For around a year now I have had issues keeping any LPS/SPS. This is a new tank but I had a successful full SPS 29g system around 10ish years ago that I had to shut down. I never had these issues with my old 29G and I'm close to throwing in the towel which would be heart breaking for me. I've gone down all of the rabbit holes while trying to maintain calm and not chase numbers or anecdotal comments from similar threads.
I feel this is a chemistry problem, as I cant find any other reason for my issues - if this isn't the right thread for this type of post please feel free to move it. Sorry for the long post, I just feel there's some context/history needed before I get to my questions
This is a bad picture of my old 29g in its prime. I'm not a complete stranger to SPS but it has been some time.
All corals start great and look healthy for 1-2 weeks then they basically bailout stn/rtn between 2-3 weeks of adding them to the system. Its always consistent for each frag dying around the 2-3 week mark that I can almost time it. I mostly test with common SPS frags as they are cheaper nowadays then some LPS and ultimately I want this to be a full sps system like my old tank. The frags start tip down and stop for a brief period leaving a white skeleton tip - then all of a sudden it melts to the point i can blow all of the polyps/skin off the skeleton with a baster.
I have not seen any AEFW, MEN, red bugs etc. but with that said I do have little tan keyhole limpets - most of what I read online says they may be predatory but I have never observed any bite marks on corals; they don't survive long enough to get eaten. Also in the last month it looks like I got Acoel flatworms despite dipping new frags. Those are brand new so I ruled them out due to the history of this issue.
I had gotten 3-4 ORA frags in March of 22' just to test the waters and they did great for 3-4 months, decent color and had some good growth, then this stn/rtn issue started up.
I have had nutrient issues with lulls of zero and then spikes due to dosing. I mixed up some potassium nitrate and monopotassium phosphate I got from a fresh water vendor. I have also fed heavier, tried aminos on a doser (acropower and Redsea AB), and reef roids to try to maintain a detectable level. Its been a battle to get to a balanced range of nutrients and I'm still working on it.
Also to note I have not had massive corraline growth, I do have a large frag disc covered in it that has continued to grow but its not spreading much across the whole tank. Just a few spots here and there on the seams/glass.
Startup January 2022
RSR 250
x2 AI Hydra - mounted 12" from surface, 4 hour ramp up, 4 hour peak, 5 hour ramp down with the tail end on very low blues for late night viewing
x2 Nero 5s
Aquamax Cone SQ1
Chaeto fuge w/ home depot lamp
Dry rock *Rock has life on it, sponges, coralline, tons of pods etc. - Also seeded with Aquabiomics rubble around the 7 month mark of the tank
Barebottom
Brightwell Salt
4 stage RODI - 0 tds - on city water for 15 months recently moved and have well water
Other misc. equipment but not relevant
Fish
Clown - Almost 10 years old from original tank
Springer damsel
Royal gramma
Stripped blenny
Banggai Cardinal
Minimal nuisance algae - I scrub the rock and glass almost daily and run a line through a filter sock to siphon out
Parameters - weekly-ish testing and one ICP from November - I have a reef labs ICP test in route.
Salinity -1.025-1.026
Alk - 7.5 Consistently stable but i have been slowly raising it
Calc - 425
Mag - 1400
Nitrate - 5.8
Phosphate .08
pH - don't have a test, plan to buy a probe when I have funds
ICP from Nov '22 - these are just the red flags, everything else was in line. This test is old but I figured its still relevant for metals etc. confirmation
Tin - 11 µg/l
Lithium - 333 µg/l
Bromide - 41 mg/l
Potassium - 359 mg/l
Questions
1. Are any of the ICP results a concern? ill follow up with the new ICP results when I get them
2. I understand my nutrients not being stable are an issue - but would it result in the reaction I'm seeing with the frags. STN tips into a quick Bailout/RTN?
3. Could my source of Potassium nitrate & monopotassium phosphate be an issue? I found these on a thread I believe on R2R - its from greenleafaquariums
4. Why after this whole time are my nutrients so unstable? Even removing my Chaeto and cleaning my rock of nuisance algae I keep bottoming out or having spikes. Biological/chemical imbalance?
