I'm somewhat new to saltwater and have kept a 4 gallon pico reef for about 2 years with pretty good success. I up graded to a 26 gallon bow front and seem to have more trouble keeping the corals healthy. I change 5 gallons every two weeks and supplement with calcium every few days. i use distilled water to top off the tank to keep the salinity at 1.023. Could it be the light and not the water chemistry? I have a 65 watt PC on the tank. Should I upgrade to a 130 watt PC? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
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Lighting vs. Water Requirements
- Thread starter Vaceek
- Start date
if you are simply adding calcium like you stated, your water parameters are probably out of whack. additions of calcium will effect your alk.
just do some water changes to remove the excess and you should be ok. step it up to weekly for a while, until the parameters are correct.
how did you take care of the pico so well if you are having trouble with a larger tank? it should be the other way around. ???
just do some water changes to remove the excess and you should be ok. step it up to weekly for a while, until the parameters are correct.
how did you take care of the pico so well if you are having trouble with a larger tank? it should be the other way around. ???
Isn't there a problem with "distilled" water?
Otherwise what mr_X said is probably likely. You need to test your parameters.
PH, ALK, and Calcium minimum to start and then Magnesium next. If you are dosing two parts then they should be in line with one another...though perhaps all out of wack.
Otherwise what mr_X said is probably likely. You need to test your parameters.
PH, ALK, and Calcium minimum to start and then Magnesium next. If you are dosing two parts then they should be in line with one another...though perhaps all out of wack.
There is no problem with distilled water.. I use it all the time testing for tds @ 0 each week.
Without other information like those stated above we cannot even attempt to tell you what is wrong
PH -
ALK -
CAL -
Nitrates -
Nitrites -
Phosphates -
Silicates -
Ammonia -
Temp Avg. -
Lighting Cycle and Wattage/Bulb types -
Substrate -
LIVE ROCK Lbs. -
Salt Brand -
Keeping your Salinity at 1.025 so it might change to 1.026 after evap is more in tune with NSW. You might want to bump that up a little
Without other information like those stated above we cannot even attempt to tell you what is wrong
PH -
ALK -
CAL -
Nitrates -
Nitrites -
Phosphates -
Silicates -
Ammonia -
Temp Avg. -
Lighting Cycle and Wattage/Bulb types -
Substrate -
LIVE ROCK Lbs. -
Salt Brand -
Keeping your Salinity at 1.025 so it might change to 1.026 after evap is more in tune with NSW. You might want to bump that up a little
first of all what corals do you have.
second. are you meauring water params.
second. (cont.) did u measure water params when u had pico. b/c that should tell you what the diff is.
third. if not water param. then.... light. temp. flow. are they matching what u had inside the pico.
second. are you meauring water params.
second. (cont.) did u measure water params when u had pico. b/c that should tell you what the diff is.
third. if not water param. then.... light. temp. flow. are they matching what u had inside the pico.
sorry it took so long to respond, but when i supplment with calcium I also adjust the alk, I have no problems with nitrates and/or nitrites. PH is 8.3 and temp is about 79 degrees. Since I first posted I moved a few of the corals up closer to the light and everything seems to be doing better. I think it is time for a better light fixture. Thanks for the help.