Angry SPS, help?

[Specialk1012]

relatively new to reefing and looking for some guidance on angry SPS.

I recieved 3 sps frags from a local reefer, brought them home to my 75g, acclimated them and placed them about 6-8 weeks ago. Unfortunately, they are all in varying degrees of distress from lack of polyp extension to what looks like bad bleaching on the birds nest (pics attached). Everything else in the tank (goby, zoas, hammers/torches, monti, toadstool) seem fine to very happy Any ideas on what’s making them unhappy?

parameters:

alk 9.1 dkh
Ca 400 ppm
Mg 1360 ppm
Nh3 0 ppm
No2 0 ppm
No3 2.2 ppm
Phosphate is undetectable (Hanna low range, not ULR)

I have three wavemakers, totaling 4000 gph of flow and I think the sps are getting enough flow but tbh flow is the hardest thing for me to get comfortable with as it is so subjective.

the birds nest is at 275 par while the other two are at about 300 par.

 

[Rmckoy]

High alk and zero nutrients .
essentially …. You’re starving them

 

[ZoWhat]

Tbh, you'll probably lose them by New Years.

I'd be advantageous and post them on Craigslist for money or trade before they're 3 white sticks. Prob around $10 a frag...

SPS are very advanced and need constant husbandry

.

 

[jhuntstl]

Get some nutrients in the tank, especially PO4. Those have the potential to bounce back and they're not that difficult to keep happy. I almost lost similar sticks early on in my build, but they're thriving now. Focus on keeping nutrients detectable or even elevated above NSW. I'm guessing your tank is young. Get as much biodiversity in your tank as possible.

 

[Cantusaurus]

Those are pretty hardy species. Are they getting pounded by flow? Sometimes they won't really have too much polyp extension if those are getting overly battered. As long as they get sufficient flow they will be ok. But it sounds like you most likely have enough.
BUT it is most likely the low nutrients. I would add Amino Acids to provide some nutrients, and I would try and raise the Phosphate. I would use Tropic Marin's Plus NP. It works as a Carbon Dosing product, but will help increase your Phosphate levels controllably.
The corals can thrive in low to no nitrate (preferably not though), but they can NOT in no phosphate.
I'm not sure why getting really low nutrients is praised so much. It probably can be done, but only if you have amino acids/food being dosed automatically throughout the day.

Hope things get better
My Stylo and Birdsnest have done well through crazy conditions, such as too low of light, high nutrients, and water fluctuations. But things are better now.
But just try and make sure they nutrients is under control first.
Let me know if you have any more questions or need advice

 

[Specialk1012]

Tbh, you'll probably lose them by New Years.

I'd be advantageous and post them on Craigslist for money or trade before they're 3 white sticks. Prob around $10 a frag...

SPS are very advanced and need constant husbandry

Tbh, you'll probably lose them by New Years.

I'd be advantageous and post them on Craigslist for money or trade before they're 3 white sticks. Prob around $10 a frag...

SPS are very advanced and need constant husbandry

.

Helpful comment. 10/10

 

[jhuntstl]

That dude just nuked a bunch of his fish and is struggling to maintain a zoa/paly tank, so I would ignore his advice. If you're reading this, you deserve it and deep down you know it.

 

[Specialk1012]

Those are pretty hardy species. Are they getting pounded by flow? Sometimes they won't really have too much polyp extension if those are getting overly battered. As long as they get sufficient flow they will be ok. But it sounds like you most likely have enough.
BUT it is most likely the low nutrients. I would add Amino Acids to provide some nutrients, and I would try and raise the Phosphate. I would use Tropic Marin's Plus NP. It works as a Carbon Dosing product, but will help increase your Phosphate levels controllably.
The corals can thrive in low to no nitrate (preferably not though), but they can NOT in no phosphate.
I'm not sure why getting really low nutrients is praised so much. It probably can be done, but only if you have amino acids/food being dosed automatically throughout the day.

Hope things get better
My Stylo and Birdsnest have done well through crazy conditions, such as too low of light, high nutrients, and water fluctuations. But things are better now.
But just try and make sure they nutrients is under control first.
Let me know if you have any more questions or need advice

Thanks for the thoughtful response!! So up until 3 weeks ago, my nitrates were also undetectable which I thought may be causing the problem so I bought neonitro and have does you to 2-2.5 ppm. I should have known phosphates could be contributing as well and on a hunch I order neophos yesterday (arriving tomorrow). Do you think this product will work as an alternative to the plus np? What phosphate level do you typically shoot for to keep sps happy? (I feel like I have read 0.03 ppm somewhere before)

 

[Rmckoy]

Thanks for the thoughtful response!! So up until 3 weeks ago, my nitrates were also undetectable which I thought may be causing the problem so I bought neonitro and have does you to 2-2.5 ppm. I should have known phosphates could be contributing as well and on a hunch I order neophos yesterday (arriving tomorrow). Do you think this product will work as an alternative to the plus np? What phosphate level do you typically shoot for to keep sps happy? (I feel like I have read 0.03 ppm somewhere before)

There is a reason why they are zero ..
either you’re not feeding enough , too many water changes , or stripping everything with some sort of media .

dose the products you ordered to bring them up from zero and look into why ….
Feed heavier . Possibly even add a few more fish to increase the bio load .

 

[little_sardines]

I agree it's probably a no nutrients issue. You can definitely go the route of dosing nitrate and phos manually, or you could just feed your tank more, IMO that's easier to control than manually dosing. My tanks are on an auto-feeder that runs 3x a day dropping a mix of flake, reef roids, and spirulina powder, then I feed frozen a couple times a week and and my tanks nutrients are pretty stable.

 

[Specialk1012]

Get some nutrients in the tank, especially PO4. Those have the potential to bounce back and they're not that difficult to keep happy. I almost lost similar sticks early on in my build, but they're thriving now. Focus on keeping nutrients detectable or even elevated above NSW. I'm guessing your tank is young. Get as much biodiversity in your tank as possible.

Wanted to follow up as it seems you were right on. After this post I dropped alk to 8 dkh and raised po4 and no3 to 0.07 and 8.5 (over a week) and saw almost instant improvements. Polyps have been out almost continuously and colors are coming back/getting stronger ( check these pics) Thanks for the guidance !

 

[ScottB]

Dosing up nutrient early is often all you can do to keep SPS alive. Or come straight out of the gates with tons of live rock and fish which is my preferred method. Folks don't seem to do that like they used to but it does work.

Not super recent but one of my better reef photos. This is live rock, 3 yrs old, 5/.05 with ALK around 8.