Experienced Acropora SPS Keepers 1+ Year Help Needed

[Zagreus]

Experienced Acropora SPS Keepers 1+ Year,

Please would you mind looking at some of the pictures I have attached to give me some advice? I know some of this will seem obvious to you. But unfortunately I wear beer googles or rosy eyed glasses sometimes.

Here are the key corals which I am concerned about and received healthy from WWC…pictures included:

1. WWC Christmas Mirabilis – looks like bleaching and not a lot of polyp extension

2. WWC BlueBerry Fields - browned out dark not sure only see a couple of polyps

3. WWC CB PinkTips - browned out then started getting very light. Looks really light now but still has some areas of color of green

4. WWC Snowdrop – looks like is bleaching out but still has polyp extension

5. WWC Rainbow Monti – grew but then started getting lighter

6. WWC Jack-O-Lantern – browning on the edges. Have it parked in the shade under an Elegance.


I had one salinity swing and temp swing courtesy of Irma. I brought my alkalinity down from 11-12 range per Red Sea’s recommended method to 8-9.8 range shooting for 8-9 KH ppm, same as WWC’s. Calcium is always 450-500 trying to get down to 450. MG is always high 1500+ so I stopped dosing and assume Red Sea test kit is faulty. PH is 8-8.5 always.

Tank is a JBJ 45

Flow - 2 - MP10 at 50% on Nutrient Transport, Reef crest, Tidel Swell & Lagoon from 7:30am to 12:00am then Gyre at 25% from 12:00am to 7:30am

Nitrates range from 0-4ppm – Red Sea Test Kit
Phosphates range from less than or equal to .08 – Red Sea Test Kit
Salinity – 1.024 – 1.025 - refractometer
CA – 450 – 500 – Red Sea Test Kit
KH – 8.0 – 9.8 ppm trying to keep between 8 and 9 – Red Sea
MG – always 1500+ stopped dosing trying to get down – think red Sea test kits run high
PH – 8.0 – 8.5 – API and Seneye Test
10% water changes weekly running red sea blue bucket salt
Temperature 78-82 working to get down to a fixed 78-80
Balling method dosing using Red Sea CA,KH, MG
Lighting is a T5 Hybrid 4 Bulb-ATI T4 with an AI 26HD Maxing at 60% 4 hour ramp up.
NoPox 3ml daily
BRS Carbon and Iron GFO

What do you think this coral is saying? Should turn the AI 26 Lights down. Should I move the corals lower lower? What do you suggest please?

Thank you,

Mark

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

SPS browning can occur when corals enter a new system, how long ago did you get them? You have fairly good polyp extension on most of them so that is a good sign at least. I would also say to continue trying to get your magnesium under control. You want to stabilize your parameters to around the following values:

Calcium: 380-450 ppm
Alkalinity: 7-11 dKH
Salinity: 35 ppt/sg = 1.026
Temperature: 76-83° F
pH: 8.1-8.3
Magnesium: 1250-1350 ppm
Phosphate < 0.03 ppm
Nitrate < 0.2 ppm

Source: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

My bet would be too low a flow, and young tank.

My sps are in enough flow to damage that bubble coral.

I would also consider pulling the gfo. High light and low nutints can lead to bleaching sometimes.

 

[BoomCorals]

Did you find you needed to start dosing because water changes weren't meeting demands? I only ask because I often see a lot of people who set up elaborate dosing systems well before they are even needed, often creating problems that weren't there. To me your corals are saying too much light and not enough food (phos/nitrate). And/or maybe not enough flow.

 

[Zagreus]

My bet would be too low a flow, and young tank.

My sps are in enough flow to damage that bubble coral.

I would also consider pulling the gfo. High light and low nutints can lead to bleaching sometimes.

