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- Feb 7, 2017
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Hi all,
I have had all the trouble in the world keeping any SPS alive (even encrusting montiporas I used to have to epoxy to stop from spreading in my old tank). They all seem to weather away and STN from the base and tips and eventually just bleach and die.
My current setup is:
140 gallon tank, established March 2019
Barebottom
Triton "Other methods" supplements
Flow: 1x MP40, 1x Gyre 150 and 1 old school Tunze wavebox. Return to aquarium is a Vectra L1 going to 2 random flow nozzles
Light: 2 x Radion G3 pro with diffuser and 4 x 48W T5s (2x blue plus 2 x coral plus bulbs). Lights are 12 inches off the water, running coral AB+ at 90%. PAR measured with two methods is 150-250 at rocks (mid structure) with 300 on the rocks center below the radion and 450-500 right below the surface of the water.
Parameters now stable for 1-2 months are
Alk 7.5-8.0
Phos: 0.04-0.08
Nitrate: 5-10
Calcium: 450-470
I test manually at least once a week and REEFBOT test for me ALK every day, nitrate and phosphate every 3 days.
Had a number of ICP test with no major red flags, last test in December showed only anomalies were:
Aluminum was 20 micrograms per liter should be 2
Magnesium was 1270 should be 1370 (dosed a bunch of Triton component 1 since then)
Zinc was 11 micrograms per liter should be 4.
Now I say parameters are stable for the last two months because before that I was running barebottom AND full triton method with a fuge running a kessil 380 and had zero nitrates and zero phosphates despite agressive feeding and dosing both nitrate and phosphate at ridiculous levels. I then harvested some cheato and the N and P overshot like crazy leading to round one of SPS loss. I then got rid of the fuge with the cheato and switched from using full triton to the Triton "Other methods" supllements, basically a fancy way to dose two part and magnesium and traces.
I went FOWLR for 2 months and about a month ago reintroduced a bunch of "easy" SPS, encrusiting montis, stylophora and one PC rainbow acro. Again everything died sloooooowly but this time it was covered in Dinoflagellates!!!
Now the real question I have is were the DINOs just moving in on already dead tissue or was the thin film of bacteria (that I tried to blow off as often as possible) causing the necrosis in the first place?
I've since started running carbon and doing the every other day DINO-X. I understand DINOs are a plague and are likely the result of months of undetectable nitrate and phosphate but now that my levels are well within a medium/high range they should eventually go away.
I'm just wondering if there is something in my water that would not show up on ICP and neither on the TDS meter that reads 0 for my RODI???
I'm just exasperated, about ready to go back to Zeovit where I had success in 2012-2016 ish...
TLDR: Can dinos kill SPS or do they just move in on dead tissue?
I have had all the trouble in the world keeping any SPS alive (even encrusting montiporas I used to have to epoxy to stop from spreading in my old tank). They all seem to weather away and STN from the base and tips and eventually just bleach and die.
My current setup is:
140 gallon tank, established March 2019
Barebottom
Triton "Other methods" supplements
Flow: 1x MP40, 1x Gyre 150 and 1 old school Tunze wavebox. Return to aquarium is a Vectra L1 going to 2 random flow nozzles
Light: 2 x Radion G3 pro with diffuser and 4 x 48W T5s (2x blue plus 2 x coral plus bulbs). Lights are 12 inches off the water, running coral AB+ at 90%. PAR measured with two methods is 150-250 at rocks (mid structure) with 300 on the rocks center below the radion and 450-500 right below the surface of the water.
Parameters now stable for 1-2 months are
Alk 7.5-8.0
Phos: 0.04-0.08
Nitrate: 5-10
Calcium: 450-470
I test manually at least once a week and REEFBOT test for me ALK every day, nitrate and phosphate every 3 days.
Had a number of ICP test with no major red flags, last test in December showed only anomalies were:
Aluminum was 20 micrograms per liter should be 2
Magnesium was 1270 should be 1370 (dosed a bunch of Triton component 1 since then)
Zinc was 11 micrograms per liter should be 4.
Now I say parameters are stable for the last two months because before that I was running barebottom AND full triton method with a fuge running a kessil 380 and had zero nitrates and zero phosphates despite agressive feeding and dosing both nitrate and phosphate at ridiculous levels. I then harvested some cheato and the N and P overshot like crazy leading to round one of SPS loss. I then got rid of the fuge with the cheato and switched from using full triton to the Triton "Other methods" supllements, basically a fancy way to dose two part and magnesium and traces.
I went FOWLR for 2 months and about a month ago reintroduced a bunch of "easy" SPS, encrusiting montis, stylophora and one PC rainbow acro. Again everything died sloooooowly but this time it was covered in Dinoflagellates!!!
Now the real question I have is were the DINOs just moving in on already dead tissue or was the thin film of bacteria (that I tried to blow off as often as possible) causing the necrosis in the first place?
I've since started running carbon and doing the every other day DINO-X. I understand DINOs are a plague and are likely the result of months of undetectable nitrate and phosphate but now that my levels are well within a medium/high range they should eventually go away.
I'm just wondering if there is something in my water that would not show up on ICP and neither on the TDS meter that reads 0 for my RODI???
I'm just exasperated, about ready to go back to Zeovit where I had success in 2012-2016 ish...
TLDR: Can dinos kill SPS or do they just move in on dead tissue?