Salty salty??

Discussion in 'Salt' started by Jonreefy, Apr 7, 2011.

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  1. Jonreefy

    Jonreefy Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2010
    Messages:
    34
    Ok, I'm glad you guy can help me. I have a 40 gal reef-in-progress with roughly 30-35lb. of live rock I'm am goin to add more rock with some corals eventually. I have the Coralife aqualight 1 96 watt 960nm antinic and 1 96 watt 50-50 (10k and 460nm) a bak pak skimmer and a emperor bio-wheel (w/out the wheel in it) I am just in the closing stages of a hair algae battle (it was BAD!!!!!) and and using carbon and phos-lock in my bio-wheel. I have
    0 nitrite
    0 nitate
    pH 8.0-8.3
    Alk 280-350ppm (usually over 300 on test dip strips)
    Sal SG 1.024-1.025
    Phosphate 0ppm
    Thats all i test.

    Ok, now to the problem I have mushroom corals, zoanthids, a green star polyp colony and a pink flower pot coral. (Which is doing well)
    The star polyp and the flowerpot look fine (flowerpot is fading a little) but all my other corals (mushroom and zoa's ) are shrunk up and losing their color. (Flowerpot not shrunk but fading) My zoa's and mushrooms looked great when I got them but now they look terrible all faded and shrunken. The zoa's still open, and spread a little (I think). I have added I small bottle of Purple Up and a 16oz bottle of Purple Tech and I only have one weak little patch of Coralline. I even added some coralline from a friends tank. No Coralline growth at all. I started dosing small amounts of (2 little fishies) iodine (looked like some zoas had a little more color) and some Reef Calcium last week. This week I am dosing 2 ml of iodine (recommended amount for 40gal) and 10 ml of Calcium (recommended amount). The tank is my first and it's been running for 2 years ( hair algae outbreak when I upgraded the lighting from 20watt strip to 192watt coralife) and I did alot of stuff wrong when I started (killed sand, but got live sand to put in it) and it was 6 months running before I added my first damsel. Fish and stuff are healthy
    Royal Gamma
    Yellow Tail damsel
    Brittle star
    Coral Banded Shrimp
    1 astreus snail
    Various blue leg hermits (5 I think)
    Can anybody help me?:confused::cry:

    Ok this is from a different post BUT..... cold the problem be my salt?? I use instant ocean but I've read that a good salt mix supplies a majority of trace elements and stuff. I'm considering Reef Crystals. What do you guys and gals think??
     
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  3. jeffers0n

    jeffers0n Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2011
    Messages:
    245
    Location:
    Colorado
    I hand dose my tank with dry powder like stuff like calcium and others. I put one pinch from the first bag, wait 24 hours, then another pinch from the second bag. My friend is a high school chemistry teacher who gives me it. That might be your problem, not dosing enough, or your lights are too strong.
     
  4. Jonreefy

    Jonreefy Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2010
    Messages:
    34
    What stuff do you dose?? Can you explain my coral shriviling??
     
  5. jeffers0n

    jeffers0n Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2011
    Messages:
    245
    Location:
    Colorado
    I dose calcium one day and carbonate the next day, then I dose magnesium once a week. It might also be the your snails and other things crwl on them. Mine do that all the time. :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2011
  6. dellyjoe

    dellyjoe Teardrop Maxima Clam

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2010
    Messages:
    842
    Location:
    Pennsylvania

    i have the same problem i have a 30g breeder tank with 135watts of light on my tank. 8 hours at a time. i started tp dos my tank with calcium.

    and i use a photofate remover. and it has only been a week and i can see that the hair algae is under control and my corals are starting to come out.
     
  7. trijam

    trijam Coral Banded Shrimp

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2010
    Messages:
    378
    Location:
    Hamilton, ON Canada
    What test kits are you using? You might want to get a second opinion maybe take a sample to your LFS for them to test.;)