The SPS Q&A Thread.

[Ellery]

A. Total water volume ( Please include sump, etc.)
380 gallons (125 SPS + 90LPS+80 Frag +40B Refugium = Sump)

B. What are your parameters? ( CA, ALK, PO4,Salinity, etc.)

Growth Nominals	78 F	35 ppt	8.4	218	12.6	465	1390	<0.07ppm	< 600 ppm
Color Nominals	78 F	35 ppt	8.2	146.5	8.2	430	1310	<0.07ppm	< 600 ppm
Date	Temp	Salinity	pH	Alk (ppm)	Alk (dkH)	Ca	Mg	PO4	CO2
12/22/2014	76.6	35.7	8.1	182	10.192	600	1340	0.02	622
1/1/2015	78.2	34.8	8.21	160	8.96	600	1320	0.05	645

C. Type of lighting. Please include age, watts, and/ballast name.

125 - Maxspect 160W 16000K x2
90 - EverGrow D120 x2
80 - Gen3 Radion & Evergrow D120
Refugium - 6500K PAR38 Leds 120W equivalent

D. Filtration method (Skimmer, GFO, DSB, etc.)
Skimmers (Skimz sk201 and Turboflotor Multi), GFO/GAC (part-time) DSB and Refugium

E. What types of corals do you keep other than SPS?
Euphyllias, Favites, Mushrooms, Palys, Clams

F. How long has the tank been running?
8 years

G. What are you dosing? Dosing schedule?
2 Part (RHF DIY) & BRS) Alk daily across entire day, and Ca via ATO and Kalk

H. Which brand of salt are you using?
IO Reef Crystals

I. What brand of test kits are you employing?
Hanna (Ca, Alk, PO4) and Red Sea Mg

J. What are you using for CA/ALK supplementation?
BRS and RHF DIY

K. What are you using for flow? (Pump names, how many, placement, etc.)
125 - Vortech MP40 and Jeabao WP40
90 - 3 x Hydor Korallia 4
80 - Jebao WP25 and Hydor Koralia 4

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Questions:
1. How can we improve Coral coloration? Lighting suggestions? Elements like postassium, Iodide, iron? Milk/Soymilk?

2. I can't seem to keep any acans, chalices, or anything Orange like Aussie Octospawns? What am I doing wrong? Water too clean?

3. Do Orange corals need special lighting placements? Per some Advance Reef Article they say they require higher PAR?

Sorry I goofed up the previous post :)

 

[SunnyX]

A. Total water volume ( Please include sump, etc.)
380 gallons (125 SPS + 90LPS+80 Frag +40B Refugium = Sump)

B. What are your parameters? ( CA, ALK, PO4,Salinity, etc.)

Growth Nominals	78 F	35 ppt	8.4	218	12.6	465	1390	<0.07ppm	< 600 ppm
Color Nominals	78 F	35 ppt	8.2	146.5	8.2	430	1310	<0.07ppm	< 600 ppm
Date	Temp	Salinity	pH	Alk (ppm)	Alk (dkH)	Ca	Mg	PO4	CO2
12/22/2014	76.6	35.7	8.1	182	10.192	600	1340	0.02	622
1/1/2015	78.2	34.8	8.21	160	8.96	600	1320	0.05	645

C. Type of lighting. Please include age, watts, and/ballast name.

125 - Maxspect 160W 16000K x2
90 - EverGrow D120 x2
80 - Gen3 Radion & Evergrow D120
Refugium - 6500K PAR38 Leds 120W equivalent

D. Filtration method (Skimmer, GFO, DSB, etc.)
Skimmers (Skimz sk201 and Turboflotor Multi), GFO/GAC (part-time) DSB and Refugium

E. What types of corals do you keep other than SPS?
Euphyllias, Favites, Mushrooms, Palys, Clams

F. How long has the tank been running?
8 years

G. What are you dosing? Dosing schedule?
2 Part (RHF DIY) & BRS) Alk daily across entire day, and Ca via ATO and Kalk

H. Which brand of salt are you using?
IO Reef Crystals

I. What brand of test kits are you employing?
Hanna (Ca, Alk, PO4) and Red Sea Mg

J. What are you using for CA/ALK supplementation?
BRS and RHF DIY

K. What are you using for flow? (Pump names, how many, placement, etc.)
125 - Vortech MP40 and Jeabao WP40
90 - 3 x Hydor Korallia 4
80 - Jebao WP25 and Hydor Koralia 4

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Questions:
1. How can we improve Coral coloration? Lighting suggestions? Elements like postassium, Iodide, iron? Milk/Soymilk?

2. I can't seem to keep any acans, chalices, or anything Orange like Aussie Octospawns? What am I doing wrong? Water too clean?

