To good of water??

[Tomchong22]

So my question is, is it posable to have to good of water quality for Lps and soft corals to grow? The reason I am asking is because all my parameters are perfect, weekly water changes, temp a constant 78, remote fuge with a algae turf scrubber and dsb. For some reason all my soft corals and Lps are just not growing that well. Any suggestions? I know to little lighting is not the answer because I have a 120 watt led fixture above the tank.

[Sniperhank]

For soft corals my opinion is yes. As for lps, i highly doubt that os the issue.

When i still had softies, they did well before i got my tank in better shape after i cycled. Once i got better at mixing up my water, keeping parameters right, and so on, my softies started having issues and my lps took off.

[melosu58]

One thing about water quality is that you can only test for what you have water test kits for. Other compounds or toxins could be in there and you would not know because your test kit does not test for that.

[Tomchong22]

Originally Posted by melosu58

One thing about water quality is that you can only test for what you have water test kits for. Other compounds or toxins could be in there and you would not know because your test kit does not test for that.

Well I test for, calcium, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, ph, alk, sg. The house is new so it does not have copper pipes, I'm just stumped as to why they are not growing as well. I am using reef crystals for my salt mix. Also the tank has been up for a year and a half

[ccCapt]

You have a fuge and algae turf scrubber so I will assume you have algae growing in both. If there are enough nutrients in the water for the algae there is enough for the corals. So I have to say no, your water isn't too clean for soft corals or LPS corals to grow.
Do you dose anything?

Well I test for, calcium, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, ph, alk, sg.

What are those parameters, what brand test kits do you use and how old are the test kits?

[mr_X]

I would also say no. What do you mean by "not growing that well"? LPS take some considerable time to build their skeletons. I think SPS grows (visually) faster.

[Tomchong22]

Originally Posted by ccCapt

You have a fuge and algae turf scrubber so I will assume you have algae growing in both. If there are enough nutrients in the water for the algae there is enough for the corals. So I have to say no, your water isn't too clean for soft corals or LPS corals to grow.
Do you dose anything?

What are those parameters, what brand test kits do you use and how old are the test kits?

I am running the fuge and algae turf scrubber to take out any excess nutrient, so yes there is going to be growth of algae. I am using a API test kit, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, phosphates all at zero, calcium is around 420 ish give or take. I don't dose anything only weekly waterchanges.
As far as not growing that well, for instance I have a torch coral that I got 6 or so month ago with 2 heads, it now has 3. Same thing with the candy Cain, zoas I can't even tell if they have grown since I got them, green star polyps have grown maybe an inch from there they were 8 months ago. I am just stumped because you see tanks where corals just explode in that same amount of time frame.

[Brooklyn2la]

Originally Posted by melosu58

One thing about water quality is that you can only test for what you have water test kits for. Other compounds or toxins could be in there and you would not know because your test kit does not test for that.

So how do you know what your water's quality is like? The LFS told me to ship it out to some place in Colorado.

[Tomchong22]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn2la

So how do you know what your water's quality is like? The LFS told me to ship it out to some place in Colorado.

The only way to really test it is to run it through a machine with high tech software to tell you how much of each chemical is in your water. Perfume companies use this same type of method to reverse engineer other perfumes and make them better.

[mr_X]

The API calcium test kit is not reliable IME. Check it against a salifert kit.

[ccCapt]

What's your alk? What's your salinity? What kind of water (RO/DI, tap, well, etc.) do you use for top offs and water changes?

[Tomchong22]

Alk is around 7dkh, sg is 1.025 and for top off I use tap water because my water tests at zero nitrates and phosphates with a ph of around 7.5

[bskerrichard27]

City water? Or well

[Brooklyn2la]

Originally Posted by Tomchong22

The only way to really test it is to run it through a machine with high tech software to tell you how much of each chemical is in your water. Perfume companies use this same type of method to reverse engineer other perfumes and make them better.

I was talking about my aquarium water.

[Tomchong22]

Originally Posted by bskerrichard27

City water? Or well

city water.

[Tomchong22]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn2la

I was talking about my aquarium water.

Lol exactly, that is the only way to tell what is in your water, the place your lfs told you to send the water to is probably a chemical engineer company.

[bskerrichard27]

Your water source ....city water well water

[ccCapt]

Originally Posted by Tomchong22

city water.

Read this.....
Aquarium Chemistry: Tap Water in Reef Aquaria — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
As will become clear in this article, using tap water is risky business. Short of testing your own water, there is no way to be certain that your water is acceptable.

[Tomchong22]

So I'm wondering, could I have to much flow in the tank?? I have 4 maxi jet powerheads, 3 rated at 500gph and 1 at 750gph. The fish love it, an I am getting great circulation but I'm beginning to think there is to much flow.( the tank is a 60 gallon with around 100ish lbs of live rock 48x12x24)

[ccCapt]

Flow isn't the problem. I have zoas and LPS in my tank and have 4 Koralia 4's at 1200 gph each and 1 Koralia 3 at 850 gph. My tank is 2x the size of yours but I have more than 2x the flow you do.
My guess is the fact you are using tap water.