I have 125 gallon salt reef tank. Current 48" LED lighting. All of my basic test are coming up normal and in range. ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia. Yet in the past 2 months my corals are shrinking. my anemia has bleached out and shrunk as well and now not eating. all my other carpets are eating well. my big pink leather has shrunk and I haven't seen its fingers is over a month. I have had an outbreak of "baby Starfish". At least 40 of them. they look like chocolate chips stars but Ive heard it could be something else. I have lost my 3 bandit cleaner shrimp too. as for fish I have 6 green cromis, coral beauty, couple of gobies, 2 clowns, a few wrasse. Tons of clean up crew snails and crabs. What else should I test next? I didn't want to buy a bunch of tester trying to guess what's wrong. I do feed frozen fish with coral oyster feast supplements and garlic. My tank is full of live rock too. tank was purchased from someone moving and I took it over 8 months ago. I've had tanks in the past and never had this trouble.
reef worry
- Thread starter Kerrilane
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Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
Is that a current USA light? Is this a 6 ft tank or a taller less long tank?
Either way I would say its a 99% chance the problem is your lighting. you need more power as a current USA light fixture is fairly low powered and a single fixture wouldn't even be enough for a fresh water planted tank much less a reef. If this 125g is less than 6ft then there's an even bigger problem with the intensity of your light where it's going to require even more powerful lighting to supply enough.
Either way I would say its a 99% chance the problem is your lighting. you need more power as a current USA light fixture is fairly low powered and a single fixture wouldn't even be enough for a fresh water planted tank much less a reef. If this 125g is less than 6ft then there's an even bigger problem with the intensity of your light where it's going to require even more powerful lighting to supply enough.
Ingy
Aquarium Advice Addict
You should also test alkalanity. If it drops due to a significant coral load then the corals will start to suffer.
But I too would first suspect the lights. 46 watts over a 6' tank. No way. Worse yet, they don't mention anything about how Many lumen per watt their small LEDs are pushing.
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But I too would first suspect the lights. 46 watts over a 6' tank. No way. Worse yet, they don't mention anything about how Many lumen per watt their small LEDs are pushing.
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agsplayhouse
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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U need plankton an get some reef plus give that to them twice a week
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carey
Aquarium Advice Addict
To me it also sounds like a lighting issue. If it's a single fixture then its def not enough. If it's the "bars" then you would probably need at least 10 of them lol. I looked into the bars when I got my first 125g as well but it was not cost effective.
Feeding your corals is not necessary either, all I ever found from feeding corals is that my nitrates would rise after only a few days.
Feeding your corals is not necessary either, all I ever found from feeding corals is that my nitrates would rise after only a few days.
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
in a healthy tank you should never need to add things like plankton and reef plus.
Bottled plankton products are nothing but added nutrients to the tank (live phyto plankton is nice though) and with reef plus, it just supplements the same stuff that gets replaced in a water change.
Sniperhank
Giant Clam Addict
Actual numbers for the parameters will help us diagnose what is going on as well as how many bulbs this t5ho unit is.
Corals shrinking can be a parameter issue, caused by higher nutrients or low alk normally.
It could also be lighting as well, like already mentioned. How long have they been under this light fixture? How old are the bulbs? Over 6 months can change the color spectrum and cause issues, including algae growth.
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Corals shrinking can be a parameter issue, caused by higher nutrients or low alk normally.
It could also be lighting as well, like already mentioned. How long have they been under this light fixture? How old are the bulbs? Over 6 months can change the color spectrum and cause issues, including algae growth.
Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
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