NexusCriteria
New Member
Alright R2R,
Apologies for the wall of text in advance......
I've been lurking and watching similar threads for a long time, and have been in this hobby for 20+ years. I did take break for around the last 8ish years, but have never racked my brain or had so many issues keeping more finicky corals than my current tank. I wanted to see if anybody had any sage advise or if a second set of eyes reveals something very obvious I have overlooked for many moons. I think I've just gotten so deep in the trees I think I can't see the forest anymore. It seems like a lot of time threads like this get posted and somebody immediately notices something that is wrong, hoping that is the case here!
The long and short is that I cannot seem to keep SPS alive and thriving for the life of me. I used to have no trouble growing frags into big colonies and then becoming a source of cool frags, but my SPS all seem to do ok for about 2 weeks, then gradually drop color then tissue and STN or just RTN. I've been racking my brain trying to find the cause, my chemistry numbers whenever I check them all have looked great, my PAR readings and flow seem to be ideal as well. The system has been up for about 14 months now, and grows unlimited deep purple coraline algae, but SPS just mock me. I first tried SPS frags about 6 months in, and honestly have around the same result now well over a year in. I'm worried it's an issue I'm overlooking or just haven't thought about, so with that being said here's the rundown below:
The Tank:
Non Sessile Tank Inhabitants
I really appreciate anybody's thoughts, it's the darn SPS that just won't seem to take. A shiny nod of gratitude for the reefer who solves this conundrum!
NC
Apologies for the wall of text in advance......
I've been lurking and watching similar threads for a long time, and have been in this hobby for 20+ years. I did take break for around the last 8ish years, but have never racked my brain or had so many issues keeping more finicky corals than my current tank. I wanted to see if anybody had any sage advise or if a second set of eyes reveals something very obvious I have overlooked for many moons. I think I've just gotten so deep in the trees I think I can't see the forest anymore. It seems like a lot of time threads like this get posted and somebody immediately notices something that is wrong, hoping that is the case here!
The long and short is that I cannot seem to keep SPS alive and thriving for the life of me. I used to have no trouble growing frags into big colonies and then becoming a source of cool frags, but my SPS all seem to do ok for about 2 weeks, then gradually drop color then tissue and STN or just RTN. I've been racking my brain trying to find the cause, my chemistry numbers whenever I check them all have looked great, my PAR readings and flow seem to be ideal as well. The system has been up for about 14 months now, and grows unlimited deep purple coraline algae, but SPS just mock me. I first tried SPS frags about 6 months in, and honestly have around the same result now well over a year in. I'm worried it's an issue I'm overlooking or just haven't thought about, so with that being said here's the rundown below:
The Tank:
- Deep Blue 80 Gallon Shallow 48" x 24" x 16" (h) - I'm the only owner, never had any medications or copper in it's previous setup, was washed out with RO water both before and after storage
- Trigger Systems Sapphire Sump = 40 gallons, currently running with 3 filter socks that get changed weekly and rinsed in the sink then afterwards with RO water before they dry for a week and are back in the lineup
- Skimmer in the first chamber, a softball sized hunk of chaeto in the second chamber and live rock rubble
- Maxspect Jump SK400 Skimmer - set to 80%
- Right before the return chamber I have two PolypLab bio bricks standing vertically that were also seeded with Dr. Tim's at startup
- Rock was a mix of cured rock that I had leftover from the previous setup and new dry rock from BRS.
- I let it cure for around 3 months and seeded with Dr. Tim's one and only
- Sand was all Arag-alive, my sand bed is about 2-2.5" deep
- Vectra S2 as a main return pump, I have it tuned to 30%. Both loc line returns are pointed across the surface
- Vortech MP40 set to Reef Crest, running at 40% at night, 65% during the day
- Vortech MP40W (older model) also set to reef crest, running 40% at night, 65% during the day
- Maxspect Jump Gyre 4k - Set to progressive gyre max 50%
- Small Powerhead in the sump pointed upwards under the dosing lines to help mix, but it lives in the return pump chamber to agitate the drips
- Apex EL Controller with a PAR meter module, Trident
- Dosing ESV 2 part Alk, Calcium and Mag through two separate DOS pumps, all under smart control and seemingly maintaining parameters at ideal levels
- Currently Alk dosing ~19 mL per day spread over the day
- Currently Ca dosing ~10 mL per day spread over the day
- Currently Mg dosing ~22 mL per day spread over the day
- RO: BRS 7 stage (upgraded from 5 stage about 2 months ago) - Always reading 0 TDS, changing the resins before they get to 2/3 golden. Pressure into the system with a booster pump at recommended 70 PSI
- Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt - never had the Turkish fiasco blend, briefly ran a Blue bucket of red sea when supplies were low but this was around 6 months ago
- I change about 5-7 gallons per week
- pH Ranges each day from 8.15-8.38. I reverse the fuge light cycle to help temper this
- Salinity - 1.025, checked with calibrated refractometer
- Temp 76.5-78 F
- Alk Range : 8.35-8.5 based on trident, my Hanna checked thinks it's +.4 or so on this number
- Ca Range: 420-430 based on Trident, but when I spot check with Red Sea kits it's in this general range
- Mg Range: 1290-1340 based on Trident, also spot checked with the updated version of the Hanna Checker
- Phos Range : 0.02-0.06 with Hanna Checker, it once had spiked to 0.1 but that was isolated and months ago
- Nitrate Range: 4-10 ppm with Hanna Checker
- Last ICP was a few months ago and really only showed that my Lithium was out of line at 407 ug/L , but I saw another thread here that this wasn't of much consequence in most cases so didn't chase it
- I had tried dosing AcroPower and Red Sea AB+ but didn't seem to change the success rate
- Planning repeat ICP this week
- Radion XR15 Blue Gen 5 x3 mounted on the RMS arms
- I run AB+ at 70% intensity, lights on 11:30 am - 8:30 pm
- At peak light: Every channel to 100%, the point intensity is 100% but again the schedule intensity is only 70%
- PAR checked initially with a rental Apogee to a max of 275-300 on the top of the tank but this was at 85% intensity that I've backed off of
- I run an Apex PAR meter that maxes at 250-255 during the max day that is higher than any coral in the tank
- Two torches doing fine and happy
- Large colony of Zoas that have gotten away from me, but they are not Palys
- Several smaller zoa frags, but no leathers or other known toxin emitters
- Attempts at Millipora, Montipora, Acropora, etc have been met with resistance, the only hard coral that seems to be doing ok is a green branching monti but it's coloration is more green/brown than neon green that it was on arrival
- All coral gets a brief CoralRX dip, inspected for parasites, never had any sightings of SPS red bugs or nudis
- I typically will put new SPS frags on a rack low towards the sand to let them recover for a few days, then mount them with PolypLab glue on their frag discs to the rockwork higher up to get more light and flow. I don't handle the frags
Non Sessile Tank Inhabitants
- Purple Tang
- Whitetail Tang
- Melanurus Wrasse
- Flasher Wrasse
- Frostbite Clown
- 1 Cleaner Shrimp
- 1 Peppermint (yes actually a peppermint) shrimp
- Fighting Conch x2
- Astrea Snails + blue leg hermits
I really appreciate anybody's thoughts, it's the darn SPS that just won't seem to take. A shiny nod of gratitude for the reefer who solves this conundrum!
NC
