So...I can't keep SPS!

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Kingston

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Dry rock
Nutrients too high
Add some aquacultured rock
What are you using for RO/DI and are you changing filters and resin out when it hits 1tds?
BRS 7 stage for RODI. I change DI resin based on color change which typically matches with TDS going to 1. Surprisingly I haven't needed to change filters or carbon block or cation resin in 12 month. Anion resin however runs out very quickly.

Will adding aquacultured or live rock at this time potentially start a mini cycle from die off, etc?
 
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You got some very good advice on nutrient levels, see if you can source some birdsnest from someone who has similar nutrient levels. I have a few other observations:

* Your wavemakers are pointed up. In a 96" tank, you are definitely not getting good flow in the middle of the tank. The one on the left should be pretty much level and about 4-6" below the surface, Make sure you're getting around 10 cm / second of flow in the spot where you are putting your SPS. And the flow shouldn't be hitting the coral directly, it should be going a couple inches over the top of it.

* How much coraline algae are you getting? I can't tell from the pics. Put corals where there's good coraline growth.

* Make sure new frags are placed in the same PAR as the tank you got them from. I recently fragged a couple montis and moved them from 200 to 500 PAR (same exact water chemisty). Bleached and dead 2 days later. Any change is pretty rough on corals.
Thanks for the recommendations...so without knowing the need for flow of individual SPS, I placed my frags over different spots but no luck. The lowest rock surface has the green birds nest and another coral that was doing well and then suddenly about 2 weeks ago puff...it started dying. The highest rock surface towards the right of the tank had a very chunky frag (my biggest frag from H@rrys). It did very well for 4 months and started browning own last week and at the moment is almost completely brown.

I will move the wavemakers down.

I have some coraline algae but I won't say its a lot. its hard to say what is enough in a 12 month old tank. Surprising a lot of the flat surfaces like that rock on the right on the tank has nothing.
 
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I would like to add to this:

if your tank has been up for 2+ years I would recommend using this practice. if its younger I would try and keep the sand bed clean right now. I clean my entire sand bed every week. you can stir it up in any part of the tank and there is no cloud that comes out of it. I have had a super clean sand bed and I have never had issues with SPS in the tank.
I have 2 sand sifting gobies always sifting through the sand, do we think they will help clean the sand to some extend and will adding say a sand sifting sea star help with cleaning the sand?
 
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With NSW being at 7, yes I consider 9 high. The problem with running a tank on the edge is always that stability becomes even more important.

In the case of the OP this isn't an issue just wanted to add this for future reference for people reading this thread.

In case of the OP I think this tank is still not mature enough for SPS, given the nutrient swings the bacterial biome is still developing.
At least if I am confident that its all from immaturity of the tank and not from me doing anything wrong, I have no problem waiting it out. I already know the adage " nothing good comes too fast in this hobby". I can at least enjoy my fish and add some more fish, LPS and equipment while I wait. But I want to be sure.
 

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I have 2 sand sifting gobies always sifting through the sand, do we think they will help clean the sand to some extend and will adding say a sand sifting sea star help with cleaning the sand?
For a 96” x 30” foot print and your aqua scape I think adding the star fish might suffice, but if you don’t want to perform the sand bed cleaning maintenance, you may want to add more sand bed cleaners.... like more gobies or/ and I would throw in 10-15 nassarius snails to help out. And this would be due to the depth of the sand at 3”. My 75g has a 1” sand bed, I like it, but I have to trip the posts of frag plugs if I want to place them in the sand haha cause they’ll fall over

Also when I clean my sand, cause I should have given you my method, I clamp a filter sock in my sump and then go to town cleaning the sand and the water is put back into the sump and the nasties go in the sock. Using this method, you can clean the sand for an hour + and
 
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For a 96” x 30” foot print and your aqua scape I think adding the star fish might suffice, but if you don’t want to perform the sand bed cleaning maintenance, you may want to add more sand bed cleaners.... like more gobies or/ and I would throw in 10-15 nassarius snails to help out. And this would be due to the depth of the sand at 3”. My 75g has a 1” sand bed, I like it, but I have to trip the posts of frag plugs if I want to place them in the sand haha cause they’ll fall over

Also when I clean my sand, cause I should have given you my method, I clamp a filter sock in my sump and then go to town cleaning the sand and the water is put back into the sump and the nasties go in the sock. Using this method, you can clean the sand for an hour + and
I actually do sand bed cleaning but not as frequent and I do a quart of the sand at a time. I always worry the gobies might not have enough to feed if i over clean it.
 

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I don't know if you are carbon dosing, but with NO3 between 10-25 and PO4 at 0.1 you could start using this to bring both down (NO3 5-10 range), doing so will also impact PO4 (not always and not as much, so you may need to use GFO to get this back in the 0.04-0.08 range). The advantage of cabon dosing is that it stimulates bacterial growth.
I would start with some vinegar as this tends not to feed cyanobacteria which other carbons seem to do. After a while you could try adding ethanol (alcohol) and or sugar to the mix.
 

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Also have few other ideas,
1) bacteria form aquaforest there is two of them i think,members with dry rock use can acros incrusting
2) get some lives sand from another member aged tank
3)Indo Pacific seafarms live sand activator

I think adding live rock will cause another cycle, you have expensive fish,
maybe someone can chime in
 

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BRS 7 stage for RODI. I change DI resin based on color change which typically matches with TDS going to 1. Surprisingly I haven't needed to change filters or carbon block or cation resin in 12 month. Anion resin however runs out very quickly.