3. Do Orange corals need special lighting placements? Per some Advance Reef Article they say they require higher PAR?

Sorry I goofed up the previous post :)

Hello,

I can't comment directly on your issue with colors and Acans, as I've never used LEDS on a reef. Perhaps someone with LED experience can chime in with some help. From what I've read, LEDS need to be dialed in just right in order to achieve the correct coloration of corals.

Do you feed the acans? I fed mine spectrum brand pellets every two days or so. I know that my acans always do best on the sand bed, away from direct light. My rainbow acans wouldn't produce the correct colors unless I had them in an area of the sand bed, near an overhang or the edge of the reflectors.

Some ZEOvit users dose iodine/potassium to bring out blues, iron to bring out greens, etc. I have dosed lugols in my tanks for about 15 years and have always had amazing blue coloration on my SPS. Personally, I believe that if all parameters are in the correct ranges then lighting has a huge effect on colors. I know that in my systems certain corals would not exhibit the same colors when moved from MH to T5. Under T5 I was able to color up corals that looked dull under MH. But I've also had some amazing colors under MH so it's not exactly cause and effect.

I'm not blaming LEDS, as I've seen many amazing tanks with them. I'd like to go LED on my next setup, and am close to pulling the trigger, but am having trouble doing so, especially when I've had such great success with T5.

Concerning the orange color and high PAR I can say for sure. I've had quite a few orange acans, plates, and Montipora, encrusting and branching, that have done great and maintained orange colors low in the tank. I know for sure that yellow SPS need to be high up in the tank, as many of them will shift to green if placed too low in the tank.

I wasn't of much help so hopefully someone with LED experience can chime in.

Thank you,

Sonny

 

[ReefPiracy]

What is your current lighting programming? How deep is tank and how high over tank is light?
Get rid of the Ca Hanna test, the thing test 600 for everyone, which is incorrect. Get salifert for Ca.
Get a calcium reactor.
Borrow a par tester.
Your growing sps on the sand bed. My guess is your par is wicked high.
6 hour white light 2 hours ramp down. 12 hours blue 8 hours full. Do a few hours of moon.

 

[Ballgame]

I'm having a problem keep stylos. Water levels are good. Just had a green one white out. Today a purple one look thin with polyps.
What can cause this?
Last night I did clean some algae off back glass so I could glue frag to back glass. So wonder if that caused stylo to look thin with polyps. But I still lost the green one.
So if water is good what can cause this?
I also upgraded my lights to Kessil 360ws

 

[SunnyX]

What is your current lighting programming? How deep is tank and how high over tank is light?
Get rid of the Ca Hanna test, the thing test 600 for everyone, which is incorrect. Get salifert for Ca.
Get a calcium reactor.
Borrow a par tester.
Your growing sps on the sand bed. My guess is your par is wicked high.
6 hour white light 2 hours ramp down. 12 hours blue 8 hours full. Do a few hours of moon.

I'd agree with everything you wrote except when it comes to the CA reactor recommendation. I ran a reactor for years and it only complicated my systems as I had to constantly find ways to offset the chronically low PH it would cause. I ran a Kalk reactor in tandem with the CA reactor but it was much more work, expense and maintenance when compared to something like BRS two part with a doser.

Many people use CA reactors with great results; I was one of them. But after switching to BRS two part I never looked back.

LED lights in general have me a bit worried about using them. I see many great setups with LEDS, but there are equally as many setups struggling to reproduce certain colors in corals. But, I've been reefing for so long that I need something new. My curiosity will likely get the best of me and have me use Radions on my next setup.

I'm curious for see when the generation 4 Radions will be available.

 

[SunnyX]

I'm having a problem keep stylos. Water levels are good. Just had a green one white out. Today a purple one look thin with polyps.
What can cause this?
Last night I did clean some algae off back glass so I could glue frag to back glass. So wonder if that caused stylo to look thin with polyps. But I still lost the green one.
So if water is good what can cause this?
I also upgraded my lights to Kessil 360ws

Hello,

When did you upgrade your lighting system?

What were you running prior to the addition of the Kessil?

Did the coral look fine when you were running the previous lighting system?

 

[Ballgame]

Hello,

When did you upgrade your lighting system?

What were you running prior to the addition of the Kessil?

Did the coral look fine when you were running the previous lighting system?

Thanks for reply
Upgrade is recent. Running Kessil around 20-30% for a couple weeks so I don't fry everything in tank. Thought it could be lights since so much more powerful but running them so low.

 

[SunnyX]

Thanks for reply
Upgrade is recent. Running Kessil around 20-30% for a couple weeks so I don't fry everything in tank. Thought it could be lights since so much more powerful but running them so low.

Ok, we're you running LEDS prior to adding the Kessil?

