Sps not staying alive.

[dwest]

2 t5 and 2 ocean revives. Montipora and birdsnest and some randoms. Yellow tang, 2 clowns, bicolor, starry blenny,snowflake,ect. All reef safe fish. I have mushrooms clam ,bta, small hammer, not to much that have sweeper at all.

Nice coralline growth.

 

[lurpy]

I also see a baby emperor angel or similar. Those guys are definitely not reef safe.

I'll keep a eye on him.

 

[dwest]

I'm getting my doser up and running this week the lines are dyed out and cracked.

I think this will be a game changer for the better.

 

[lurpy]

Nice coralline growth.

Tyvm. It has been going well.

 

[lurpy]

Just want to say thank to you all for the info. I dont know anyone around me realy that's a reefer so info is very slim.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Keep your alk at 7.7-8.3
Raise your lights to 12” or more above the water
Stop carbon and phosban or any other gfo
Stop worrying about nitrates and po4
Grow some chaeto

 

[SeaDweller]

Keep your alk at 7.7-8.3
Raise your lights to 12” or more above the water
Stop carbon and phosban or any other gfo
Stop worrying about nitrates and po4
Grow some chaeto

To an extent what you’re saying about NO3/PO4 is true but one can’t let them get out of hand or else it does become a problem. Your tank just seems to be naturally low without a skimmer, etc.

I used to not run GFO (now switching over to rowaphos) but I have to because of the amount I have to feed and the fact most of my acros are frags so they’re not utilizing the nutrients efficiently. There are plenty of tanks that run GFO or carbon successfully, and I do notice, in my tank, gfo does help with coloration.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

To an extent what you’re saying about NO3/PO4 is true but one can’t let them get out of hand or else it does become a problem. Your tank just seems to be naturally low without a skimmer, etc.

I used to not run GFO (now switching over to rowaphos) but I have to because of the amount I have to feed and the fact most of my acros are frags so they’re not utilizing the nutrients efficiently. There are plenty of tanks that run GFO or carbon successfully, and I do notice, in my tank, gfo does help with coloration.

True, but you’re not an sps newbie. Most sps newbies are obsessed with chasing “ideal” no3/po4 because that’s what all the “experts” recommend. I don’t believe gfo and carbon dosing are good for frags, especially if they came from systems not running them. I’m not trying to rid the reefing world of gfo and carbon dosing, they obviously work very well many reefers, but when someone, usually an sps newbie, posts “help, my sps die in a week, but my parameters are perfect and stable” then there’s usually something stripping the water.

 

[SeaDweller]

True, but you’re not an sps newbie. Most sps newbies are obsessed with chasing “ideal” no3/po4 because that’s what all the “experts” recommend. I don’t believe gfo and carbon dosing are good for frags, especially if they came from systems not running them. I’m not trying to rid the reefing world of gfo and carbon dosing, they obviously work very well many reefers, but when someone, usually an sps newbie, posts “help, my sps die in a week, but my parameters are perfect and stable” then there’s usually something stripping the water.

Lol @ what you said about ridding the world of gfo. I literally lol’ed. I wish I didn’t have to run any media or my skimmer like you, trust me I so do. But I can’t feed my 30+ fish and keep my nutrients down naturally by coral uptake... yet [emoji12]

I hear you and agree with you. I think too many people try to run the media too aggressively. This go around for me I’ve completely left off the filter socks and honestly it’s a huge improvement I feel (just having particulate matter floating around helps feed coral I feel)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Alk a little high, Nitrates high, Mag is high. What is your salinity and tank temp.
How are you dosing and at what intervals?

 

[Dkeller_nc]

The nitrates that you have won't kill coral, and the rest of your water parameters are OK, with one exception. Presuming you're using an accurate test like the Hanna Checker 736, your phosphates are very, very low. It is absolutely true that folks can and do keep SPS in very low nutrient conditions, but these tend to be highly skilled SPS keepers, and they tend to make up for very low phosphate concentrations by feeding coral foods heavily.

A lot of us, including me, keep phosphates around 100 - 300 ppb. That's low enough to keep algal growth in check, but not so low that it will shock SPS corals purchased from a high nutrient system. That, along with the alkalinity swings from dosing once per week, is likely to be the primary cause of your losses. You might want to test the phosphate, nitrate and alkalinity of the water from the LFS (or 'net retailer) that you're purchasing your corals from. If the corals have been kept in a high dissolved nutrient environment (NO3>10 ppm, PO4>300 ppb), putting them in an environment where the phosphate is very, very low often doesn't work out well - they have to be acclimated to low phosphate levels. Ditto if the dealer's tanks run a low alkalinity and you suddenly put them in a high alk tank.

Your nitrate levels are obviously not an issue (i.e., not too low), and the alkalinity that you state in your first post isn't drastically high, but there's an almost guarantee that the alkalinity swings are too much for SPS. As a point of reference, I currently hand-dose 2 tanks with SPS (another 2 are on dosers). These two hand-dosed tanks get a carefully measured dose of alkalinity and calcium solution every night.

