I still can’t keep acros apparently. Getting really frustrated.

[Kaludar]

The corals would bleach on the flow side first. While some folks are able to set up sps tanks right away, fwiw, I couldn't keep sps in my first year and the somewhere in my second year I took another stab at it, and boom, they took. Nothing I could see or test was different. I attributed it to the maturing of the microfauna in the tank.

During that second year, I decided to take baby steps and stick with easier coral like frogspawn, duncans and candy canes. When they along with the softies had gotten established and started to take off, that's when I tried sps again.

I stopped focusing on what I couldn't keep and focused on what was doing well. That helped a lot with being patient and was a lot more enjoyable.

This is a good point, my blastos grow like crazy and I have a very healthy Aussie gold torch. Maybe I should just focus on what is doing well and let my tank do it’s thing.

I do think I’m going to get rid of my flame angel though cause he is definitely picking at my sps.

 

[mitch91175]

This is a good point, my blastos grow like crazy and I have a very healthy Aussie gold torch. Maybe I should just focus on what is doing well and let my tank do it’s thing.

I do think I’m going to get rid of my flame angel though cause he is definitely picking at my sps.

Good idea. Once you start growing coralline algae everywhere then try SPS. Also sponge growth, feather dusters are also good signs of a healthy system.

 

[Gungo]

I started a new tank with dry rock from scratch and the tank is 8 months old now and I am still struggling to keep SPS. Have dealt with every kind of algae issues in this past 8 months and right now I'm having a cyano outbreak. Your rocks seems to be missing a few algae outbreaks. No matter how many products I've tried (microbacter, prodibio) time is the only thing that matures our tanks. 8 months and now is that I am seeing a few spots of coraline algae. I wanted coralline in the first two months.. lol. It will take time.. be patient

 

[Kaludar]

Good idea. Once you start growing coralline algae everywhere then try SPS. Also sponge growth, feather dusters are also good signs of a healthy system.

I have some sponges in my sump and overflow box, quite a few of them, glad to know they aren’t bad

 

[jpas]

Thank you. I would never drive red !!

Good idea. Once you start growing coralline algae everywhere then try SPS. Also sponge growth, feather dusters are also good signs of a healthy system.

As stated above, if your not growing coralline don’t bother with SPS corals yet.

 

[blstravler]

My tank is approaching the one year mark. I started with mostly dry rock but after my initial cycle I added 3 good size pieces of actual live rock from my LFS. The life in my tank took off, sponge, feather dusters, worms, etc. I also added a fair amount of Pods consistently for 3 months (I still add them every other month). After 4 months I started with Digitata, then went to bird nest, then Pocillopora, etc. after about 7/8 months I went to SPS and it’s going well. I would say your ALK is high and PH is a little low. Add some actual live rock and try a cheap Digitata frag once you see coraline growing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ph is a little low. Light PAR and water flow plays a vital role. You Must watch Alk. High alk will take them down almost always. At the same token, Do Not make it a point to strive to reach perfect readings which are rare.(A/k/a chasing numbers)
Stable numbers are as successful as perfect ranges.

 

[Kaludar]

My tank is approaching the one year mark. I started with mostly dry rock but after my initial cycle I added 3 good size pieces of actual live rock from my LFS. The life in my tank took off, sponge, feather dusters, worms, etc. I also added a fair amount of Pods consistently for 3 months (I still add them every other month). After 4 months I started with Digitata, then went to bird nest, then Pocillopora, etc. after about 7/8 months I went to SPS and it’s going well. I would say your ALK is high and PH is a little low. Add some actual live rock and try a cheap Digitata frag once you see coraline growing.

Yeah I have some spot of coraline but nothing approaching what you have in there. I’ll probably pick up some live rock this weekend from the LFS.

 

[Brian barranco]

Try out these settings. I have 2 hydra 26hd. Tank height is 12inches &mounted 12inches. Ab+ way way to powerful for my corals. I noticed that it was the whites. So I did is run them for an hour @Max . 1:30-3:30. I can grow sps ,lps,softies . alk 7 .calcium 440ppm. Mag 1320 . Nitrates 15ppm& phosphate 30ppb. I have a great clean up crew. I dose kalk with ato bucket method. And I do weekly water changes 10% for mag. I run a skimmer,uv. I dose amino acids from brightwell. It bought back colors from bleaching. I noticed feeding corals Is not so good. They poop & then look like shi..t . I sometimes Broadcast feed roids but not so much.. I also dose cheap reef accelerator From instant ocean. To keep up trace Elements.

 

[Tommypantsmagee]

Some tanks just cannot grow some coral.

 

[Kaludar]

I’m sorry but I don’t accept “you cannot grow this coral” I will fix the problem.

 

[ffighter17]

following im in a similar situation.

 

[d3vhound]

Some tanks just cannot grow some coral.

sure you mean "tanks"? Almost reads as if you meant to say "people"

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Alk is too high and po4 is too low

 

[PapaDragon]

If you love the hobby and are willing to put the time into it I think anyone can have success. If it really was magic what would be the point.

 

[PapaDragon]

Alk is too high and po4 is too low

What issue does high Alk cause with coral?

 

[TLO45]

Looking at your parameters I’d say those look good. I have to agree the tank is young. I started last June as well and within the last few weeks have now just started to get sps to take hold. Not actively growing...just keeping alive. New dry rock is great for pest reduction, but horrible for seeding a new sterile system. I even dumped numerous bottles of bacteria into my system for a few months and it still took a good 8-9 months to start to mature. I’d say a year (as mentioned above) is a timeline to shoot for to start adding sps stock and add bacteria if possible. Patience is key. And I know it’s tough to wait!

 

[Cwentz758]

How is 9.24 DKH to high with Alk? Just curious, I’ve been keeping mine around 9.5 mostly because the reefer I got my SPS from kept his there.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

What issue does high Alk cause with coral?

Causes loads of problems. Limited feedings, oversized skimmer and stripping the water chasing low nutrients with carbon dosing and probably gfo (just a hunch). Not enough nutrition to keep up with the higher alk. I bet the frags look good for a week, then the polyps retract, then the tissue starts looking “dried out” but the average hobbyists thinks “it’s darker, so the that means the nutrients must be too high” WRONG. But they probably start bumping up the carbon dosing and gfo right as the tissue starts peeling or stn/rtn (yes, there’s a difference). Too many sps death threads on here and the majority involve chasing or having low nutrients with elevated alk (anything above 8.3). Now I’m not saying an experienced hobbyist can’t grow sps with the same parameters, but I would be willing to bet that they have much larger bioload and feeding regiment. Call TopShelf, WWC, Cherry corals, LivingReef Orlando, Reefraftusa, JF etc and ask them if they carbon dose or use gfo and they’ll all tell you “no, we don’t use any of those methods”

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

How is 9.24 DKH to high with Alk? Just curious, I’ve been keeping mine around 9.5 mostly because the reefer I got my SPS from kept his there.

It’s too high for 0.03 po4