Trouble growing corals with sps ab

[Tallison]

Cheers mate. I'll give it a try.

Let me know how it goes for you.

 

[BigJohnny]

I've been running the sps ab schedule for 6months now and just don't have any growth on montis, and sps corals.

Light is an XR30W G4 pro, hung 9-10 inches of surface of water.
Tank dimensions are 48x18x24.
Sps ab at 75% intensity, running from 9am to 10 pm. Peak from 12pm to 6pm.

Fishes are fed frozen brine shrimp on mondays, wednesdays, and Saturdays. The other days i feed them with a homemade seafood mix.
Twice a week i feed corals reef roids with polyp booster.

Parameters are;
Mg- 1290
Cal- 400
Alk- 7dKH
No3- 0
PO4- 0
Temp- 25-26c
1.026sg

The only thing that seems to grow in my tank is algae. Starting to get a lil frustrated as I've seen cheap black boxes grow corals like crazy but i can't seem to grow anything with radions.

its not the radions or the SPS AB+ program. Could be many things:

1. How old is the tank?
2. Are you artificially driving nitrate and phosphate down to 0?
3. Do you know what par?
4. what solutions do you have for flow?
5. How many fish in the tank?
6. are non SPS growing?
7. how stable is your alkalinity?

 

[greg5578]

its c


its not the radions or the SPS AB+ program. Could be many things:

1. How old is the tank?
2. are you artificially driving nitrate and phosphate down to 0?
3. How long is your photoperiod?
4. Do you know what par?
5. How big is the tank and what solutions do you have for flow?
6. How many fish in the tank?
7. are non SPS growing?
8. how stable is your alkalinity?

Hi BigJohnny,

1. Tank is a year old
2. Nitrates were stuck at 25ppm and started using nopox a month ago.
3. Photoperiod is 6hours
4. I don't have anything to measure PAR.
5. Tank is 48x18x24 with varios4 return pump, 1 RW-20, 1 rw-15. Both on w1 mode.
6. There are about 9 fishes
7. LPS are growing except for GSP and blasto. Hammer, frogspawn, torch, xenia, all has grown from the time i got them.
8. Alk fluctuates between 7 to 8 dkh.

 

[BigJohnny]

Hi BigJohnny,

1. Tank is a year old
2. Nitrates were stuck at 25ppm and started using nopox a month ago.
3. Photoperiod is 6hours
4. I don't have anything to measure PAR.
5. Tank is 48x18x24 with varios4 return pump, 1 RW-20, 1 rw-15. Both on w1 mode.
6. There are about 9 fishes
7. LPS are growing except for GSP and blasto. Hammer, frogspawn, torch, xenia, all has grown from the time i got them.
8. Alk fluctuates between 7 to 8 dkh.

well, certainly going from 25ppm nitrate to 0 in a month is a drastic change and the corals will require some time to recover. Hard to say if lighting is too much or too little (better) without knowing par. Not familiar with the flow solutions but turning them up as high as they will go without blowing sand or stressing corals is always a good choice. Seems like your bioload is sufficient for sure. Weird that GSP isnt growing, dont think ive ever heard that before lol, but good sign that others are. I would try to keep your alk as stable as possible, i believe you said dose every 4 days, try dosing every 2 or dosing pump if you can. I wouldnt change much (although you can turn your lights down if concerned) and give your acros a chance to acclimate to the new nutrient levels. How long have you had the acros in your tank?

 

[smokin'reefer]

Hi smokin'reefer,

Yes I'm actually struggling to bring my mag up. Been dosing 100ml a day and it still wont move. Even did water change and it still didn't move.

Do you blast your sps with direct flow?

I don't know if you would consider it "direct" flow. I have two MP40' on either end of a five foot tank running various setting. They max out at around 60%. The most active being the nutrient transport setting I use as the lights go off. That's when most corals want to feed imo.

 

[greg5578]

well, certainly going from 25ppm nitrate to 0 in a month is a drastic change and the corals will require some time to recover. Hard to say if lighting is too much or too little (better) without knowing par. Not familiar with the flow solutions but turning them up as high as they will go without blowing sand or stressing corals is always a good choice. Seems like your bioload is sufficient for sure. Weird that GSP isnt growing, dont think ive ever heard that before lol, but good sign that others are. I would try to keep your alk as stable as possible, i believe you said dose every 4 days, try dosing every 2 or dosing pump if you can. I wouldnt change much (although you can turn your lights down if concerned) and give your acros a chance to acclimate to the new nutrient levels. How long have you had the acros in your tank?

I'm surprised that everyone says GSP grows like weed but mine isn't. Picture of it when i first got it and pic of it now attached.

I've got a 3channel dosing pump which is dosing magnesium and nopox. I'll use the third channel to dose alk.

Acros have been in my tank for about 3 or 4months. One bleached. The other 2 is alright with some PE, just no growth.

 

[BigJohnny]

I'm surprised that everyone says GSP grows like weed but mine isn't. Picture of it when i first got it and pic of it now attached.

I've got a 3channel dosing pump which is dosing magnesium and nopox. I'll use the third channel to dose alk.

Acros have been in my tank for about 3 or 4months. One bleached. The other 2 is alright with some PE, just no growth.

3 or 4 months without growth is not that unusual for acropora, especially in less than ideal conditions in a relatively new system. Changes can halt or slow growth further. If all your corals are pale and some bleached than reduce your photoperiod, which you may want to do anyway since you drastically reduced nutrients. Also be careful with the nopox, you may want to dose less. Besides that, keep everything as stable as possible and wait. If you keep everything in check they will come around.

Good luck. Stay patient.

 

[greg5578]

3 or 4 months without growth is not that unusual for acropora, especially in less than ideal conditions in a relatively new system. Changes can halt or slow growth further. If all your corals are pale and some bleached than reduce your photoperiod, which you may want to do anyway since you drastically reduced nutrients. Also be careful with the nopox, you may want to dose less. Besides that, keep everything as stable as possible and wait.

Good luck.

I've only had an acro bleach.
I've just lowered my light intensity to 60% and it runs 9 hrs now instead of 13 hours previously.
I was dosing 10ml a day of nopox and I've brought it down to 3ml a day.

Thank you so much for all the input mate. Really appreciate it.

Cheers