I'm asking because Stylo's tend to be hardy corals, and can handle a wide range of water parameters. If the coral is white but still exhibiting polyps then I would put the issue down to the lighting. The new lighting is likely causing some bleaching in the coral. I would move the stylo away from direct lighting and place it in an area with some shade. Keep an eye on the coral and wait for it to turn brown/green before moving it back into the desired permanent location.

 

[Ellery]

What is your current lighting programming? How deep is tank and how high over tank is light?
Get rid of the Ca Hanna test, the thing test 600 for everyone, which is incorrect. Get salifert for Ca.
Get a calcium reactor.
Borrow a par tester.
Your growing sps on the sand bed. My guess is your par is wicked high.
6 hour white light 2 hours ramp down. 12 hours blue 8 hours full. Do a few hours of moon.

My current Lighting scheme has Blues on at 8am then whites turn on at 11am-6pm, Blue turn off at midnight.
125 Maxspect Razors - ~ 8 inches above water level
90 EverGrow D120 8 & 12 " above due to mounting under a staircase
80 Shallow - Radion Mounting Kit 10" and Evergrow is hung 10" above water level as well. I may raise it since I don't have the 120 degree lens.

I used to run the AquaC CaRx but it was too much of a pain to regulate stability due to clogging and other things just as SunnyX wrote.

I have an Apogee PAR tester already but I heard they are not designed for Blue LEDs more for Metal halides.

Yes, I may back down the settings a little for my 90 gallon LPS to get better polyp expansion. But the only one not expanding well is the Orange Octospawn. All other Euphyllia are doing great.

Thanks for the feedback!

Ellery

 

[Ellery]

I'm having a problem keep stylos. Water levels are good. Just had a green one white out. Today a purple one look thin with polyps.
What can cause this?
Last night I did clean some algae off back glass so I could glue frag to back glass. So wonder if that caused stylo to look thin with polyps. But I still lost the green one.
So if water is good what can cause this?
I also upgraded my lights to Kessil 360ws

I would agree to with Sunny as well - I have a Green, pink and Purple Stylo as well and I would turn down your Whites and start with blues only for some time to color up and then slowly turn the whites up over a longer period of time.

 

[Robink]

following...

 

[bobman]

I have an acro in my tank and I am not sure if its happy or not. I have had it about a month. When I first got it the tips had white on them but now the white seems to be getting larger. Polyp extension seems the same even in the white area. Polyps are a nice green color. My tanks is a 32 gallon custom acrylic all in one tank with ruble in the back chambers, reef octo BH100 and some macro in the middle chamber. Last chamber has a MJ12 for a return. I dose vodka at 2ml every day. I started because I was getting some hair alge. Now the hair alge is gone excpet for some brown stuff in my skimmer and a single strand behind my rocks. I also notice some of the macro is starting to turn clear. I was thinking of lowering my dose to 1ml. For lighting I have a marsaqua led the I removed all of the optics and it sits about 4.5" above the water with the acro about 4" under the water. Not sure if I have to much or to little light on it.I have the Blues on max and white as low as they will go.

My water params are

Salinity: 1.025-1.026
PH 8.2
ALK 9 DKH
Nitrate 10PPM
Phosphate Undetectable with my red sea kit.
Calcium 400

Here are some pics I will try to get a better pic of the coral in the morning

when I first got my coral



A few days ago Not the best pic but all I have right now but you can see the top is turning white. Still have good extension and seem to have grown a bit. Not sure if its happy or stressed.

 

[Ellery]

bobman -

What's your lighting mix and schedule?

Some acros typically have lighter/different color tips when growing but seeing yours looks like a red dragon (smooth skin/deep water) type acro you may want to lower your white lights a bit since it may be bleaching out a bit.

deepwater types tend to like T5 lighting better in my experience or less white intense lighting.

it really depends on the type you have so it's always good to make sure you know what you bought as best as possible to find out the requirements it may need.

also sometimes it's not always good to have 0 ppm of Phosphates either. There's such a thing as too clean. Systems like Zeovit tend to be Ultra Low Nutrient Systems but they are constantly dosing stuff back in daily.

Ellery

I have an acro in my tank and I am not sure if its happy or not. I have had it about a month. When I first got it the tips had white on them but now the white seems to be getting larger. Polyp extension seems the same even in the white area. Polyps are a nice green color. My tanks is a 32 gallon custom acrylic all in one tank with ruble in the back chambers, reef octo BH100 and some macro in the middle chamber. Last chamber has a MJ12 for a return. I dose vodka at 2ml every day. I started because I was getting some hair alge. Now the hair alge is gone excpet for some brown stuff in my skimmer and a single strand behind my rocks. I also notice some of the macro is starting to turn clear. I was thinking of lowering my dose to 1ml. For lighting I have a marsaqua led the I removed all of the optics and it sits about 4.5" above the water with the acro about 4" under the water. Not sure if I have to much or to little light on it.I have the Blues on max and white as low as they will go.