Will adding aquacultured or live rock at this time potentially start a mini cycle from die off, etc?
I would suggest changing them all out at once, especially if you're having problems. How do you know you haven't needed to change out your carbon? prefilters are cheap and affect your system pressure.
 

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Adding Live Rock that has been kept wet should not cause a cycle or even a mini-cycle. If you let it dry out (causing things to die) then it might cause a cycle.
 
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I would suggest changing them all out at once, especially if you're having problems. How do you know you haven't needed to change out your carbon? prefilters are cheap and affect your system pressure.
because my system pressure has remained at 78PSI since installing. I understand the pressure should drop if its time to change according to BRS.
 
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So after losing all my hard corals ( even the green birdnest died but I think that was because my BRS 1.1 doser dumped a gallon of part B while I was on vacation). So I decided to do an ICP test (ATI) as had been recommended by a few reefers here. I put samples ( RO/DI and tank water) in the mail on 8/25/21 and results came today. Will like to see what members think and recommend.....
//lab.atiaquaristik.com/share/85380466fddd86da2f07
 
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Show 102550100 entries
Search:
SymbolValueCalculated reference valueDifferenceResultActions
Base elements
Salinity37.20 PSU35.00 PSU+2.20 PSU
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Carbonate hardness8.75 °dKH7.50 °dKH+1.25 °dKH
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Major elements
Chloride21206 mg/l21045 mg/l+161.0 mg/l
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Sodium11603 mg/l11692 mg/l-89.40 mg/l
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Magnesium1451 mg/l1398 mg/l+53.24 mg/l
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Sulfur955.9 mg/l977.9 mg/l-22.01 mg/l
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Calcium455.8 mg/l447.5 mg/l+8.34 mg/l
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Potassium457.7 mg/l433.7 mg/l+24.07 mg/l
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Bromine96.57 mg/l71.21 mg/l+25.36 mg/l
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Strontium11.32 mg/l8.50 mg/l+2.82 mg/l
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Boron4.79 mg/l4.68 mg/l+0.12 mg/l
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Fluorine1.29 mg/l1.38 mg/l-0.09 mg/l
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Minor elements
Lithium274.1 µg/l180.7 µg/l+93.45 µg/l
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Silicon60.52 µg/l106.3 µg/l-45.77 µg/l
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Iodine24.68 µg/l69.09 µg/l-44.41 µg/l
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Barium26.91 µg/l10.63 µg/l+16.28 µg/l
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Molybdenum11.06 µg/l12.75 µg/l-1.69 µg/l
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Nickelu.0.53 µg/l-0.53 µg/l
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Manganeseu.1.06 µg/l-1.06 µg/l
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Arsenicu.1.59 µg/l-1.59 µg/l
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Berylliumu.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Chromeu.0.53 µg/l-0.53 µg/l
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Cobaltu.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Iron1.18 µg/l0.53 µg/l+0.64 µg/l
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Copperu.0.53 µg/l-0.53 µg/l
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Seleniumu.0.53 µg/l-0.53 µg/l
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Silveru.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Vanadium0.85 µg/l1.59 µg/l-0.74 µg/l
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Zincu.2.13 µg/l-2.13 µg/l
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Tin7.41 µg/l0.53 µg/l+6.88 µg/l
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Nutrients
Nitrate35.37 mg/l2.00 mg/l+33.37 mg/l
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Phosphorus115.1 µg/l15.94 µg/l+99.19 µg/l
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Phosphate0.35 mg/l0.05 mg/l+0.31 mg/l
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Pollutants
Aluminium2.88 µg/l0.11 µg/l+2.77 µg/l
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Antimonyu.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Bismuthu.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Leadu.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Cadmiumu.0.21 µg/l-0.21 µg/l
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Lanthanumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Thalliumu.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Titaniumu.0.11 µg/l-0.11 µg/l
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Tungstenu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
Mercuryu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
 
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SymbolValueCalculated reference valueDifferenceResultActions
Base elements
Salinityu.35.00 PSU-35.00 PSU
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Carbonate hardness0 °dKH7.50 °dKH-7.50 °dKH
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Major elements
Chlorideu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Sodiumu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Magnesiumu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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View
Sulfuru.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Calciumu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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View
Potassiumu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Bromineu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Strontiumu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Boronu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Fluorine0 mg/l0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Minor elements
Lithiumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Silicon196.4 µg/l0 µg/l+196.4 µg/l
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Iodineu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Bariumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Molybdenumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Nickelu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Manganeseu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Arsenicu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Berylliumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Chromeu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Cobaltu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Ironu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Copperu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Seleniumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
Silveru.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Vanadiumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Zincu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Tinu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
Nutrients
Nitrate0 mg/l2.00 mg/l-2.00 mg/l
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Phosphorusu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Phosphateu.0 mg/l+0 mg/l
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Pollutants
Aluminiumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
Antimonyu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
Bismuthu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
check.png
View
Leadu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
check.png
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Cadmiumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
check.png
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Lanthanumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Thalliumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Titaniumu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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Tungstenu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
Mercuryu.0 µg/l+0 µg/l
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View
Showing 1 to 43 of 43 entries
 
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My initial take home points....the hanna checker seem to be spot on for Alk, NO3 and Phos. Also salifert Ca tester is also fair accurate.
Silicon, I'm not sure where that is coming from in my RODI water.
Will love to hear comments from the experts.
 

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