New to hobby

[mavro]

Hi guys,
Im quite new to this hobby my tank has been running for a good 6 months now and have a few problems and questions i would like some help with, also any feedback i can get from anyone would be great.

My tank Specs:
300L
40Kg Live rock
40Kg Aragonite gravel
Fish : Yellow Tang, Purple Tang, Sailfin Tang, Koran Angel, Flame Angel, Pair of Maroon Goldbar Clowns and a cleaner shrimp.
Coral : 1 Leather, 1 Green Finger, 1 Bubble, 1 Anchor, 2 Brains and 1 Anemone
1x Powerhead
1x Heater set at 26 degrees Celcius
Cannister Filter Aqua One 1200 : In filter i have Bio-Balls, Noodles, Filter media and Charcoal.
Redsea Prizm Pro Hang on Protein Skimmer
Lighting: 2 x T8 Tubes 1 Life GLO 30W 1 Marine GLO 30W
2 x T5 HO Tubes 1 Life GLO 39W 1 Marine GLO 39W
(I give the tank 8hrs of light a day)

Water Quality:
Salinity 1.024
Ph 8.2
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 - (No matter what i do even after water changes i can never get below 20)
Calcium 480
Kh 10

1st problem my 2 brains seem to be bleaching, why? i have no idea, people have recommended i move them closer to the light which i have done but i dont see any sign of the colour change. I have also been told Brain coral needs abit more calcium this is why i have raised the calcium level from 420 but still no change.

2nd problem the only coral in my tank that seem to be blooming fine is my anchor and my bubble the rest seem ok but i have seen them better in the shops, especialy my leather, the leather does get quite large but the little "spikes" dont blossom open like the ones ive seen also i have been told to give the leather more water flow which i had done and all it did was close. My green finger seems to bloom abit then close up every few hours my fish dont bother any of my coral so to that i dont understand why.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated, i will upload some photo's of my tank tomorrow to get some oppinions of my layout with the rock and the coral.

Thanks again.

[Michael]

thats quite a selection of fairly large fish for a 300 litre tank, perhaps this is why the nitrates are high, have you got a phos problem in the tank because of the food that is given to maintain the fish, this could explain the corals behavier, just a thought, welcome to RC mate, and dont forget to post some pics

[masonicman]

To Reef Central

[m0nk]

First, I'd say that the nitrates are a possible problem and 20ppm can affect coral, but I'm also bad with liter sizes vs gallons, though I think that's a 75g tank. If so, that's too small for many of those fish which is a possible reason your nitrates are high. Tangs in particular produce a high bioload, and so does the koran angel. The canister filter may trap nitrates if it isn't cleaned regularly, people in saltwater often ditch those early on realizing they add to nitrate issues. I'd swap it out for a sump. It's also possible that the angels pick at your coral a bit.

I'm also not familiar with the T8 lighting, but I don't think you have strong enough lighting for some of that LPS. Brains do need some higher lighting, so if the T8 isn't HO type lighitng, you need better. Perhaps up your T5 HO bulb count by buying a bigger fixture, or going with MH. I'm not sure that the anemone will survive with that lighting either, depending on what type it is.

I'd also recommend getting a better skimmer, the prizm skimmers are junk, imo. Even a coralife super skimmer would be better.

HTH

[mavro]

First, I'd say that the nitrates are a possible problem and 20ppm can affect coral, but I'm also bad with liter sizes vs gallons, though I think that's a 75g tank. If so, that's too small for many of those fish which is a possible reason your nitrates are high. Tangs in particular produce a high bioload, and so does the koran angel. The canister filter may trap nitrates if it isn't cleaned regularly, people in saltwater often ditch those early on realizing they add to nitrate issues. I'd swap it out for a sump. It's also possible that the angels pick at your coral a bit.

To begin with i'd like to say thanks for the feed back. ok firstly i might just stick with the prizm skimmer seems to be doing a good job for me so far until i see otherwise it will have to do. i clean my filter once a month doing a water change every 2 - 3 weeks also replacing my carbon every 2 - 3 weeks. i was thinking about getting a sump filter but i have no idea about sump filters i wouldnt know what to do....also my koran angel is pretty cool he dosnt touch any of the coral, well not from what i can see which is alot since i just sit and start at my tank most of the time , the coral thing has only just recently started happening probably about 3 - 5 weeks after the coral being in there for atleast a good 3 months so i doubt its my lighting, i may be wrong though. I was just thinking though would it help if i switch the globes? i have the 2 blue at the back and the 2 white at the front or it dosnt matter?

[mavro]

Originally posted by Michael
thats quite a selection of fairly large fish for a 300 litre tank, perhaps this is why the nitrates are high, have you got a phos problem in the tank because of the food that is given to maintain the fish, this could explain the corals behavier, just a thought, welcome to RC mate, and dont forget to post some pics

thanks for the response michael, like i said to m0nk its only just started happening in the past 3 - 5 weeks, its really got me baffled, photos will be up soon.

[m0nk]

Originally posted by mavro


To begin with i'd like to say thanks for the feed back. ok firstly i might just stick with the prizm skimmer seems to be doing a good job for me so far until i see otherwise it will have to do. i clean my filter once a month doing a water change every 2 - 3 weeks also replacing my carbon every 2 - 3 weeks. i was thinking about getting a sump filter but i have no idea about sump filters i wouldnt know what to do....also my koran angel is pretty cool he dosnt touch any of the coral, well not from what i can see which is alot since i just sit and start at my tank most of the time , the coral thing has only just recently started happening probably about 3 - 5 weeks after the coral being in there for atleast a good 3 months so i doubt its my lighting, i may be wrong though. I was just thinking though would it help if i switch the globes? i have the 2 blue at the back and the 2 white at the front or it dosnt matter?

Np, we'll see if we can get it worked out.

As far as the lighting, 3 months doesn't really provide a good baseline. I'd say that it's a good possibility that over time it has declined in health to a point where you were able to notice a difference recently. You could try feeding it mysis and/or cyclop-eeze or something.

A fuge with chaeto can help with the nitrates, but I still think lighting is a good place to start. How big are the fish? Their bioload contributes as well.

As far as doing a sump, there's lots of good threads and people on here to help with that.