Saltcorner
By Bob Goemans
By Bob Goemans
Hi Bob,
I emailed you about a year ago asking for some help in designing a new 110 gallon reef tank, which I appreciated greatly. I had purchased your four booklets at that time and read each one a few times. That aquarium uses a 1" plenum with a 4" sand bed using 2 - 4 mm CaribSea AragaLive. My problem is that since day one I have had a hard time with some gorgonians (especially the small yellow finger and red finger gorgonians) and orange and yellow cup corals. These would just slowly dissolve or break down over the coming months. And recently a yellow and green Acropora and some green star polyps are not fully extending any more and it is obvious that something is not right. Everything else in the tank is looking great and growing fast.
The tank was set up using Reef Crystals salt mix and the freshwater was first filtered through a Kent Marine Maxima RO/DI water filter. I tried 20% water changes a month using the same mix because the KH seemed too high (15.4). I used Gulf Stream water taken about 10 to 20 miles off of Ft Lauderdale with only a small improvement. It only sits about 4 hours before it's used. I only purchased the Salifert test kits this past month, so I do not know what the KH was previously.
My test levels are as follows: pH 8.16 AM/8.21 PM, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 1, Phosphate 0, Ca 380, Mg 1320, Sr 4, Bo 4.5, KH 15.4, Iodide .03, Iodate .01, Water temp 79 degrees in the morning and 80 degrees evening and salinity 1.025. The pH of the effluent from the CO2 reactor is about 6.8.
My equipment is as follows: One 250 watt 10K MH light on 11:00 AM -4:00 PM, Two 75 watt URI Super Actinic 24" on 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM, Two 75 watt URI Aquasun 24" on 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Two 75 watt URI Actinic White 24" on 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, 1 watt moonshine bulb (The 24" bulbs are short but they are staggered), AquaC EV250 Protein Skimmer with Iwaki MD30RT, Main pump Iwaki 30RXT, X150 ECO-Aqualizer, Kent Maxima RO/DI water filter on a float switch passing through a Poly-Filter to cover for evaporation, Lifereef LCR1 CO2 reactor with original supplied media 40% gone. I also have two small Rio pumps that turn on with the lights to add some additional current during the day (eventually I will purchase some type of wave maker). I also keep one unit of Chemi-Pure carbon and 1 Poly -Filter in the sump 24/7 and replace them about every three months. The Poly-Filter is light brownish when I replace it.
My general maintenance is cleaning the sump foam filter once weekly, cleaning the protein skimmer once monthly and I stir the top 1/2 inch of gravel once a month.
My feeding schedule is feeding the fish once a day, adding 1/2 doses of Marc Weiss Coral Vital, LSB, Coral Vital, Reef Vital DNA and Dick Boyd's Vita-Chem once per week. I also add 1/2 doses of Marc Weiss Black Power and Spectra Vital and Cyclop-eeze two to three times per week.
The contents of the tank are as follows: About 70 pounds of Tonga live rock, 5 Acropora, green star polyps, 1 Birdnest finger coral, 1 Goniopora, 1 green brain coral, pumping Xenia, yellow polyps, zoanthids, 7 gorgonians, mushrooms, Ricordea, 1 clam, 1 thorny oyster, 3 tree soft corals, 2 featherduster worms, 1 orange cup coral, 1 yellow cup coral, 3 sand sifting stars, two 1" conchs, 12 Mexican snails, 2 turbo snails, 1 yellow tang, 2 clowns, 2 firefish, 4 blue green chromis, 1 Hawkfish, 1 blue tang, 5 hermit crabs, 1 arrow crab, 1 blood shrimp, 1 scarlet cleaner shrimp and 1 pistol shrimp which came with some live rock that I am trying to catch.
I'm suspicious of my KH levels being the problem, but could it be the media in the CO2 reactor (The CO2 reactor media came from Lifereef)? If it is my KH levels, how can I bring them down and build up my calcium levels?
I also have 1 ruffled sponge that has been in the tank about 5 months. It is thriving but does seem to be getting smaller with time.
Thank You, Bob Schichtel Delray Beach, Florida
Hi Bob,
It's been awhile since we chatted and appreciate all the information. Well done!
As for the gorgonians and cup corals, they are none-photosynthetic animals and both should be placed in shaded areas. And Tubastrea (Cup Coral) needs to be hand fed almost daily with small pieces of fish/crustacean flesh. In my aquariums I would squash some small pieces of krill or place a few drops of American Marine Selcon in the aquarium to open any closed polyps, as they seem to sense the food and open. Then feed small pieces of fresh fish/crustacean flesh, all the time trying to keep my shrimp from stealing the pieces right out of the polyps! Sometimes easier said than done. As for the gorgonians, I think you're speaking about Diodogorgia nodulifera, and if so, the Marc Weiss Combo-Vital product worked well for me, as did some other plankton-like products. However, I never had long term success with this none-photosynthetic gorgonian, as too much food was required to adequately keep it going. I had much better results with photosynthetic gorgonians, such as Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae, the Purple Frilly. So I think the real problem with them may be with their diet/light, more than water quality. Yet, your absolutely right about the dKH being too high, and I relate that to the media in the calcium reactor. When the calcium level becomes the least it should be, such as your 380 ppm, and the dKH rises above what it should be, about 8 - 12 dKH, its generally the fault of the reactor media. It's simply becoming worn out, i.e., the calcium portion of the media has been mostly exhausted and the carbonates portion of the media is becoming the dominant supplier, resulting in an imbalance/the condition you have. Highly recommend your refill the reactor with new media. And to reduce the imbalance between carbonates and calcium, suggest a series of small water changes over the next two months starting with a 10% and then moving to 5% weekly. This should eventually put things back in balance water quality-wise, which should have a positive effect on the corals now not doing too well.
Keep me posted.
Bob
