Why can't I have nice things... and by that, I mean SPS.

[New&no clue]

Reefing community HELP!!!

I am still new to saltwater, been doing it for about two years. I have tried hard to learn as much as possible in these two years. However, I still can't seem to keep SPS alive. What am I missing? I will take any and all advice I can get.

I have a 180-gallon tank with three MP40's all at 75% reef crest mode. I have two ATI LED/T5 Combos. I rented a PAR meter from BRS, and at the top of the rockwork where the SPS is, it is between 250-400 PAR. I use RODI water and Brightwell salt. My parameters are

Salinity: 1.025-1.026
CAL:445
ALK:8.6
MAG:1410
Nitrates:4.0
Phosphates:0.18
PH: 8.0

Full tank shot, and Sump shot below.

 

[MONTANTK]

Stability is important with SPS. You’ll want to make sure your parameters are as stable as possible, especially Alk. Overall, your parameters don’t look bad. Phosphate might be a little high but you could probably lay keep some easier stuff like montis, birdsnest, and some simple acros. What typically happens to frags when you lose them?

 

[ninjamyst]

Beautiful tank and setup!! Where have you been getting SPS from?

 

[Tamberav]

The rock doesn’t look two years old to me and no coralline on the outflow?

 

[Gtinnel]

What sps have you tried? Some of the non acropora varieties really aren't that hard to keep alive usually.

 

[Uncle99]

Very nice setup!
Your numbers are great
What does death look like?
Do they last for a period and just slowly peel?
Do they look fine before bed, then all white in the morning?
Do they pale in colour, or are they kinda brownish before they die?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Beautiful tank and set up. What’s in the dual reactor? What all are you dosing?

Don’t listen to anyone that says your Po4 is too high

 

[New&no clue]

Stability is important with SPS. You’ll want to make sure your parameters are as stable as possible, especially Alk. Overall, your parameters don’t look bad. Phosphate might be a little high but you could probably lay keep some easier stuff like montis, birdsnest, and some simple acros. What typically happens to frags when you lose them?

Beautiful tank and setup!! Where have you been getting SPS from?

What sps have you tried? Some of the non acropora varieties really aren't that hard to keep alive usually.

I have tried some cheap Acros from Aquasd, Pocillopora, and Montipora for other hobbyists. The cheap acro is still alive, but both the pocillopora and montipora turned white and then RTN.

The rock doesn’t look two years old to me and no coralline on the outflow?

I have had A tank for two years, not this tank. This tank is an upgrade from my 75 gallon. The rocks on the left are my old rocks, and the rocks on the right are new. This tank has been up and running for a couple of months.

 

[Tamberav]

Well since it is only a few months old and not even coralline on the overflow. It’s not that surprising. Many others have this issue. Some relate it to bacteria.

 

[New&no clue]

Very nice setup!
Your numbers are great
What does death look like?
Do they last for a period and just slowly peel?
Do they look fine before bed, then all white in the morning?
Do they pale in colour, or are they kinda brownish before they die?

Typically, it's swift, not overnight, but they peel and are all white within two days. I haven't noticed a loss of color or browning.

Beautiful tank and set up. What’s in the dual reactor? What all are you dosing?

Don’t listen to anyone that says your Po4 is too high

The reactor just has Carbon. I was going to do Carbon and GFO, but my leaves didn't seem high enough, and I have a refugium going, so I didn't want the nutrients out completely. I dose two-part, so Alk and Calcium have been pretty stable. I test weekly before a water change.

 

[Midrats]

The tank is very young.

 

[New&no clue]

The tank is very young.

Well since it is only a few months old and not even coralline on the overflow. It’s not that surprising. Many others have this issue. Some relate it to bacteria.

I hoped that bringing over the old rocks, corals, and macro from the last tank would give the stability needed to add some SPS. All other corals are doing well. Is your opinion it is just too early to have SPS? I do have Coraline growing on my powerheads and down in my sump. But not a ton on the rocks due to a horde of asterina starfish.

 

[paradizecityz]

What kind of anthias are those?

 

[Tamberav]

I hoped that bringing over the old rocks, corals, and macro from the last tank would give the stability needed to add some SPS. All other corals are doing well. Is your opinion it is just too early to have SPS? I do have Coraline growing on my powerheads and down in my sump. But not a ton on the rocks due to a horde of asterina starfish.

that gets my vote. The rocks you moved don’t look like a large amount compared to the tanks size.

Tank looks young just by the photo.

 

[New&no clue]

What kind of anthias are those?

lyretail anthias

 

[New&no clue]

that gets my vote. The rocks you moved don’t like a large amount compared to the tanks size.

Here is the old tank, all the rocks moved over, minus the zoa garden

 

[Kodski]

At first glance a few things come up.

Phosphates do seem a bit high, but not enough where it would be killing SPS.

What temp do you keep the tank? How stable is the temp? Acros really don't like the temp changing too much.

Alk seems fine but how stable is it? I know I had alk stability issues for a week and ended up loosing most of my SPS. To test this, test your alk at the same time everyday over three or four days.

People saying your tank is too young, I don't get why. If you've taken rock that was previously set up then there shouldn't be any issue with that. I was growing SPS long before I saw any coralline algae growing in my tank.

The next thought would be to look at stray voltage and heavy metals just to cross those off your list.

Also with the carbon, that seems like an awful lot of carbon to be running. Is there a specific reason you run carbon? Realistically you should only run carbon if you know your corals are doing chemical warfare or if your water isn't clear. Even then, you really don't need a whole lot of carbon and you don't need to run it 24/7. Some say it is possible to strip too much from the water with carbon, though the effects of doing so aren't agreed upon. So again, don't think this is your issue but wanted to mention this. Also, if you want to test if your water is clear or not, the best way is to take a bit of tank water and put it in a white Styrofoam cup. You'll be able to easily tell if its clear or not.

 

[Garf]

Personally I would have the dosing containers below the water level in your sump just Incase it syphons in. I would also have a few lower powered heaters, not one. Perhaps that finger leather is giving something off into the water column.

 

[DrZoidburg]

@Charlies Frags That's not a fair assessment because everyone's tank is different. Those numbers work for you your tank is also established more, close to redfield ratio, so is she though. I think maybe more of a stability thing. Coralline sensitive to this too, is why you don't see a ton of it. How big are day night swings? When last time added anything? Any other coral maybe toxic to sps?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

@Charlies Frags That's not a fair assessment because everyone's tank is different. Those numbers work for you your tank is also established more, close to redfield ratio, so is she though. I think maybe more of a stability thing. Coralline sensitive to this too, is why you don't see a ton of it. How big are day night swings? When last time added anything? Any other coral maybe toxic to sps?

It is fair as far as I’m concerned. 0.18 or 0.38 isn’t going to kill acros. Especially to the point where the OP can not keep much alive. I don’t want chasing the OP chasing their tail with elevated Po4 and 0.5 dKh swing blame. This looks/sounds like over stripping the water, regardless of the residual no3/Po4 measurements, or a contaminant, stray voltage, etc.