nightmarepl
NJRC Member
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Reef Growth way too slow Need Advice
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
reason im on a forum looking for advice why my corals arent growing dont need your sarcastic ass trying to be a smartass ok Chief
Looks nice. I still think its a water stability thing.
1) 10 gallon, open top, warm light above tank. There's definitely going to be temperature fluctuations, especially during the summer. You manually top off or go away for a weekend, salinity fluctuations. Things corals dont like.
2) Lots of coral and non coral living things that make waste and frequent feedings. Sure some of it gets circle of lifed into the reef, but multiple times a day, you are getting mini ammonia and other waste molecules spikes. Leading into ...
3) Not sure what you are running or how frequently you are changing whats in your filter, but given the amount of brown stuff on the back wall and what you didnt clean off, your nitrates/phosphates/and whatever else are high.
Sure you can get an ATO and dose, get a skimmer to help with organic removal, change up your chemical filtration, add a sump for volume etc etc, but at the end of the day, you at least have stable system with what you are doing. I'd say leave it be or if you want to change, take it slow. Get your testing figured out, checking your plain and just made salt water in addition to your tank water. Based on that, maybe just increasing frequency or volume of water changes/decreasing feedings and the occasional nitrate/phosphate remover might be enough to give you some appreciable growth. Maybe consider doing a large volume water change. Realistically, "explosive" growth wont happen without some major system upgrades.
Good luck!
1) 10 gallon, open top, warm light above tank. There's definitely going to be temperature fluctuations, especially during the summer. You manually top off or go away for a weekend, salinity fluctuations. Things corals dont like.
2) Lots of coral and non coral living things that make waste and frequent feedings. Sure some of it gets circle of lifed into the reef, but multiple times a day, you are getting mini ammonia and other waste molecules spikes. Leading into ...
3) Not sure what you are running or how frequently you are changing whats in your filter, but given the amount of brown stuff on the back wall and what you didnt clean off, your nitrates/phosphates/and whatever else are high.
Sure you can get an ATO and dose, get a skimmer to help with organic removal, change up your chemical filtration, add a sump for volume etc etc, but at the end of the day, you at least have stable system with what you are doing. I'd say leave it be or if you want to change, take it slow. Get your testing figured out, checking your plain and just made salt water in addition to your tank water. Based on that, maybe just increasing frequency or volume of water changes/decreasing feedings and the occasional nitrate/phosphate remover might be enough to give you some appreciable growth. Maybe consider doing a large volume water change. Realistically, "explosive" growth wont happen without some major system upgrades.
Good luck!
tank looks fine man, i'd say get the proper test kits. get your parameters stable and just enjoy the ride. growth will come, IME, growth can stagnate then one day, boom, you get a sudden massive growth in everything.
tank is still fairly young, give it some time.
Your tank does look nice and I was being harsh but this forum has been turning into a cry hole lately. You have gotten some solid advice here but corals are a long game not a short game. I still say kalkwasser and hook up the ATO to prevent any salinity swings due to evap because the stability is the key. Its a nano so your playing on hard mode. Keep winning.
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
Thanks for the solid advice only 9 more months and I’ll be moving everything into a 32 biocube currently working on collecting some gear for it and trying to master this hobby I’ll look into a ATO haven’t really seen one or know how it works but I’ll do my research my phosphate kit will come in I’ll scan it as for top off water is done daily after work so i really don’t evaporate much but I’ll definitely track fhat
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
Thanks for the advice bud
Get an ATO to stabilize the salinity and then keep your hands out of the tank. The constant fussing irritates corals and livestock. It took me a long time to learn only intervene when absolutely necessary.
ATO-tunze 3155 is solid for nano its a little on the pricey side unless its on sale. I have gone through a few cheaper ones only to go back to the tunze, with a bigger system the ATK by neptune. You want to examine if it has an optical sensor or a float cuttoff. The 3155 has both plus a time cutoff. Its basically plug and play. For the nano you can set a jug or small aquarium in the stand so it is streamlined.
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
sounds like a plan ill get on that. thanks for the advice i havent really noticed my salinity taking any hits usually 1.025 steadily topping off i usually can handle with an ATO but ill invest into one less work for me i guess
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
ya usually i keep my hands out specially cause those zoas love to mess with my eyes
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
hey guys my test kit came in and i tested my water my phosphates at 1.0-1.5 ppm is that too high? do i need to get a phosguard?
which test kit did you get?
and if that is correct, that is extremely high. you want something Po4 at around <.05
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
well i ordered two of them the one that came in was API and its showing up 1.0-1.5 after the 3minute wait window
nightmarepl
NJRC Member
yes but that hasnt came in yet
test like 5 times honestly, I hate API kits lol but I would get some phosguard in a small bag, go with half the recommended amount and test again in 12 hours and then test again after another 12 hours. Phosgaurd exhaust pretty quickly but if you put too much it'll strip your tank.