The SPS Q&A Thread.

[soccerbag]

I've not used Reef Essentials. There are multiple products out there that increase Mag. I would follow the instruction on the bottle or just wait until your 2 part kit comes and go from there. Hard to say without having used the product before. I'm happy to offer advice on products I've used, but always hesitant to comment on those that I haven't. Perhaps someone with direct experience with this product can chime in. When is your 2 part stuff arriving? You may be okay until then.

 

[110reef]

Alk swings definitely caused me a lot of problems. I was trying dosing, two parts, calcium additives, buffers, adding kalkwasser, and other things. Bad part was I would make big adjustments, and always tried to hit that magic number.

I have since gotten a calcium reactor which has straightened out my alk swings. Plus I no longer shoot for some magic number, i just try to keep things in a normal range and only make gradual adjustments. I have had much better success ever since. In a tank your size, i would recommend a calcium reactor, it will save you money in the end, and you won't have to mess with and keep buying 2-part solutions. Plus, I don't think that 2-part has mag, so you will need mag too. Nice thing about a calcium reactor is it puts back in the water what the corals take out in the correct ratio. Way easier to me...

A good mag supplement is Tech M from Kent. I have also used epsom salts too, but I think Tech M is better.

 

[mbattles22]

The 2 part arrives tomorrow but our controller won't arrive for several weeks....so we are going to try manually dosing for now. We our going to get a kit to measure our Mg, if the reef essentials isn't doing it, we certainly will try Tech M. Thanks so much for the input. Unfortunately the shipper wouldn't hold the coral for us and it will be arriving tomorrow. Please cross your fingers that more survive than don't. The shipper said there was a mistake and he sent a frag that was freshly cut. Should I be extra concerned about this, or is this standard practice. (it is a frag of "ponape rainbow acro". Thanks again!
michele

 

[soccerbag]

I wouldn't worry too much about the fresh cut frag. Many here ship fresh cut SPS frags. If properly acclimated (and good water conditions) it should be just fine.

 

[mbattles22]

well, recieved some new coral on Wed. Parameters have been in line, except we had a small amt of ammonia (?) present yesterday. Over the weekend and today we have lost almost all of our SPS, a chalice and a Montipora. Our original SPS that have been doing well all along are still fine and we have two chalices that are thriving. I don't understand how something in our water can be so bad as to be killing things right and left...but other frags are doing fine. Unfortunately, the amount lost far outweighs the amount doing well. We haven't gotten our controller to start the 2 part dosing yet and I am going to buy a Mg testing kit tomorrow or Wed., so no updates on that. Is a small amount of ammonia enough to decimate the tank? Could this really all be due to alk swings? If anyone is planning on visiting Memphis and checking out Elvis and Beale street, we would be happy to take you out in exchange for some on site advice.

 

[SunnyX]

well, recieved some new coral on Wed. Parameters have been in line, except we had a small amt of ammonia (?) present yesterday. Over the weekend and today we have lost almost all of our SPS, a chalice and a Montipora. Our original SPS that have been doing well all along are still fine and we have two chalices that are thriving. I don't understand how something in our water can be so bad as to be killing things right and left...but other frags are doing fine. Unfortunately, the amount lost far outweighs the amount doing well. We haven't gotten our controller to start the 2 part dosing yet and I am going to buy a Mg testing kit tomorrow or Wed., so no updates on that. Is a small amount of ammonia enough to decimate the tank? Could this really all be due to alk swings? If anyone is planning on visiting Memphis and checking out Elvis and Beale street, we would be happy to take you out in exchange for some on site advice.

Large ALK swing can and will stress SPS to the point of bleaching. The thing that would scare me the most would be the ammonia. ANY amount of ammonia is not good. Have you lost any fish or creatures lately? To rapidly reduce the ammonia you could give a bacteria additive such as Microbacter7 a shot in order to drive the levels down. I dont know if you had mentioned some of your equipment but what are you doing for nutrient export? (skimmer, water changes, etc.) How old is your setup?

Im just trying to find out where the ammonia is coming from...

