Zoa and Candy Cane Help

[Ashes]

I bought a frag of branching candy canes about three weeks ago. I moved it around the tank a bit trying to find the right place for it and hoped that once it settled it would start coming out and get its full color. Now I just have one polyp that is full and the other five are white but still neon green in the middle. They also have green algae like hair coming off of them. Anyone know what I should do? They are away from current and pointing straight at the light but are sitting on the bottom of the tank and they aren't near any other corals. Any advice would be helpful I really want them to do well. I've got CP lighting...

[chunky_lover52]

cp light? did u mean pc (power compact) light?, plus check your levels (alk, calc, mag, nitrate) how old are the lights?

[Cheetos]

What size tank? How much light? And what is your calcium, alkalinity, and nitrates?

[Ashes]

I have a 52 gallon, I'm not sure what the calcium and alkalinity are but the nitrates are low. I don't have any other LPS other than a hammer in there...and the tanks only a few month old. The lights I just got a couple months ago but I need to replace the bulbs because I think they were rattled in shipping. Where can I get bulbs for a good price?

[SteveDola]

I'm not sure what the calcium and alkalinity are but the nitrates are low.


ok thats a problem. You should know a ballpark figure. These 2 levels are 2 of the most important info you as a reefer can have to help determine the problem. Buy a test kit and check the Calcium and Alkalinity atleast weekly to make sure your levels arent abnormal. You should strive to keep them as consistant as you possibly can.

Calcium should be 35o or better and Alk should be between 9-11 dhk


I dont know what you mean by the bulbs being rattled in shipping. DO they fire up? How old are they? Wattage? Size of tank---we need more info to help.

Id atleast do a water change with RO and salt to help the situation. It cant hurt.

[Cheetos]

I have a 52 gallon, I'm not sure what the calcium and alkalinity are but the nitrates are low. I don't have any other LPS other than a hammer in there...and the tanks only a few month old. The lights I just got a couple months ago but I need to replace the bulbs because I think they were rattled in shipping. Where can I get bulbs for a good price?

Calcium and alkalinity are two of the most important things for keeping corals!
You need to get some test kits....salifert or elos are pretty much the best!

[Ashes]

My bulbs are four months old. About two months ago half of two of the went out. I know that sounds odd but I brought it into the place I bought them and the guy said that they must have been rattled somehow.

I'm going to get the tests done today hopefully and I'll let you all know what they are. Thanks for the help...I'm a beginner big time.

-ashes

[Ashes]

another thing, I was told that calcium levels dont have to be worried about unless you have a lot of LPS and SPS corals. Is that some what true or not true at all? Also, what changes the alkalinity in a tank?

[jimmyj7090]

If you have anything that uses Ca for growth you should be worried about it. Think of it as one person in a very large room with no oxygen, that wouldn't work very well :) .

Also, not so much Ca, but keeping Alk levels where they should be will help a lot to keep PH stable and discourage some nusiance algaes.

FWIW, if you ask the mods to move this thread to "reef talk" you'll probably get a lot more views/input.

jk

[Ashes]

Hey guys I got my tank tested! The pH, Alk, Calcium, and salinity are all fine. The nitrates where normal but there was a little ammonia so I did a water exchange and I'll do another in a day or two just to be careful. I'm pretty sure that the ammonia was from a fish that died last night but I'm not sure what killed the fish in the first place. It was a mimic tang.