New SPS bleached

[homer1475]

the salt that works best that's a bit of work is the Red Sea salt (blue bucket) you will want to buy the Red Sea CA MG and All powder for all three 60 bucks and it will last a very long time. the levels are a little low in the salt mixture so you will have to add some of the powder additives when mixing the salt. Should target for 8dkh 450ca and 1350mg. Also If you really want to have good experience with sps you have to do a lot of testing and have constant levels. I would suggest staying away from across till you get some more experience other wise you will be tossing money away and have a lot of frustration. If you get really serious about having acropora I would suggest buying the seneye reef monitor its a lower priced par meter. You will want to get a Hannah checker ULR Phosphate, check your alk frequently. and test your ca and mg every few days. Especially on that size of tank. I do recommend the Neptune trident combo as it will test daily. Sounds like your Macroalgae is sucking up to much nutrients also.

While I'll agree with about 90% of that, salt is salt. many, many tanks are using IO, and succeeding. The trident/apex combo, while nice and certainly a luxury item is not needed either.

 

[Cstar_BC]

Can someone explain what the difference in alk makes ? Would higher alk not be better for sps - as it is sps “food” ?

The secret to keeping Acropora and SPS - Frag Box Corals

Stability Nothing brings me more joy in this hobby than a large, happy, healthy, polyps out, growing, colorful sps coral. The key to this magnificent site is stability. It may seem so simple and it is in someways and in many ways it isn’t. In dealing with stability I find the most important...

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[Rmckoy]

You don't have to drip acclimate for 24 hours. Your system just has some issues that have to be addresses before you get sps. Are you sure IO reef crystals is 11? Mine is like 7 at 1.025

Io reef crystals used to be known for low alk
Requiring dosing to maintain parameters .
I have used salinity ( aqua vitro ) for that reason since it was available .
I haven’t looked into changing salts

 

[RCS82]

Can someone explain what the difference in alk makes ? Would higher alk not be better for sps - as it is sps “food” ?

The secret to keeping Acropora and SPS - Frag Box Corals

Stability Nothing brings me more joy in this hobby than a large, happy, healthy, polyps out, growing, colorful sps coral. The key to this magnificent site is stability. It may seem so simple and it is in someways and in many ways it isn’t. In dealing with stability I find the most important...

fragbox.ca

It's more like this, your system will let your corals have a given amount of KH per day. It's like cheese burgers and let's say I can have 5 a day. Well putting 20 in front of me doesnt change the fact that my system allows me to have 5 a day. So even if you put a whole bunch of KH in your system, your corals will only take in a set amount. Any extra KH will just sit there and build up. You can change your system and your corals may take up more alkalinity. Things like pH, lighting, flow, live rock, stability are all factors.

 

[Cstar_BC]

It's more like this, your system will let your corals have a given amount of KH per day. It's like cheese burgers and let's say I can have 5 a day. Well putting 20 in front of me doesnt change the fact that my system allows me to have 5 a day. So even if you put a whole bunch of KH in your system, your corals will only take in a set amount. Any extra KH will just sit there and build up. You can change your system and your corals make take up more KH, things like pH, lighting, flow, live rock, stability are all factors.

so would an alk of 11 be bad if its stable?

if i monitored my alk say every other hour every other day to see how stable it is would this be a good start?
i have no plans of getting an apex/trident - waaaaay out of my price range

 

[Rmckoy]

so would an alk of 11 be bad if its stable?

if i monitored my alk say every other hour every other day to see how stable it is would this be a good start?
i have no plans of getting an apex/trident - waaaaay out of my price range

As
Long as it’s stable ( which is a hard variable to control . Ph , dkh both work hand in hand .
fluctuate little from day to night .
I think the problem is trying to acclimate new corals that come from a lower dkh system. .

dkh is not good to adjust rapidly , especially with sps

 

[RCS82]

so would an alk of 11 be bad if its stable?

if i monitored my alk say every other hour every other day to see how stable it is would this be a good start?
i have no plans of getting an apex/trident - waaaaay out of my price range

11 isn't really bad. It's just higher than most people run. If you have the nitrates and phosphates than you will probably be fine. Most like me are in that 7- 8 range. And just testing once a day for a while is fine, at close to the same time because you can have a variation at different times. Morning and evening could be different due to PH, CO2, metabolic rates etc which can change all consumption.

 

[Cstar_BC]

So i watched the BRS Elavated levels videos again and noticed that they dont mention anything about nitrate or phosphate levels. Does anyone have a good video series or article that would help me better understand the nutrient levels

 

[Rmckoy]

So i watched the BRS Elavated levels videos again and noticed that they dont mention anything about nitrate or phosphate levels. Does anyone have a good video series or article that would help me better understand the nutrient levels

Look up the effect of dkh with high nitrates .
The higher nitrates almost cover the dkh .
as soon as you start removing the nitrates , high dkh is what happens

within the last 4 months , I’ve taken my tank from 100ppm down to 15 .
The end result for a few weeks was dkh 11.5
But cal was only 380 and very low mag ( 800’s )

along with dosing nopox to lower nitrates .
I started dosing calcification and ions to raise cal and mag .
along with fuel for essential Elements

 

[RCS82]

The higher nitrates almost cover the dkh .

This I may need explained so I understand it

 

[vetteguy53081]

Alk is high, Ph is high, temp a tad low and How did you acclimate coral.
Always add mainly SPS under Low light intensity (similar to acclimation mode) and gradually bring it to normal.

 

[Cstar_BC]

Alk is high, Ph is high, temp a tad low and How did you acclimate coral.
Always add mainly SPS under Low light intensity (similar to acclimation mode) and gradually bring it to normal.

i floated the bag for 30min and then drip acclimated for 30min. I added the coral to my tank with no lights on, and when i turned my lights on in the morning they were set to 50%

I tested my nutrients again and i have 0 phosphate and roughly 5 nitrates.

 

[vetteguy53081]

i floated the bag for 30min and then drip acclimated for 30min. I added the coral to my tank with no lights on, and when i turned my lights on in the morning they were set to 50%

I tested my nutrients again and i have 0 phosphate and roughly 5 nitrates.

I place my new arrivals in bucket and add pint of water each 15 mins at 6-8 times.

 

[Cstar_BC]

I place my new arrivals in bucket and add pint of water each 15 mins at 6-8 times.

This has been my go to acclimation for all inverts, fish and anemones and has worked well but maybe the dkh was too high a swing .

I’m not sure

 

[Rmckoy]

9 Most Important Reef Tank Parameters - test these ideal aquarium levels

Knowing which reef tank parameters are most important to test for will help you build a successful saltwater aquarium. The number one mistake is...

www.saltwateraquariumblog.com

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Most sps keepers just float the bags for temp acclimation, never any issues.

 

[Cstar_BC]

So I am very happy/confused .

went to check on my carpet and my orange setosa is alive ?!?!

after it RTN - bone white - I left it in the tank , as a reminder to not try again!

my hermit crabs and clowns had it lying in the sand .

lights were ramping down and went to feed clowns dinner and it’s alive !

Sorry for horrible picture but that bright orange spec definitely is little polyps!

i picked it up off the sand and placed it on a rock .

 

[X-37B]

Thats cool! I have had corals die, or at least I thought they did, and just left them in the tank.
I had one completly grow over the dead area and you would never know it was almost dead once.

 

[kevin_e]

I had a monti do this years ago. A couple polyps survived and it regrew over its dead skeleton.

 

[Cstar_BC]

I had a monti do this years ago. A couple polyps survived and it regrew over its dead skeleton.

Any suggestions for all the algae that’s grown over it ?