SPS not looking great!

[Dan Kyle]

Hi all. I would like some advice. I’ve been having ‘issues’ with my SPS corals and I can’t understand why I’m experiencing them. Polyp extension is little to none. I have a Montipora at the moment that is losing colour. Seems to be a darkish purple in some areas and then a much lighter purple in other areas (see pictures). I also have a Stylophora and when I purchased it about 5-6 weeks ago it was doing great! I had full polyp extension and it was very happy indeed. Gradually day by day it showed less and less polyp extension and now it doesn’t show any at all (see picture).

Parameters all seem on the mark;

SG: 1.026
NO3: 0.75 (not sure if false result)
PO4: 0.03
Alk: 8.6
Cal: 430
Mg: 1450
PH: 8.2

All SPS corals are located at the highest point in the tank sitting under a Hydra 26HD. The light is 12” above the tank on a Red Sea Reefer 170.

I dose 2 part calcium and alkalinity and carbon. Specifically Red Sea NOPOX (recently adjusted the dose) @ 1ml a day.

I always aim to keep my alk between 8-9. My calcium is pretty steady and doesn’t require as much dosing as the alk does.

All LPS corals are doing just fine and I have no concerns about them. This is specifically an SPS issue I have.

In my profile you will see my reef equipment list should you need to see it. Any advice at this point would be so much appreciated.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

What are the settings on your hydra? Do you use gfo or carbon dose?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

What are you using to test for no3 and po4?

 

[Nburg's Reef]

The three common things would be:
1) Have you been able to measure par or have you changed your lights? too much light or constantly changing intensity and spectrum can upset coral
2) Do you have a good amount of fish that you feed, or a fuge? Coral need to eat as well, fish poop is a really good source of food. Also, if you have a fuge on a newer tank, which it looks like based on how clean the rocks are, a fuge can strip some of the things the coral need to grow.
3 Flow... do you have a good amount of flow? too little or too much is just as important, maybe even more important, than light and food.

 

[Dan Kyle]

I use Red Sea for all my tests. I did get a second opinion on my NO3 levels and the shop used API and that actually read 12 but given the two I would say Red Sea is more accurate. I did test it twice with the same result.

I dose carbon yes, I dose NOPOX. Initially I started dosing 4ml and then reduced the amount to 1ml because my levels had dropped.

I don’t use GFO. I run Chaeto in a reactor which is in my sump. Cheato looks healthy but not growing very much at all.

As for my light settings I have attached a screenshot for you.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I just noticed the comment on nopox. Nopox was instrumental in killing all my sps. Your corals appear to be stressed and starving them selves. I’d like to know your hydra settings but in my experience nopox stressed my acros and they shut off all of their biological processes. I also didn’t have the highest quality of par and spectrum. I have a similar sized tank with 2 hydra 52 HD’s at 100 watts per fixture using the BRS ab+ clone program.
I’ve had 100% success since I dropped nopox and gfo. I’ve actually just removed my skimmer last week because my acros/sps are consuming so many nutrients now that they’re happy. I also keep my alk from 6.5-7.

 

[Dan Kyle]

I just noticed the comment on nopox. Nopox was instrumental in killing all my sps. Your corals appear to be stressed and starving them selves. I’d like to know your hydra settings but in my experience nopox stressed my acros and they shut off all of their biological processes. I also didn’t have the highest quality of par and spectrum. I have a similar sized tank with 2 hydra 52 HD’s at 100 watts per fixture using the BRS ab+ clone program.
I’ve had 100% success since I dropped nopox and gfo. I’ve actually just removed my skimmer last week because my acros/sps are consuming so many nutrients now that they’re happy. I also keep my alk from 6.5-7.

I find this very interesting. I really don’t understand why I would need more than one light unit over a reefer 170 though. I see many people keeping SPS under a Hydra 26 with great success. It does worry me about the use of NOPOX though so should I actually stop dosing it altogether for the time being? I only have one fish in there at the moment which is a diamond goby so I wouldn’t expect my NO3 or PO4 to get out of whack anyway.

