Kennedyjp30
New Member
Hi I am new and am curious if my frag is dead? I don't know how to tell.
Is my neon brain frag dead??
- Thread starter Kennedyjp30
- Start date
robertmathern1
Member
No not its going to be very soon if you dont figure out why its dying. Even still it might be to late to save it.
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Any ideas?
robertmathern1
Member
What kind of lights do you have? What are your water parameters? What kind of flow is in the tank? How long has the tank been set up? How long have you had this coral?
Start there and typically you can find you answer.
Start there and typically you can find you answer.
Kennedyjp30
New Member
I was running t-10's with 20 watts I just replaced them today with 27 watt led fluval. 45 gallon tank salt is at 1.022 on salinity. I am having a nitrate and nitrite problem. Ph is 7.5 kh is 80 temp is 76. My chemistry is all out of whack.
It's been up and running for about a month.
It's been up and running for about a month.
robertmathern1
Member
Yeah based off of this the coral will probably not make it. First off your light is not strong enough. You salinity is to low you want to be at least 1.023-1.026 for a reef. Try topping off your tank with salt water to try and raise it slowly. You PH is way to low you need around 8.2-8.4 not sure how to bump that up for you at this point except a large water change that you need anyway. Your tank is not done cycling and thats why you have nitrites. Nitrites are deadly to coral. Again large water change will help. Water change will also raise your salinity but be careful not to raise it to fast or the coral will surely die. Shoot for your change water to be 1.024 at that should give you 1.023 in the tank. And slowly add saltwater for top offs to bring it up a little higher. I know lights are not cheap so if I were you I would look into a mars aqua dimable led off the bay. It will give you plenty of light and is fairly cheap. Keep in mind though cheap is not always good but everyone local to me swears by them because even if they crap out in a year or to the price is still not even comparable to other led fixtures on the market.
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Oh my 27 watts on the new led isn't strong enough? I thought for sure it would be better than the crappy fluorescent light I was running.
robertmathern1
Member
That depends on how many T-10s you had in there. If just one then yes it was a step in the right direction but it needed to be a bigger step than that.
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Just one. Gave off a dingy weak yellow light. I think I am gonna keep with the fish for the next few months then once my tank is more stable begin trying to add coral. I just got suckered in trying to get free shipping and was wanting some more color for my tank. However, the change in light has helped that immensely the fish seem brighter and more active.
Tomorrow I am adding a protein skimmer. I am just running an emperor 400 now with damn I can't remember the name but 2 filters.
Tomorrow I am adding a protein skimmer. I am just running an emperor 400 now with damn I can't remember the name but 2 filters.
robertmathern1
Member
Sounds like you are on the right track just be patient. The tank needs to get established before adding coral. I would still do a water change to lower nitrites as they will kill fish as well. Get a decent skimmer and be patient with it to they take some work to dial them in but once you do they are worth every penny spent. And remember that light still will not be enough for coral. Some softies maybe but I would look into a mars aqua led light. You will be able to grow anything you want and it wont break the bank either.
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Hey dumb question if and I mean probably my coral dies do i need to remove it from the tank?
robertmathern1
Member
Once its dead there will be nothing left on the rock so it really dont matter. Just like everything else that dies it will cause ammonia but I have always left my corals in hoping. Even after a stone crab electrocuted my 180 gal and almost all my coral died I left them all in there hoping. Worse case it will now be a piece of live rock.
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Hey man I want to say thanks!!! This is by far my most positive experience on any hobby type thread. Most of the time you get on these things and people tell you how big of an idiot you are and how you have no business trying a hobby out. This is my first time on a saltwater aquarium forum and I learned a lot. Again thanks. May I say its been reefreshing sorry couldn't resist the lousy joke there.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum, Kennedyjp30! You will find lots of help on this forum to guide you in the right direction.
