What's the Problem ?

I have a 10 gallon reef tank. From a distance it is beautiful ! I have a large sea anenome with a clown fish swimming in & out of it. The live rock is ,covered with a coating of pink coraline, which is suppose to be the sign of a healthy tank. I clean the glass every day & the water is crystal clear. I do a weekly water change of 10% & clean the media in the disgarded water. I have been told I should be doing biweekly water changes so I am considering that. All perameters test well, except calcium @ 360. I don't dose anymore. In the past I have found it only makes matters worse. I realize the smaller the tank, the more things that can go wrong. It is a delicate balance. I find that the water changes do more than the chemicals.

Well, you say, this sounds great. I wish my tank looked like that. Now let's take a closer look. The mushroom coral is not too bad. The button coral has smaller polyps on it than when I bought it. My Kenya tree frag has not died, but is doing nothing. I think my frog spawn is dead.

Why is such a beautiful aquarium so deadly ?

 

Its probably the size of the tank. Do you have good water flow? Good lighting? What are your parameters? And pics wouldn't be bad.

 

Maybe the large anemone is stinging stuff?

 

Are you using carbon in your filtration? I would stay with your current water change regime. Dosing is real difficult in such a small tank. Ca needs to be steady above 360, 380 to 450 is a good range. Alk needs to be steady at 7 or above, 8 to 12 is a good range. Mg will help keep these params more steady. 1250 is probably a good minimum with a max of 1500, staying closer to 1500 seems best.

 

I do use charcoal in my filter. You know, now that I think of it, when I did this foolish dosing before, things greatly improved when I did 2 water changes a week. Maybe I'll try that again until things improve. One thing for sure, I AM NOT ABOUT TO GIVE UP !

 

How often do you change the carbon?

 

Oceansurf, I believe in the beggining of the week you posted about this very same 10 gal tank (http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral-health/whats-happening-99762.html). You asked for help and people (myself included) tried to help you, and then you just bailed on the thread. Just curious why you bailed, and then posted a new thread on the same tank asking very similar questions again?