Can't keep SPS

qhduong · Dec 19, 2020

ScottB said:
That you are battling some LC Amphidinium suggests all is not quite stable yet. When the biome is nutrient and bacteria stable, these edge competitors fade away. They are replaced by bacterial film, film algae, diatoms, and coralline. Keep your basics all stable and allow some time for these "good" competitors to outcompete.

Actually its osteoporosis, might have mixed me with another person... I hope that dino is the reason for my problems and it's not something else...

ScottB · Dec 19, 2020

qhduong said:
Ok ICP analysis came in. Looks like the red flags are high Magnesium and Calcium. Also some trace elements are low or not measurable. Should I do a water change and dose trace elements? I have Tropic Marin Trace A and K.

I don't see any real problems here. Iodine at zero has caused me some issues with a few canary corals. I would not sweat the Ca, Mg, or the aluminum too much.

How old is this system again?

* edit: Just went back and saw again. Started in March. The issue is just biome maturity. The dinos set back that process a bit. You should be getting pretty close though.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 19, 2020

Dino causes a lot of SPS problems. Additionally, if you have a mix of SPS and LPS, LPS will release toxins that harm SPS. In this case run Chemipure blue or Elite to reduce toxicity

ScottB · Dec 19, 2020

I see some pink on your rocks. If you can confirm that to be coralline, then I think you are getting close.

With your UV running and your nutrients measurable, the ostreos shouldn't hang around more than a couple weeks. No phyto, no aminos for a long time.

Once they are gone for a few weeks, try again with some cheap slimer or monti digi. All your numbers are certainly within SPS ranges. Biome maturity is just so hard to measure.

qhduong · Dec 19, 2020

ScottB said:
I see some pink on your rocks. If you can confirm that to be coralline, then I think you are getting close.

With your UV running and your nutrients measurable, the ostreos shouldn't hang around more than a couple weeks. No phyto, no aminos for a long time.

Once they are gone for a few weeks, try again with some cheap slimer or monti digi. All your numbers are certainly within SPS ranges. Biome maturity is just so hard to measure.

Yeah I have coralline growing on a lot of the rocks, seams of tank, and back wall. I stopped dosing everything now since alk consumption stopped for 2 days now.

@vetteguy53081 I have rox carbon running. Is chemi pure something different? For LPS I only have a chalice and torch. They are located away from the sticks though...

vetteguy53081 · Dec 19, 2020

qhduong said:
Yeah I have coralline growing on a lot of the rocks, seams of tank, and back wall. I stopped dosing everything now since alk consumption stopped for 2 days now.

@vetteguy53081 I have rox carbon running. Is chemi pure something different? For LPS I only have a chalice and torch. They are located away from the sticks though...

Chemipure is different, cheaper and more effective

Rick5 · Dec 19, 2020

There are two types of Chemipure, though. One contains GFO (in addition to GAC). I’m just alerting you to this just in case you don’t want GFO.

ScottB · Dec 19, 2020

Rick5 said:
There are two types of Chemipure, though. One contains GFO (in addition to GAC). I’m just alerting you to this just in case you don’t want GFO.

Yeah the Elite version has GFO which you don't want in there during dinos.

The Rox is enough to handle the ostreopsis toxins.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 19, 2020

Rick5 said:
There are two types of Chemipure, though. One contains GFO (in addition to GAC). I’m just alerting you to this just in case you don’t want GFO.

Elite has GFO whereas blue is supercarbon

qhduong · Dec 21, 2020

Just an update, going to grab that Par meter today to test. Things seems to be doing much better after moving UV to the the display. My setosa 3 days ago was losing color slowly each day and polyps were basically gone. Yesterday some small polyps came out, and today much more! The orange and green digi are showing polyps again too. Also alk consumption resumed, even though it's only 0.1 dkh a day for the last 2 days.

I'm excited that they may be recovering. Will post par results when ready.

qhduong · Dec 23, 2020

The Par meter is still out at the lfs . Hoping it's back today. But all my sticks and corals are making a recovery each day. All levels are stable. I'm still in acclimation mode from 50% to 80% over a month on 2 XR15. So far I don't think light is the problem... It's the dinos.

IslandLifeReef · Dec 27, 2020

qhduong said:
The Par meter is still out at the lfs . Hoping it's back today. But all my sticks and corals are making a recovery each day. All levels are stable. I'm still in acclimation mode from 50% to 80% over a month on 2 XR15. So far I don't think light is the problem... It's the dinos.

I hope you are right about the dinos, but I did not see any dinos in the pictures you posted. Your tank looked pretty clean.

Even if everything recovers, I would still rent that PAR meter. It never hurts having your tank mapped out with PAR values so you can make informed decisions on where to place different types of coral.

qhduong · Dec 27, 2020

IslandLifeReef said:
I hope you are right about the dinos, but I did not see any dinos in the pictures you posted. Your tank looked pretty clean.

Even if everything recovers, I would still rent that PAR meter. It never hurts having your tank mapped out with PAR values so you can make informed decisions on where to place different types of coral.

Me too! The dinos were ID as osteoporosis. I microscoped many parts of the tank. Guess I caught it early enough that it doesn't show visually. Par meter still out as the renter hasn't returned it yet...

qhduong · Dec 28, 2020

Got par measured... All sps getting at least 150 par. Some even almost 200. Should I acclimate them up to 200-250?

IslandLifeReef · Dec 29, 2020

I would shoot for a range of 250-400 for the SPS. I would also play with your light spacing and height to try to,get a more uniform spread In your lighting. 150 PAR is definitely playing on the very low end for SPS and could be contributing to your issues.

qhduong · Dec 29, 2020

IslandLifeReef said:
I would shoot for a range of 250-400 for the SPS. I would also play with your light spacing and height to try to,get a more uniform spread In your lighting. 150 PAR is definitely playing on the very low end for SPS and could be contributing to your issues.

Yeah I'm acclimating them up slowly. Noticed my tort rtn today sitting at 180 pat

. I fragged off the good parts hopefully can save something. My parameters have been stable still. Kind of lost at this point. I can't find dino under the scope anymore.

qhduong · Dec 29, 2020

Also forgot to mention, I'm doing 12 hour photo period, with 1.5h ramp up, and 1.5 hour ramp down.

Erick Armanii · Dec 29, 2020

Same here

qhduong · Dec 30, 2020

Anyone have any other ideas? Keeping levels stable, lights dialed in... What else can I do? The frag of dying tort starting stn today too. I changed out carbkn just in case. Seeing recession with the setosa again. There was no other changes to the system... Things go well for a few days and reversed

Charlie’s Frags · Dec 30, 2020

qhduong said:
Anyone have any other ideas? Keeping levels stable, lights dialed in... What else can I do? The frag of dying tort starting stn today too. I changed out carbkn just in case. Seeing recession with the setosa again. There was no other changes to the system... Things go well for a few days and reversed

I’ve never used the ROX carbon but I’ve heard it can be too effective. I would pull it for awhile. I periodically run Red Sea carbon but I only use it when I’ve been messing around with my zoas or vacuum my sand, and even then I only use 1/2 the recommended amount. All of my acros/sps are in 250-500 par and I’ve never light acclimated a single one of them.