 

[tgrick]

You have a lot of soft corals doing very well. My guess about the SPS issue is flow. If you are blasting the coral from one side all the time it's an issue. I see you have a gyre and two other pumps. Do they alternate? What is you flow through the sump? I'm curious. I don't like too much flow...I'm more a 3x or 4x guy.

Water changes? How often?

Can you rent a PAR meter? Lighting should be fine as you have plenty of coralline growth. My concern is if it's too much. I would focus my thought on flow. I think all your other parameters are fine.

Another thing to consider is an ICP test. You might have some elevated metals or something that SPS would hate but not LPS. Anyway, an ICP test on your system to have a picture of where it is might not be a bad idea.

 

[ScottR]

I too had problems keeping SPS. First of all, I was given free frags and wasn’t ready for them at the time. I had alk swings and wasn’t dosing. I think keeping SPS requires you to have a tight system of stability. My birdsnest has almost completely bleached after 3 months. Acros bleached after a few weeks. But oddly, the monti is thriving.

 

[Emma01]

I have a 90 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. Alk is at like 9 and cal is at 450 ish and mag at 1400to 1500. Nit is around 10 to 20 and pho is like .025. But my sps dont last longer then like a week. I run very good flow with t5 and LEDs. Any one have any tips.

I had this problem, for an unknown reason my corals (including SPS) weren’t staying alive. Turns out my TDS was high!- I was delving too deep + getting carried away with Parameters (that were all ‘normal’) that I forgot to check the ‘basic’..... my TDS! Corals are now happy.

 

[lurpy]

The nitrates that you have won't kill coral, and the rest of your water parameters are OK, with one exception. Presuming you're using an accurate test like the Hanna Checker 736, your phosphates are very, very low. It is absolutely true that folks can and do keep SPS in very low nutrient conditions, but these tend to be highly skilled SPS keepers, and they tend to make up for very low phosphate concentrations by feeding coral foods heavily.

A lot of us, including me, keep phosphates around 100 - 300 ppb. That's low enough to keep algal growth in check, but not so low that it will shock SPS corals purchased from a high nutrient system. That, along with the alkalinity swings from dosing once per week, is likely to be the primary cause of your losses. You might want to test the phosphate, nitrate and alkalinity of the water from the LFS (or 'net retailer) that you're purchasing your corals from. If the corals have been kept in a high dissolved nutrient environment (NO3>10 ppm, PO4>300 ppb), putting them in an environment where the phosphate is very, very low often doesn't work out well - they have to be acclimated to low phosphate levels. Ditto if the dealer's tanks run a low alkalinity and you suddenly put them in a high alk tank.

Your nitrate levels are obviously not an issue (i.e., not too low), and the alkalinity that you state in your first post isn't drastically high, but there's an almost guarantee that the alkalinity swings are too much for SPS. As a point of reference, I currently hand-dose 2 tanks with SPS (another 2 are on dosers). These two hand-dosed tanks get a carefully measured dose of alkalinity and calcium solution every night.

so i found out my test kit was telling my p04 was at like .25 so thats why i was useing to much stuff to clean it up. ewnt to my LFS and had him test it come to find out my p04 was at 0.00. So no food for my coral. i took off my GFO and Carbon and biopellets. only running my sock and skimmer and my refugium. I have also started up my doser just trying to keep the alk from clogging up the line now.

 

[lurpy]

You have a lot of soft corals doing very well. My guess about the SPS issue is flow. If you are blasting the coral from one side all the time it's an issue. I see you have a gyre and two other pumps. Do they alternate? What is you flow through the sump? I'm curious. I don't like too much flow...I'm more a 3x or 4x guy.

Water changes? How often?

Can you rent a PAR meter? Lighting should be fine as you have plenty of coralline growth. My concern is if it's too much. I would focus my thought on flow. I think all your other parameters are fine.

Another thing to consider is an ICP test. You might have some elevated metals or something that SPS would hate but not LPS. Anyway, an ICP test on your system to have a picture of where it is might not be a bad idea.

I have my tank doing a wave motion other 2 power heads are to keep stuff from staying out from the back of the tank. and for the sump flow think im at 3x only because i dont want to over do my drain lol.

 

[lurpy]

I had this problem, for an unknown reason my corals (including SPS) weren’t staying alive. Turns out my TDS was high!- I was delving too deep + getting carried away with Parameters (that were all ‘normal’) that I forgot to check the ‘basic’..... my TDS! Corals are now happy.

when i make my water tds says 0 on the outlet but 186 on inlet so hope its telling me the right stuff. but i have to get my po4 up also.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

so i found out my test kit was telling my p04 was at like .25 so thats why i was useing to much stuff to clean it up. ewnt to my LFS and had him test it come to find out my p04 was at 0.00. So no food for my coral. i took off my GFO and Carbon and biopellets. only running my sock and skimmer and my refugium. I have also started up my doser just trying to keep the alk from clogging up the line now.

Do yourself and your sps a favor and throw away all of your gfo and bio pellets. You don’t need them. You’re going to stress and mostly kill your acros and monti’s every time you use them again. 0.025 or 0.25 or 2.5 doesn’t kill sps. It’s the on again off again stripping of the water that kills them. Just stick with the skimming and/or grow some chaeto.