Bubble's need help

[TheNomadRhodes]

Hello every one.
One of my favorite corals is the mighty bubble, but for the life of me I cant keep one a live for more then a few months, I've tried every thing in the books, spot feeding them not feeding them, my Ph stays around 8.4, Cal is high around 750, Alk is about 2.8 using my Red sea test's,
they do great for a few weeks then they just start sucking tight to their skeletons, then start desinagrating then the rest is history.
I dont know what i'm doing wrong lighting is 540 Metal Pc combo, tank temp stays at 80, falls to 78 at night.
oh Nitrates around 120 or above lol.. getting a nitrate filter this week.
I will not rest untill I have bubbles growing out the top of my tank, But please any help or hints would be awesome thank you:rollface:

[Sk8r]

You know they're a lowlight coral and like to be in the shade. That cal and alk are pretty high. S/b about 420, alk about 8.3 dkh....and omg the nitrates. You need *0* nitrate if you're going to keep corals! Do a 20% water change and if you're running any filters, start phasing them out slowly.

[TheNomadRhodes]

I do about 40g change every 2 weeks, All my spoung or pad filters have gone the way of the dodo, I've never been able to get my trates down its been a on going battle with them thats why I've broken down and got a nitrate filter.
Low light.. hmm I was told at my LFS they should be high in the tank if they are green then very high in the tank.
But here is the kicker all my other LPS corals are doing great in my tank.
I have the pics to prove it, heck I even have some SPS that are doing great the only LPS i can not keep are bubbles and they are my favorite coral.. Could it be that I have to much light on them or is it that and my Nirates are so high?

[Sk8r]

Both, I'd think. Lps are pretty tolerant of higher nitrates---what you've got would kill a lot of sps very fast---but lps and sps are really just two faces of the same class [stony corals] and certain ones of either type are more sensitive than others. I can't figure why you're having all this nitrate---wow! I take it you must have live rock [120 lbs, for a 120 tank] and wonder if you might have gotten caught in the 'weight of rock' problem, where rock is so dense and heavy you don't actually have the surface area that would be the case if your rock were lighter and more crevice-ridden---difference between a bowling ball and a boxful of styrofoam. You don't have a crushed coral sandbed? They can be a problem. Dense, very solid rock?

[TheNomadRhodes]

if I where to guess at rock i'd say right at or over 200lbs maybe more,
4 and half inch sand bed. I took down a few tanks and added the rock to my tank. but its not just stuffed in the tank its full of holes and little caves my return pumps are two Quiet one 780gph for good flow. I never thought that my rock might be the maker of this issue, the sand I have CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef and CaribSea Coralite Bermuda Pink Reef Sand,,, it was in sale hehe:D.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a145/Thenomadrhodes/mightymop.jpg

[elegance coral]

I don't think its your lights. I believe its those nitrates. Most LPS's can handle higher nitrates then some other corals around 5 maby 10 PPM. Not 120 or above. Do you have a refuge with algae in it? If not you should put some in your display untill you can get a refuge. Nitrate filters take time to mature and they are not as reliable as algae.
I just looked at your pic again and noticed some large tangs in there. You may want to keep an eye on them. They have been known to harass bubbles. You can't really get rid of them because your bad algae will take over your tank with nitrates that high.

[bgiles11]

WOW, I am sitting here mad, becuz I cant get my nitrates to 0. They are about 3-5 ppm and I think I sux. I believe your problem is you have large fish, that requires alot of feeding. This could probably lead to your high nitrates! Also, what type of skimmer do you have?

[GMAX]

120 PPM? Wow. Probably why I dont see any inverts in your tank photo. Way too high, even if it aint your only problem with the bubble.

[elegance coral]

I didn't know nitrate test kits went that high.

[TheNomadRhodes]

Yes I do have a refuge it's 15g.
I have 4 cucumbers, snails, red and blue legs, blood shrimp and a sally light foot.

I never saw the fish messing with any of the corals, but one day when I come home from work they where munching on my big Cynarina.
So all the fish went bye bye.
I have a AMS G3 Skimmer, two Quiet one 3000's for good flow.
My Red sea test kit tops at 120 and above, so I guess I don't really know what the levels are :confused:
I've tried every thing I can think of to get them down, I dont have the time to do what a lot of people have told me to do, like put in a new sand bed or take the sand out and wash it.
So thats why I am getting a nitrate filter, I'm tired of fighting these things, I hope it will work at lest if nothing help me control them...

[elegance coral]

You may want to test your makeup water. Nitrates that high have got to be comming from somewhere other than your animals. Unless you haven't changed any water in a very long time.

[TheNomadRhodes]

I pulled a reading of about, maybe 1 maybe 2 out of my R.O machine.

[elegance coral]

Are you using bioballs? This makes no sense to me. From looking at your tank, it dosn't look like your nitrates are that high. Could your test be wrong or old? The only logical explanation I can come up with at this point is that the test aquipment is wrong.

[TheNomadRhodes]

I took the bioballs when I got the sump.
I was hoping the test was wrong to.
But both my test I have say they are very very high.

[bawla47]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9972890#post9972890 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TheNomadRhodes
I pulled a reading of about, maybe 1 maybe 2 out of my R.O machine.


guessing taht is your tds reading?

do a test for nitrates on your actual topoff/makeup water.

[TheNomadRhodes]

Whats what I mean, I don't have a tds.
Sorry about that StrongBad..

[bawla47]

:) shoot, hoping that was your problem!

if your not running any sponges/filter socks etc,any carbon? they can tend to create a little nitrate factory if its been a while.

if nothing else, only thing i can think is you have ALOT of detritus built up in the sand bed. a cheap cure if you got the space is try adding a remote DSB. it was worked wonders for countless people. get a 5 gallon bucket and drill 2 holes on opp ends of the bucket, and fill it with 8-9" of fine sugar sized araganite. feed the bucket with about 200 gph, so no detritus settles, and whallah! i will be adding one to my system, just to help polish my nitrates down to zip.

[matttaylor]

Make sure the bubble is not in an area of strong flow. They are happy in low flow almost to the point of no movement. Also move it down lower in the tank, they do not need tons of lighting.

[TheNomadRhodes]

thank you all for your help and advice, I use to have a DSB, but I was told to give it a very slow flow rate like less then 100gph...
I will retry and RDSB again I ordered my midwest filter last night. maybe I will try using both. I will get these things up and running and I hope I will get my trates down, and I will post some pics and results thank yall again so much for your help. I can see I've been doing alot of things wrong.

[clavery]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9979510#post9979510 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matttaylor
Make sure the bubble is not in an area of strong flow. They are happy in low flow almost to the point of no movement. Also move it down lower in the tank, they do not need tons of lighting.

You beat me to the punch. I found my bubbles do much better when I moved them out of the way of direct flow. I'm using PCs , so the lighting isn't an issue, but the direct flow kept them from coming out to their full glory.

Good luck.