Corals & Activated Carbon

[assafelbaz]

Hi.

I have in my 75gl two corals. One is the Zoanthid Button Polyps and one is the Colt Coral.
The Zoanthid Button Polyps in my tank for 2 months, it is more colorless now and i see that it is being lost almost half of it's polyps.

I have 2 questions:
1. I just read about the activated carbon, that it can harm the corals. If it is true how should i filter my water with something else?
2. How do i improve my corals to be always colorful and growing?

Thank you.

 

[Smitty]

Hello and welcome to the site...we'll need a lil more info about your tank (lights, filtration, livestock, nitrate levels, etc), because In a healthy tank, carbon doesn't cause issues, especially with soft corals.

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

+1 smitty

 

[assafelbaz]

Thank you for welcoming me.

In my 75gl i have in-tank filter. It has 4 levels (rings, plastic balls, carbon and sponge).
The surface is crashed rocks (sand like) with large live rocks on it.

The lights are 2 fluorescent bulbs, one blue and one white. They are connected to timer to light from 4PM - 12AM.

As for the levels of nitrate i need to check again.

 

[assafelbaz]

And one more question... What is +1, +2 that i see in the forum? ;)

 

[Smitty]

Hahaha...+1 means you are agreeing with the person who posted before you, and +2 if you second that post. :)

 

[assafelbaz]

That's what i thought, but i wasn't sure... lol.. Thanks.

 

[little_fish]

I think your problem is that you dont have enough light even for soft corals and the filter and crushed coral setup you have often leads to nitrates problem which is also effecting the corals you have.

 

[assafelbaz]

The tank looks full of light when it is turned on. How can i setup the filtration to be well done for these corals and the next once i will bring.

Thanks.

 

[little_fish]

To your eye it looks bright, but to the corals there isnt enough light reaching them. You are going to need to add more light if you want to keep corals.

For the filter I would remove all that stuff that in there and put some rubble rock in there with some macro algae

 

[assafelbaz]

OK, so i will go to Petco to see what they have for better lighting. As for the filtration, is the rubble rock available at stores, or should i take one live rock and crush it? Same for the macro algae, are this is for sale at stores?

If it does for sale, can you please tell what type are the best for the task?

Forgive me for my dummy, i am a beginner so i have the basic questions all the time now... ;)

 

[little_fish]

I dont think you are going to find good lighting at Petco, you will need to find that online. I would look for a 4 or 6 bulb t5 fixture with individual reflectors or a metal halide or LED fixture.

And you can break up some live rock of just put the whole pieces in. The macro algae will likely be for sale at saltwater fish store, but places like petco dont usually have it. I would look for cheato algae, it looks kinda like tangled green spaghetti.

 

[assafelbaz]

Thanks.

Can you please tell me if i am doing well. The tank is 4 months old, and i have no protein skimmer. 2 stores (petco & petland) advised me not to put it, and they also said the live rocks do the job together with the corals.

Is it true?

 

[little_fish]

corals dont do any of the filtration but the live rock is your main source of filtration so its important to have the correct ammount (1-2lbs per gallon). However a skimmer can be a very handy tool to use in a tank, so its good that you have one.

 

[assafelbaz]

Yesterday i have added solution from Kent Marine. I added Calcium Liquid, Strontium & Molybdenum, and Iodine. Today i got my Master Kit by API and i have tested my water. The PH is 7.8, Ammonia is 0ppm, Nitrite is 0ppm, and Nitrate is 40ppm.

As i have stated before (in the first post), one coral (button) lost some buttons and color, and one coral (colt) shrinked since been added to tank.

I want to know if i should wait and see how the solution will affect the corals, or should i add/change more things?

I want also to ask about the air-stone i have. Is it bad or OK to have it running in the tank?

 

[little_fish]

Unless you are testing for those things (calcium, strontium etc) you should not be adding them! It is very easy and very deadly to overdose. Even if you are doing semi-regular water changes you should have to add that stuff.

I wouldnt run the air stone, they mess with the pH and just make a mess in general.

And i think the problem with your corals is having bad lighting. They arent getting enough light to survive.

 

[assafelbaz]

The air stone is out! i am going to buy now Calcium, KH and Phosphate test kits, and the light fixture is on the way.

Thanks!

 

[OceanCrazy]

Do a 30% water change too so u the nitrate lvl will go down.

 

[assafelbaz]

OK, so i got my 4 fluorescent lights (fixture) for the reef. 2 blue and 2 white (8,000K). I also did a water change.

How long should it take until they will recover?

 

[OceanCrazy]

Give them a couple of days, but keep testing water and do water changes every week till u see if your nitrate lvl is improving.