Hello R2R,
I've been reefing now for nearly a year now. My 75 gallon tank has been wet since last September and I've been keeping the levels in my tank relatively stable now for a while. I have success keeping most LPS and some sps (specifically pocillopora) however I cannot for the life of me get montipora nor acropora to survive. I hit road bump early on with my tank and ended up losing control of my levels, so I didn't add anything until I had three months of stable major elements & nutrients. I started with Live Rock, have bivalves, corraline algae, and a healthy population of micro fauna in the tank so all signs point to success (or so I thought).
Montipora don't even survive long enough for their polyps to come out, they slowly fade and bleach out over the course of about two weeks. Acropora teases me with success for about 3 weeks to a month before the polyps go away and flesh starts to recede from the tips and base.
I ran an ICP test through triton prior to adding SPS again, and confirmed that I had no heavy metals or other contaminants in my tank. I did have slightly elevated PO4 which I slowly reduced to target numbers over the course of about 3 weeks (via water changes & mixing resin in with my carbon).
I'm including all my levels below - I'm wondering if anyone has any insight as to what I could be missing here? I feel like at this point it has to be something obvious that I'm overlooking.
Levels (averages over last 3 months):
Salinity: 35ppt (calibrated refractometer)
CA: 470 - 500 (Trident)
DKH: 8.2 - 9 (Trident)
MG: 1300 - 1450 (Trident)
PO4: .08 - .4 (Hannah)
NO3: 5-10
PH: 8.0 - 8.3
Par: 100-250 (Peak levels for 4 hours a day, supplemental T5s)
Flow: Icecap 4k, Icecap 2k, AI Nero
Stocking list:
Lawnmower Blenny
Royal Gramma
Yellow Corris Wrasse
Melanarous (sp) Wrasse
Purple Tang
Red Flasher Wrasse
Blue Reef Chromis
**My target for DKH is 8.5, but after waterchanges it sometimes gets as high as 9**
**My Calcium spiked somehow and I've been slowly letting it drop back down to 450 - everything I've read tells me that this wouldn't create the issues that I'm having**
I've been reefing now for nearly a year now. My 75 gallon tank has been wet since last September and I've been keeping the levels in my tank relatively stable now for a while. I have success keeping most LPS and some sps (specifically pocillopora) however I cannot for the life of me get montipora nor acropora to survive. I hit road bump early on with my tank and ended up losing control of my levels, so I didn't add anything until I had three months of stable major elements & nutrients. I started with Live Rock, have bivalves, corraline algae, and a healthy population of micro fauna in the tank so all signs point to success (or so I thought).
Montipora don't even survive long enough for their polyps to come out, they slowly fade and bleach out over the course of about two weeks. Acropora teases me with success for about 3 weeks to a month before the polyps go away and flesh starts to recede from the tips and base.
I ran an ICP test through triton prior to adding SPS again, and confirmed that I had no heavy metals or other contaminants in my tank. I did have slightly elevated PO4 which I slowly reduced to target numbers over the course of about 3 weeks (via water changes & mixing resin in with my carbon).
I'm including all my levels below - I'm wondering if anyone has any insight as to what I could be missing here? I feel like at this point it has to be something obvious that I'm overlooking.
Levels (averages over last 3 months):
Salinity: 35ppt (calibrated refractometer)
CA: 470 - 500 (Trident)
DKH: 8.2 - 9 (Trident)
MG: 1300 - 1450 (Trident)
PO4: .08 - .4 (Hannah)
NO3: 5-10
PH: 8.0 - 8.3
Par: 100-250 (Peak levels for 4 hours a day, supplemental T5s)
Flow: Icecap 4k, Icecap 2k, AI Nero
Stocking list:
Lawnmower Blenny
Royal Gramma
Yellow Corris Wrasse
Melanarous (sp) Wrasse
Purple Tang
Red Flasher Wrasse
Blue Reef Chromis
**My target for DKH is 8.5, but after waterchanges it sometimes gets as high as 9**
**My Calcium spiked somehow and I've been slowly letting it drop back down to 450 - everything I've read tells me that this wouldn't create the issues that I'm having**