I have SPS now!

[Shawn_epicurious]

You got more control on your parameters than I do. I keep going back to dipping gone awry?

Okay, that is a good question. My process for putting a new frag in my tank (beat me if you want : ) I do not have a QT completely setup yet)

When I bring one home, I float it for a solid 30 - 45 minutes (Yeah, float it...lol, the bag normally sinks to the bottom ). Then empty the bag in a bucket and add some tank water every 15 minutes for 45 minutes. My basic idea here is... if I start with a gallon of FSL water, then 1cup of tank water at a time... I never get a gallon of FSL water when I buy SPS, so I adjust my tank water adds down to match. Then I use Revive to dip (pic below) I use less than the recommended amounts and never exceed the recommended time. The directions call for 4 capfuls for a gallon of water (I use 3). I adjust down for less water. It says no more than 15 minutes and keep the water moving.

I just keep my hand moving in the water for 5 minutes, rinse in a different bucket of tank water and place it In the tank.

(edit). I forgot to attach the pic

 

[Gernader]

A quick update.... yeah.... these last three are not going to make it... everything I bought, without fail, looked great for a week, the color even improved. Then RTN on everyone of them. I just sent off a water sample... Triton Labs. I need to rule out things I am not measuring. I am going to list out my normal ranges on my water parameters... I can provide pics of most of them with my Apex... I really am searching for the stability required for SPS. Is there anything below swinging too much?

Salinity: target is a constant 35 ppm. My normal swing is between 35.2 & 34.9
PH target is 8.3: ...8.3 is tough for me (my water) I swing between 8.0 & 8.3... I rarely make it all the way to 8.3... I never drop below 8.0.
Temperature target is 77.5: I am running a chiller that is set to come on at 77... my temperature is never outside of 77.0 - 78.0 anymore.
I 2 part dose (which is really 3 part right? )
Mag target is1,350.... it stays between 1325 and 1375. I dose this manually
Calcium and Alk are being dosed on an automated basis using an Apex DOS dosing system. It keep these two super stable.
Alk target is 9.0: it swings between 8.9 & 9.2
Calcium target is 450: it swings between 425 and 460
Nitrates stay very steady between 3 - 6 ppm

Phosphates have been a problem. They were as high as .58 ppm... I started bringing it down over a 6 week period, a little at a time... this one still swings the most. But I am keeping it right around .09 It swings between .03 and .1

Can I rule out water parameters or does something here need tighter control?

Your water parameters looks fine to me. My phosphates are actually at 0.51 ppm for a while and I do nothing about it. No algae issues. My sps didn’t care and kept growing lol

 

[Daddy-o]

I dont have a QT and I don't dip.
When I get a coral, I put it into a small cup or tupperware and cover with water it came in. I add my tank water a little at a time for approx. 20-30 minutes, then right into the reef.
I dont buy from my lfs. I only buy from online coral growers and local sellers that I trust might have clean reefs.
Cheers! Mark

 

[schuby]

@Hans-Werner recommends a minimum of 0.1 phosphate when running LEDs. Some recommend a high "flow" of nutrients: lots of fish that you feed a lot while exporting a lot. I find the last part a challenge as my SPS are mostly all frags. Colonies consume much more PO4 & NO3. (Actually, belief is that they consume more ammonia so it never converts to PO4 & NO3). To export, I run chaeto and carbon-dosing with vodka. I expect to maybe stop carbon-dosing after my corals get bigger.

 

[Madonia]

When I was in SPS killing mode, I didn’t realize, but I was blasting my corals with light.
Even high end acro only need about 200-300 par to thrive.

depending on your LEDs, that’s likely around 50% of their max.

Of course spectrum is important too. I recommend watching Bulk Reef Supply’s video on lighting.

your phosphates are pretty high. Gradually lower that to 0.05ppm. Use the Hanna checker if you can’t read the colors well. You should be testing your parameters daily until you feel safe. alkalinity should be checked daily.

flow is important, but stable parameters are most important right now for you.

 

[Daddy-o]

Also, does the revive kill pests?

