What am I doing wrong

[minireefinternational]

I admire those of you who can keep a reef tank. I have tried for over 3 years spending thousands of dollars just to see my new coral close up and never truly open. I need some help. Here is what I got.

EQUIPMENT:
150 Gallon aquarium
crushed coral substrait
75 of live rock taking up about 30% of the aquarium.
2 power heads (100 GPH)
1 power head (300 gph)
wet/dry filter with bioballs
1050 gph pump connected to the W/D
three 400w 14000k metal halide light sitting about 6 inches from the top of the aquarium.
chiller
Large protein skimmer
Kent RO/DI

TANK HABATAT
15 Mushrooms, Was 3 inches in diameter now one inch or less
2 leather coral, was about 6 inches in diameter, now less than two inches
1 Long Tentacle Plate, tentacles were 5 inches long, now 1/2 inches long
2 fish which have lived in the tank for over a year despite me never feeding them
I have a couple of other corals but I do not know there names. They are doing about the same.
30 hermit crabs, many have died
30 snales, down from 250

I do not use any additives. but have tried iodine, magnesium, strodium, reef builder, Kalkwasser by seachem and kent. no luck, I use instant ocean salt and have recently switched to coralife. I do water replacements every week. I tried more often and less often. It does not make a difference.

lights are on for 6 hours a day. I went to 8 hours and that did not help so I went back to 6 hours.

Water temp. is 78

No nitrates/nitrites/pho4
Calcium is 500
ph is fine
alk is fine
spg is 1.023


All the corals are still alive after 1 year but they have never truley opened up much less grown. I look at your all pictures you have on this site and am amazed. I looked at the picture of the "1oo gallon reef Hope you enjoy".This is how my coral looked befor I put them in my aquarium. within 6 months they shrival up and/or die. I have added Anemones but they die in about a month or less.

I need help. Any Idaes?

Darren

[jermpool]

First off, welcome to Living Reefs. I am no expert on corals but here are a few of my thought on your situation. I am sure a more knowlegable member will chime in later.

How old are the bulbs in your lights? They need replaced about every 12 months.

It could be the location you are placing your corals. Some corals do better closer to the light and some do better farther away. I know the shrooms don't like direct light.

Current can also be an issue. Some corals don't like direct and some need direct flow.

Another thing is that some corals need to be fed. Try adding a liquid invert food.

I would recomend finding an informative book that tells you idea care conditions for corals and finding your corals to know what to do. I say this because you say you have a leather and my book has 3 different leathers in it so it helps to know exactly what you have. It can be hard to properly identify corals with a picture alone.

[bobby]

It sounds like you have too much light, the corals you named off are a low light coral. Are they placed at the bottom of the tank, and shrooms in shaded areas? I'm sure the salinity is'nt the prob but I would bring it up to 1.025. You probably got a bigger prob if a anemone is dieing within a month. How old are your test kits? If there more than a year old they might need replaced. Have you tested for copper

[yote]

Be careful with additives too.Its easy to over dose those,which can cause a crash.
Slowly bring your salinity up to at least 1.024.I personally keep mine at
1.026.Do you use a hydrometer or a refractometer to test salinity?If your using a hydrometer you might want to check its accuracy.I have seen them be off by as much as 5 points either way(high or low).
In short
Dont dose anything unless your testing for it and its low.
Double check your salinity(im betting this one is the problem)If it to high or to low,adjust it slowly.

[minireefinternational]

I thank you.

I cange my lights every 6 months, My new lights are 3 weeks old.

I will cange my 400 watts to 250 watts and see if this helps.
I will also increase my SG to 1.025 and see what happens. I never had it this high. I use a digital SG.

[Bifferwine]

Hello! From Mesa, eh? FINALLY a fellow Arizonan on here!

I would start by saying that you probably would benefit from adding more live rock, at least 1 to 2 lbs per gallon. I agree the the post above that that seems like a lot of light, maybe try raising the lights up higher and moving the corals down? That seems like a good suggestion to me, thanks Bobby.

What kind of water do you use? Do you use tap water for your water changes or do you use RODI water?

Like Jerm said, most corals need to be fed something, whether it be plankton or chunks of seafood. If you do not feed some of them, they will either die or just whither away, which is what sounds like has happened to many of yours.

I'd skip adding any more additives, like Yote said, adding something you don't need can kill things just as easily as not adding something you do need.

What kind of fish do you have?

For now, I would not add any more animals to your system until you figure out what is going on. Something is obviously not right.

[minireefinternational]

Sara,

I dont think I can add much more live rock. My estimates may be a little low.

I measured the distance from the top of the water to the bottom of my bulb is 4 inches.

My mushroms are 12 inches from the light.
My leather corals are about the same.
My brown Zoanthids are 10 inches away and have done well.

It will take me a while to look up all the corals but I don't have many.

I do my water changed using a kent RO DI/SI water. The same with fillings when the water level gets low.

I have never feed my corals. I thought the corals live off the lights. This my be why my corals are they are dying or just withering.

I have two fish, an damsel and a yellow tang. Although they are beutiful, I like the looks of corals. (when is a stores mini reef, not mine}

Darren

[minireefinternational]

I thank you all so far. I am going to the store today to buy 7 different types of corals. This way I will know what type of lighting, water current and feeding they need.

since I have never fed any of the corals, this has to be the problem. I have tried everything else.

I will try this and let you know what happens next week.

Darren

[Adrastos]

I'd recommend not buying anymore until you find the problem.... it's an expensive risk to keep adding new additions without knowing why the others are not thriving.

As for the live rock - you can defintely add much more. I have more pounds of rock in my 46 gallon than you do in your 150. Don't worry about the tank - it can hold much more weight then you would even imaging. I would recommend in a 150 to have atleast 300 pounds of rock or more.

[Bifferwine]

I agree -- I have 120 lbs of live rock in my 55 gallon tank. Live rock will help immensely with filtration. I also second Adrastos' opinion to NOT buy any more corals until you figure out what is going on with the ones you have... How about you try feeding the ones that you have and see if that helps them instead of buying more? You should also research the corals that you are thinking of buying before you buy them, different species have very different needs and you want to be sure you can provide for those needs beforehand instead of dooming them from the start. Very few corals can survive off of light alone.