My first reef

[WheresTheReef]

5 hours ago, Bmp78 said:

@WheresTheReef do I have Actinic light with your setup you made? I'm trying to see color of rainbow montipora but don't see much..

Updated pictures? Not sure where the LED settings are. There should be a blue channel and white channel. Coral health depends more on the blues than the whites. Did you ever borrow the PAR meter from the club? It is the best way to adjust the light intensity. The T5 bulbs are from ATI. I think those were Coral+ and either Blue+ or Purple+. Coral+ has some green and red that adds a whiter look to the tank. Purple+ has more red so it looks more pinkish. Some people just run Blue+ for the supplements. You could do 2x Blue+ if the tank is too white. There is also a true actinic bulb available, but not in your setup. It probably is worth replacing the bulbs already, so perfect time to tweak your bulb configuration if you want. Here’s a couple videos covering T5 colors.

 

 

 

 

[Bmp78]

On 11/12/2020 at 7:11 PM, therootcause said:

Which you can rent for like $5 (less security deposit) from WAMAS!


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I added my self in the list but haven't heard back form anyone. Would I get notificaiton?

[AlanM]

23 minutes ago, Bmp78 said:

I added my self in the list but haven't heard back form anyone. Would I get notificaiton?

 

I emailed you on Oct 20 using your email address in your WAMAS profile to say you were up for borrowing the PAR meter, but got no response.  As a result I moved on to the next person.  I have one available to send if you want to answer that email I sent...

[Bmp78]

White spot on Rainbow Montie. It was on the rack. I moved it to high light, high water flow area.

1 week after I started seeing this. In between I added cleaning crew hermits crabs. It this dying? 

What can be done to help save this?

[Bmp78]

5 hours ago, Bmp78 said:

White spot on Rainbow Montie. It was on the rack. I moved it to high light, high water flow area.

1 week after I started seeing this. In between I added cleaning crew hermits crabs. It this dying? 

What can be done to help save this?

White spots are increasing after I did coral dip for 8min.

[AlanM]

How are your water parameters?  Calcium, alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate?  Are other corals doing ok?

[Bmp78]

Lightning:

I did test the PAR. Initially, it was at 200 at the surface and 110 bottom center. Around the center it was 75 range. left side of the tank where lights are not there is giving 40 Par below.

 

I bumped up sunny setting Ch1 to 90, Ch2 65. 

Now I am getting 325 Par surface, Ground 250 PAR, all round the tank 150.

In addition, If I turn on T5 in the noon, it will add additional 50 PAR everywhere for next 4 hours.

On 11/21/2020 at 8:14 AM, AlanM said:

How are your water parameters?  Calcium, alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate?  Are other corals doing ok?

 With Marine Care test kit, 10ml water, 15 drops alkalinity titration. My alk is at 15 :(

[AlanM]

I don't know what that test kit is, but if your alkalinity is really 15 dkh, that is way too high.  Alk of around 8dkh is good.  Calcium of around 400ppm is good.  Magnesium of around 1300ppm is good.  Salinity of around 35ppt (SG of 1.026) is good.  Nitrates below around 10ppm are good.  Phosphate should be near the lower detection limit on whatever test kit you have.  Keep everything around there over long term, and you'll do fine.

 

Is your salinity high too?  What do you run at?  What are you testing for and how old is the tank?  It looked like you were still kind of working out issues with adding rock and water topoff well into October, so the tank seems pretty young and maybe you're having issues with stability of water chemistry. 

 

Corals can grow in a range of parameter levels, but they don't like changing conditions.  They need stability.  Until you get your system settled down it will be hard to have stable water parameters and it will be a challenge to keep coral alive.

[WheresTheReef]

Hopefully the video I shared with you helped with the use of the PAR meter to optimize the lighting. 250 at the floor is good for an SPS tank. The 150 and under will grow just about anything. In my tank I decided to run the T5 supplement for a full 8 hrs. I feel that the T5s can help fill in spectrum that LEDS can miss. However, you need to account for the extra PAR from the T5s.

 

You might take a picture of your tank and write in the PAR measurements while you have the meter. Later you will forget. This way you can plan coral placement down the road.

 

Might share all of your water parameters. Alan gave some good parameters to target. Stop any dosing and see how the parameters drop over a week. Stability is key so slow adjustments are best.

 

In addition to water parameter issues a young tank can be challenging. Dry rock takes longer to mature and your corals might feel the “growing pains” of the newish tank. Patience and going slow is important in this hobby.

