why cant i keep lps

[turbo21]

Ok,

i seem to struggle with most lps.

po4- undetectable
trates- 5
salinity 1.025

125 gallon aga tank
octo 200 skimmer
phosban and carbon in mesh bags also running filter sock changed every 3 days
3- 175 w halides with 2-4ft vh actinic bulbs

flow is provided by a cap 1500, modded maxi 1200, moded maxi 900, and a resun waver

have a high fish load.

clown tang
kole tang
yellow tang
midas blenny
2 chromis
sixline wrasee
target mandarin
anthias
firefish
marron clown and ocellaris clown (mated pair)




my sps is grwing great and holding its color, and so are my zoas and mushrooms evrything seems happy but....

i have tried a few acans and hammers that have just slowly declined. i have 2 chalice frags and 2 favia frags that seem to be ding okay after a week, but just wonder what i am missing. water too clean?

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I think you're right in the water being to "clean" for them. You might try to target feed them with meaty foods once a week and see if that works if you're not already doing that. How about placement?

 

[Dowtish]

I doubt your tank is too clean with that kind of bio load from the fish. Do you feed heavy?

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[barbianj]

Could also be too much light, low alk, or a fish bothering them.

 

[revhtree]

Are they getting too much light?

 

[Demonic]

I dont think it would be too much light with 175w halides. LPS are tricky with flow, make sure they dont have direct flow and try target feeding

 

[bluepit]

+1 on flow and light could be the issue

 

[turbo21]

thanks guys,

i do feed heavy, flakes and pellets and nori. can i still try to feed if they are not extending their feelers. im thinking of turning all pumps off and dropping sme mysis on them. i also have some spots with a little bit of lower flow maybe i can fit some acans in there. what about placement in the tank. should acans go near the bottom in my setup. my lights are abut 6" off the water and i have one tricolor acro colony doing real good about 10" down.

just tested some more and
calcium 420
mag 1350
alk 10dkh
i think if my alk was giving a false redaing n this test kit, my sps would show decline first right ?
bob

 

[gar732]

I have the same problem. At first I thought it was a PO4 problem buy now that I'm starting to get that under control I've still seen no improvement. I lost about 75% of my LPS after everything being happy andhealthy for about a year. Sps is dong fine. I lost quite a few nice chalices like SC pink fame, tyree pink watermelon, ironman (that one really hurt), original mummy eye, and a bunch of others too. Hope you figure it out, it sucks to lose stuff and not even know why.

 

[turbo21]

Its weird, it looks great at first, and then it justs go into a slow decline and never recovers. I had one acan frag hold on for about 5 months and every week it just looked worse and worse

 

[FaviaFreak]

Could also be too much light, low alk, or a fish bothering them.

+1 it could be too much light I have experienced this myself

 

[swannyson7]

+1 it could be too much light I have experienced this myself

Me too. I used to have a pretty respectable acan collection, but now I can't keep them alive for more than a few weeks. Acan echinatas, euphyllia, lobos, wellsos, & scolys do fine, but acan lords & chalices all seem to die.

 

[turbo21]

what if i would build a sort of light filtering cave out of branch rock? you know t sort of let just a little light through. any thoughts?
who would of thought my little 175 watters could be too much

bob

 

[swannyson7]

It might be worth a try. A 125 is pretty tall for 175w halides, but it's something worth experimenting with. My tank has overkill lighting and LPS did great until the lighting change, so it's the only thing I can attribute it to.

 

[barbianj]

Do they recede from the edges of the coral first?

Do you see a white film along the edge?

Do the skeletons turn a pink color?

 

[turbo21]

usually recede from edge and wont puff up, no white film that i ntice and skeletons stay white, til algae takes over

 

[barbianj]

I dip everything with Coral Rx, but sometimes I get some LPS that just don't do well. I've been using Furan 2 with very good results on acans, chalices and zoos. I'm doing 15 minutes in the Furan 2, 10 in the Coral Rx, rinse then back in the tank.

 

[customcolor]

i dont think its the lights.....i used 175s over my 125 i had running and i use a 175 in a lumabright over a 50gal rubbermaid and all the lps i have had in both thrive!!

heck here is a shot of my 125 i had when i had 250s on the left and right with 175 in the mid...

and here is the tub out in my shop thats under the 175 now!

 

[RaysReef]

My guess you might have some sort of bacteria in your system that attacks only LPS. I would wait 4-6 wks and hope that it doesn't have any host to feed on and should just die off. Just do your routine WC and try again in 30-45 days...Add a cheapo LPS and see how it does.

 

[barbianj]

My guess you might have some sort of bacteria in your system that attacks only LPS. I would wait 4-6 wks and hope that it doesn't have any host to feed on and should just die off. Just do your routine WC and try again in 30-45 days...Add a cheapo LPS and see how it does.

Good point. That was the reason I suggested the Furan 2. It treats a wide variety of gram positive and negative bacterial diseases. I've been searching for a way to treat the mysteriously melting LPS, and it's working great for me so far.