 

[mbattles22]

Large ALK swing can and will stress SPS to the point of bleaching. The thing that would scare me the most would be the ammonia. ANY amount of ammonia is not good. Have you lost any fish or creatures lately? To rapidly reduce the ammonia you could give a bacteria additive such as Microbacter7 a shot in order to drive the levels down. I dont know if you had mentioned some of your equipment but what are you doing for nutrient export? (skimmer, water changes, etc.) How old is your setup?

Im just trying to find out where the ammonia is coming from...

We have a protein skimmer, my husband does a 10-15% water change weekly, we started the tank in Nov. 09'. We have lost several fish over that time....many that were never found, but it has been months. We haven't seen a fire goby for a week or so, but he was new, so we were hoping that he was just hiding. We have two bubble tip anemones, but everything I have read says that if they are dying the water should smell. So far ours smells fine...but the anemones have looked better! Ever since our original anemone split, they haven't been the same. I am beginning to think we are better suited to zoas as that is all I seem to be able to keep alive, but then we look at tanks like yours and Craig's and we really want an SPS tank. We are just having such a hard time figuring this out and losing tons of coral (and $) in the process! I will try to get my husband to buy some Microbacter7 tomorrow....if they have it at our LFS that is!

 

[soccerbag]

Those missing fish have likely buried themselves in the sand and died - thus increasing your ammonia levels. Over the next few water changes, I would have your husband vacuum portions of the sand bed to get any "remains" out of the tank. Continue with weekly water changes, start dosing MB7 as Sonny said, and just let your tank settle in for a few months. You need to get things stabilized and be able to keep them stable for a few months before you attempt more SPS. The ones you have are likely stressed out but they are more used to the elevated ammonia levels. The ones you just bought never had a chance as they were likely shocked when they went in the tank. I wouldn't buy anymore livestock for a while. Get things stable and then try again with a small piece or two (something cheap like a monti or digi). See how they do for a few months and then go from there.

Sonny and I both have years of experience with SPS and (trust me), we've lost pieces of SPS as well. It's never easy as they cost a lot of money. You can get there, you just need to take it slower....which is always a hard thing to do in this hobby.

 

[mbattles22]

Those missing fish have likely buried themselves in the sand and died - thus increasing your ammonia levels. Over the next few water changes, I would have your husband vacuum portions of the sand bed to get any "remains" out of the tank. Continue with weekly water changes, start dosing MB7 as Sonny said, and just let your tank settle in for a few months. You need to get things stabilized and be able to keep them stable for a few months before you attempt more SPS. The ones you have are likely stressed out but they are more used to the elevated ammonia levels. The ones you just bought never had a chance as they were likely shocked when they went in the tank. I wouldn't buy anymore livestock for a while. Get things stable and then try again with a small piece or two (something cheap like a monti or digi). See how they do for a few months and then go from there.

Sonny and I both have years of experience with SPS and (trust me), we've lost pieces of SPS as well. It's never easy as they cost a lot of money. You can get there, you just need to take it slower....which is always a hard thing to do in this hobby.

I am soooo... glad I found and joined this site. You guys are so knowledgable and supportive! You don't look down on us newbies and I appreciate that. As hard as it is.....I will not be buying any new coral for awhile. I really hope and pray the ones we have left make it thru this nightmare. I have really grown attached to the little frags who are trying to grow, dispite everything we have put them through! I will be taking frag donations when all of this is done:wink:(ha..ha..), but seriously!! Will try to keep you updated. Any other advice or simple words of encouragement is always appreciated.
Michele

 

[soccerbag]

Hang in there Michele. We are here to help along the way. Keep in mind that keeping SPS is one of the (if not the most) difficult type of coral to keep in a home aquarium. There are people who have been in the hobby for years that cannot grow them in their tanks. There are lots of folks who jump into SPS too quickly and have similar issues. You have a good attitude about it though and it's great that you and your husband both have a passion for the hobby! You should invest in some good test kits (Salifert, Elos, etc) or have your LFS test your water regularly until you get your parameters in line. And then work to keep them there. I would resist adding any new fish or coral during that time. Make sure you're not overfeeding the fish you do have in the tank. Sonny started this thread for this very purpose - to help those who want to keep SPS but are having troubles or have questions. Please don't be a stranger to the thread and feel free to ask any questions you have. : )

 

[110reef]

I couldn't keep an sps to save my life. So I invested in more equipment, with the goal of keeping parameters stable, and also in the good range. I got a better skimmer. I got a nice autotopoff unit. I got a calcium reactor. I got a GFO/carbon unit.
I got a chiller. I added a refugium. Changed my lights from 175 MH + VHO's to 400 W metal halides + VHO's, which many say is too much, but seems to be working to me. I got a new RO/DI unit, and got another new autotopoff unit to go with it. All these things to stabilize my tank and get the parameters straight. I honestly think the best thing was the calcium reactor, which stops the alk swings that I was having when trying to "dose".

