Water quality?

Question
Hello,

    I have a 90 gallon setup with 4 flouresent vhos.  Two wjite, two blue.  A uv sterilizer, a big sump wet/dry filter.  a berlin protien skimmer.  and a calcium reactor.  As far as fish, a clown, a bi-color chromis, a blue damsel and a elbi angel.  All are about 1.5 years old.  Every once in a while, I'll get a fish.  I'm carefull to study to be sure the fish is compatible with my tank, but it seems that I always lose fish.  For example, I just lost a yellow tang and a cleaner shrimp.  They were both about 10 months old.  What happened.  My cleaning, feeding and water change habits are constant and like clock work.  I checked the lifespans of these and they were way under that.  Also, this may sound wierd, but I have never been able to keep culprea alive or grow green algea in my tank.  I have the red stuff on occasion, but it easily wipes off the side.  I guess what I really want to know is my does my live rock look so dead as opposed to pastel colory?  I had some polyps, but they died off.  My suspision is the calcium reactor.  Is there a certain bubble count for a 90 gallon tank?  How often should I change ithe argonite is at all.  Thanks for taking the time to hear me wine.  :)

Answer
Eric,
Here's a couple of things to think about before putting blame on the reactor.

What's your pH level like and does it fluctuate any?  This will be an indicator or any excess CO2 from the reactor as well as how your oxygen level is doing in your tank.

What's your water temp like?  If your water is consistently over 80 degrees the corals and fish tend to not do well under those conditions over long periods of time.

What types of supplements and foods are you feeding?  Just because you have a reactor on the tank doesn't mean that your calclium and other trace elements are being dosed the way they should be.  I'd have your calcium and iodine checked to see where those levels are and adjust accordingly.  This could be another reason why your polyps melted away and that you are not getting any color out of your live rock.  To kick the color up in the rock I recommend Marc Weiss' Reef Vital DNA.  Follow the directions and you will see color and life come out of the rock in just a few weeks.

Feed the corals and fish what they feed on in the wild otherwise they will start to have nutritional dificiencies.

As for the lack of algae and the appearance of red slime or diatoms... I'd look at your nitrate and phosphate levels.  See where they are and adjust to as close to zero as possible.  Another factor is light.  Algae doesn't grow where it isn't getting light.  How old are the bulbs?  All light bulbs should be replaced once a year and should be on for approximately 9 hours a day.  I'd have the actinics go on first, have the daylights go on a hour or so later, and then off an hour or so before the actinics turn off at night.

Another factor with the lack of algae is your UV.  If the algae is free floating, the UV will burn it out before it can do anything in the tank.  Just make sure to replace UV bulbs every 6 months.

Hopefully this helps get you pointed in the right direction.  Best of luck with everything, and please feel free to contact us again with any questions or needs.

Regards,
Scott Johnson
Aquarium Crazy Fish
www.aquariumcrazyfish.com