So, my SPS keep dying. Big surprise, I gave it away in the title! Anyhow, I'm trying to figure out what it is that I need to change to have this not happen. I've kept SPS successfully before, so in general I know what I need to do... but there's obviously something that's missing.
First off, the problem. The exact same pattern repeats regardless of species, placement, water change schedule, etc. I'll get the coral and place it wherever it's going to go. For about a week, it's all good. Then, small bits of skeleton will start poking through. Eventually the bare spots spread, and finally the coral loses all tissue and is left with just a skeleton. It typically starts at the tips of branches, but I've had start on the body/trunk of the corals as well.
It's a slow process - from first tissue loss to complete bare skeleton will typically take 6-8 weeks - but nothing I've tried has ever managed to stop it.
I've been battling this issue for over a year now... I'd had a very bad cyano problem a while back, and I'd thought it was related to that... but I managed to get rid of the cyano 3-4 months ago and my SPS are still doing the same thing.
So that's it for the problem, here are the details on my tank (a Red Sea Reefer 350).
First off, the water parameters:
PH: 7.9-8.2 (usually a 0.2 daily swing, and my daily highs will fluctuate between 8.1 and 8.2)
Alkalinity: 10.15 dKh
Calcium: 577
Magnesium: 1323
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
Phosphate: .08 - 0.12 ppm
Salinity: 1.024 - 1.026
I don't dose anything right now. Haven't been dosing in 3-4 months.
For lighting, 3 Radeon XR-15 (two G4, one G5 Pro) in an Aquatic Life Hybrid T5 fixture. The third XR15 is new, just added a few weeks ago. For flow, I have a pair of Neptune WAV pumps, mounted on the rear wall of the tank.
For reference, here's a visual progression on one of the corals:
Initial introduction, late November:
About a week later:
About a week after:
Couple days later:
What it looked like before I finally pulled it out of the tank:
In the final picture, you can see a stylo that's suffering from the same thing. I've seen the same pattern play out on acropora, stylophora, montipora, and psammacora.
Any ideas as to the root cause?
First off, the problem. The exact same pattern repeats regardless of species, placement, water change schedule, etc. I'll get the coral and place it wherever it's going to go. For about a week, it's all good. Then, small bits of skeleton will start poking through. Eventually the bare spots spread, and finally the coral loses all tissue and is left with just a skeleton. It typically starts at the tips of branches, but I've had start on the body/trunk of the corals as well.
It's a slow process - from first tissue loss to complete bare skeleton will typically take 6-8 weeks - but nothing I've tried has ever managed to stop it.
I've been battling this issue for over a year now... I'd had a very bad cyano problem a while back, and I'd thought it was related to that... but I managed to get rid of the cyano 3-4 months ago and my SPS are still doing the same thing.
So that's it for the problem, here are the details on my tank (a Red Sea Reefer 350).
First off, the water parameters:
PH: 7.9-8.2 (usually a 0.2 daily swing, and my daily highs will fluctuate between 8.1 and 8.2)
Alkalinity: 10.15 dKh
Calcium: 577
Magnesium: 1323
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
Phosphate: .08 - 0.12 ppm
Salinity: 1.024 - 1.026
I don't dose anything right now. Haven't been dosing in 3-4 months.
For lighting, 3 Radeon XR-15 (two G4, one G5 Pro) in an Aquatic Life Hybrid T5 fixture. The third XR15 is new, just added a few weeks ago. For flow, I have a pair of Neptune WAV pumps, mounted on the rear wall of the tank.
For reference, here's a visual progression on one of the corals:
Initial introduction, late November:
About a week later:
About a week after:
Couple days later:
What it looked like before I finally pulled it out of the tank:
In the final picture, you can see a stylo that's suffering from the same thing. I've seen the same pattern play out on acropora, stylophora, montipora, and psammacora.
Any ideas as to the root cause?