confused

[cwb_reeftank]

I have tried keeping sps many times and have failed I have only been able to keep one which is green montipora and a few lps. I went to Orlando about a month ago and I got an ora green bird nest, jedi mind trick, and yellow hammer. they have all died but I also got a rainbow montipora and it is doing wonderful and has tons of color. I don't understand why this is because I thought that the rainbow montipora would be harder then the other I got. everything has been stable for months no temp swing or anything. nitrates and phosphate are .5 or less.

 

[ritter6788]

What is your Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium? Are you dosing anything?

 

[twilliard]

Lighting?

 

[cwb_reeftank]

dKH is 10, calcium is 420, and magnesium is 1520. I have 4 t5 bulbs on my tank too

 

[Tahoe61]

Are those consistent values, are you testing weekly at least for alk and SG?

 

[cwb_reeftank]

the alk and calcium have been constant for almost a year the magnesium has gone up a little bit over the year and I've had constant SG in my tank sense I've started it. I'm testing about twice a month though.

 

[Tahoe61]

What lighting type, are you doing any acclimation to your lighting?

What are you dosing, include everything please, how are you keeping those values constant? What test kits are you using?

 

[hybridazn]

What type of bulbs are your running? Brand and color.

 

[cwb_reeftank]

im dosing reef fusion 1 and 2 I putting one cap in every two days im also dosing vodka for my nitrate and phosphate. I normally put my coral at the bottom of the tank for a week then bring it up. I don't know the brand the bulbs are but they are all blue I plan on getting ATI bulbs as soon as I get the money for them

 

[hybridazn]

If you are running pure actintic bulbs then that is probably the problem. Those bulbs are just for blue and nothing else. Sps need a broader spectrum then those bulbs can give.

 

[tigerdragon]

What is your phosphate and nitrates readings if these are too high could be part of your trouble

 

[acolotto]

What type of powerheads are you using and how many? It could be a flow problem.

 

[cwb_reeftank]

my nitrate is 0 and my phosphate is .5-0 and I have a hydor koralia evolution that is 1500 and one that is 1150. its a 55 gallon

 

[cwb_reeftank]

so would the ati blue plus, aquablue special, coralplus, and true actinic be a good combination ?

 

[hybridazn]

so would the ati blue plus, aquablue special, coralplus, and true actinic be a good combination ?

If you are looking for a 20k look I would go 3 blue + and 1purple +.

14k look id go 2 blue +, 1 purple + and 1 Aquablue special

 

[cwb_reeftank]

well what would be the best for it and still give me a blueish look?

 

[tigerdragon]

I would do 2 blue+, 1 coral + and 1 aqua blue this should give you a 14k to 20k look

 

[tigerdragon]

For me i would put the blue + on the outside the other two in the middle

 

[cb684]

Did you mean .05 or .5 PO4?

Here another few questions before you start buying bulbs, since IMO unless you had really high PAR (and bleached the corals), it would take longer to kill for a lack of light to kill them. I had SPS frags falling in a shadowed area and living for over a month (very dark tissue afterwards, but still alive)....
So here it goes...
1. How fast did your frags died? Did they RTNed, STNed...?
2. Do you use RODI water? What is it TDS reading?
3. Any other invertebrate in the tank? How are they doing?
4. How old is your system?
5. Did you start with live or dead rock?
6. Do your run carbon? If so how much?
7. Do you have algae problems? What type? How bad?
8. How long ago did you start dosing vodka? Did you have high NO3 and PO4? How long ago since it was controlled?
9. Do LPS and softies do ok in your tank?
10. Pictures of tank and sump would help people have ideas...
11. Light type, bulb sizes, brand, distance from corals, etc...
Good luck!

 

[cwb_reeftank]

I would say the jedi died within 3 days and the gold hammer died in about two weeks fell over in the night and I picked it up and later that day it was gone and the ora bird nest just turned all white two days ago. I use RODI water but I don't know the TDS levels. I use the RODI water from my lfs. I have some hermit crabs and snails and they are fine. ive had this tank up for 5 years now. I started with live rock and live sand. I run about two- three cups of carbon in a filter bag. I have no algae problems now besides coralline and its not bad. I started dosing about the middle of April. The nitrates were high they were up in the 80s. I do the maintenance dose for it now. I have a few LPS and they are doing great my zoas do great as well.i have my lights 10 inches above the tank too