The best piece of advice I can give you is to be patient. Nothing good ever happens in a hurry when it comes to saltwater. It is a long, slow process to develop the tank of your dreams. This isn't the show "Tanked" where you can throw a tank up and fill it to the rim with livestock in one day. This is a real life situation... with real life consequences. Nature operates with a balance to all things, and you are trying to create a piece of the ocean inside a glass box. The only way it will ever be successful is if there is balance. The tank must be prepped properly by allowing the nitrogen cycle to run it's course. Once that's done, it must be stocked s-l-o-w-l-y to allow beneficial bacteria to populate enough to handle the additional load. You must have enough area for this beneficial bacteria to live, such as adequate sand and rocks. There are other methods of creating living areas for this bacteria, but I find that the natural approach works best. 1 - 1 1/2 lbs of live sand and 1 - 1 1/2 lbs of live rock per gallon of water will provide enough natural filtration to handle a fairly well stocked tank... eventually. You'll still have to perform water changes to keep Nitrates at an acceptable level, but there's a solution for that as well. If you add a sump with a refugium, you can add macro algae to the refugium. Macro algae consumes Nitrate, and can help reduce water changes considerably.
Sadly, the Fluval is good for a fish-only tank, but not so much for corals. I fell for the Marineland "Reef Capable" LED, so don't feel bad. I started with metal halides and power compacts, but after researching LED's and realizing I couldn't afford a good fixture, I switched to T5 HO lighting. Uses more electricity than LED's, but less than MH/PC. I've had great success with these lights. LED's are making good strides in the right direction, but there's still a ways to go before "high-tech" lighting becomes affordable to main-stream users. I have too much invested in my tank to risk using a hit-or-miss LED. They are NOT created equally. The only LED's I would even consider are beyond my reach...
The best piece of advice I can give you is to be patient. Nothing good ever happens in a hurry when it comes to saltwater. It is a long, slow process to develop the tank of your dreams. This isn't the show "Tanked" where you can throw a tank up and fill it to the rim with livestock in one day. This is a real life situation... with real life consequences. Nature operates with a balance to all things, and you are trying to create a piece of the ocean inside a glass box. The only way it will ever be successful is if there is balance. The tank must be prepped properly by allowing the nitrogen cycle to run it's course. Once that's done, it must be stocked s-l-o-w-l-y to allow beneficial bacteria to populate enough to handle the additional load. You must have enough area for this beneficial bacteria to live, such as adequate sand and rocks. There are other methods of creating living areas for this bacteria, but I find that the natural approach works best. 1 - 1 1/2 lbs of live sand and 1 - 1 1/2 lbs of live rock per gallon of water will provide enough natural filtration to handle a fairly well stocked tank... eventually. You'll still have to perform water changes to keep Nitrates at an acceptable level, but there's a solution for that as well. If you add a sump with a refugium, you can add macro algae to the refugium. Macro algae consumes Nitrate, and can help reduce water changes considerably.
Sadly, the Fluval is good for a fish-only tank, but not so much for corals. I fell for the Marineland "Reef Capable" LED, so don't feel bad. I started with metal halides and power compacts, but after researching LED's and realizing I couldn't afford a good fixture, I switched to T5 HO lighting. Uses more electricity than LED's, but less than MH/PC. I've had great success with these lights. LED's are making good strides in the right direction, but there's still a ways to go before "high-tech" lighting becomes affordable to main-stream users. I have too much invested in my tank to risk using a hit-or-miss LED. They are NOT created equally. The only LED's I would even consider are beyond my reach...
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Thanks. Can I slowly start adding more rock? I have 50lbs of live sand in my tank and about 12lbs of live rock.
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Also is my light too weak to sustain macro algae?
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Yes. You can add dry rock at any time, but if it is "live" rock that is shipped to you, it will need to be re-cured to make sure there isn't any dead stuff on it that will contaminate your tank.
Probably not too weak, but rather too strong. It's a bright light, but it doesn't have the proper spectrum that macros need to thrive under. If I remember correctly, your fixture produces light in the 10K range. Macros do best between 65K-85K. I have a refugium with macro, and all I use is a simple reflector lamp with a 23W natural daylight spiral fluorescent bulb. Several people on here have the same setup. This isn't really an option for your tank, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone, somewhere, was using this type of setup on their display tank (DT)... lol!
Kennedyjp30
New Member
Hey would it be an ok idea to take out that emperor 400 filter and replace with a refugium tank?
robertmathern1
Member
would not be a bad idea. I would wait till the tank is done cycling first though and run carbon through your filter for now.