need help with corals

[mandarinfish]

ever sinds i started my reef tank i've had a problem with corals, even if they should be easy to keep. my lfs told me how to take care of them, but they won't stay alive.
my corals stay for about 2 month's open and in a matter of a few days they close up and just die, i'm talking about species likepolyphillia talpina, softie's and euphyllia glabrescens.
my waterparameters are
ph: 8,1
kh: 9
no3: 30
no2: 0,0
salinity: 1022
ca: 420-450
phosphate: 0,2
temp: 25°C-78°F
further i have 2 tl's of 15000K
1 of 7500K
1 arctinic blue
lights are on for 14hrs/day
i run a biofilter with about 20 gal. water (lack of space)
tank itself is 100 gal. triangel (diamont trigon 380)

[ShirleyM]

Are you using RO water? I run my lights about 11-12 hrs day. I don't know if either of these factors are a reason to cause your problems, however.

NO3 = nitrates, right? Mine have been 20-30 off and on and haven't caused problems

What are you feeding your tank? Your corals?

Shirley

[mandarinfish]

no3 = indeed nitrates end yes i use ro water, prepare it in a sepperate tank (50 gal.)
i feed my corals calcium fluid that i mix in my prepared water, and cyclops or mysis.

[mandarinfish]

sorry, i forgot something, i use strontiumcomplex and since yesterday i bought a new product called easy-life.
the last is (supposed to be so good) that it takes care of closed corals, fish diseases and filter bacteria.

[ShirleyM]

I'm clueless and not familiar with the other products you just listed. I hope someone else has some ideas for you.

Shirley

[mandarinfish]

thaks anyway for replying,shirleym.

[spsphreak]

That is a perplexing question. I think your nitrates are a little high, but as Shirley said, other people have nitrates to that degree and their corals do okay. The only thing I can think of, and it is a stretch, is that the tank is leaching something into the water. Was this tank used before as a freshwater or fish only tank? I am thinking that the tank could be leaching copper back into the water, if copper was ever used in the tank. As I said though, it is a stretch, but if it ever was used as a freshwater or FO tank, and was dosed with copper to help out an ich problem, that could definitely be the problem. Do any other invertebrates stay alive?

Scott

[mandarinfish]

sorry spsphreak, but i bought the tank brand new, so that is out of the qwestion, or they should have foold me (but that seams unlikely becouse the tank was in the showroom, empty, and i helped it gettin it home).
the only things i use are:
instand ocean saltmix
calcium fluid
sera marinvit plus (strontium, molibdenium,lithium... mix)
bio-digest ampul's ( to maintain biological balans)
easy-life 30+ (that's a new kind of optimising fluid to keep the fish healthy and not so stressed, to keep the slime-film on they're skin in perfect condition..., and for the corals, the should be in top condition, i mean stronger, healthier, more often open.
and sodium bicarbonate, to keep the kh level up.
but now i have a qwestion, could it be that when the skimmer doesn't work propperly, that the corals are unconfertable? and how often do you guys and girls feed your fish?

[ShirleyM]

Our fish get some Omega One Marine flakes every day, and the get the variety of frozen (thawed) foods 2-3 times a week.

And yes, as Scott said, nitrates should be zero, but I just can't get ours any lower. As a rule, corals don't like high nitrates.

Shirley

[squid]

At our store (strickly saltwater, no freshwater, no birds, cats or dog stuff.) we run several soft coral tanks as well as SPS tanks. On a weekly basis we feed the tanks (at night, skimmers turned off)D.T.'s Live Marine Phytoplankton. We feed the tank at night and turn off the skimmer because we want to phytoplankton in the tank for the corals to eat as much as they can. Then in the morning we turn the skimmers back on, then every two weeks we feed them Reef Pure's Trace Elements made by Warner Marine. Once a month we feed rotifords (forgive my spelling). A lot of soft corals (shrooms, zoo's, buttons etc) are also meat eaters. Be sure to feed them some baby brine shrimp.

We also keep our (as all of our customers) tanks at a higher salinity. Ours are at 1.024 - 1.026. In the lower salinity the corals do not do as well.

Lights (IMO) should be on only 8 - 10 hours a day.

Here's a picture of our 300 gallon Soft Coral Tank.

I hope this helps out a little

[wildthings44]

I've seen tanks that were ignored for a couple of months and the corals were flourishing... They were not fed, there were no water changes, just the lights. I am unsure as to how you could have problems... but I am certainly no expert! I have several "hard to keep" corals in my tank that are doing awsome... but then I have almost killed a couple of "the really easy, impossible to kill" corals... Perhaps you should let the tank sit for a month or so and try again... and perhaps you should try a different source, sometimes the source is the unintentional problem...

[cyberchef]

First You should consider doing some large water changes to get the water column back into harmony. Also you mention that you use liquid calcium, bicarbonate but don't mention carbonate. Additives need to be used in proper combinations and proportions so as not to throw off the water parameters. Overdosing additives can really wreak havoc on a tank and it's inhabitants.

Second, I would stop adding all of the different additives and go either with Kalk or a 2 part additive. Doing regular water changes will keep most of your minerals in line and kalk or the 2 parts will allow you to maintain your Alk and Ca without the worry of opverdosing things that you don't need.

Third, if there really were a "miracle" cure all additive then there would be no need for BB's like TRT and we would all have beautiful reefs with no problems. The only answer that you would ever get for any question would to add "pick a name" to your tank and all will be well. Chemicals are not the answer and usually cause more problems than they solve. LR, LS and maturity will maintain your biological filtration and balance. Good husbandry and good water conditions will keep the fish healthy and they will supply thier own "slime" to protect thier bodies. I personally find it hard to believe that "one" additive could be great for eveything in the tank without causing something discomfort. I really have to wonder if all of the different additives are not the root of your problem.

[mandarinfish]

i just want to say thank u all for the reply and i will follow the advice.
by the way, nice tank squid, hope to get mine like that someday.