tryin to make my tank a reef.. need help *long read*

[rcdude1990]

hey guys whats up, my name is victor.. ive been members of other reef discussion boards but they havent helped much so i come to reef 2 reef for some help
first a brief history
i have a 125 gallon salwater aquarium thats been running for a good 4-5 years now. its gone threw some changes and upgrades so i guess ill list equipment first
125 gallon glass aquarium
about 130 lbs LR and 100lbs sand
a trigger systems RUBY36S (36 gallon sump)
a super reef octopus 3000 internal protein skimmer
small refuge in the middle (which im having some problems and trouble with)
BRS dual media reactor with gfo and carbon
2 mp40 ecotechs
4 AI Vega led units
auto top off
and rodi station
fish and corals:
2 clownfish
blue hippo tang
sailfin tang
2 foxfaces
1 magnificant foxface
3 cleaner shrimp
a few green mushrooms, fuzzy muchrooms, and a colt coral
so when i started it was only a FOWLR, which went well but of course whats the point of having a marine aquarium with out some coral
so about 2 years ago i decided i wanna try some coral.. so i purchased the sump, media reactor, led lighting, and the prtein skimmer
im looking to keep corals that move with the water, mostly softies, like leathers, zenia, gsp, frogspawn and hammers. not really into the hardy corals that dont move lol
ok so.. i did the upgrade and all and was excited to get my first bundle of chaeto... but after a few months the chaeto didnt do well i sappose and died off. ive seen chaeto like a very bright green.. mine was very dark so i figure it died? also it slowly disappeared lol so yes im guessing it died. i would run my sump light (which was a regular lamp light bulb) for 24 hours... so i guesss thats what killed it maybe? andway i got another piece and again its slowly starting to like fade and shrink less and less... plus i changed the sump lighting to run opposite my led lighting.. so led on = sump off.. led off = sump on.
so thats 1 problem.. i cant seem to keep chaeto alive... yes i know some of you are going to say test parameters; which i will do write after i write this post haha
second
i picked up a mushroom frag a while back from a nearby reefer and surprisingly it has survived anddd has branched out.. it started as a tiny frag and now i have about 10 big sized muchrooms. so im good at keeping mushrooms. i also picked up a fuzzy mushroom about 3 weeks ago and so far so good it looks happy.
i also got a colt coral that seems to be happy (the polyps on the stems are fully open) so im guessing thats happy lol
but i have had a try at like xenia and gsp and i had no luck (this was about 4 months ago since i last tried)
so im looking to keep easy frags.. colorful that sway with the water and such but i cant seem to have luck with keeping the main important ingredient (so i heard it is) which is chaeto
is my sump light ok? is my ligthing times ok?
also the salt mix i use is "tropic marine pro reef"
i dont dose, i top off with rodi water, and i only feed my fish pellets and romaine lettuce.. i dont have anything for the corals.. any suggestions for something for the corals old help
i see everyones tanks and im like dam they are beautiful! like a friend of mine has a 30 gallon and all she said she does is "water changes with nutri seawater is all i do to the tank" and im like how?! i dont get it lol
i feel like i have the equipment but im not doing something right. so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[rcdude1990]

test results
PH: 8.0-8.2
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5.0-10
phosphate: 0-.25
calcium: 520 mg/l ppm
kh: 12 degreedkh or 214.8 ppm kh (api reef master test kit)
salinity:1.027

 

[dmanatee]

believe it or not, I think your tank is "too clean" for the nitrate and phosphate loving cheato. Also Xenia actually love their water a little "dirty" when the water quality is not absolutely pristine they flourish and when it is, they shrivel away. You might actual try a stony coral and find you have more luck.

 

[snakeblitz33]

0.25 phosphate is fine for that size tank with soft corals and is enough to grow chaeto. I think you should put your GFO reactor offline and run chaeto again and see if it grows. Chaeto prefers a swift current so it can tumble and it also likes 16hours of dark. It also likes pretty strong light, so I would do about 10w of LEDs on up to 20w.
Some macro algae prefer a little iron in the system and can benefit with a little.
Chaeto never worked for me. I was much more successful with varieties of caulerpa such as C. racemosa.
Macro algae is not a necessity to have a successful tank.
Also, check your top off water for chlorine and chloramines. They have negative impacts on everything, especially macro algae.

 

[silverado61]

Salinity- 1.027..... is that before or after top off? It just seems a little high.

 

[bang guy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/397352/tryin-to-make-my-tank-a-reef-need-help-long-read#post_3541487
0.25 phosphate is fine for that size tank with soft corals and is enough to grow chaeto. I think you should put your GFO reactor offline and run chaeto again and see if it grows. Chaeto prefers a swift current so it can tumble and it also likes 16hours of dark. It also likes pretty strong light, so I would do about 10w of LEDs on up to 20w.
Some macro algae prefer a little iron in the system and can benefit with a little.
Chaeto never worked for me. I was much more successful with varieties of caulerpa such as C. racemosa.
Macro algae is not a necessity to have a successful tank.
Also, check your top off water for chlorine and chloramines. They have negative impacts on everything, especially macro algae.

I experimented a little back in the day and it seemed to me that chaetomorpha seemed to grow better with some extra infrared radiation. If so then LEDs might not be appropriate as they don't produce much heat at all. I could be wrong but it seemed to grow significantly faster under massively inefficient bulbs such as halogen when compared to VHO or Compact Fluorescent.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I experimented a little back in the day and it seemed to me that chaetomorpha seemed to grow better with some extra infrared radiation.  If so then LEDs might not be appropriate as they don't produce much heat at all.  I could be wrong but it seemed to grow significantly faster under massively inefficient bulbs such as halogen when compared to VHO or Compact Fluorescent.
Wow. It could very well be the case. It would explain a lot. In that case, C. racemosa may not require s much I any. I was able to grow it under LEDs like a weed. Good observation.