Trouble Keeping Coral

happyfeet

happyfeet

Member
My feet are getting less happy!
I can't seem to keep coral, of any kind. Everything I've read says that I should be able to keep them.
Tank is 75 Gal + 20Gal sump+ refugium
Params, Ammonia, 0
Nitrite, 0
Ph, 8.1-8.2
Nitrate 15-10(I think this may be the problem and I'm currently working to lower it)
Gravity, 1.026-1.027
Temp 78-79
Lights T5-Ho 4 x48"
Filtration, Skimmer rated at 200 Gallons, 80 lbs of Live rock. Macro Algae, I have 2 6x4" Dragon Breath Macro Algaes attached to my powerheads.
I'm picking up a Media reactor tonight and I'm going to start running Carbon, Saturday I have a guy coming over with a couple bags of Chaeto for my sump.
Current Livestock is
Yellow Belly Blue Hippo Tang
2 True Percula
1 Yellow Goby
20 Hermit Crabs
5 Snails
1 very sad mushroom
Is there anything else I should be testing for?
Does anything seem out of wack?
Do you have a suggestion for my filtration?
Thanks
Edit* I do a 15% Water Change using RO/DI water bi weekly.
 
black cobra

black cobra

Member
Your SG is a tad high. Bring it down to 1.024. How old is the tank? Your lighting setup is kinda on the low side. Even mushrooms can be temperamental.
What is your ALK/dkh reading also?
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
what corals hv u tried to keep? r u getting enough flow around the tank? the t5 u hv is sufficient for shrooms and softies.
 
happyfeet

happyfeet

Member
DKH - 11
The tank is currently 3 months old now.
I've tried Xenia, which died within a week
Pink Panther Zoas which lasted 2 weeks
Watermellon Zoas lasted a week
GSP which lasted a couple of weeks
Toadstool which lasted a couple of weeks as well
All the zoas ended up closing up after the first day and melted away
The Toadstool shriveled,
and the GSP closed up and turned purple.
I'll slowly start bringing down the Gravity and see if that helps.
I have 3 Koralia 3's in the tank.
 
happyfeet

happyfeet

Member
Yes, but I've also read reef aquariums have an acceptable range of 7-11 so I haven't bothered to fiddle with it.
 
raymond2688

raymond2688

Member
i had the same problem
1 i think my tank was to new at around 4 months i started trying everything died.
2 took my water to a cral farm and they told me my dk was to high i started working on it and have kept it at 8 and have had no problems at all
i would def look into the dk
 
happyfeet

happyfeet

Member
Went home last night, did some water changes and retested the water. DKH is at 9 now.
I'll test it over the next couple of days to make sure it holds steady.
 
speg

speg

Active Member
Three months isn't that old for a tank and it may need to become a bit more established. Maybe the placement isn't correct either. How far are the lights from the coral? How high up are the rocks/corals sitting on them? How about some pics?
 
happyfeet

happyfeet

Member
The mushroom has been placed in Direct light at 5" under the water level, 10" under the water level and on the sandbed, Has been in indirect light at sandbed level, and is currently shaded under another rock right now. Seems to be further into the shade the better the mushrooms look. But they still aren't good by any standard.
 
ryancw01

ryancw01

Member
dKH of 11 is fine. Should be between 8-11. I would work on getting nitrates down a bit and just give it a little more time. Try doing 20% water changes bi-weekly for a while.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Happyfeet
http:///forum/post/3235906
The mushroom has been placed in Direct light at 5" under the water level, 10" under the water level and on the sandbed, Has been in indirect light at sandbed level, and is currently shaded under another rock right now. Seems to be further into the shade the better the mushrooms look. But they still aren't good by any standard.

This might sound silly to ask but...do you feed your coral? Do you run a skimmer non stop?
 
fishtaco

fishtaco

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3236010

This might sound silly to ask but...do you feed your coral? Do you run a skimmer non stop?
Not silly at all, almost all my coral are xenia, mushrooms and Kenya tree and my system seems to be doing a excellent job of keeping my tanks clean and without feeding once a week they are not nearly as happy.
Fishtaco
 
happyfeet

happyfeet

Member
Flower no thats not a silly question,
Skimmer runs 24/7 (Except when I put in coral food)
I feel like putting in the coral food isn't a problem, I used a turkey baster to target feed it, problem is most of the corals closed up the first day and I didn't feed because there wasn't anything to take in the food.
Do Mushrooms need to be target fed, I haven't target fed the mushrooms.
 
happyfeet

happyfeet

Member

Not sure how these turned out, They also look 50% better now that I have carbon and Ferric Oxide running on the tank.

this one fell off and I glued it to a plug and placed it in a different location to see if location is playing a role in this.

Escape, my tang kept swiming into the pictures so I'm giving into her vain tendencies and posting a glamor shot.
 
don1234

don1234

Member
Three months should be okay, but outside all of the technical and scientific terms it sounds like maybe your tank is too new and possibly too clean. If that makes sense? Anxious to see what some of the more experienced hobbyist have to say about that statement. When I started out I had a few corals that just would not really thrive they survived, but after about seven months then everything really took off. Seems like you just need to let your biological environment mature and stabalize.
 
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