8 months on, need water advice

[paultaylor]

Hello all,

For eight months now I am the proud owner of my first reef tank. The tank (160 Gal US / 650 L) is doing well. I have a number of inhabitants and have not lost any member of the team, touch wood, to date.

Namely :
2 x Amblyeleotris guttata
1 x Alpheus sp.
1 x Canthigaster bennetti
1 x Naso lituratus
2 x Nemateleotris decora
2 x Amphiprion perideraion
1 x Condylactis gigantean
1 x Euphyllia glabrescens

The tank was originally filled with plenty of Indonesian live rock with nice colouring. All seems to be settling down well and I don’t have any algae, after big blooms in the beginning. In the sump I have a hefty 1200L (317 Gal US) / hour protein skimmer which is working efficiently. Note that there is nothing else in the sump apart from filtration sponge which I clean regularly.

I perform regular tests and my Nitrate / Nirtrite are zero, Amonia basically zero. pH is about 8.4 and Alk medium to high. The SG is at 1.023 and temp 27°C (81°F). These have been stable since the tank cycled.

I perform a monthly 20% water change with RO synthetic sea water.

About 5 months ago, I had a chat with someone at the LFS who explained, note I am a beginner, that I should also be concerned with the Calcium and Magnesium in the water. I now carry out a regular check on these and add both Calcium (to 410) and Magnesium (to 1280) supplements when required. Note I do not add any other supplements to the tank.

Unfortunately I don’t seem to have hardly any coralline growth 8O I have noticed that when I do a water change some small patches seem to develop on the rock (power heads included) but then stop after a day or so.

My questions:

1. Are there any other tests I should be doing in addition to the above ?
2. Are there any additional supplements which I should be adding ?

Many thanks in advance for your replies,
Paul

 

[Anonymous]

What kind of lights do you have on the tank?

 

[ChrisRD]

Unless I missed it, I didn't notice you mention supplementing Alk. Ca and Alk should be added in a balanced ratio. If you're dosing one and not the other, things will probably get out of wack eventually (although your large, regular water changes will help keep that from happening). For most of us with calcifying corals, Mg is worth checking periodically, but generally doesn't need near as frequent supplementation as Ca and Alk.

If you're not supplementing Alk and not showing signs of calcification, but still showing good test readings, my guess is that your Alk might be low and your Alk test kit might be bad. Not sure what's popular in test kits on your side of the pond, but many like Salifert here. I'd suggest trying a different alk kit to double-check (or bring some water to your LFS for testing).

BTW, supplementing Alk doesn't require any special additives. Sodium Bicarbonate (ie. Baking Soda) works fine.

HTH

 

[paultaylor]

What kind of lights do you have on the tank?

T5, two 54W white and two 54W actnic

 

[paultaylor]

Unless I missed it, I didn't notice you mention supplementing Alk. Ca and Alk should be added in a balanced ratio. If you're dosing one and not the other, things will probably get out of wack eventually (although your large, regular water changes will help keep that from happening). For most of us with calcifying corals, Mg is worth checking periodically, but generally doesn't need near as frequent supplementation as Ca and Alk.

No I have not been doing anything with Alk.

If you're not supplementing Alk and not showing signs of calcification, but still showing good test readings, my guess is that your Alk might be low and your Alk test kit might be bad. Not sure what's popular in test kits on your side of the pond, but many like Salifert here. I'd suggest trying a different alk kit to double-check (or bring some water to your LFS for testing).

BTW, supplementing Alk doesn't require any special additives. Sodium Bicarbonate (ie. Baking Soda) works fine.

I am using Redsea test kits for Alk and pH. I will buy another test kit and check this out and let you know.

Cheers
Paul

 

[Anonymous]

What kind of lights do you have on the tank?

T5, two 54W white and two 54W actnic

The reason I asked is because I read somewhere that Coraline and a type of light, can't really remember what it was. I have been looking around for it again through

I will let you know if I find anything

 

[fishinsouthga]

funny my 50 gallon went though the same thing and my corals are fine but not much coraline alge in the tank, and the only color thats lived if you wanna call it living is the heavy green coraline that covers my glass every 3-4 days if i don't scrape it off witha razor, i dose b ionic 2 part and add carrib sea 8.2 ph alk balacace to my water that i add for top off nothing seems to work, and im under 2 10k 175w mh

 

[ChrisRD]

I've always found coralline to do better under less intense lighting (fluorescents vs. halides) and bluer lighting (blues vs. daylight lamps.). IME the stronger and whiter the light, the slower it seems to grow, and tends to be whiter rather than nice pinks/purples. JME, YMMV...

 

[Anonymous]

I've always found coralline to do better under less intense lighting (fluorescents vs. halides) and bluer lighting (blues vs. daylight lamps.). IME the stronger and whiter the light, the slower it seems to grow, and tends to be whiter rather than nice pinks/purples. JME, YMMV...

Now that is what I had read before, I still can't find a source though....

 

[paultaylor]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the input.

I was under the assumption that successful reef tanks should always have good coralline growth on the live rock, power heads and glass. This, I thouht, showed good development of the tank. Is this actualy incorrect and can one have a very healthy tank without basicaly much coralline development ?

Cheers,
Paul

 

[ChrisRD]

Althought it's possible to have a healthy tank without a lot of coralline growth, it's not a common occurrence IMO. Most people start their tanks with live rock, and most live rock has some coralline algae on it. If water parameters are maintained around normal seawater levels (specifially Ca/Alk) it's inevitable that you're going to see the coralline spread. IME certain types of lighting can slow or accelerate the process, but unless it's never introduced into the tank (unlikely for most of us), you're eventually going to have it growing and spreading somewhere in the tank.

 

[Anonymous]

it also seems that a high phosphate reading will inhibit the growth of coralline. I wouldn't worry too much you still have a very young system.