t5Nitro
Valuable Member
75g DT, 20g sump
Real Reef dry rock 40#
Bare bottom
Eheim heaters, 200W + 150W
Maxspect XF330 gyre (rated 2350gph at 100%), random 10-60%
Orphek Atlantik V4, 11hr light, peak 80% blue & green channels, 40% and 60% peak white and red channels. Single unit is mounted over the tank from the Orphek tank brackets.
LifeReef SVS2-24 skimmer
Filter sock on primary drain, changed every 3-4 days or as needed when they overflow
Chemipure blue 1 media bag in the sump passively changed about every 2 months
Varios4 return pump at 100% (1050gph)
Cycled dry rock, BB for 2 months - utilized 500mL bottle microbacter7 + 240mL biospira added daily over that time frame
Cycle complete first week 01/2020
Fish and mixed corals moved from established system end Feb, 2020
Some of these transferred coral were attached to rocks as part of the previously 7 year old reef tank which probably helps seed my system further.
SPS did not make it more than 2mo after the transfer, I did have an alk spike to 12.9 at one point.
In the last several months params are stable, ATO using RO/DI 0 TDS water, AWC 1 gallon daily which changes out about 25mL every 9 minutes
SG 1.024-1.025
Temp 26.5C
Nitrate (via new NYOS kit) color is b/w 25 and 40 markers.
Phosphate 0.04 via Hanna checker
Ca 425 Salifert, via doser
Alk stable at 7.8, dosing Randy's 2-part via bubble magus doser
Stock: purple tang, yellow tang, 2 clowns, added in the last 2 weeks 3 small wrasse and 1 small blue-green chromis. I had only 2 larger snails in the past, now I added 3 bigger turbo snails which have made some nice progress on one half of the tank's BB.
Food: NLS pellets via Eheim auto feeder daily at noon x2 spins with opening on the feeder just 1 click. Nori 2 small sheets daily (costco roasted seaweed, pre-cut sizes), nightly LRS reef frenzy ~1/2" cube
The tank went through a cyano phase in the past. That looks to be cleared up.
The tank has been in a GHA phase which is ongoing.
There is detritus build-up on the left half of the tank, the side where the maxspect gyre sits and likely the lowest flow area of the tank.
I do have a nice new frag rack from OctoAquatics which I placed very high in the tank and placed 2 SPS frags on: a sunset monti and a green slimer. The slimer is high enough where the tips of the coral is just beneath the surface water.
These SPS on the frag rack are still indirectly under the light as the single fixture does not measure the full 3'x2' tank dimensions, but these are the closest to the surface of all the coral.
Like many rocks, the frag plug and rock these 2 SPS corals are attached to became covered by GHA. I took a toothbrush to the sunset monti frag plug and circumferentially scrubbed the GHA off the edge. I had to do this 2-3 times now. Notable on the last cleaning the coral has lost tissue around its circumference, whether this is brushing related or GHA related, unsure. There is also tissue loss at the base of the green slimer, again GHA kinda of grows up and around the coral. This one is a bit more difficult to clean near the base without dislodging the coral from the rock.
I did lose a spongodes montipora as well as a scroll coral recently which sit on a flat rock in the middle of the tank --> maybe this was related to nutrient shock with dosing NO3 and unreliable kits (recall constant reads of 0 by API, now between 25-40 on NYOS). I no longer dose nitrate.
LPS seem to be doing ok, hammers are puffed up quite nicely. The only non-puffy ones are the kryptonite green trumpets but they've looked the same since I've had them.
Softies seem to be doing ok, zoas are open and colorful the 4 frags that I have.
TLDR: I'm looking to keep a successful SPS tank at some point. Is the tank simply too new? I've read on here another member started a dry rock/BB tank and lost his collection with minimal success until the tank was closer to 1.5 y/o.
The previous losses may have been unstable parameters, but now the numbers seem to be relatively rock solid.
Again, tank is 6mo old. Looking to clean up the GHA if possible and keep some nicely colored SPS.
Do I add an additional pump to the mix? Keep on with the current regimen?
This hasn't been my first post on SPS loss. What I'm looking for is advice if I should add additional equipment to make this a successful tank for SPS in the future and timeline wise when I should try to add more SPS. It's easier to ask than to throw money at coral to find them STN after a few months time.
