What am I doing wrong? Or am I just being impatient ?

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by reefwars

Humm frogspawn and clam...two animals that react to flow, have you tried moving them around? What are u using for flow??

The clam will handle any volume of flow but may be ****ed while getting use to it.

Also what type of clam and where do you have it sand or rock??


Cheers

Hi I have not moved the clam or corals around since I first put them in the tank friday morning. The clam is on the bottom in a very low flow area for now, and is perched up on a few rock rubble pieces which are sitting on the bottom of the tank (his mantle was already attached to a piece of rock when I bought him) It is a derasa clam.

The frogspawn as you can see in the album pics is positioned 1/3 of the way up from the bottom in a very low-medium flow area.

I am using 2 Koralia Hydor 1050 gph power heads and my return jet from my sump.

[Aquattro]

You might be better doing a larger water change less often, say 20 or 25g every 2 or 3 weeks. Greater dilution. The skimmer will help too. It doesn't sound like you're in deep trouble, just need to tweak water quality and figure out your lights more. I think they have a dial or something to turn them up and down, not really sure how it's indicated for brightness/intensity.

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

You might be better doing a larger water change less often, say 20 or 25g every 2 or 3 weeks. Greater dilution. The skimmer will help too. It doesn't sound like you're in deep trouble, just need to tweak water quality and figure out your lights more. I think they have a dial or something to turn them up and down, not really sure how it's indicated for brightness/intensity.

Hi I see what you mean now about the lights - Yes the brightness/intensity is about 1/2 way up. They have 2 dials, one for brightness(intensity) one for how much tuna blue/white light you want.

So what do I have to change about my water quality exactly and how do I go about doing so? If these are my params
Ammonia 0.00 ppm
Nitrate 0-2.5 ppm
Nitrite - 0.00 ppm
Magnesium 1300 mg/L
Alkalinity 11 dkh
pH 8.2
Calcium 400-410 mg/L
Salinity 1.024

Is the Alk the only thing that is high? Everything else seems to be in the right range?

And thank you for the tip on the water changes.

Update: As the day progresses the clam and frogspawn continue to open more and more and look happier and happier. I am relieved, I think they just took a few days to acclimate but I do want to get on top of my water quality, any tips will help - and I will be picking up a phosphate test kit. Anything else I should be checking or are those all the essential parameters?

[Aquattro]

For water quality, it's more about dissolved nutrients than all the stuff you can measure. Get the skimmer running well, it will clean the water and likely raise pH a bit, add more O2 in, etc. And be patient

[mandyplo]

Whoah sorry guys I guess all the pics I linked earlier didn't work?

Here is my frogspawn yesterday when he was still ticked off



Here he is today, much happier from what I can tell



Here is my clam yesterday not fully open (It is much more open today sorry I didn't get a pic of it today)



My unknown Favia frag



Here is my overall set up with lights over tank - some before/some after corals & clam were purchased (Are the lights too high?)





Panda can has corals?


Edit: Please ignore the ugly mesh disaster DIY top It is being replaced asap......... lol

[MMAX]

I would say your lights are too high. I'm not familiar with these LEDs that you have but from the picture they seem like they're quite a ways away.

[Spyd]

I would definitely lower the lights more. I would say a good 6" or so. It is amazing how much that will increase your par levels at the bottom of the tank.

You have very little rock in there, but, that should not be a problem because you have very little livestock in there. If you do decide to start stocking heavier, I would suggest running bio-pellets to help with the denitrifying process. Your perameters look good though. ALK is a little high but everything else is in a good range. I doubt from the pictures that you have any phosphate issues as you would see some nusience algae by now. I would suggest purchasing a Hanna checker though when you get the chance.

Definitely stop feeding the zooplankton. Your corals and clam will get enough food from the fish food. Excess zooplankton can decompose and cause all sorts of problems.

It looks as though everything is back on track for you.