how to prepare for a reef?

i dont know if im ready for reef tank yet, for some reason i just cant keep coral.

i have a mp40 so my flow should be good, my permeters are where they should be, i have a radion light on natural mode, no current algea out breaks. no idea what im doing wrong.

i feed 2 frozen rinsed cubes (1 brine/1 krill) once a day
i have 5 fish, 2 clowns, foxface, hawkfish, pinkface wrasse

-25 gallon water change with reef crystals twice a month with RO/DI 0TDS water
-1.026 SG checked with a refratometer and double checked with a hydrometer
-water temp stays 77-79 degrees, verified by two seperate thermometers (DT and sump)
-i check my perameters on a weekly basis
-440 calcium (salifert test)
-alk is 9 dKh (salifert test)
-0 phosphates (salifert test)
-8.0 pH (API test)
-0 nitrates (API test)
-0 ammonia(API test)
-0 nitrites (API test)
-a matured/unditurbed sand bed
-its been set up and cycled for 7 months now.
-ROX 0.8 carbon/HC GFO in a BRS duel reactor changed out monthly

i acclimate the corals exactly like im supposed to, float, dripped and lighting conditions, but with a few weeks to a few months, ive lost 7 frags, and a big frogspawn. i dont spray any chemicals in the room, no febreeze or anything like that, i dont even light candles, no windex for the glass, nothing. clueless.

what am i doing wrong? and how do i properly prepare for corals?

 

What corals have you lost and how did they die? Also how tall is your tank? What im thinking is that you are giving them too much light. The radion's natural mode on 100% for 9 hrs is too high light for any of my corals that are at the top of the tank, even sps.

 

I have it set up to only go to 85% at its peek and thats only for about an hour or two. Its a 24" deep tank. They either brown out and rot awat or polpys fall off them til theres notjing left or they apear to turn ndside out

 

I have a 24" tank and a Radion. I run the lights about 65% for 8-hours. As for flow, I have 2 MP10s, which I have found are best run around 50% in my tank. My system is doing much better once I dialed back the light a flow. You can have too much of a good thing.

 

thats a good point, ill dial things back a bit and wait a few more weeks/months before i try again. Ive gotten all my coral from the same place, but i doubt thats the cause, because my buddy scott woods gets all his coral from that place too and his tank is a thriving paradice, never had any pieces fail.

any other words of wisdom ?

 

Hey Billie, there's a thread on here somewhere (started by Mike Rice I believe) where a bunch of folks are sharing their Radion programs. It might be a good idea to check it out and see what others are doing and what they're able to keep...