Help needed SPS keep dying.

[branbray07]

Afternoon guys. Im in a huge letdown at the moment seeing as i just cant seem to keep sps alive. All acros i place in the tank seem to STN/RTN within a couple of days . Im have tried almost everything and just cant get my head on this so any help or suggestions will help tremendously. I have been having issues keep po4 up to detectable levels, so my guess is this. However any other theories will help. On a side note, coraline seems to ge thriving so in puzzled to why SPS wont survive.

Tank
Fiji cube 57 ext with 24g sump.
Started Dec 30 2021
Bacteria Dr Tims, Fritz, MB7


Lights
Aquaticlife Hybrid 9 inch of water
2 g5 radeon blue on 40% wwc schedule 8hrs day
4 ATI T5 2 b+ 2 c+ 1 hr a day.

Filtration
Simplicity 120 skimmer dry skimm very dark
Maripure balls
40lbs of Aquaforest Rock
20 lbs of carib sea sand

Flow
4 MLW 20 Jebao at 40% random
MDP Return Jebao at 70%

Livestock
Yellow tang, Blue Tang, 2 Storm clowns, Firefish, Mysterie Wrasse

 

[branbray07]

 

[Tamberav]

Is that the only po4 tester you use?

Is that the API spin test?

Pretty sure it is not good for phosphate testing. So adjusting based on its results may not partly a problem.

 

[Lavey29]

Is your alk 14.7?

 

[mtraylor]

So what is the alk reading mean? One coral has burned tips that died and now has algae on it.

 

[Tamberav]

Is your alk 14.7?

probably ppm so 8.2

 

[branbray07]

Is that the only po4 tester you use?

Is that the API spin test?

Pretty sure it is not good for phosphate testing. So adjusting based on its results may not partly a problem.

Is that the only po4 tester you use?

Is that the API spin test?

Pretty sure it is not good for phosphate testing. So adjusting based on its results may not partly a problem.

Yea im out of hanna reagents

 

[branbray07]

probably ppm so 8.2

Correct that is ppm

 

[branbray07]

This one was last wek

 

[Tamberav]

Yea im out of hanna reagents

you said your phosphate was 0 before? Did you dose to raise it?

that tester only reads 0 or next step is 0.1 so it’s not great… as in you could have 0.05 and it may say 0.

You should use something else.

 

[Tathamet]

I’m basically in the same boat as you but I will say one thing that I think possibly contributed to my acros lasting a bit longer and surviving the first few days on my last run were to not dip them if they are shipped. Just acclimate and put them in the tank. Preferably in a quarantine tank. And possibly dip them if they have pests, after they recover a bit from shipping.

I’ve been able to keep a superman monti alive for about a year but no acropora. 1 month is my record for them lol.

 

[branbray07]

you said your phosphate was 0 before? Did you dose to raise it?

that tester only reads 0 or next step is 0.1 so it’s not great… as in you could have 0.05 and it may say 0.

You should use something else.

Yes i did, i was dosing neophos as directed

 

[Tamberav]

SPS like stability. This means phosphate too. So going from 0 to 0.5 quickly would be an issue.

Also we actually don’t know what phosphate was as the 0 could be entirely inaccurate.

There could be more at play here as it sounds like an issue before and maybe this was 0 po4 but I would start by getting a new kit asap. I like Hannah phosphate checker low range.

Also don’t follow the bottle. Test test test. If I had 0 po4 I would dose it to 0.05-0.08.

 

[branbray07]

SPS like stability. This means phosphate too. So going from 0 to 0.5 quickly would be an issue.

Also we actually don’t know what phosphate was as the 0 could be entirely inaccurate.

There could be more at play here but I would start by getting a new kit asap. I like Hannah phosphate checker low range.

Yea i did raise it over a week or so before and i do use hanna. This was my last one using it. On the 20 of this month. But even with hanna my readings have been 0 for a while, hence why i stated to dose neophos. Also. Temp is rock solid

 

[dwest]

Your tank is also about 6 months old. It could simply need to more time. I would try a tester piece in a few months. Sometimes it’s that simple.

 

[Lavey29]

Your tank is also about 6 months old. It could simply need to more time. I would try a tester piece in a few months. Sometimes it’s that simple.

I agree with this too. When your rocks are getting covered in coraline that is a good indicator that you might be ready. I waited till about 11 months and out of 22 frags that have gone in the tank only one didn't make it and that was due to shipping stress.

 

[branbray07]

Your tank is also about 6 months old. It could simply need to more time. I would try a tester piece in a few months. Sometimes it’s that simple.

True , but only reason I started to add sps ere because coraline was really starting to grow. I also forgot to mention salinity 1.025 and i only dose kalk 20 ml a day

 

[Tamberav]

Here is the review on the tester and the problem with the phos. He got 0 and 0.1 and hanna read 0.06

Waterlink Spin Touch FF - First look and review

Many weeks ago, Reef Builders put out some info on a new product by API, Aquaspin. Seemed like a neat multi-test platform that made testing easy and quick. So I started to do some digging. Turns out a company by the name of LaMotte has been making automated testers for the pool industry for many...

www.reef2reef.com

edit; sorry just saw post above.

 

[branbray07]

I agree with this too. When your rocks are getting covered in coraline that is a good indicator that you might be ready. I waited till about 11 months and out of 22 frags that have gone in the tank only one didn't make it and that was due to shipping stress.

Yea of course. Like i said i only added sps, because coraline is growing very well. I have had to clean pumps recently because of it.

 

[mtraylor]

I had the same problem with my frag tank when I started it years ago with dry rock in sump. Its a ULN tank. Its almost impossible to get the phosphates above zero on regular hanna checker. I still dose phosphates to this day, but I have stopped dosing it here and there and it has no affects on my sps and I have around 40 different pieces.

I did something really off the norm. My nitrates were around 4ppm, so I started to dose ESV B-Ionic-Nitrate to get the Nitrate levels up in the aquarium. Within a week, I started to notice that the one sps tester I had at the time started to perk up. I raised the nitrates really high to about 20ppm and the sps took off. I kept dosing the nitrates for a long time to sustain levels and I have never had any issues with sps since then