Thank you I am running 2 - MP10 at 50% on Nutrient Transport, Reef crest, Tidel Swell & Lagoon from 7:30am to 12:00am then Gyre at 25% from 12:00am to 7:30am

 

[Zagreus]

Did you find you needed to start dosing because water changes weren't meeting demands? I only ask because I often see a lot of people who set up elaborate dosing systems well before they are even needed, often creating problems that weren't there. To me your corals are saying too much light and not enough food (phos/nitrate). And/or maybe not enough flow.

Thank you very helpful. I think you are correct on the light, food and dosing. As the Nopox and fresh GFO causes my nutrients to drop to zero on my red sea test kit from time to time. I am debating switching to a Pax Belum N-18 Algae Reactor and dropping No-Pox and GFO.

Flow I have I recently added a second - MP10 at 50% on Nutrient Transport, Reef crest, Tidel Swell & Lagoon from 7:30am to 12:00am then Gyre at 25% from 12:00am to 7:30am

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thank you I am running 2 - MP10 at 50% on Nutrient Transport, Reef crest, Tidel Swell & Lagoon from 7:30am to 12:00am then Gyre at 25% from 12:00am to 7:30am

Look at the coral and maybe feed or blow up some dust with a turkey Baster.
Numbers of pumps can mean very little.

Your looking for about three or four inches per second.
I.e. Your index finger and "one one thousand."

 

[Todd31]

why did you start NOPOX and GFO? were nutrients out of control and algae problems?

 

[Zagreus]

why did you start NOPOX and GFO? were nutrients out of control and algae problems?

I had some algae breakouts And the red sea test kits are pretty sensitive suggesting that my nitrate and phosphate were approaching levels too high. Also I was originally trying to follow the red sea method. My all in one tank in the past wouldn't allow for a refugium.

But I've also been told that I am I'm highly reactive person and in this case, i may have jumped the gun. I really don't like my nutrient control method as sometimes my numbers zero out and I have even been thinking about dropping nopox and GFO for a pax bellum algea reactor.

 

[Scorpius]

Coming from someone who killed probably a whole closet full of Acropora here is what I'd do in this order


1. Lower light intensity 10-20% or shorten your time your lights are on
2. SLOWLY remove all gfo over a month or run half the amount you are currently using. GFO is potent stuff. A browned out coral from too much nutrients is better than starving them to death. Whatever you do take your time.

Get alkalinity between 7-8 dkh SLOWLY. I used to run higher dkh, but bouncing off the low end is nowhere near as bad as bouncing off the high end.
Get my calcium below 450 SLOWLY.
Get my magnesium to around 1400 SLOWLY.


Let me make this very clear. You can kill an Acro in one day with light intensity that is way to high. You can kill an Acro with low light in 6 months because it doesn't have enough light to live. You have a ton of light for your setup.

 

[Scorpius]

How old is this system? Less than a year guarantee lots of Acropora losses as the system matures. No way around it if you started with dry rock.

 

[Zagreus]

How old is this system? Less than a year guarantee lots of Acropora losses as the system matures. No way around it if you started with dry rock.

Yes started end of January beginning of February 2017. So 7+ months old and started with Marco Dry Rock Reef Saver I believe it's called. Which is basically quarried olitic limestone from the Florida everglades.

 

[Todd31]

I had some algae breakouts And the red sea test kits are pretty sensitive suggesting that my nitrate and phosphate were approaching levels too high. Also I was originally trying to follow the red sea method. My all in one tank in the past wouldn't allow for a refugium.

But I've also been told that I am I'm highly reactive person and in this case, i may have jumped the gun. I really don't like my nutrient control method as sometimes my numbers zero out and I have even been thinking about dropping nopox and GFO for a pax bellum algea reactor.

you may have jumped the gun... fairly new tank will go through some algae blooms and weirdness... and it takes time for the biological filtration to settle in. I ran into a similar issue... started using nopox and GFO chasing low numbers and then all of a sudden i had no nutrients and pale corals. Things are looking good now that i stopped those things.

I'd guess your issue is a combination of all of the factors in the responses that you are seeing. My main vote would be with starved corals in high light.

