Can’t keep sps alive.

[DFR]

This sounds more like an acclimation issue to me (either light or water chemistry). Until your system gets more mature and you have a good handle on knowing the tank (general light intensity in certain areas, stability of parameters, etc) t is best to start out leaving the frags on plugs until they thriving. This way it is not doing soo well you can move it to a higher/lower flow area, or higher/lower light area and when it is doing well, you can slowly move it to the location that you want it. Next, your acclimation with acros should generally be slow. I’ve only really had acros STN/RTN when I got lazy and only temp acclimate then throw them in tank. Following this, if you get the corals online, start them in a dark location then slowly move it to an area of moderate light over the next couple hours. Then monitor it and move accordingly over the next couple weeks. If you got them from a local hobbyist you can just start them off in a moderate light area then move accordingly over the next couple weeks. Otherwise your parameters look fine. I also couldn’t follow the apex light schedule, but just as long as you are running them for about 10hrs with about 4-5hrs around 60-70% intensity, you should be fine.

 

[Gpettit721]

Oddly enough i woke up this morning and one of my corals was STN and I smelled a strong burning smell. Heater went out. thankfully i had a new one in the box ready to go but just goes to show it can always be something

 

[NS Mike D]

Oddly enough i woke up this morning and one of my corals was STN and I smelled a strong burning smell. Heater went out. thankfully i had a new one in the box ready to go but just goes to show it can always be something

aha that may have been the problem. The heater might have been leaking current and you never touch the right combination to feel it. My stray current was a shorter period but enough to cause an nem to melt and wipe wipe out most of my soft corals and most of the new SPS I had just put in the tank.

Heaters are the the cheapest pieces of equipment in our tanks and the most likely to fail. Make sure you have a gfi to prevent stray current and I recommend two heaters on a controller. The controller will shut off power to the heaters if one fails in the on and the second heater will keep the tank for getting too cold giving you a chance to notice of a failed heater isn't turning on (my tank will struggle to maintain temp on just one heater). If you aren't using an Apex or not ready to make that investment, inkbird and willhi make very affordable temperature controllers.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Honestly I don’t know. I think with quality live rock it’s more about biodiversity and the benefits that come with it. The downside is pests. I think it was Mike Paletta that wrote the article I was referring to I’ll see if I can find it.

Quality live rock is key. When I bought local, i looked up as many reviews as possible on the LFS. Biodiversity definitely outweighs.. well lets say it outweighs aiptasia, bubble algae, a rogue crab, and sometimes vermited snails.

A tank with 100% dry rock could take up to two years before it's matured enough for acropora. Seeding live rock could cut that time in half or less.

When I went from a all live rock tank to all dry rock I put way more time, effort, and money into diversity. Algae control, dinoflagellates, dead coral, and nutrient dosing can run you more money than say buying berghia nudis for aiptasia or a bottle of UWC vibrant for bubble algae.

 

[DaveC]

Quality live rock is key. When I bought local, i looked up as many reviews as possible on the LFS. Biodiversity definitely outweighs.. well lets say it outweighs aiptasia, bubble algae, a rogue crab, and sometimes vermited snails.

That's a really good point. I started out with dry rock & dry sand 9 months ago. I seeded it with Live Copepods & added 20lbs of life rock from Gulf Live Rock. There is an amazing amount of life those two things brought. Right now I am adding SPS frags and so far they are doing well.

 

[Gpettit721]

I’ve also noticed my tank has a much better ability to recover if I make a mistake vs my tanks I’ve used dry rock with. Could also be my mistakes have gotten a lot less severe but I do believe at a minum seeding a tank with quality rock is key.

 

[Kimmi2413]

Those screws (and clips) would be zinc plated. That looks like corrosion from salt air rather than from splashes, so I am not sure if those can be considered a culprit? Others may want to provide an opinion.

To absorb the metals, you could use either a Polyfilter pad or a metal ion exchange resin like Cuprasorb. Water changes would also work, but we have not ruled out your salt as the source. What salt do you use? I noticed your trace elements on your ICP all read 0 (except for Zinc). Doing a large water change or 2 might help for those, once we have determined your salt is not the source of the tin and zinc.

Your mention of coraline starting and stopping growing is a pattern I have seen in my tanks. My view is that coraline is a good indicator of the expectation of success with SPS. Once you have coraline growing actively and constantly, then your SPS are likely to flourish as well. You may want to try dosing a bit of iron to see if your tank is deficient due to the macro in the fuge.

For dosing iodine, any product based on Potassium Iodide is typically the recommendation given. I don't have a lot of confidence in the hobby iodine tests, so dosing a fraction (1/2, 1/3, 1/4 etc.) of the recommendation from the product is a good idea. Watch for a response from your softies and LPS. My anemones and frogspawn always appear much fuller and happier looking the day after I dose.

I think you are on the right path, you just need to double check your salinity, deal with the metals and then wait for your tank to stabilize and to balance itself. I think that finding success with SPS is one of those things that happens slowly over time. It can't be rushed, one day you will realize that your SPS frags are not only surviving, but growing. At that point, you can then move on to mastering the different difficulty levels of SPS. From the tough, easy to keep ones, to the sensitive, extremely hard to keep ones.

Dennis

Just checked my salinity and it’s at 1.045! [emoji33][emoji33] bet that’s been my problem all along! Time to throw out my ice cap tester as it’s obv trash!

 

[reeferfoxx]

Just checked my salinity and it’s at 1.045! [emoji33][emoji33] bet that’s been my problem all along! Time to throw out my ice cap tester as it’s obv trash!

Wow! I have to ask what you used to verify the salinity was off?

 

[Kimmi2413]

Wow! I have to ask what you used to verify the salinity was off?

Regular brs refractor meter the one u look thru. I was using the ice cap digital one which is completely off! That one was reading 1.023 and my salinity was really 1.045!

 

[Rcollick]

Doesn't triton test for salinity. I haven't done a triton test only ATI so I'm not sure but I would think it would of been a red flag.

 

[Kimmi2413]

Doesn't triton test for salinity. I haven't done a triton test only ATI so I'm not sure but I would think it would of been a red flag.

They don’t

 

[Rcollick]

They don’t

I would think all your other parameters would of been out of whack with your sanity that high. I didn't see your test results though.

 

[Kimmi2413]

I would think all your other parameters would of been out of whack with your sanity that high. I didn't see your test results though.

I posted them. My mag was like 1600 I believe

 

[Rcollick]

Sound like you found the culprit. Keep us updated on the progress.

 

[Kimmi2413]

Sound like you found the culprit. Keep us updated on the progress.

Will do

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Just checked my salinity and it’s at 1.045! [emoji33][emoji33] bet that’s been my problem all along! Time to throw out my ice cap tester as it’s obv trash!

Hmm, that is too bad about the Icecap tester. I have one of those as well and I have found it to be accurate when compared to my Pinpoint EC meter. I like the pen as it is quite quick and easy to use compared to the Pinpoint and the Milwaukee Digital Refractometer I used before that.

Before you throw the salinity tester out, you may want to see about recalibrating it. The following video goes through the ways to improve accuracy.



Dennis

 

[Kimmi2413]

Hmm, that is too bad about the Icecap tester. I have one of those as well and I have found it to be accurate when compared to my Pinpoint EC meter. I like the pen as it is quite quick and easy to use compared to the Pinpoint and the Milwaukee Digital Refractometer I used before that.

Before you throw the salinity tester out, you may want to see about recalibrating it. The following video goes through the ways to improve accuracy.



Dennis

I’ll give that a try thanks