easy is your best approach to the hobby

I know my recommendations above seem extreme 'cause fish can handle faster swings, but your corals will be happier if you take it slow as I suggested

[corallivore]

MY corals started looking similar.

I'd gotten lazy and started using a hydrometer instead of a refractometer.

Hydrometer was reading 1.25 but when I calibrated and checked because I couldn't figure out why my coral (especially my chalices) were looking so bad all of a sudden and some Algea was really starting to flourish.

The calibrated refractometer read near.y 1.3.



Have been slowly dropping salinity since but my corals were looking pretty similar to yours.

Still concerned about long term effects.

My fish, euhpyllia, zoas and shrooms did not seem to mind at all.

[element291]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate the advice so far!
There is 2 great issues then right off the hop. I am using a hydrometer that is probably over a year old I have all this money in the hobby I will buy a quality refractometer before I make any salinity changes to ensure I know exactly where my tank stands at a better accuracy.

I was not aware that being at 1.022 could have such harmful affects that is very good to know.

[Myka]

While you're at it buy SEAWATER calibration fluid. Pinpoint makes a good one. Refractometers should be calibrated often too.

[corallivore]

most refractometers for the hobby come with a some calibration fluid initially.

I find they don't need calibration that often if you store them at room temp and don't bang them around much but you're always better safe than sorry.

[element291]

Originally Posted by corallivore

most refractometers for the hobby come with a some calibration fluid initially.

I find they don't need calibration that often if you store them at room temp and don't bang them around much but you're always better safe than sorry.

Correct here. I got my new Milwaukee digital refractometer today and it came with a bottle of calibration steam deionized water and a checker bottle to make sure you are getting 1.025 with it after calibration.

I am making some RO/DI water right now for a water change to help my salinity level and parameters. Got about 60 gallons now making 25 more.

This is what I measured just now with my new hanna calc, alk and digital refractometer:

Alkalinity - 105 ppm x 0.056 = 5.88 dkH
Calcium - 448 ppm
Salinity - 1.023

My nitrates are starting to climb now - around 60 ppm so this water change will be followed by another one before I move the tank to my new house the week of halloween.

[whatcaneyedo]

I've had coral start to die when my alkalinity has dropped down around 5 DKH. So you definitely want to bring that up.