Looking for pointers
 

So folks been doing this awhile and just been winging it, hoping to get some pointer on how to improve my game. As of right now here's some readings from the tanks. The Ph, Ammonia, and nitrite were from my api freshwater kit, but I used the charts from api website, the calcium, nitrate and Kh are from my api reef kit, and the phosphate was from a 3 part kit.
Calcium 520
Ph 8.4
Ammonia 0
Kh 11
Nitrite 0
Phosphate 1~2.5
Nitrate 5ppm
I don't add anything extra to the tank except kalkwasser every couple refills of my 5gallon ato system. I do a 20-25 gallon water change ever 1.5~2 weeks. My display tank is a 160 bowfront, I think the refuge is about 20gallons,and my sump area is a 55gallon.

I have a deep sand bed in the fuge, some live rock and cheato that doesn't grow, it's got a led light that came with the tank. I don't clean the fuge, read that I shouldn't, what do you guys do with your fuge?

For flow I have my two corner overflows with a aquaclear 110 which is rate for 900gph at 0,i also have two mp40ws on each side side running on reefcrest at 76% with the other one on anti-sync. Should I move my powerheads, add more flow, change up the schedule?

Lighting I got 3 gen3 Ecotech xr30w, running perpendicular along the tank. I have it running on the coral lab at 46% from 4pm to 12am.

My main concern for improvement is the hopefully fix up some of the Sps I got from a local, I'm unsure if it's even at the stage of coming back, the birdnest is mostly brown but there's still some spots that are green.

I'll take any criticism as that's the best way to improve!
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...223_203959.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...223_203802.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...223_203756.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...223_203756.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...223_204017.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...223_204025.jpg

Sent from my SM-N920W8 using Tapatalk

Your lighting, flow, and w/c schedule seem fine. We can worry about those later.

What salt are you using? Are you using RODI?

Deep sand bed is so 2001. I'd lose that.

API kit is fine for ammonia, but I would replace the following; Salifert for Alk, Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrate, and Phosphate. Down the road, get a Hanna Phosphorus checker for more accurate reading. 1 - 2.5 is awful for po4. Don't worry about pH, that will take care of itself.... and throw the Nitrite kit in the trash.

SPS are very demanding and require stability, stability, and more stability.

Also get a good refractometer ($70) and mix your next w/c at 1.025. You should see better parameters.

Some people might argue the point, but Alk at 11 is way too high for my liking. I would aim for 8ish.

I agree with everything Warren said. You need to use better quality test kits to make sure you're getting reasonably accurate numbers. Without those numbers it's tough to say what you need to do.

Looking at your tank, it is not ready for SPS. You have too many soft corals in your tank which are chemically aggressive, and will not get along with SPS. These are the leathers on the right side, the brown/green polyps that look like they're everywhere, and the Xenia too. SPS need very clean water, and extremely stable parameters. For example, that phosphate needs to be under 0.1 ppm before you will have much luck. Some of the tougher SPS may be able tolerate higher phosphate (there are lot of examples online), but people won't tell you how many they killed before they found the ones that could tolerate it. :lol:

It all depends what you want out of your tank. Which direction do you want to go? Soft corals are the easiest corals to keep and generally do ok in most tank parameters. LPS hard corals such as Frogspawn, Hammers, Brains, Candy Cane, etc are fairly easy too, but need you to pay attention to calcium and alkalinity for best success. The more finicky ones will have less tolerance for nitrate and phosphate. SPS are the end of the line, they are the most challenging corals to keep.

One last thing, those polyps in your tank appear as though they may be the type that are typically associated with Palytoxin poisoning which can be VERY serious. If you provide a better photo of the polyps (try using a flash and put your camera/phone right up to the glass) I could confirm if they are that type or not. Of all the Palys, the ones that contain Palytoxin all look very similar to each other. Of those, some will contain no Palytoxin, and some will contain a lot. There is no way for a person to safely find out other than laboratory testing (which is expensive).

So would it be best to go bare in my fuge?

As for test kit I'll have to order sone as local only has api, not gonna like in the 4 years or doing this I've only tested maybe 4 times.

I don't think I'll plan on adding NY sps then I have, as I prefer lps, but would like the stuff I have to do better if possible. I moved it up closer to the light on a locals recommend on fb.

I do have a good refractometer and I do my w/c at 1.025. My di resin is all out so I'm sitting at 1pmm as I awhile some more resin, as again locally there's nothing. I use instant ocean reef salt as that's all I have access to



Sent from my SM-N920W8 using Tapatalk

I'll snag some good photos with my camera tonight. I've been running this tank for 4-5 years with most of the coral, I moved it from a 66 gallon with 55 fuge downstairs to what it is now about 2 years ago. In that time I've upgraded equipment,like going to the mp40ws and the radions from my old ai sol blues. I've been a lazy keeper and had things do alright, I'm just ready to start having things thrive then survive.

Sent from my SM-N920W8 using Tapatalk

FYI, DI resin works via ionic binding, which is essentially a magnetic attraction. When DI resin is "used up" it loses this magnetic attraction and will quite suddenly let go of everything it has attracted. For this reason, it is very important to change the DI resin the moment you see 1 ppm.

Ok sounds good, I'll keep an eye open for the pics. The large amount of soft corals will also irritate LPS corals, so if you really want LPS to thrive, you'll want to really diminish the soft coral takeover. Don't do anything with those polyps until they are identified though. Even if they are the "bad" ones, the chance of them having high levels of Palytoxin is low, though I feel a moral obligation to warn people when I see them. Especially in such vast numbers.

Yeah it makes it really hard to keep up to date with everything when you have to order things in, we used to have a local couple running things from there house which was good but they stopped so now i have to stock up. I plan on doing a order next week as i want a little skimmer for my 36 bow front that ill be using as a qt till i get this tank more stocked with fish.



My wifes favorites are all the softys ha so im trying more so to fill in the left side that's more bare, I'm some what careful when working around polyps as when i got into the hobby i read that article about the guy,his wife and the dogs getting sick from boiling the rocks. I've never gotten sick when accidentally taking a swig of water or from getting water on my cuts in my hand( My hand pretty much always have cuts and scabs on them from my other hobbies) so I've always just assumed that there safe ha.

Im gonna try the lps and softy program from ecotechs website, and try and focus on those and hopefully the little sps i have being high and right under the light well do alright. What should i set my mp40s schedule to?

The tank growth isn't looking bad at all!

Yes, those pics you posted are the type of Palys that are typically associated with Palytoxin poisoning. That doesn't mean that yours have any level of Palytoxin, or it could mean they're deadly. Without lab testing, you won't know for sure unless you get sick. Since they haven't made you sick yet, the likelihood is lower, though it's also possible that you just haven't disturbed them enough. Regardless, I'd suggest you continue to be careful.

Either way, the polyps are still quite chemically aggressive to other corals in the tank - all soft corals are, but some more than others. If it was my tank, I'd be removing a bunch of rocks and bleach them to get rid of all the polyps. They just take over! :)

You will have a hard time making the tank thrive like you say you want to without seriously diminishing the soft coral population.

Or, you can just enjoy it for what it is. :) If you really want to, you could start up a second tank for LPS only (and maybe some SPS). :D

The only real spot I'd like to get filled in a bit more is http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...224_205127.jpg the right side I'm quite happy with

Sent from my SM-N920W8 using Tapatalk