Very Stupid Question

Zoa_Fanatic · Apr 5, 2021

This is likely to be the dumbest thing I have ever asked in my life but how can I tell if my reef is healthy? Ive been doing this 8-9 years now and haven't lost anything yet but fish but other than my candy canes I don't have the super explosive growth some people see in their reef tanks with my other LPS corals. My zoa exploded about a three months ago and now my growth rate is slowing down again.

Nitrate -10ppm
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Calcium - 480ppm
pH-8.0/8.2

I run a biocube 32 LED. Have 20+ kinds of zoa in here, Xenia, a hammer coral, a torch coral, mushrooms, and a toadstool leather. Nothing has been in this tank longer than 8 months now I think. Some were holdovers from previous tanks.

Jekyl · Apr 5, 2021

Zoa_Fanatic said:
This is likely to be the dumbest thing I have ever asked in my life but how can I tell if my reef is healthy? Ive been doing this 8-9 years now and haven't lost anything yet but fish but other than my candy canes I don't have the super explosive growth some people see in their reef tanks with my other LPS corals. My zoa exploded about a three months ago and now my growth rate is slowing down again.

Nitrate -10ppm
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Calcium - 480ppm
pH-8.0/8.2

I run a biocube 32 LED. Have 20+ kinds of zoa in here, Xenia, a hammer coral, a torch coral, mushrooms, and a toadstool leather. Nothing has been in this tank longer than 8 months now I think. Some were holdovers from previous tanks.

Alkalinity not listed and which light are you using? If stock lighting, it probably isn't enough

PanchoG · Apr 5, 2021

There are no bad questions, growth can be affected by light, have you tried increasing the light in the blue spectrum. Also I noticed you did not provided kH reading.

Zoa_Fanatic · Apr 5, 2021

Jekyl said:
Alkalinity not listed and which light are you using? If stock lighting, it probably isn't enough

Cant test all yet. getting a kit tomorrow. I hadn't considered a light upgrade because everything is thriving but not necessarily exploding with growth. May be time to reevaluate.

Jekyl · Apr 5, 2021

Here's something I found on that setup. Those readings are quite low. I would recommend an upgrade.

Zoa_Fanatic · Apr 5, 2021

PanchoG said:
There are no bad questions, growth can be affected by light, have you tried increasing the light in the blue spectrum. Also I noticed you did not provided kH reading.

I am currently evaluating a light upgrade. My brother has the same tank and purchased a blue strip that can be modded into the stock LEDs. It increases the blue spectrum and output significantly. I will likely try that or Steves LEDs.