Newbie could use some pointers

[WuHT]

Well i'm totally new to reef chemistry, as I like to think of my tank as a fowlr (which happens to have a few assorted soft corals that came with my LR purchased in the range of 2-1 year ago.

Basically, the coralline algae has started to bleach (i skimmed through the thread about the topic on the same page) but also the majority of my corals have been shrivelled compared to before (which was pretty stable for a good year to 6 months).

Now being soft corals I was hoping they'd be more hardy
1. brown button zoa polyps have retracted (but probably because my pakistani butterfly has nipped them)
2.Mushroom (fuzzy, blue, red) are "open" but are much smaller than before (my fuzzy mushroom is about 1/8 the size it used to be
3.Toad stool - the only coral that seems to be unaffected
4.Colt coral has shrivelled to pretty much stubs.

I have one of those beginner corallife t5 setups (2 bulbs) but i've had the lights for quite a while, and my coral problems have only emerged since the past month.

Now i'd like to know, what exactly I should test for (I haven't tested my parameters while the tank was doing fine), and being a fowlr, I originally wanted to just accept the loss, as the corals were freebies, but I'd imagine they would be worth saving if
1) its not over the top impossible
2) solving a hidden problem that was detrimental to the overall health of the aquarium/fish (fish obviously are unaffected).

--- But before i rush out to buy a test kit (or kits) would doing larger consistent water changes be the best initial treatment ? Since I dont' plan on getting any "less hardy" corals, the reef quality test kits may be unnessecary ? I'd like some opinions, so thanks in advance.

[Myka]

Hi there, my guess is that your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium would be low. FOWLR tanks also often have a low pH because of many reasons, but primarily lack of dosing and large amounts of waste production. Using a high quality reef salt can often completely replace any dosing on low demand tanks like yours. H2Ocean would be my suggestion if you take that route.

You don't state how big your tank is, or how often you do water changes, or what size water changes. If your tank isn't too big, then increased number and size of water changes would probably be of reasonable cost. The fish would also benefit from the more frequent and larger water changes. Dosing is usually cheaper than relying on water changes to keep parameters in line, but it is also much more complicated where you have to test, adjust, re-test. Of course the water change method only works if you use a high quality salt as the lower quality salts (like Instant Ocean) don't have the proper levels to begin with!

I believe ALL tanks should be tested for nitrate on a regular monthly basis at the least as low nitrate levels are really quite necessary for optimal health of all marine inhabitants. If you are going to supplement then you will need calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium test kits as well as supplements for each.

I would suggest you take a sample of your water to your LFS and get them to test ammonia, nitrate, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. See what the numbers are and go from there. For poops and giggles you can get them to test pH if they have a digital pH meter. pH test kits are so horribly inaccurate they don't even count imo.

The numbers you're aiming for in a FOWLR would be:

Calcium 380-440 ppm
Alkalinity 7-10 dKH
Mg 1350-1450 ppm

You can also take a read through the link in my signature regarding calcium, alkalinity, Mg, pH, but keep in mind that the suggestions are related to reef tanks in mind.

[reefwars]

maybe you need some new bulbs???

[Myka]

Ya bulbs are a possible contributor, but not likely the full cause. HO T5s should be replaced every 8 months for optimal bulb performance in regards to corals. Are your T5s HO or NO? I think most of the Coralife units are NO.

[WuHT]

Its a 150 gallon, I don't really have a set water change schedule, but it seems about 10% biweekly, sometimes more, sometimes less.

I'm using the instant ocean brand (mainly due to cost) but i've being using this for a long time, and it just seemed like the problems have started recently.

Actually the T5s are HO (how does one tell if the bulbs are bad ?) I had the NO T5 strip lights before and the bulb simply wouldn't work (thats when i changed it).

Value wise, maybe just spending more on higher grade "reef" salt might be the better fix as opposed to going out to get test kits/dosing material, but I was just curious because i've been using IO for a long time. The whole point of the fowlr was supposed to be a low maintenance tank (free hitchhiker corals that I should try to save though)? I don't want to sound like I already had a plan set before I asked, but i'm trying to gather some opinions here.

[reefwars]

water changes are one of the most important maintenace things you need to do to keep your tank healthy regardless of the salt you use and what your dosing and it needs to be regular and around 10% a week is ideal . like myka said i too would go with h2Ocean i find it to be a better quality salt for a little more and a better quality salt goes along way . buy all the test kits you can and check for everything and post your findings here including temp and salinity. how much liverock do you have in your tank?? and what kind of livestock maybe something is eating your corals or nipping any new fish lately???

not sure how to tell if the bulbs are worn im sure someone knows a trick but i do know that if you dont know how old they are then you need new ones, if you have had this set for 1-2 yrs as stated and have not changed the bulbs you should asap, bulbs need to be replaced roughly once a year(8-9mths) if they dont your corals wont get their colour and grow properly and you may evenb end up with algae problems,

post some pics of the corals your talking about so we can see for ourselves plus i like to see others tanks lol cheers

[WuHT]

Originally Posted by reefwars

like myka said i too would go with h2Ocean i find it to be a better quality salt for a little more and a better quality salt goes along way

really ? The way I see it h2ocean looks to be almost double the price of IO, with seachem in between (judging by the prices @ JL). Now I suppose the value (not the cost) of the salt is something more in the eye of the beholder, and i'm willing to try it out, but i'm just curious more about the part where you said it was for only" a little more". Obviously if you guys know a good deal i'm all ear

[reefwars]

the way i see it is you pay for what you get, to me an extra 30 bucks isnt much when im only using 12gallons of saltwater a week so a pale does me quite a while i can see price being a problem if you need to make a couple tankloads in a hurry. i use to use instant ocean but after visiting some other peoples tanks the proof is in the puddin, ill only use two kinds now h2ocean or reefers best.im sure others will ring in the exact differences as some have been testing to see whats better but i bet the majority of the better tanks are using h2ocean cheers

[reefwars]

even though IO is cheaper it needs more trace elements added, calcium the big one as far as i know......