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Your water parameters looks fine to me. My phosphates are actually at 0.51 ppm for a while and I do nothing about it. No algae issues. My sps didn’t care and kept growing lol

That makes me feel better : )

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I dont have a QT and I don't dip.
When I get a coral, I put it into a small cup or tupperware and cover with water it came in. I add my tank water a little at a time for approx. 20-30 minutes, then right into the reef.
I dont buy from my lfs. I only buy from online coral growers and local sellers that I trust might have clean reefs.
Cheers! Mark

I a, losing faith on my LFS... nothing I bought from him has survived.... I am trying to make sure it is them and not me : )

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

@Hans-Werner recommends a minimum of 0.1 phosphate when running LEDs. Some recommend a high "flow" of nutrients: lots of fish that you feed a lot while exporting a lot. I find the last part a challenge as my SPS are mostly all frags. Colonies consume much more PO4 & NO3. (Actually, belief is that they consume more ammonia so it never converts to PO4 & NO3). To export, I run chaeto and carbon-dosing with vodka. I expect to maybe stop carbon-dosing after my corals get bigger.

I do carbon dose. I was using a reactor. I tried using that reactor with PhosGaur, but could not get low enough. I use phosphate-e now. I have been putting carbon in a mesh bag, high flow area in my sump. Basically following Randy Holmes advice on carbon : ) I have a 200 gallon tank. I throw away half my carbon each time I change it out. And then add back in 1 cup... ish... every 2 weeks.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

When I was in SPS killing mode, I didn’t realize, but I was blasting my corals with light.
Even high end acro only need about 200-300 par to thrive.

depending on your LEDs, that’s likely around 50% of their max.

Of course spectrum is important too. I recommend watching Bulk Reef Supply’s video on lighting.

your phosphates are pretty high. Gradually lower that to 0.05ppm. Use the Hanna checker if you can’t read the colors well. You should be testing your parameters daily until you feel safe. alkalinity should be checked daily.

flow is important, but stable parameters are most important right now for you.

I’ll come back to the lights : )

I like to overfeed : ) it really is my problem with phosphates... me. I have changed my feeding habits a lot to reduce over-feeding : ) and that has helped me get it down to where it is now. I am still learning how to really use the Phosphate-E to stay more stable. I am dosing ...roughly... .7 ml per day, (200 gallon tank) which is keeping me at or near .10 ppm... if I don’t over feed, I test at .03... If I am feeling generously and my fish are still eating... it comes back up : )

Yeah, lighting... I am trying to rule out water parameters right now : ) I’ll move on to lighting later...? : ) I definitely have the ability to have too much light : ) I have recently adjusted the spectrum down on cool whites. They were way too high.

 

[Madonia]

I’ll come back to the lights : )

I like to overfeed : ) it really is my problem with phosphates... me. I have changed my feeding habits a lot to reduce over-feeding : ) and that has helped me get it down to where it is now. I am still learning how to really use the Phosphate-E to stay more stable. I am dosing ...roughly... .7 ml per day, (200 gallon tank) which is keeping me at or near .10 ppm... if I don’t over feed, I test at .03... If I am feeling generously and my fish are still eating... it comes back up : )

Yeah, lighting... I am trying to rule out water parameters right now : ) I’ll move on to lighting later...? : ) I definitely have the ability to have too much light : ) I have recently adjusted the spectrum down on cool whites. They were way too high.

I’ve never dosed that. I use GFO in a reactor. I change it out about every 2-3 weeks. It keeps my phosphate consistently lowered.

what are you feeding? Try to avoid reef roids and stick with frozen foods. Reef roids can easily be overdone and they drive your nutrients through the roof.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I’ll come back to the lights : )

I like to overfeed : ) it really is my problem with phosphates... me. I have changed my feeding habits a lot to reduce over-feeding : ) and that has helped me get it down to where it is now. I am still learning how to really use the Phosphate-E to stay more stable. I am dosing ...roughly... .7 ml per day, (200 gallon tank) which is keeping me at or near .10 ppm... if I don’t over feed, I test at .03... If I am feeling generously and my fish are still eating... it comes back up : )

Yeah, lighting... I am trying to rule out water parameters right now : ) I’ll move on to lighting later...? : ) I definitely have the ability to have too much light : ) I have recently adjusted the spectrum down on cool whites. They were way too high.

Here is a pic of my LED schedule... I am running a hybrid system with 3 Hydra 64’s and 4 60” T5 builds ( not shown below) The T5s run from noon to 8:00pm. 2 Super Blues, 1 actinic and 1 purple for color : )

The pic below show Max usage. The lighting schedule is a download from AI... it was not specifically designed for my tank.

