Questions for the Experts

sandi

sandi

Member
Well here goes. We have had saltwater fish only tanks for many years loving the hobby started a reef tank about 9 months ago. We have a 55 gallon tank with about 75 pounds of live rock and 3 inch live sand bed. All the fish and inverts in the tank seems to be doing great. The problem, we can't seems to keep soft corals alive. We bought a BTA around 3 months ago - it lasted about 3 weeks and just seems to melt away. Around the same time, we bought aveopora (sp). About a month into it it started to look bleached out - then slowly just started to receed and not come out as much. Now yesterday it did not come out at all and has this slimmy stuff all over it - (am sure it is dead). The zoos and the mushrooms are doing great. Actually, the mushrooms are reproducing almost too fast. They are starting to overtake that side of the tank. Here is what is in the tank and the water readings:
2 percula clowns
Coral Beauty
3 peppermint shrimp
2 cleaner shrimp
30 turbo snails
and probably about 15 blue leg hermits
P.h. 7.8
Amonia 0
Low Range Nitrite 0
High Range Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Alkalinity 4
Our light is a Coralife 10,000 k
Not sure exactly what kind of skimmer we have
Any ideas on why we can't seem to keep corals would be appreciated.
Any insight whatsoever would be appreciated.
Thanks.
 
sandi

sandi

Member
Well actually the Coral Beauty is relatively new. The Anemone had already died and the Aveopora (sp) was on its way down when we got the Coral Beauty.
 
fender

fender

Active Member
The coral you mentioned is not an easy one to keep. Basically hit or miss and no one knows exactly what it needs to be happy.
The BTA may be a water issue (ph is kinda low), lighting (you say 10k but what type - MH, VHO, PC... how many watts?) or it may have been on its way out for awhile - anenomes have slow metabolisms and may have been sick or dying before you even got it.
 
sandi

sandi

Member
Honestly the questions regarding the light - not sure - will have to look when I get home. Thanks for the replies.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
The first thing that I see is that you have pH problems. What does your alkalinity test kit read in? dkH? meq/l?
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
No, if it is meq/l, that is actually very good. Sorry about that.
What kind of filtration do you have and what do you have for flow?
 
rslinger

rslinger

Member
my money is on the lights. Do you have just a regular fluorescent light with a coralife light bulb in it. They are fine for fish but softies and bta will not survive. Mushrooms on the other hand would be right at home in the low light conditions
 
sandi

sandi

Member
You know, my money has always been on the light. It's name brand is Coralife. It is 10,000 k. It has the same light bulbs from when we bought it in the store. The store we bought it at recommended this light for corals but since we have had no luck with soft coral it has occurred to me that the store we bought it in really doesn't have that many soft corals. They pretty much have mushrooms and zoos and that is it. The BTA and the Aveopora we bought at another store.
Wondering, can you buy stronger bulbs to go in the light itself - if this happens to be the problem. Just thinking here......
This light cost almost $400.00 and really would not like to have to buy another one. Oh well
 
sandi

sandi

Member
Oh, the question about filtration - we have a wet/dry filtration with the bio balls.
Eventually, we will replace the bio balls with the live rock. Going from what everyone on here pretty much says, the live rock is the way to go. You guys are great for info. Thanks much.
 
rslinger

rslinger

Member
Does it have long single tubes or shorter double tubes that only plug in on one side? how many light bulbs does it have? What watt do they say? 10,000k is not watts just color spectrum. Also if they are long bulbs that plug in on both ends, how big around are they?
 
sandi

sandi

Member
My husband is on his way home from work now so will have exact answers to all these light questions in a few minutes. I think I know most of the questions but want to make sure I have everything right. Thanks
 
sandi

sandi

Member
k, heres the specifics on the light. They are the shorter bulbs that plug in on one side. There are two 65 watt daylight bulbs and 2 65 watt actinic blue bulbs for a total of 260 watts. The bulbs are about 1 inch in diameter. There are also 4 moonlights.
Is this enough light for the softies and if not are there other bulbs we can buy for our light? Thanks for any info.
 
rslinger

rslinger

Member
I beleive those are pc's and yes i kept softies under them for a while before upgrading. Hmmmm.... i believe there goes my money i don't believe that is your problem. Sorry. Maybe the coral you bought was dieing anyway. You only tried the one piece right. a diffacult kind at that. IMO you should be fine maybe get a frag of hammer, tourch, or frogspawn see how that does but i am 99.9 percent sure you should be fine for softies.
 
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