Coral feeding.

i was wondering what amount of supplements i should be using in my tank. i have a biocube 29. 25-30lbs live rock. leather, mushrooms, star polyps, kenya tree (i think), zoos and button polyps.

do water changes every 10-14 days 2-3 galons. feed 1-2x daily (fish. they include bengai, 2 clowns, blue damsel) other tank mates include 2 cleaner shrimp, snails, crabs, blue star.

currently i use

phytoplex 2-3x a wk (capful each dose)
chromaplex 2x/wk (cap each dose)
microvert 1x/wk (half cap)

i have never once cleaned the gravel or filter media. tank has been running for a little under a year. i work on cars and i get oil on my skin all the time. i dont want to contaminate the tank.

water conditions

tap water used i live in vancouver, canada, if that matter

alk 180
nitrite 0
nirtate 20
ph 8.3
amn 0
ca 580 i was using purple up in the begining but stopped a long time ago.
salt was 1.028 for the longest time but i am now bringing it down.

any advice would be great! thanks

pics of my tank are in my profile under albums. let me know what you think.

 

Do you have algae problems? Tap water is usually a bad idea unless yours is exceptionally clean.
Purple up will raise your calcium. You do not need to dose that if you are not keeping any hard corals. If you are trying to grow coraline algae it will grow over time. Your water changes will supply enough calcium for that.

Be careful stirring up the bottom of your tank to clean it, that can cause an alkalinity spike if you do to much at once.

 

Also, if you are going to feed the fish one or two times a day in a tank that small, just be sure to test your params regularly. If you start having problems with nitrates, you can cut back the feedings to two times weekly. Now don't get me wrong, I feed every night to every other night. But my levels are good. Just keep an eye on things.

 

so what amount and how often? what level should i be testing the most and how often? would a skimmer do much for the nitrates?

 

every single one of your corals photosynthesize, you should not add any type of supplements to your tank, what type of lights are you running?

 

stock lights. pc. 10000k and atinic. 10.5 hours per day. not sure of the watts...30-40 watts each..

 

If it were me, I would back off feeding to twice to three times weekly. They don't need to be fed so much IMO. I used to feed every day, I have recently backed off to everyother day in my 75g and twice weekly in my 10g. And a good skimmer will remove the waste that will eventually turn into nitrates. It is a great suppliment to regular water changes and the bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle.

You need to find out what kind of lighting you have. If you are going to keep corals, lighting is the most important piece of hardware you can have. I looked up the lighting for the Bio-Cube and it appears you have PCs. Not the best for corals. You can have some softies and light forgiving LPS but I would stay away from clams and SPS. If there is a way to retrofit your unit with T5s, you may want to consider doing this. The penetration is a lot better.

Oops, you already stated PC. I missed that. Sorry.

Now, I am running PCs on my 75g. My corals are doing well. So it is possible. Just be selective as to what you put in there.

Peace.......John.

 

RE: testing. I test weekly and/or after every water change. Sp. grav., NO3, Ca, Mg, ALK, pH, I, PO4. If I have something die in the tank, I will test for ammonia and nitrites. Otherwise, I let those go. My tank is cycled and I will presume that it stays that way.

 

what test kits are the best/most accurate? i am using the hagen kits right now. as for salt i set up the tank using crystal sea marine mix, but have since switched to kent salt. i liked the other salt but cannot find it at any lfs.