At any rate, I have been having good success with SPS for the past year or so, some of my frags are now colony size, and still growing nicely. So hang in there, but really concentrate on getting parameters to be stable.

 

[Antonias1391]

how dificult are efflows to keep? also how quickly do they grow ?

 

[soccerbag]

Efflos are fairly easy to keep if you are able to keep other acro's. In my experience, they can be slow to take off, but once they start to grow, they can grow very quickly. They are nice pieces to have in the tank as they are typically very colorful and have a nice round growth pattern. If just starting out with SPS, an efflo would not be the test coral to try, however. I would only invest in an efflo or two once you are very comfortable with growing other SPS in your system. Hope that helps. : )

 

[mbattles22]

I couldn't keep an sps to save my life. So I invested in more equipment, with the goal of keeping parameters stable, and also in the good range. I got a better skimmer. I got a nice autotopoff unit. I got a calcium reactor. I got a GFO/carbon unit.
I got a chiller. I added a refugium. Changed my lights from 175 MH + VHO's to 400 W metal halides + VHO's, which many say is too much, but seems to be working to me. I got a new RO/DI unit, and got another new autotopoff unit to go with it. All these things to stabilize my tank and get the parameters straight. I honestly think the best thing was the calcium reactor, which stops the alk swings that I was having when trying to "dose".

At any rate, I have been having good success with SPS for the past year or so, some of my frags are now colony size, and still growing nicely. So hang in there, but really concentrate on getting parameters to be stable.

Just to keep everybody up to date.....we have lost or are in the process of losing all of our SPS (acro's and montipora's)! Our three plate corals aren't looking particularly happy and one favia (my favorite, of course), out of three, is beginning to show skeleton! We have been dosing the MB7 and our ammonia is down to almost 0. We had our LFS send their "tank" guy to take a look at our tank, take measurements and tell us what we are doing wrong. He told us we had plenty of flow and our parameters were perfect! Could our ammonia spike, which is now over, be the cause of all of the death and destruction? Why are things still dying if the ammonia is now 0 and the LFS and our own testing states our parameters are perfect. Our Mg is still low at 1350, but that shouldn't cause this. Our Alk has been btw. 8.6-8.8, Ca 450, Nitrates, Nitrites & ammonia are 0. We are in the process of changing our MH light to LED's with T5's with a controller to dose the 2 part Ca/alk. Is a fluctuation btw 8.6-8.8 enough to cause this. I am looking for a reason as to why we have lost so much coral and $. I am trying to stay positive...I was actually hoping the LFS guy would find something wrong so at least we can fix it. Where do we go from here?!

 

[kevinpratt823]

There is always the outside chance of electrical current leaking, or even a stray metal object falling into the system and corroding away, especially if it was copper. Some kids see a tank and think it's a nice wishing well, I've heard of it happening before:ooh:

 

[kevinpratt823]

Question. My total system volume is about 600gal. Nutrients remain very low, primarily due to a 55g fug, good skimmer, and lots of large pieces of rock, so water changes aren't very necessary other than replenishing vitamins/trace elements. What are the most important things to replenish?

 

[110reef]

I am sorry to hear of your continuing struggles. I am by no means an expert on sps, and even those I do consider experts lose colonies from time to time. That being said, an ammonia spike is very bad, and will burn your most sensitive inhabitants. In my sps experience, often times if you start an sps dying, it will continue to do so even if you straighten things out. From what I know, fragging off good sections sometimes will stop the die off, so if you want to save some of the corals, I would recommend fragging off some of the good sections. I am hoping some more expert people will chime in here to help out. Other than that, keeping parameters stable is the key, and that means if you make a change, make it slowly and carefully. Changing water parameters, lighting, alk, mag, etc all at the same time is a recipe for disaster, especially when the system is already upset. I would stop and let everything settle down, let your corals acclimate to the current conditions, hopefully stop dying, then slowly make changes. Be careful with lighting changes because the corals will definitely be affected by that. I really hope this helps some.

