Problems With Corals

[pedro2003]

Hello. I currently have a nano 15 gallon reef tank for about 6 months. I only have soft corals ( zoanthus, mushrooms, pulsing xenia, yellow polyps, GSP, leather umbrella and green kenya three. That Last two ones are looking bad since the day i purchased them. The zoanthus is doing fine and growing as well as the yellow polyps. But the pulsing xenia stopped pulsing (and growing), the mushrooms do not grow as well and one of them has a lack of colour. Any thoughts about what is causing that problems in just some of my corals?

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Can you list your parameters and light settings? And have you ID'd the algae growing on the sand?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Is there a powerhead in the tank?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

We need more information about your tank, including its age, light, flow, and parameters (salinity, alk, calc, nitrates, and phos).

 

[pedro2003]

Fine! This tank is about 6 months old. Salinity 1.024 and light is oceantech powertube marine blue (best value for money in my country) and people here say that it can grow soft corals and some LPS. My tests will arrive tomorrow, then i would be able to post the results of other parameters here.

 

[pedro2003]

Is there a powerhead in the tank?

Yes. There is a small 2.5 watts powerhead for water flow as well as my Hang on filter.

 

[Formulator]

Hard to tell without your parameters, but your zoas look fine so they can’t be that bad. Xenia, GSP, and mushrooms are more sensitive to nutrient levels, so if I had to guess in the dark I’d say something is off with nitrate and/or phosphate. What is your water change schedule and how much/what do you feed?

Also, maybe its just me, but that looks bigger than 15 gallons…

 

[pedro2003]

Hard to tell without your parameters, but your zoas look fine so they can’t be that bad. Xenia, GSP, and mushrooms are more sensitive to nutrient levels, so if I had to guess in the dark I’d say something is off with nitrate and/or phosphate. What is your water change schedule and how much/what do you feed?

Also, maybe its just me, but that looks bigger than 15 gallons…

I live in Brazil, here we use liters instead of gallons, so i don't know if i converted properly. I know that my tank has 60 liters, but in that image, it really seems to have more... it's just the image angle.

I do water changes every two weeks. I feed tropical bionautic flakes.

 

[Formulator]

I live in Brazil, here we use liters instead of gallons, so i don't know if i converted properly. I know that my tank has 60 liters, but in that image, it really seems to have more... it's just the image angle.

I do water changes every two weeks. I feed tropical bionautic flakes.

I think we will just have to wait for your test results. On the bright side, most of your corals actually look pretty healthy, so just getting colors to pop more should be fairly easy once we have a better understanding of your tank chemistry.

 

[pedro2003]

Unfortunetely, my Nitrate and phosphate test doesnt arrived yet. But i was able to measure my Alk. It measures 6.5. This is low, right?

 

[Formulator]

Unfortunetely, my Nitrate and phosphate test doesnt arrived yet. But i was able to measure my Alk. It measures 6.5. This is low, right?

Yes, quite low. You need to raise it slowly. Any alkalinity supplement available to you will work fine. Just follow the directions on the bottle to raise 0.5 dKH per day until you get to about 8.0-8.5. Eventually you may need the calcium supplement also, but I think fine to do an alkalinity correction for now. Start testing it every couple days and try to maintain stability at that 8.0-8.5 target. You shouldn’t need much if you keep up with water changes. What salt mix are you using?

 

[pedro2003]

FIne! Thanks. I am using salt mix from oceantech reef active, that i believe it's a brand from my country. Here is the details:

Yes, quite low. You need to raise it slowly. Any alkalinity supplement available to you will work fine. Just follow the directions on the bottle to raise 0.5 dKH per day until you get to about 8.0-8.5. Eventually you may need the calcium supplement also, but I think fine to do an alkalinity correction for now. Start testing it every couple days and try to maintain stability at that 8.0-8.5 target. You shouldn’t need much if you keep up with water changes. What salt mix are you using?

 

[Formulator]

Salt mix looks fine. Probably just some precipitation, common in newer tanks, and maybe even some consumption as I do see a bit of coralline in your tank. You may want to check your calcium too in that case. And buy a 2 part alkalinity and calcium supplement so you have the calcium in case you find you need it. Aim for 400-450 ppm calcium.

 

[Uncle99]

Are you able to keep Alk and Salinity on point?

 

[bobnicaragua]

A few water changes will probably fix everything except your nutrients.

 

[pedro2003]

Ok. Tomorrow i will buy some alk and calcium buffers. But there is another thing... I use tap water treated with prime for water changes and ato. That water (before mixing with salt) usually has 6.8~7 ph. Can this impact ph and alkalinity in my tank?

 

[pedro2003]

Salinity (1.024) was always fine to control, but maybe i should raise it? Alk i am not sure, because i started tests today.

Are you able to keep Alk and Salinity on point?

 

[Formulator]

Ok. Tomorrow i will buy some alk and calcium buffers. But there is another thing... I use tap water treated with prime for water changes and ato. That water (before mixing with salt) usually has 6.8~7 ph. Can this impact ph and alkalinity in my tank?

I don’t think it will have a major impact, but perhaps. Just continue testing and supplement alk as needed. But, with this new information I’m less confident that raising your Alk is going to give you a major improvement in coral health. Tap water is full of minerals and other trace elements that could cause issues. It really depends on your specific tap water, but to really succeed with corals I strongly suggest you look into getting an RODI system to prepare pure water for the tank.

 

[Uncle99]

Salinity (1.024) was always fine to control, but maybe i should raise it? Alk i am not sure, because i started tests today.

When salinity is out, everything is out to a degree.
You need to bump salinty to 1.025-1.026 and keep it from varying best with ATO.

ALK your looking for around 8-9dkh as this to, must be solid, day in day out. You can have 10-11 if you want, it’s not as much the level (it is) but more importantly what is the least variance that can be maintained, day in day out.

 

[pedro2003]

Hello. I would like to update my situation. I have done a water change and was able to measure nitrate and phosphate. My corals are MUCH BETTER now, algae seems to be growing slower. My kenya tree and Leather Umbrella are recovering slowly. I Started to dose reef calcium and reef trace as well as using reef builder to increase alkalinity. My Corals are better now, but nitrate and phosphate at zero? I heard that soft corals need them. Could this corals stay better if i have some nit and phos? (Alk- 9,5 ; Nit - 0 ; Phos - 0 ; Salinity - 1.025 ; Ph - 8,1~8,2)