Sps not so good

[Stefan Milanovic]

Hello!
I am noob sps keeper. Started this summer with some easy to care Acropora! They survived and some grew so i was encouraged to get some more sps. Bought some milepora and it does not do good.

Here are pictures and parameters, if you can help!

Temp 25 celsius - farenheit 77, heater can go up to 0.5 degrees more.
Salinity 1.025- 34ppm, that's how i see it.
No3 15 stable for last month, was 5 before i added one more fish
Po4 unknown, will buy test kit
Ca 440
Mg 1260
Kh varries, atm 8.9, four days ago between 9.3-9.6 i struggle to balance it, i test and it changes in time but i test often. Does not shoot very high or low!

Could be the light, i think it could not recieve light on one side, but the Tips dont look so good as well. While dying off on the living tissue it has polyp extension. Visible but not True colors.

This is the decent side.

Outside of tank i decided to prune the top and glue the White bottom on epoxy.


Just saw that no sps actually THRIVES, but one or two Acropora, and its really discouraging.

 

[SamAPFish]

That sps that is half white might be a little to far gone. I may be wrong but it almost looks like rtn or stn. Not sure of the reason though

 

[dansreef]

Hi Stefan,

Welcome to R2R!

As a long-time killer of some of the most hardy of SPS over the years.... I have had many frustrations .... and still do today. The key challenge... is stability for SPS. You need to have stable water parameters.... your KH fluctuating could be an issue... I would shoot to find a place where you can stabilize all of the parameters you have mentioned. How are you replacing Ca and Alkalinity? Dosing? Is the fluctuation in levels the result of manual dosing? If so... dose more frequently in smaller quantities.

What kind of lighting are you using? I would also post some details about your tank.... How big? What kind of equipment... How old is it? etc.... The more information the better.

Good Luck!

 

[Stefan Milanovic]

Hey, had a few busy days, sorry!
So i dose automatically with arka knock off dosing pump (maybe its even real), its precise, i think i struggle due to varying consumption of alk.

Rest of the kit is diy led pannel, done with same distribution of leds as mitras lx 7206, and skimmer is genio systems interna dc 180.

For stream i use 1x coral box Qp9 plus and i think its overkill tbh, at least the way it blasts in the direction its pointed at.

Heater is atman 300w one, i have auto top off, and sicce syncra 4.0 pump as return.

I use filter sock and replace every two days, rinse in ro and let it dry, and put in reserve one.

Age of equipment - stream less than 1y
Led - less than 1y
Skimmer -?? 3y approx bought used
Dosing pump less than 1y
Socks 3+ y, i reuse them, but i rinse very good.
Return - very old.

 

[Daddy-o]

Does you tank get more light than the pic. shows?
Cheers! Mark

 

[Stefan Milanovic]

Does you tank get more light than the pic. shows?
Cheers! Mark

Im not sure, soon i think i will change to t5 s for light, and do return pump and heater swap, here are dates and test results. I am starting to think it is Flow, and will try to make gradual changes

 

[Stefan Milanovic]

Found this on epoxy glue that would not budge after i removed a dead sps frag, any advice

 

[dedragon]

It could be that the coral is receiving better flow on one side that the other causing the other side to die out. It looks like there may be some coral pests on that frag plug, but the pic is a little blurry, possibly red bugs or acro eating flat worms, might look into that as well. Hopefully you can pinpoint the issue and save those guys, good luck