Just to keep everybody up to date.....we have lost or are in the process of losing all of our SPS (acro's and montipora's)! Our three plate corals aren't looking particularly happy and one favia (my favorite, of course), out of three, is beginning to show skeleton! We have been dosing the MB7 and our ammonia is down to almost 0. We had our LFS send their "tank" guy to take a look at our tank, take measurements and tell us what we are doing wrong. He told us we had plenty of flow and our parameters were perfect! Could our ammonia spike, which is now over, be the cause of all of the death and destruction? Why are things still dying if the ammonia is now 0 and the LFS and our own testing states our parameters are perfect. Our Mg is still low at 1350, but that shouldn't cause this. Our Alk has been btw. 8.6-8.8, Ca 450, Nitrates, Nitrites & ammonia are 0. We are in the process of changing our MH light to LED's with T5's with a controller to dose the 2 part Ca/alk. Is a fluctuation btw 8.6-8.8 enough to cause this. I am looking for a reason as to why we have lost so much coral and $. I am trying to stay positive...I was actually hoping the LFS guy would find something wrong so at least we can fix it. Where do we go from here?!

 

[SunnyX]

Just to keep everybody up to date.....we have lost or are in the process of losing all of our SPS (acro's and montipora's)! Our three plate corals aren't looking particularly happy and one favia (my favorite, of course), out of three, is beginning to show skeleton! We have been dosing the MB7 and our ammonia is down to almost 0. We had our LFS send their "tank" guy to take a look at our tank, take measurements and tell us what we are doing wrong. He told us we had plenty of flow and our parameters were perfect! Could our ammonia spike, which is now over, be the cause of all of the death and destruction? Why are things still dying if the ammonia is now 0 and the LFS and our own testing states our parameters are perfect. Our Mg is still low at 1350, but that shouldn't cause this. Our Alk has been btw. 8.6-8.8, Ca 450, Nitrates, Nitrites & ammonia are 0. We are in the process of changing our MH light to LED's with T5's with a controller to dose the 2 part Ca/alk. Is a fluctuation btw 8.6-8.8 enough to cause this. I am looking for a reason as to why we have lost so much coral and $. I am trying to stay positive...I was actually hoping the LFS guy would find something wrong so at least we can fix it. Where do we go from here?!

It is very hard to diagnose the problem when all of the parameters are in line. Here are some things off of the top of my head that could be causing issues:

-Stray voltage in the tank
-Aerosols such as air fresheners
-A cracked MH bulb leaking out UV
-Temperature swings

 

[SunnyX]

Question. My total system volume is about 600gal. Nutrients remain very low, primarily due to a 55g fug, good skimmer, and lots of large pieces of rock, so water changes aren't very necessary other than replenishing vitamins/trace elements. What are the most important things to replenish?

Well, CA and ALK would be the two most important elements to replace, followed by MG, Strontium, and the other major elements. Even with a low nutrient system I still conduct water changes once a month with Reef Crystals to replace any minor elements/vitamins that may be lacking. I used to go months without water changes but since I have started conducting monthly changes of 20% I have noticed increased coral health and vibrancy. You could always look into a supplement to replace the elements in your system that have been used up but this may cause more problems than it may be worth. A 20% monthly water change may be your best bet.

 

[solitude127]

I am soooo... glad I found and joined this site. You guys are so knowledgable and supportive! You don't look down on us newbies and I appreciate that. As hard as it is.....I will not be buying any new coral for awhile. I really hope and pray the ones we have left make it thru this nightmare. I have really grown attached to the little frags who are trying to grow, dispite everything we have put them through! I will be taking frag donations when all of this is done:wink:(ha..ha..), but seriously!! Will try to keep you updated. Any other advice or simple words of encouragement is always appreciated.
Michele

We've all been there at some point. Don't let the frustration get to you, stay strong. Good luck and keep asking questions.