 

[Salty1962]

Looks like you system may be too clean. As mentioned, gradually remove the GFO and maybe cut back on your NOPOX. Try to rely on WCs for your nutrient export for a few weeks and see if that helps. Try to get your flow where you don't have a sand storm but close to it. To little flow wrecks your oxygen boundary, check out this article: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/eb/index.php. Let us know how it goes

 

[Ashish Patel]

SPS need a good balance of PO, NO, ALK, Light, And flow. These 5 should stay stable and compliment each other.
I got my parameters stable at below values and consider these to increase growth.

PO: 0.02 - 0.05
NO: 0.01 - 0.05
ALK: 8.0-8.5DKH
CA: 420
Mg: 1400

I have a Medium-High bio-load and feed fish a lot to compensate for aggressive nutrient export. My mistakes include dosing nitrates and having a near tank crash when nitrate went up to 3PPM - followed by a algae outbreak and then later a PO spike. Don't copy anyones numbers monitor your nutrients and adjust your ALK, lighting and flow based on these values. SPS only thrive when these values are balanced in ones tanks so its true when they say "every tank is different". Hope this helps.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

You are pushing your tank too much. Dosing Big 3 for a young tank with frags size corals is not necessary with WC. Don't be afraid of algae, it will go away by itself as it matures. Just ensure your tank maintenance is capable to keep nutrients at bay. Been there, done that. Doing everything according to the book for young tank is not good because you are interrupting it from maturing by itself. Naturally matured tank is easier to maintain and you will be surprised how it reacts to changes without much intervention, trust me.

 

[tutmatt3]

Not sure if you mentioned it, but may be include your tank size & # of fish / size?
Some people like lower nutrient systems end up dosing aminos, or things like Phols Xtra to account for a small population of inhabitants

 

[Mal11224]

I have been running my tank for about as long as you have and have changed so many things to make my tank suitable for a mixed reef tank.
Went from manual dosing to a doser - my alk, ca and mg have been steady ever since using ESV two part.
Stopped using GFO about 5 months ago - helped a lot as it was not needed.
Changed my lighting to AP700 and used a par meter to help with intensity and height.
Use NOPOX At half dose and water change every two weeks. Refugium helps a great deal controlling nutrients (feed corals twice a week).
Lastly, I use a carbon reactor with my system using 75% of recommended amount for my tank. Try not to strip the water of trace elements.

I have seen my acros brown, go through STN and RTN but now I have finally been able to maintain acros and I feel that it is mostly because of stability. I try very hard not to have ranges in my water chemistry and keep up with my maintenance. It can be frustrating but I think if you can maintain your water, you can have success. Testing will tell you a lot. I think you also need to find a way to measure your light and I see your pumps are on the lower half of your tank and the acros at the top may not be getting the flow they need.

There are a lot of good comments here and one thing I did before I tried getting more acros was to stabilize my water and try it again. Hopefully you can figure it out.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Also, do not chase others numbers. Your corals need light, flow, and nutrients (food, waste, nitrates, phosphates, amino acids, etc). It can be done even in a new tank but its more challenging unless you've had success doing it before. Therefore only thing I use for nutrient exports are strong flow, protein skimming, chaeto fuge and 1/2 recommend chemi pure carbon. So far its working out well and my nutrients are very low and algae growth is minimal. Soon as I added nitrates that took my nitrates from undetectable to 3PPM I got algae problem and coral bleaching and RTN. I rather just base my feeding on excess testable nutrients in the tank (phosphates hanna and nitrates saliferts) and if its undetectable with strong feeding then at least you know your corals have food as well as your nutrient import export are ocean like! SPS will eat all day so more food in the water column the better they will receive their daily dose of nitrate and phosphates before you can even detect it.

 

[Zagreus]

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE RESPONSES. Quick update, I used a Seneye to check my par settings today. There is no way that my SPS are getting more than 200 par at my current light settings. So perhaps the Nutrient-Chemical issue is they key one.