 

[Madonia]

Highly recommend renting a PAR meter.

your spectrum looks good. But you very well may be blasting your corals with too much light if your blues are upwards of 90%. Try to keep as much of the tank in the 200-300 range. Maybe 150 or so at the sand bed for any LPS you may have. My entire reef keeping experience changed when I rented a PAR meter.

 

[schuby]

For your lights, find others on here with same LEDs getting excellent SPS growth and consider copying their schedule.

 

[Tinvn]

Very nice frags . Your tank is big, so put some different color of Montipora.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I’ve never dosed that. I use GFO in a reactor. I change it out about every 2-3 weeks. It keeps my phosphate consistently lowered.

what are you feeding? Try to avoid reef roids and stick with frozen foods. Reef roids can easily be overdone and they drive your nutrients through the roof.

I have recently purchased reef roids... outside of that I feed only frozen food. The pic below (I feed basically the same amount as 2 of the “normal” cubes of frozen food.) And I feed human grade frozen shrimp. (I have a 12” snowflake Eel... he eats most of that shrimp. I also feed it to 3 anemone and , my other fish (and CUC) just love that shrimp. I also keep copepods, so I feed Algea barn “magic” phytoplankton. 25 ml per day.

I bought the reef roids because I thought I might be starving the SPS out. The directions called for 1 full teaspoon per 100 gallons... yeah.. All I had was small-medium sized frags... I fed a total of 1/4 teaspoon of reef roids...

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Highly recommend renting a PAR meter.

your spectrum looks good. But you very well may be blasting your corals with too much light if your blues are upwards of 90%. Try to keep as much of the tank in the 200-300 range. Maybe 150 or so at the sand bed for any LPS you may have. My entire reef keeping experience changed when I rented a PAR meter.

I own a nice Apogee meter. Your comment actually surprises me to be honest. Everything I’ve read on PAR for SPS is somewhat higher than you are suggesting. I am NOT saying you are wrong. : ) but, yeah, I have been running higher than that. Closer to an average of 380 (midpoint of a specific SPS coral in my tank.) My LPS at the bottom are running closer to100

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Highly recommend renting a PAR meter.

your spectrum looks good. But you very well may be blasting your corals with too much light if your blues are upwards of 90%. Try to keep as much of the tank in the 200-300 range. Maybe 150 or so at the sand bed for any LPS you may have. My entire reef keeping experience changed when I rented a PAR meter.

I own a nice Apogee meter. Your comment actually surprises me to be honest. Everything I’ve read on PAR for SPS is somewhat higher than you are suggesting. I am NOT saying oooohhhhhh... that’s an awesome you are wrong. : ) but, yeah, I have been running higher than that. Closer to an average of 380 (midpoint of a specific SPS coral in my tank.) My LPS at the bottom are running closer to100

Also, does the revive kill pests?

It says it does

 

[Madonia]

I own a nice Apogee meter. Your comment actually surprises me to be honest. Everything I’ve read on PAR for SPS is somewhat higher than you are suggesting. I am NOT saying you are wrong. : ) but, yeah, I have been running higher than that. Closer to an average of 380 (midpoint of a specific SPS coral in my tank.) My LPS at the bottom are running closer to100

SPS don’t need > 300 PAR to survive. I always put my acro on my frag rack on the side of the tank where it got an average of 100 PAR. They start to encrust there and acclimate to the tank parameters/spectrum/flow/feeding regimen...then I fix them on the rock work weeks later.

the take away message from my experience with acro is that they do NOT require tremendous amounts of light to thrive (as mine grow on my weakly lit frag rack). There are guys that blast their corals with light (>500 PAR) who are looking for optimal coloration in certain high end SPS. But that’s not really your goal at the moment.
RODs food is great. I use it too. The amount of reef roids you used is appropriate. Keep it extremely minimal an infrequent right now. Your corals will get all the nutrition they need from the Rods food when you feed your fish. Hold off on the reef roids for right now while you are stabilizing your phosphate and learning how to control it.
I recommend acro power amino acids to help with general sps (and LPS) health. For a tank your size you can start dosing about 20ml/week.

another question is- do you have coralline algae growth? I would hold off on buying any more SPS until you have explosive coralline growth in your tank.

 

[schuby]

Sometimes I wish my coral and fish could just tell me what they need!