Dirty/clean Corals Thriving Together

[Danv]

Wondering if anyone could explain to me how they get leathers and mushrooms to thrive along with sps and Lps? I see all these beautiful mixed reefs you guys have with acros sitting right next to zoas and both looking big colourful and open.... My Lps and sps are growing beautifully making me believe I'm doing things right but I have never been able to keep other corals like zoas or mushrooms they all seem to shrink and melt away. What am I missing? Thanks in advance

 

[heath]

that is funny, its usually the other way around, or for me it was...

 

[heath]

there are tons of people here and I am sure that they will chime in and hopefully you can figure out whats going on...

 

[reeferkeeper420]

What lights are you running? Nutrients?

 

[Danv]

I have a Rohs 120 watt led light "full spectrum" on a 65 gallon tall. my nitrates are at 2 on the sailfert and my phosphates are almost undetectable which I don't believe because I do have a cyano problem most the time, but that's for a different thread another time lol...

 

[MrHermit85]

Hmm isn't a reading of 2 for nitrates high? I always get a zero when I test for it... I have never had an issue with coral growth other than zoas in my tanks. They would just melt away. Sps (digi and Monti caps, LPS, leathers and mushrooms all living happily together with the correct placement and under Chinese leds 168w on a 75 gallon My last tank had nothing special setup wise, only gfo, carbon and skimmer.

 

[Danv]

That's the same setup as I have ... Reef octopus bh 2000 hob skimmer, jebao wp 25, gfo and carbon.... It's a light bio load with only 5 small fish and I feed on the light side... I always thought nitrates under 10 was acceptable ? Not sure but I always figured my problem had to do with my nutrients being too low and I've always fed on the light side worrying that my system couldn't process the nutrients fast enough ending up in nitrates too high for the sps to handle.. Sorry babbling on a bit

 

[EricTMah]

2ppm no3 is perfectly acceptable for SPS.

I keep mushrooms, leathers, zoas, LPS and many sps all in the system. Two tanks but all linked together through a shared sump. My no3 is always zero and my po4 is always zero as well.

I've never had anything "melt" away. But I feed my system very heavily. 3 times a day with pellets and twice with frozen. I have a large bio load as well. Close to 20 fish in about 220 gallons of total water volume.

My system can handle the over feeding so I think that the extra fish poop is helping with my lps, zoas and mushrooms.

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Danv]

Thanks... Hmmm i may start upping my feeding. Push it a bit to see what my system can handle I guess..

 

[EricTMah]

Thanks... Hmmm i may start upping my feeding. Push it a bit to see what my system can handle I guess..

Go super slow and whatever you increase it to. Keep it there for at least a week then test your water again.

With you no3 already at 2ppm. I'm assuming it'll rise even with a slight change in the amount of food.

You can try to increase the amount. But I hold NO responsibility to the outcome. Please watch you no3 and your inhabitants very closely while increasing the amount of food.

Unless you're planning to run something to control no3. I am almost certain that it will increase

Sony Xperia Z3

 

[Danv]

Thankyou Eric , and no worries I'd never hold someone responsible for my actions... I do understand the importance of stability for sucess in the hobby and I have practiced that for a while now., knock on wood here I haven't lost a fish in 2 years now and I do take pride in that so I will be taking things slowly and well monitored. Having said all that it's time to experiment a bit

 

[scubasteve]

i have mostly sps and zoos with a few gorgs and chalice kicking around. one thing i have noticed with keeping zoas long term is iodide. most people that have zoos melt away often find after getting a test kit their iodide is low. i do alot of monitoring on my coral consumption levels to base the amount of fuel to use and those zoas and palys use alot of iodide. The more i get the faster it falls and i have over 15 different kinds zoas at the moment some colonies over 25 heads.

 

[Sewerat]

What do you use to supplement any iodine loss? I know you are a fan of fuel but does it contain iodine?

 

[Danv]

To be honest iodine is one thing I have never tested and always asumed with weekly water changes I'd b alright... Thankyou for the tip I will grab a test kit and check it out... Which brand and how are you guys dosing this ?

 

[Sam Chagger]

if you have enough water to dilute whatever the corals are releasing you will be ok, harder to accomplish in nanos, carbon also helps absorb any chemical warfare

 

[scubasteve]

To be honest iodine is one thing I have never tested and always asumed with weekly water changes I'd b alright... Thankyou for the tip I will grab a test kit and check it out... Which brand and how are you guys dosing this ?

What do you use to supplement any iodine loss? I know you are a fan of fuel but does it contain iodine?

i use the entire aqua vitro lineup not just the fuel. depending on your tank consumption and brand of salt it may be depleting between water changes. i use the vibrance for raising iodide and seachems iodide test for testing.

 

[Sewerat]

I have the Redsea colours test kit coming now. Will test the tanks and see how they sit this week