Real Reef dry rock 40#
Bare bottom
Eheim heaters, 200W + 150W
Maxspect XF330 gyre (rated 2350gph at 100%), random 10-60%
Orphek Atlantik V4, 11hr light, peak 80% blue & green channels, 40% and 60% peak white and red channels. Single unit is mounted over the tank from the Orphek tank brackets.
LifeReef SVS2-24 skimmer
Filter sock on primary drain, changed every 3-4 days or as needed when they overflow
Chemipure blue 1 media bag in the sump passively changed about every 2 months
Varios4 return pump at 100% (1050gph)
Cycled dry rock, BB for 2 months - utilized 500mL bottle microbacter7 + 240mL biospira added daily over that time frame
Cycle complete first week 01/2020
Fish and mixed corals moved from established system end Feb, 2020
Some of these transferred coral were attached to rocks as part of the previously 7 year old reef tank which probably helps seed my system further.
SPS did not make it more than 2mo after the transfer, I did have an alk spike to 12.9 at one point.
In the last several months params are stable, ATO using RO/DI 0 TDS water, AWC 1 gallon daily which changes out about 25mL every 9 minutes
SG 1.024-1.025
Temp 26.5C
Nitrate (via new NYOS kit) color is b/w 25 and 40 markers.
Phosphate 0.04 via Hanna checker
Ca 425 Salifert, via doser
Alk stable at 7.8, dosing Randy's 2-part via bubble magus doser
Stock: purple tang, yellow tang, 2 clowns, added in the last 2 weeks 3 small wrasse and 1 small blue-green chromis. I had only 2 larger snails in the past, now I added 3 bigger turbo snails which have made some nice progress on one half of the tank's BB.
Food: NLS pellets via Eheim auto feeder daily at noon x2 spins with opening on the feeder just 1 click. Nori 2 small sheets daily (costco roasted seaweed, pre-cut sizes), nightly LRS reef frenzy ~1/2" cube
The tank went through a cyano phase in the past. That looks to be cleared up.
The tank has been in a GHA phase which is ongoing.
There is detritus build-up on the left half of the tank, the side where the maxspect gyre sits and likely the lowest flow area of the tank.
I do have a nice new frag rack from OctoAquatics which I placed very high in the tank and placed 2 SPS frags on: a sunset monti and a green slimer. The slimer is high enough where the tips of the coral is just beneath the surface water.
These SPS on the frag rack are still indirectly under the light as the single fixture does not measure the full 3'x2' tank dimensions, but these are the closest to the surface of all the coral.
Like many rocks, the frag plug and rock these 2 SPS corals are attached to became covered by GHA. I took a toothbrush to the sunset monti frag plug and circumferentially scrubbed the GHA off the edge. I had to do this 2-3 times now. Notable on the last cleaning the coral has lost tissue around its circumference, whether this is brushing related or GHA related, unsure. There is also tissue loss at the base of the green slimer, again GHA kinda of grows up and around the coral. This one is a bit more difficult to clean near the base without dislodging the coral from the rock.
I did lose a spongodes montipora as well as a scroll coral recently which sit on a flat rock in the middle of the tank --> maybe this was related to nutrient shock with dosing NO3 and unreliable kits (recall constant reads of 0 by API, now between 25-40 on NYOS). I no longer dose nitrate.
LPS seem to be doing ok, hammers are puffed up quite nicely. The only non-puffy ones are the kryptonite green trumpets but they've looked the same since I've had them.
Softies seem to be doing ok, zoas are open and colorful the 4 frags that I have.
TLDR: I'm looking to keep a successful SPS tank at some point. Is the tank simply too new? I've read on here another member started a dry rock/BB tank and lost his collection with minimal success until the tank was closer to 1.5 y/o.
The previous losses may have been unstable parameters, but now the numbers seem to be relatively rock solid.
Again, tank is 6mo old. Looking to clean up the GHA if possible and keep some nicely colored SPS.
Do I add an additional pump to the mix? Keep on with the current regimen?
This hasn't been my first post on SPS loss. What I'm looking for is advice if I should add additional equipment to make this a successful tank for SPS in the future and timeline wise when I should try to add more SPS. It's easier to ask than to throw money at coral to find them STN after a few months time.
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