My water params are

Salinity: 1.025-1.026
PH 8.2
ALK 9 DKH
Nitrate 10PPM
Phosphate Undetectable with my red sea kit.
Calcium 400

Here are some pics I will try to get a better pic of the coral in the morning

when I first got my coral



A few days ago Not the best pic but all I have right now but you can see the top is turning white. Still have good extension and seem to have grown a bit. Not sure if its happy or stressed.

 

[bobman]

Thanks for the heads up. The store I got it from had it under Radions LED. Any how my blues are on 10 hours and my White are on 6 hours. Whites are already as low as they will go would it be ok to just leave them off? I could just move it to the sand bed and see if that helps. I also know what you mean on to low of nutrients seems most of my tanks have been that way.

 

[SunnyX]

Thanks for the heads up. The store I got it from had it under Radions LED. Any how my blues are on 10 hours and my White are on 6 hours. Whites are already as low as they will go would it be ok to just leave them off? I could just move it to the sand bed and see if that helps. I also know what you mean on to low of nutrients seems most of my tanks have been that way.

Hello,

Scaling back on lighting can help to alleviate the issue, but what you're experiencing is likely caused from a combination of low nutrients and intense lighting. Often times I would increase feedings or dose amino/fatty acids in order to perk up my corals. That, along with a scale back of lighting helped to balance out my coral colors. While most reef systems can eventually reach a point of complete automation and control, nutrients must often be monitored and adjusted, up and down, in order to maintain proper coral color and growth.

For now I wouldn't mess around with the nutrients. Scale back the lighting schedule by reducing the time the white lights are on by a couple hours. This may be enough; it may not. You're going to have to adjust the lighting schedule until you find that sweet spot as no one lighting period is standard for all aquariums. At one point I was running Metal Halides for four hours a day and supplements for ten. You wouldn't think four hours of any lighting would be enough but in my setup it worked.

Good luck.

 

[swhobbie1]

bobman - nitrate of 10 is high for SPS. Nice coral. It does not look as happy as it could

 

[Tek]

bobman - nitrate of 10 is high for SPS. Nice coral. It does not look as happy as it could

I doubt it is the nitrates. My tank is SPS dominate and actually has the best colors and growth at 10ppm+ of N03 and currently has been at 25-30ppm for 3 months. The SPS in question looks like a deeper water version and is more than likely bleaching. I would reduce the whites and blues or move it down lower to acclimate for a few weeks.

 

[Ericka Sauls]

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread here in this forum simply to answer any questions you may have on maintaining a successful SPS tank. I may not have all of the answers but I am willing to help and anyone else who would like to help out is more then welcome to.

So, what are the pressing concerns you guys and gals are having?
Are you lacking color?
Are you having algae issue?
Is your SPS growth not to your liking?

Remember, there are no dumb questions so do not be shy to ask. :eek:oh:

Pleas fill out this form when asking a question. It will help us find a solution much quicker and with greater accuracy.

A. Total water volume ( Please include sump, etc.)

B. What are your parameters? ( CA, ALK, PO4,Salinity, etc.)

C. Type of lighting. Please include age, watts, and bulb/ballast name.

D. Filtration method (Skimmer, GFO, DSB, etc.)

E. What types of corals do you keep other than SPS?

F. How long has the tank been running?

G. What are you dosing? Dosing schedule?

H. Which brand of salt are you using?

I. What brand of test kits are you employing?

J. What are you using for CA/ALK supplementation?

K. What are you using for flow? (Pump names, how many, placement, etc.)

So I know people say acros are one of the hardest to keep but I had a birdsnest and bird of paradise for 7 months with no issues! Went to Disney recently and came back to bleached looking ones, I'm thinking the person watching my tank dosed wrong because all my parameters are perfect and haven't changed. My question is they still have a few cloves on them is it possible they will come back?

 

[SunnyX]

So I know people say acros are one of the hardest to keep but I had a birdsnest and bird of paradise for 7 months with no issues! Went to Disney recently and came back to bleached looking ones, I'm thinking the person watching my tank dosed wrong because all my parameters are perfect and haven't changed. My question is they still have a few cloves on them is it possible they will come back?

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear of your recent troubles. Corals can be exceptionally resilient. I would frag off and save the live branches.

The first thing I would do is run some tests and see what caused the RTN of the corals. Temperature, PH, and ALK swings are often the culprits, especially with something like a birds nest, which usually isn't on the menu.

 

[Ericka Sauls]

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear of your recent troubles. Corals can be exceptionally resilient. I would frag off and save the live branches.

The first thing I would do is run some tests and see what caused the RTN of the corals. Temperature, PH, and ALK swings are often the culprits, especially with something like a birds nest, which usually isn't on the menu.

We did and nothing had changed unless it was fixed before we tested