First ever ICP test results

[steve_london_uk]

Hi.

So I restarted my tank with dry rock around 4 months ago. Added my purple tang, powder brown tang pair of maroon clowns and goby and have been adding a couple of SPS corals to see how they fair. Turns out not great.

Tank: Red Sea 350
Equipment: Red Sea 500 skimmer, Red Sea Reefmat, Cheato in a reactor, Rowaphos in a reactor and carbon, 2x Radion XR30W's.

Home kit Hanna Checker levels show the following;
Nitrates: 8-12
Phos: 0.03
Alkalinity: 9
PH: 8
Temp: 26c

All my SPS are dead now and have slowly lost the fight over the last couple of months so I did an ICP test.

The main areas that they flag are as follows;

Phosphates 0.03 low
Barium 38 high
Bromine 30 low
Boron 303 low
Lithium 63 low
Iodine 7 low
Molybdenum 0 low
Nickel 0 low
Vanadium 0 low
Manganese 0 low
Zinc 0 low

Does anyone know why my corals might have perished? Is it likely to be the low phosphates or these other less known about elements that the ICP test has shown?

And secondly does anyone know an all in one product that might dose some if not most of the above in one bottle instead of spending £££'s on loads of different bottles?

 

[Pod_01]

Just my opinion but you may be heavy on the export side:

Red Sea Reefmat, Cheato in a reactor, Rowaphos in a reactor

And as a result low on:

Phos: 0.03

As an example I have Red Sea 250 and for filtration I only use skimmer and GAC (2 tablespoons in a bag, change one tablespoon every 2 weeks). Nothing else, I consider corals to be the main filtration… Also my PO4 runs from 0.1-0.5 ppm.

Couple of my corals:

As for trace element solution, the one product I like is TM A and K elements. Unfortunately two but it works well for my system and the recommended dose seems to keep trace elements inline.

Alternatively if you are going to dose Alk and Calcium you can consider TM AFR, one solution that has Alk , Calcium, Mag and trace elements (it contains TM A and K elements).

Good luck,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'd stop the Rowaphos and use a trace element mix like Tropic Marin A and K. Will that solve the issues? Cannot tell, but it is what I would try. Not all coral problems have anything to do with chemistry.

IMO, ignore lithium and barium. Neither has any known biological need in any organism.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I think the new dry rock tank is the problem. .03 phosphates is not an issue for SPS.

Acros thrive when you have a healthy ecosystem with lots of diversity. If you want to be able to keep SPS faster, add live rock.