Setting up coral QT — mistakes were made. Advice please

[mike550]

Okay. I had a spare 20G tank that I’m now using for coral “quarantine”. Simple setup with Aquaclear HOB, Eheim heater, AI Prime light, and small sicce powerhead.

I added some SPS / sticks to the tank about two weeks ago right before heading off for vacation (mistake #1). When I came back the tank was slightly cloudy but more disappointing was that the flow from the powerhead (all reflected across the tank nothing direct) had stripped away the skin of some of the corals. Ugh.

So my question is how am I supposed to keep good flow in the tank without doing this again? For now I‘ve turned off the powerhead. Would love to know how others are managing flow.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bert236]

I doubt the powerhead is stripping the corals. Honestly with just one powerhead it may not be enough flow but hard to say without seeing the tank. If you just recently set up the qt I would bet it's not stable enough to support acros yet. If it is established something probably went wrong while you were away that caused tissue recession.

 

[Dburr1014]

Okay. I had a spare 20G tank that I’m now using for coral “quarantine”. Simple setup with Aquaclear HOB, Eheim heater, AI Prime light, and small sicce powerhead.

I added some SPS / sticks to the tank about two weeks ago right before heading off for vacation (mistake #1). When I came back the tank was slightly cloudy but more disappointing was that the flow from the powerhead (all reflected across the tank nothing direct) had stripped away the skin of some of the corals. Ugh.

So my question is how am I supposed to keep good flow in the tank without doing this again? For now I‘ve turned off the powerhead. Would love to know how others are managing flow.

Thanks in advance!

Pic? Connected to main? Sump?
Same light? Parameters?

 

[mike550]

I doubt the powerhead is stripping the corals. Honestly with just one powerhead it may not be enough flow but hard to say without seeing the tank. If you just recently set up the qt I would bet it's not stable enough to support acros yet. If it is established something probably went wrong while you were away that caused tissue recession.

Thanks @bert236 the tank was cycled using filter media and rock from my DT and the water changes are a mix of DT and mew salt water. That said maybe it’s a nutrient issue? Should I be adding coral food like Red Sea Reef Energy or BRS reef chili?

 

[mike550]

Pic? Connected to main? Sump?
Same light? Parameters?

@Dburr1014 its a stand-alone 20G separate from the DT system. HOB filter and AI Prime light that throws about 100PAR to the bottom of the tank.

Params are p: Temp 78, Salinity 1.025, Alk 9-ish dKH, Ca 400, Mg 1400, Nitrate 0, Phosphate 0

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Params are p: Temp 78, Salinity 1.025, Alk 9-ish dKH, Ca 400, Mg 1400, Nitrate 0, Phosphate 0

They are/were starving.

 

[jda]

The best coral QTs are like reef tanks. I like to have shrimp in mine since they will search, pick and clean for pests and parasites. I usually have a few YT Blue damsels in mine but I am not looking to fallow for fish parasites.

If I have to dip or treat, I pull out an empty 10g, put some water in there with a MaxiJet for a few hours.

I would use the same lights as your display, if you can.

Ammonium will get more nitrogen to your corals than coral food. Dr. RHF just wrote a nice post on how to do this. Some type of phosphorous is good. You will need a bit of carbon and sulphur too. What I find that work the best is the juice from after you melt your frozen food along with some small pellets on an auto feeder for the shrimp, crabs and fish.

 

[Propane]

@jda where can I find this information? I don’t know who dr RHF is.

 

[bushdoc]

@jda where can I find this information? I don’t know who dr RHF is.

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Propane]

@bushdoc thank you for that info. I will have a few days to research this before starting to dose the recommended product. I also don’t have an ammonia test kit that is reliable(API) I need to do this as I’m up against a fishless system that has corals. I have a bottle of fritz fishless fuel but it simply says ammonia solution and doesn’t list the ingredients.

 

[ScottB]

0/0 nutrients will finish acros pretty quick. Drop in some utility fish for coral parasite pecking and some shrimp for the same.

Easier still, just remove the plugs and dip in potassium chloride.

 

[Dburr1014]

@bushdoc thank you for that info. I will have a few days to research this before starting to dose the recommended product. I also don’t have an ammonia test kit that is reliable(API) I need to do this as I’m up against a fishless system that has corals. I have a bottle of fritz fishless fuel but it simply says ammonia solution and doesn’t list the ingredients.

That's what I started using. I'm only doing a 1/20th suggested on the fritz bottle for 2 ppm ammonia. For instance; my 100 gallon system would use 4 drops per gallon. That's 400 drops to get to 2 ppm. I only want 0.1 ppm. That's only 20 drops over a day. For now I'm doing 10 drops. 5 in the morning, 5 before dinner.

 

[Propane]

That's what I started using. I'm only doing a 1/20th suggested on the fritz bottle for 2 ppm ammonia. For instance; my 100 gallon system would use 4 drops per gallon. That's 400 drops to get to 2 ppm. I only want 0.1 ppm. That's only 20 drops over a day. For now I'm doing 10 drops. 5 in the morning, 5 before dinner.

Are you mixing it in tank water first then putting it in the sump?

 

[mike550]

@jda @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal @ScottB so it’s a nutrition problem. Thanks for that. I’d prefer not to out fish or inverts into the tank. Can I solve the nutrient issue by feeding coral foods like Reef Energy or BRS Reef ChilI?

 

[jda]

Chili, roids and the like are not likely to do anything. Those are foods that corals are supposed to catch and eat. Even if they do, there is little chance that they get much from them. LPS, NPS and some others might get more than SPS will.

Gotta separate into energy and building blocks. The corals can get energy from the zoox from the lights. Building blocks can be hard in fish less tanks. You need nitrogen, phosphorous and a bit of sulfur - building blocks and not energy... they are not food and more surplus does nothing over a bit of surplus. Notice that I did not say nitrate or phosphate. Nitrogen is more efficient through ammonia - even if nitrate can be used, it costs the corals in the range of 30-70% more energy to convert the no3 to a usable form and not all hosts can covert it. Phosphorous usually comes in the form of metaphosphate (we cannot test for this) or from tiny things that the corals catch in their slime coats like bacteria or zooplankton - these bacteria and zooplankton also feed on the fish waste.

Dosing no3 might do something, but it might not. There are more efficient ways to get nitrogen in the tank, as stated above. I would not dose no3 unless you are looking to growth limit dinos or something. po4 dosing is tough - it can be used a bit, but other forms are still better but it is hard to dose those forms.

Having near zero for no3 and po4 (orthophosphate) test kits means nothing. Nobody really has zero anyway. Those forms are not preferred by any coral. It is the building blocks and energy in those other forms that drive the bus and this is hard without fish.

Frozen food juice might still be the best bet... with some ammonium.

 

[jda]

Some skim mate from your main tank might work too... need to think about this.

 

[mike550]

Frozen food juice might still be the best bet... with some ammonium.

Are you saying the juice from frozen fish food and ammonium might be a way of feeding the coral?

 

[Dburr1014]

Are you mixing it in tank water first then putting it in the sump?

I have a Rubbermaid tub as a sump. I drip it directly in front of a powerhead in the sump.
If my sump was small and traditional with flow thru one side to the other, I would probably mix first with water.