5. Other contaminants I can test for?
6. Aside from "new tank syndrome" is there anything else?
Frags in the fts are from RAP NY and all on their way out in line with the 2 week timeline
I feel this is a chemistry problem, as I cant find any other reason for my issues - if this isn't the right thread for this type of post please feel free to move it. Sorry for the long post, I just feel there's some context/history needed before I get to my questions
This is a bad picture of my old 29g in its prime. I'm not a complete stranger to SPS but it has been some time.
All corals start great and look healthy for 1-2 weeks then they basically bailout stn/rtn between 2-3 weeks of adding them to the system. Its always consistent for each frag dying around the 2-3 week mark that I can almost time it. I mostly test with common SPS frags as they are cheaper nowadays then some LPS and ultimately I want this to be a full sps system like my old tank. The frags start tip down and stop for a brief period leaving a white skeleton tip - then all of a sudden it melts to the point i can blow all of the polyps/skin off the skeleton with a baster.
I have not seen any AEFW, MEN, red bugs etc. but with that said I do have little tan keyhole limpets - most of what I read online says they may be predatory but I have never observed any bite marks on corals; they don't survive long enough to get eaten. Also in the last month it looks like I got Acoel flatworms despite dipping new frags. Those are brand new so I ruled them out due to the history of this issue.
I had gotten 3-4 ORA frags in March of 22' just to test the waters and they did great for 3-4 months, decent color and had some good growth, then this stn/rtn issue started up.
I have had nutrient issues with lulls of zero and then spikes due to dosing. I mixed up some potassium nitrate and monopotassium phosphate I got from a fresh water vendor. I have also fed heavier, tried aminos on a doser (acropower and Redsea AB), and reef roids to try to maintain a detectable level. Its been a battle to get to a balanced range of nutrients and I'm still working on it.
Also to note I have not had massive corraline growth, I do have a large frag disc covered in it that has continued to grow but its not spreading much across the whole tank. Just a few spots here and there on the seams/glass.
Startup January 2022
RSR 250
x2 AI Hydra - mounted 12" from surface, 4 hour ramp up, 4 hour peak, 5 hour ramp down with the tail end on very low blues for late night viewing
x2 Nero 5s
Aquamax Cone SQ1
Chaeto fuge w/ home depot lamp
Dry rock *Rock has life on it, sponges, coralline, tons of pods etc. - Also seeded with Aquabiomics rubble around the 7 month mark of the tank
Barebottom
Brightwell Salt
4 stage RODI - 0 tds - on city water for 15 months recently moved and have well water
Other misc. equipment but not relevant
Fish
Clown - Almost 10 years old from original tank
Springer damsel
Royal gramma
Stripped blenny
Banggai Cardinal
Minimal nuisance algae - I scrub the rock and glass almost daily and run a line through a filter sock to siphon out
Parameters - weekly-ish testing and one ICP from November - I have a reef labs ICP test in route.
Salinity -1.025-1.026
Alk - 7.5 Consistently stable but i have been slowly raising it
Calc - 425
Mag - 1400
Nitrate - 5.8
Phosphate .08
pH - don't have a test, plan to buy a probe when I have funds
ICP from Nov '22 - these are just the red flags, everything else was in line. This test is old but I figured its still relevant for metals etc. confirmation
Tin - 11 µg/l
Lithium - 333 µg/l
Bromide - 41 mg/l
Potassium - 359 mg/l
Questions
1. Are any of the ICP results a concern? ill follow up with the new ICP results when I get them
2. I understand my nutrients not being stable are an issue - but would it result in the reaction I'm seeing with the frags. STN tips into a quick Bailout/RTN?
3. Could my source of Potassium nitrate & monopotassium phosphate be an issue? I found these on a thread I believe on R2R - its from greenleafaquariums
4. Why after this whole time are my nutrients so unstable? Even removing my Chaeto and cleaning my rock of nuisance algae I keep bottoming out or having spikes. Biological/chemical imbalance?
5. Other contaminants I can test for?
6. Aside from "new tank syndrome" is there anything else?
Frags in the fts are from RAP NY and all on their way out in line with the 2 week timeline
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