SPS ALIVE but not THRIVING

[dave57]

I'm having trouble with my sps corals, I have a 139 gallon Red Sea reefer 525 XL with just sps corals and some lps. I'm having trouble making my corals grow and thrive. I'm currently using reef crystals salt
Here are my current parameters:
Ca: 440 alk 7.8 mg 1600 nitrate 1 phosphate 0.005 salinity 1.025
Lighting: ecotech xr15 x2 currently illuminating at 150-250 par total of 12 hours with 2 hour dusk/dawn. 20k spectrum with coral lab settings.
Flow: I use 2 jabeo Rw-8
I dose 2 part brs ca alk
I feed reef roids polyp lab, reef frenzy, and supplement with amino acids acropower and Red Sea energy a and b. every other day
Is there anything you guys recommend me doing in order for my corals to grow and thrive?? They seem to be nicely colored but are lacking visible growth and polyp extension. I greatly appreciate your help

 

[DereksReef77]

Looking at your parameters alk looks low as well as nitrate and phosphate. Maybe you are running one of those ultra low nutrient systems that people are running these days. If you are then I'm no help to you lol. I keep my alk at 9 and nitrates at 5 and phosphates at .03-.1 according to salifert test kits. You are also using leds which I hate except for the color pop from the blue channels of course. I'm a t5 guy and couldn't be happier with the results im getting with them on my sps dominant tank. Maybe others can chime in to help you figure out your leds.

 

[oceanslide]

Is that enough light? Two xr15s doesn't sound like it would be enough light for a 139 gallon tank

 

[Mallard]

Have you tested your par? You might not be getting the lighting you expect with those lights on a tank that large.

 

[Mel 2038]

Your alk could be closer to 9 to balance with your cal at 440. The light could be a issue, depending on placement. Good water flow always helps, and patience is key. What kind of SPS do you have, and how long has your system been running?

 

[Cory]

Might want to read this:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/do-corals-eat-their-slime.280580/#post-3405337

 

[dave57]

I currently am running these light at 70 percent and the frags are all concentrated under one of the light at the same depth, they all receive about 250 par on average. I have several types of sps monti caps, stylophora, pocilipora, tridacna clam, setosa branching. I test my par with an apogee mq300 par meter. I spoke with Steve Garret a known acropora farmer who sells and propagates corals in his backyard and attends reefapalooza where I bought some of his frags and he told me to try to lower my nitrates.. To 0.05-1 ppm. He said I might lose color but growth might increase. I have also tried increasing my lighting intensity to 350-400 par and began to notice some bleaching on the tips of my monti sps. This tank is also about 5 months old. Have no coralline algae yet. I have 2 clown fish, sailfin tang, yellow tang, blue tank, sixline wrasse, flame angel, and 5 small blue green chromis. I run a refugium with just cheato, and a simplicity 320 D.C. Skimmer. No reactors no dosing crazy supplements and testing with salifert and Red Sea test kits. I also calibrate my refractometer with 35 ppt calibration solution. I try testing daily do water changes every week 30 gallons. I'm trying to think of more variables that might influence growth of the corals hmm...

 

[DereksReef77]

Just saw you have a flame angel and yhat might be a reason why you have no polyp extension, does he nip at your sps? You might also want to try doing smaller water changes every week or every two weeks. I do 10-15 gallon water changes weekly on my 125 bare bottom sps tank. Just enough to siphon all the crap that builds up on the bare bottom. Also if you don't have dosing pumps hooked up for alk and cal you might consider it cause you are probably having major swings thru out the day depending on when you dose.

 

[dave57]

I've watched my flame angel he rarely comes out near my corals I dose my two part with a jabeo doser, dosing equal parts of ca/alk in the morning. 25 ml currently I might increase to 30 ml and try to get my alk around 8. I bought another green slimer today which had really great polyp extension to see if it would have the same polyp extension in my tank and sure enough the polyps simply retracted and didn't come out. I will take pictures of my tank and corals so that you guys can see tomorrow. For the most part I have noticed some polyps extending at night more than during the day. But nothing to where I would say they have great polyp extension.

 

[dave57]

Here are some of the frags with little to no polyp extension

 

[kazikage42]

We're in the same boat, my sps went downhill a bit after I added my flame angel. Mine dont get PE till night time now but still less than before. Gonna be removing flame angel this weekend to see a difference.

 

[gig 'em]

Where do you get your water from? RO/DI? When was the last time you changed out the filters and resin? Once those filters become exhausted, they actually start releasing some nasty stuff into the water and your corals will start to suffer. I also stopped dosing AcroPower and that seemed to help my corals as well. Have you checked for pests? There are more coral pests out there other than AEFW. Sea spiders, types of pods, anything that can be crawling around on the corals causing the polyps to retract out of irritation. There's a lot of factors that can cause retracted polyps.

 

[dave57]

I use brs supply 6 stage rodi it's fairly new 6 months old I hardly used it when I had my 20 gallon nano. Yesterday I lowered my intensity to 50 percent on my lights and noticed my green slimer peaking!! I will post how much par that green slimer is getting in just a moment

 

[dave57]

Interestingly my par levels stayed the same with lower intensity 50% I had done a 30 gallon water change last night. So i believe water clarity is a cause for these par levels at lower intensity from 80 to 50 percent. It's amazing how much a water change can clear water up. Potentially causing stress for corals that are sensitive to light intensity changes. I will post parameters later tonight and will maintain these current light setting and will update soon guys, thanks everyone for your thought opinions and ideas.

 

[Goldenchild]

I used 2 xr30 and 4 T5 bulbs on my 135. Now i am using 3 xr30 and 4 T5. Mostly sps. 2 xr 15 is definitely not enough light

 

[Goldenchild]

I run my alk around 8, the number doesnt matter as much as making it stable. I test every other day

 

[dave57]

I used 2 xr30 and 4 T5 bulbs on my 135. Now i am using 3 xr30 and 4 T5. Mostly sps. 2 xr 15 is definitely not enough light

Have you tested your par levels? If so what levels and intensity are you running your lights, also how deep are your sps corals? Are you suggesting I try acclimating my corals to higher intensities?

 

[Goldenchild]

I would try and slowly raise the level of your radions. I started at 60% now im at 90%. I have sps at all different levels. If i notice a frag not doing well after its been at a certain level for awhile ill move it. Sometimes it has nothing to do with light but with flow also.

Have you checked your polyp extension in the pm after the lights go out. That is when i see the most extension and when they are usually out in thier natural environment

 

[dave57]

Sounds good I'll set them to acclimate at a higher intensity over the course of couple weeks I have noticed a lot of polyp extension during the night. 90 percent seems like a high intensity for 3 xr30 lights. Do you have pics of your corals?

 

[Goldenchild]