sps bleaching? losing tissue

[GSnake]

Hi, always sad when things like that happen.
For the kh i would target the same level as the one your salt have, less swings doing wc.
As for the temp, if you had a 5 degree swing look no further, this could explain the death of your frags.

Wow 70-73 degrees I wish I could swallow this cause it would save me a ton on electric. I keep my reef at 78 because that’s what I thought I’ve read it’s best at about. Maybe I should do more research

gonna invest in a nice heater tonight to keep temp stable, just threw an old one I had in there for now. it could have been the temp swings/changes for sure.

yes I have seen 75-78 mentioned a lot.
"If you compare this to the indicated temperatures in NOAA's Sea Surface Temperatures,1
you will see that a vast majority of coral reefs are found where water temperatures are between 80 F and 89 F and actually into the lower 90's in the Red Sea."
WWC keeps their tanks at 78

gonna personally shoot for 80 when i get my heater in. but have to look into this a bit more...

 

[GSnake]

I got into SPS this year. It's my second tank. My first tank had easy SPS that grew like wildfire within the first year. I never dosed alk or CA on this tank and stability was average at best. My second tank I started with dry rock and dead sand. I tested meticulously and stability was A+. I could not even grow purple stylo at the 12 month mark.

Around the 18 month mark, things just started growing really well. No major changes whatsoever. My interpretations is that some SPS died due to health - some frags weren't "healed" - and some are due to my tank maturity and didn't include the major params - ca, alk, mg, temp , ph, salinity

Just my 2 cents if you feel like your params are stable!

BTW in terms of lighting..... chinese leds on both tanks. Doesn't make a diff on SPS survivability IME. May make a difference in coloring up, but I'm not advanced enough to know.

I have read that 18 months to 24 months with dry/dead rock and sand was the average that it took to mature.
for me it was 12 months of dead white marco rock and Live carib sea fiji pink sand. After that point I noticed lots of growth and perhaps water stability. I want to blame the sps's frags' health, but I also want to believe that recovery and growth can be made if given the proper environment.
any sps that can grow in the ocean should be able to grow in my tank too
thats my goal at least

btw on the lighting.., im enjoying the broad spectrum this one has. I had a blue washed tank before with minimal white, but now, with this broad spectrum, the fishes colors are accurate, and I get enough blue for coral pop.

 

[Stain]

How high are the popblooms off the water? Any wavemakers pointed at your sps losing skin? And I wouldnt run purigen either, as charlie suggested. I do run a cup of esv carbon in a bag I change once every two weeks. I'm a mechanic, so thats why I run carbon. If you run carbon, dont just leave it in there, change it frequently. My system runs from 78-80.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

So you started a reef tank with no heater? Am in understanding that correctly?

 

[((FORDTECH))]

So you started a reef tank with no heater? Am in understanding that correctly?

A heater is not needed evidently I wish I would have known this before I put multiple heaters in all my tanks

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

A heater is not needed evidently I wish I would have known this before I put multiple heaters in all my tanks

Haha, Yea no kidding.

 

[GSnake]

How high are the popblooms off the water? Any wavemakers pointed at your sps losing skin? And I wouldnt run purigen either, as charlie suggested. I do run a cup of esv carbon in a bag I change once every two weeks. I'm a mechanic, so thats why I run carbon. If you run carbon, dont just leave it in there, change it frequently. My system runs from 78-80.

the lights sit about 4 1/2 inches from surface, resting on the rim of tank.

 

[GSnake]

A heater is not needed evidently I wish I would have known this before I put multiple heaters in all my tanks

the estimation of temp before was low (70). I checked with two different thermometers and ordered a third one yesterday cause they seem to vary too much for my liking.

yesterday
TDS / Temp meter unit says 75.6
Digital temp probe says 79.2

with A/C on both dropped 4.5 degrees

today right now,
tds/temp says 75.5
digital probe 78.1

I got the heater in now and its been set to 81 since yesterday ( i think i read somewhere it'll be 79 if its set at 81).

 

[((FORDTECH))]

the estimation of temp before was low (70). I checked with two different thermometers and ordered a third one yesterday cause they seem to vary too much for my liking.

yesterday
TDS / Temp meter unit says 75.6
Digital temp probe says 79.2

with A/C on both dropped 4.5 degrees

today right now,
tds/temp says 75.5
digital probe 78.1

Ok so either one of those is Much closer to the range. I feel that is why it’s working well at least that’s a good thing that your estimations was not right

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

the lights sit about 4 1/2 inches from surface, resting on the rim of tank.

That sounds really close to the water

 

[Stain]

That sounds really close to the water

Thats what I was thinking, popblooms are like blackboxes

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Thats what I was thinking, popblooms are like blackboxes

Me too. I even have to mount my hydras 15” above the surface or they’ll burn all the sps, no matter what the par is.

 

[GSnake]

Me too. I even have to mount my hydras 15” above the surface or they’ll burn all the sps, no matter what the par is.

do you test for any trace elements ?
I am considering red sea multi trace test kit ( K , I, Fe) or something from salifert line.
ive read numerous posts of Fe being low cause of chaeto, but none that reported detrimental effects to corals

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

do you test for any trace elements ?
I am considering red sea multi trace test kit ( K , I, Fe) or something from salifert line.
ive read numerous posts of Fe being low cause of chaeto, but none that reported detrimental effects to corals

That Red Sea trace test kit is worthless IMO. Way too inaccurate. My icp test used to show my my Fe was 0 but I never had mass coral casualties. I would just send an icp test.