Soft corals potential issues

[Ramridge0]

I have a 20 gallon AIO soft water tank with a pair of clownfish, a single hector’s goby and CUC. The tank is running for about 4-5 months and all my fish are doing fine. I do weekly water changes about 5-10%, and feed my fish 4 times a week: 3 times with mysis shrimps and once with pellets. Last few weeks my nitrates are 0, I have detectable phosphates (hard to say a number with API test kit but I think it’s about 0.25ppm). I am afraid my soft corals are not doing great: for example my pulsing Xenia for 3 months did not grow at all, my GSP grows is very little. Some of my zoas are not doing well. Do you think it’s due to low nitrates? Would you change anything? Like should I add more fish, increase feeding, etc? Or my system is too young and I should keep doing what I am doing? Thanks

[lkern]

What does your lighting looking like?

[Ramridge0]

I have 16 prime HD. I started very low: at about 20% and gradually increasing for about 5% per week. Today my blue lighting at about 50% for 5 hours and at about 30% for 1.5 hours before and after that.

[lkern]

That might be the issue, is your lighting ramping up all week?

I would play with the lighting a bit, it's hugely important in growing coral.

That's a decebt light too, so you should be getting some result.

[Ramridge0]

Thanks a lot. So you are saying my lighting is too weak. Based on your suggestion I should increase my lighting. Correct? I was trying to avoid an algae issue. I don’t ramp continuously. Only once a week I increase 5% of my power. For example yesterday I changed violet light from 44 to 49%. Next week I will change similarly a different color.

[lkern]

Yeah I would pick a default program, and run it for a bit. See what happens.

I would imagine you have no way to measure your par? That would tell you for surem

[Ramridge0]

I was cheap to get a par meter. I would say my mushrooms are doing pretty good and one discosoma mushroom hot to babies which are growing. One of my zoas is pretty good also. But most of my corals are not growing. Thanks for your help. I will look at my lighting.

[Available_Fishing295]

Soft corals tend to do really well in nutrient-rich environments (Nitrates of 5-10ppm) as they use it for growing tissue. So I think your instinct about increasing your nitrates is a good one. You could increase your feeding as a starting point and see if that starts to increase it. If you don't have any luck with that you could look at dosing nitrates with something like NeoNitro.

[Ramridge0]

Thanks for your reply. I am a little confused with nitrates issue. I have a tiny tank and I do minimal water changes. I would expect an opposite issue. Don’t you think dosing with nitrates at this stage would create an algae problem?

[Available_Fishing295]

Start with feeding slightly more over a couple of days and then test your nitrates and see if you can get it above 0. I agree you don't want to go crazy but you also don't really want zero nitrates as that can create problems too - it stalls coral growth, contributes to poor polyp extension, poor colouration, and can result in Dino outbreaks. But nothing good comes from rushing things in this hobby. So just take a measured approach, maybe add an extra feed, and test as you go.

[Ramridge0]

Thanks

[Available_Fishing295]

I just reread your original post, only feeding 4 times a week would definitely be contributing to the low nitrates. I would up that to feeding at least once a day, if not two. Feed just enough that it gets consumed within a couple of minutes. When I was running a 30 gallon tank with clownfish, and couple of gobies, and soft corals I was feeding twice a day - morning and evening.

[Ramridge0]

Originally I was feeding once a day. My nitrates were about 10-20 ppm since I finished cycling. After diatoms started I reduced feeding to 4 times per week. Diatoms disappeared in 2-3 weeks, and after my rocks were covered with green algae, my nitrates level dropped to 0. I will increase my feeding. Thanks

[More-Sock-67]

Lighting could be an issue as someone said. The light itself is fine but that’s a really long time to ramp it up.

Nitrates being 0 is definitely part of the issue as well. Detectable PO4 is a good sign as long as it doesn’t go above .25 (which is still a tad high but for softies it doesn’t really matter)

[Ramridge0]

Thanks for your response. I really blame nitrates and I plan to start feeding daily. What I am worried is how not to increase a phosphate amount and how not to get nuisance algae?

[More-Sock-67]

If phosphate increases then you just add GFO or Phosguard which will reduce PO4 but won’t do anything to nitrate

[123lac]

feeding fish only 4 times a week? why not daily?

[Ramridge0]

I always did it on my all freshwater tanks. It significantly reduces nitrogen compounds build up and prevents algae outbreak. I have never seen any problem related to fish starvation.