[Bmp78]

On 11/23/2020 at 11:22 AM, Bmp78 said:

Lightning:

I did test the PAR. Initially, it was at 200 at the surface and 110 bottom center. Around the center it was 75 range. left side of the tank where lights are not there is giving 40 Par below.

 

I bumped up sunny setting Ch1 to 90, Ch2 65. 

Now I am getting 325 Par surface, Ground 250 PAR, all round the tank 150.

In addition, If I turn on T5 in the noon, it will add additional 50 PAR everywhere for next 4 hours.

 With Marine Care test kit, 10ml water, 15 drops alkalinity titration. My alk is at 15 :(

 

Here is graphical PAR map of my tank..

[Bmp78]

On 11/23/2020 at 1:22 PM, AlanM said:

I don't know what that test kit is, but if your alkalinity is really 15 dkh, that is way too high.  Alk of around 8dkh is good.  Calcium of around 400ppm is good.  Magnesium of around 1300ppm is good.  Salinity of around 35ppt (SG of 1.026) is good.  Nitrates below around 10ppm are good.  Phosphate should be near the lower detection limit on whatever test kit you have.  Keep everything around there over long term, and you'll do fine.

 

Is your salinity high too?  What do you run at?  What are you testing for and how old is the tank?  It looked like you were still kind of working out issues with adding rock and water topoff well into October, so the tank seems pretty young and maybe you're having issues with stability of water chemistry. 

 

Corals can grow in a range of parameter levels, but they don't like changing conditions.  They need stability.  Until you get your system settled down it will be hard to have stable water parameters and it will be a challenge to keep coral alive.

I do have issues with salinity. No matter how much salt I added the bar isn't moving up much.. 
I had it at 1.020, 40g (tank +Sump). I added almost 3 cups of salt gradually in the sump and bar moved form 1.020 to 1.022. I am afraid of over dousing salt because I don't know if my refractometer is doing any justice. 

[arking_mark]

11 minutes ago, Bmp78 said:

I do have issues with salinity. No matter how much salt I added the bar isn't moving up much.. 
I had it at 1.020, 40g (tank +Sump). I added almost 3 cups of salt gradually in the sump and bar moved form 1.020 to 1.022. I am afraid of over dousing salt because I don't know if my refractometer is doing any justice. 

There are reef calculators that will help. Also, I hope your not adding salt directly to a tank with Livestock.

[Bmp78]

1 minute ago, arking_mark said:

There are reef calculators that will help. Also, I hope your not adding salt directly to a tank with Livestock.

I added 1/2 cup every 6hrs in the sump return where water flow and skimmer is.

[arking_mark]

I added 1/2 cup every 6hrs in the sump return where water flow and skimmer is.

Also, what are you using to measure salinity?

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[Bmp78]

4 minutes ago, arking_mark said:

Also, what are you using to measure salinity?

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I have a refractometer I remember the brand.. 

[Bmp78]

10 hours ago, Bmp78 said:

 

Here is graphical PAR map of my tank..

 

I found this custom config for Evergrow IT2060. It doesn't give me PAR with above configs that I setup. Hopefully when T5 kicks in it will do the job.

Reference Link: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2414176 
Time:………….Blue:……....White:
12:00am…….…0……….………..0
1:00………………0……….…………0
2:00……………..0……….…………0
3:00……………..0…….…………..0
4:00……….…...1……….………..0
5:00……………..9……….………..0
6:00………….…20………………..0
7:00…….……..40………..………0
8:00………….…60…………………1
9:00………….…70……………….10
10:00……….….80………………20
11:00…………..90………………40
NOON…..….….90………….….50
1:00………..….90……….………40
2:00……….……80………………30
3:00……….……70………………20
4:00……….……60……….…….10
5:00……….……40………………..1
6:00……….……30……….……….0
7:00…………….20………..………0
8:00…………….10……….……….0
9:00……….……90……….….……0
10:00…………….1…………..……0
11:00…………….0………….…….0

[WheresTheReef]

9 hours ago, Bmp78 said:

I added 1/2 cup every 6hrs in the sump return where water flow and skimmer is.

Not a good idea to mix in the aquarium. You want to mix the salt in another container and then add. Salt is caustic and can damage corals. Also, mixing in another container allows it to dissolve properly and helps it reach equilibrium with the CO2 in the air which normalizes pH and adds oxygen. Raise salinity slowly through water changes with slightly higher salinity than your tank. You can also add in the saltwater to replace evaporated water. It will raise the salinity since salt doesn’t evaporate.

 

Recommendations for light channel intensity will be different for every tank. Use other people’s settings as a guide, but adjust based on the PAR meter. The meter is really your best tool for light adjustment. With experience, you can also look at your corals and take cues from them.