I need Help..Reef questions.

[asonitez]

125display (30 gallon long sump) 150lbs LR
MSX250 Skimmer
BRS Dual Reactor with GranPhos and Carbon
Refugium (Dark w/ Live Rock Rubble only 40lbs)

'Trate = 0
'Trite = 0
Phos = 0
Ammonia = 0
pH = 8
dKH = 8/9
Calcium = 320

- Supplements used
Kent dKH Buffer
Seachem pH Buffer
Purpleup Calcium Buffer

Lighting

3X IceCap Miro Pendants w/ Phoenix 14k's currently 9/10" from surface of water. Lights on at 2pm Lights off at 12pm
Stock Bi-Color angel and a few other anthias etc.



Problems:

All of my corals are SPS with the exception of 1 Frag of Blue Xenia, Regular Xenia, 2 Types of Zooanthids(Armor of God, Purple Zoo's). I was caught a little by surprise that I was able to acquire so many frags of SPS in so Little time (Big thanks to Gonzapa). They all seem to be doing OK but I am noticing a few things..

First off
No Frags are RTN
Some Frags have color and are coloring up some have remained brown/pinkish. Most frags have been in there for 1 week on the sand bed and then moved up to the rocks and epoxied in. The New frags ate on a frag rack 1.5" off the sand bed off to the side of Halides.


1. I have a bi-color angel and I have seen her nip at corals but never seem to do any damage. Should I think about removing her from my setup? If thats the case and a Fish Trap won't work I'm gonna have to rearrange some things to catch her and I'd rather do that before epoxing these frags.

2. I Seem to get polyp extension after lights out instead of when the lights are on. Is something wrong?

3. I know I need to raise my calcium levels to around 400/450. Should I be dosing someting other than Purple Up?

4. When should I probably look into a reactor to handle calcium. I have about 25/30 SPS frags in the tank. The latest set of 15/16 are in frag racks on the sand bed (they came from a frag tank with t5 underpowered lighting.)

5. Are my lights at the correct height? Maybe they should be Lower.

 

[asonitez]

Lights were really high in this pic.

 

[john90009]

the well the angel is up to you- after awhile he may start doing more noticeable damage to the corals and although corals polpys are always out more at night time than day the angel could be scaring the corals so they never let out there polpys. Purple up i dont think should be used to supplement calcium- i rember someone talking about purple up having a different makeup of calcium bi carbonate that can screw with the test kits and not act like a real calcium additive - if that makes any sense. I would go with two part and test your water for what the tank needs- i know jersey wendy who has a 180 and giant sps colonies and she still has the time to does two part so the question is how much do you want to do two part daily or just hook up a reactor and fiddle with that for awhile before you get it tuned and learn your system. i remember my halides were like a foot off the water- but it doesn't matter i guess the lower you put them the stronger the penetration will be at the bottom of the tank.

 

[whitebear1020]

I use part A and B by Little Fishes every day and PurpleUp once a week. I also use Oyster Eggs to feed corals right before the lights are out at night. They do feed at night and open up at night more than during the day.
http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=02-9005-10
I was told this is the best food for SPS.
Here is my bird nest that I got at MACNA.

 

[asonitez]

I don't mind doing the 2 part. I think I will purchase the 2 part system and then go looking for my own 2 part setup using randy-holmes method. It seems the cheapest way to go about things and I'm not afraid of DIY. How do people control their alk when they have a calcium reactor?

 

[john90009]

a ph monitor controls the alk bassically

 

[mnat]

I guess you can say I use a modified two part with brightwell elemental and brightwell alk 9.3. They were recommended to me by a fellow reefer who had amazing growth. So far so good, and we have some good growth in our sps and some color has come back to other frags. The good thing about elemental is it has calcium, stronium, magnesium and potassium in it so it takes away a lot of extra dosing. Aquavitro has similiar stuff as well.

 

[asonitez]

I guess you can say I use a modified two part with brightwell elemental and brightwell alk 9.3. They were recommended to me by a fellow reefer who had amazing growth. So far so good, and we have some good growth in our sps and some color has come back to other frags. The good thing about elemental is it has calcium, stronium, magnesium and potassium in it so it takes away a lot of extra dosing. Aquavitro has similiar stuff as well.

I was just reading up on the brightwell aquatics stuff. Marine Depot has some good prices on them. I might look for them locally but I'm expecting that I will pay double for that crap.

 

[mnat]

I bought it locally and did not get killed on it, that was another bonus of the product was the price.

 

[JRWOHLER]

What salt are you using? Calcium seems pretty low for what you have in there.

I had a pygmy angel that would do what yours does...never caused any damage. They just tend to pick..if you see him taking some real bites then get rid of him.

 

[asonitez]

What salt are you using? Calcium seems pretty low for what you have in there.

I had a pygmy angel that would do what yours does...never caused any damage. They just tend to pick..if you see him taking some real bites then get rid of him.

He is not taking any real bites. I was using Instant Ocean in the 200gal box. I am changing to Reef Crystals through water changes Bi-weekly. I am going to use the remainder of that box for My softie tank or qurantine tank water.

 

[JRWOHLER]

I have the Ca levels in different salts somewhere but just good water changes with better salt will keep your Ca around 400. At least until your corals start pulling a lot of Ca out.

 

[ken6217]

Get a calcium reactor and keep the alk at around 9-11 dkh and the calcium will end up in the proper range. You don't have to play around with other chemicals or additives. Watch how how fast your SPS grow.
Ken