Would you also suggest I take my Chaeto reactor offline? I do think that my system is really lacking in nutrients. Either that or the lighting is just wrong.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I find this very interesting. I really don’t understand why I would need more than one light unit over a reefer 170 though. I see many people keeping SPS under a Hydra 26 with great success. It does worry me about the use of NOPOX though so should I actually stop dosing it altogether for the time being? I only have one fish in there at the moment which is a diamond goby so I wouldn’t expect my NO3 or PO4 to get out of whack anyway.

Would you also suggest I take my Chaeto reactor offline? I do think that my system is really lacking in nutrients. Either that or the lighting is just wrong.

I’ve got a par meter too. How many watts are your settings producing? How many 26’s are on your tank? I can check the par for you.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Correct me if I’m wrong but those are Acros, right? I don’t have any Acros. I have Monti, digis and Stylo which I believe would be perfectly fine under the one unit?

 

[Dan Kyle]

I’ve got a par meter too. How many watts are your settings producing? How many 26’s are on your tank? I can check the par for you.

My lighting schedule at the moment is 49W apparently. I think that’s quite low, actually? I only have the one Hydra 26 over my tank. I haven’t got a clue what PAR readings I would have.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

How many inches below the surface are your struggling sps?

 

[Dan Kyle]

How many inches below the surface are your struggling sps?

I’d say about 10-12 inches.

 

[Huff747]

I second the thoughts on a par meter. I don’t have the same setup but until I tested my lights I had no clue how low the par readings actually were. I had lost a birds nest, forest fire digi, and several acros weren’t very bright. Increased light output and added T5 hybrid to get the par readings up and growth is picking up and colors are returning.

 

[Dan Kyle]

I second the thoughts on a par meter. I don’t have the same setup but until I tested my lights I had no clue how low the par readings actually were. I had lost a birds nest, forest fire digi, and several acros weren’t very bright. Increased light output and added T5 hybrid to get the par readings up and growth is picking up and colors are returning.

I honestly don’t understand that though if this was the case. Many people have SPS under a single H26 and they are doing just fine. I mean for Acros especially I can imagine one would struggle with just the one unit but for montis and digis which aren’t the most demanding of SPS I would assume to be fine.

After reading about the NOPOX and the GFO I’m starting to believe it could be related to this? I dose NOPOX and run a Chaeto reactor which could be stripping to much from the water column?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I’d say about 10-12 inches.

Ok
I’ve set my 2 hydras to 32 watts each
So 64 total with a conversion of your settings

 

[jda]

Acros don't look like that from too little light.

New tank? I see little to no coralline? If so, then just wait it out... there is no cheating time.

Organic Carbon dosing is not a good idea unless you really know what you are doing and have a very acute problem to solve. I would never do it on a new(er) tank.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Acros don't look like that from too little light.

New tank? I see little to no coralline? If so, then just wait it out... there is no cheating time.

Organic Carbon dosing is not a good idea unless you really know what you are doing and have a very acute problem to solve. I would never do it on a new(er) tank.

I don’t have Acros. The tank has been running for 6-7 months now. I dose NOPOX because I read so many people aiming to get their nitrates <5 and I believed mine were 12 at the time. Now, however they are way too low imo if they are indeed 0.75. Tested twice with Red Sea and got same reading twice.

I’m going to stop dosing NOPOX and I’m going to take my Chaeto offline for a while.

 

[MadTownFess]

I honestly don’t understand that though if this was the case. Many people have SPS under a single H26 and they are doing just fine. I mean for Acros especially I can imagine one would struggle with just the one unit but for montis and digis which aren’t the most demanding of SPS I would assume to be fine.

After reading about the NOPOX and the GFO I’m starting to believe it could be related to this? I dose NOPOX and run a Chaeto reactor which could be stripping to much from the water column?

A single one should be fine, but you should turn up the intensity closer to 100%. I run David Saxby's settings, been really happy with it so far: http://www.aquaillumination.com/signature/

 

[Dan Kyle]

A single one should be fine, but you should turn up the intensity closer to 100%. I run David Saxby's settings, been really happy with it so far: http://www.aquaillumination.com/signature/

Thank you. So you are another that has success with the one unit on an SPS reef? I remember using the David Saxbys schedule before and I’m sure there was something I didn’t like about it. Does it stay on blue all night or too blue throughout the day?