90 gallon SPS

[SpSDrew]

90 gallon SPS tank (7 months old). 150 gallon total system. Recently the corals have been looking blah. Losing color and little to no growth and poor PE. Most of my Montipora looked amazing and have since bleached out

I dose amino acids every other day. RedSea ab+ (20ml) ESV trace elements weekly. ESV salt weekly water change 20%


Parameters as of today are:

CA- 445
MG- 1409
ALK- 8.46
P04- 0.03
N03- 5.0
N02-0.0
Nh3- 0.0
I2-0.06
Fe- 0.05
K- 422
Sr- 0

Flow is 2 mp40s running at 70% and a tunze wavebox at 20% for a gently wave

Lights- 3 kessil 360x and 4 ATI T5. 10 hour photo period with a 8 hour peak (70% kessil intensity) T5s run for 4 hours in the middle of the peak.

 

[minus9]

Did you start with dry rock? If so, you may want to check out an ongoing thread on the sps section. Why can't u keep sps

 

[SpSDrew]

I used dry real reef rock. At this point it’s probably way too late to add in uncured liverock. So dosing up on different brands of bacteria would be my best spot to get it established a little more

 

[ReefGeezer]

What do you feed your fish and how much? It could be that while your inorganic N&P are at acceptable level, the organic compounds which the corals use to get their N&P are lacking. Amino's help but... there's always a "but"... ya just can't beat good old fish poop!

I have a 90 and run my MP40' at <50% in reef crest mode most of the time. My Monti's don't like being blasted. I had one bleach when I put is too near an MP40 at about 80%.

Do you know the PAR you are generating where the corals are located? Too much is as bad as too little. You might try slowly reducing the 8 hour peak to maybe 5, or reducing the % on the Kessels, & see what happens.

 

[minus9]

Look for cured live rock in your area, even if it's just rubble, you can put it in the cryptic zone of your sump. Try to look for pieces with sponges on it.

 

[The Opinionated Reefer]

Lacking trace elements like potassium, iodine etc?

 

[Bacon505]

Pictures speak thousand words

 

[ReefGeezer]

Pictures speak thousand words

Here's some Quickies...

 

[ReefGeezer]

Pictures speak thousand words

Couple more...

 

[thaistalyn]

I used dry real reef rock. At this point it’s probably way too late to add in uncured liverock. So dosing up on different brands of bacteria would be my best spot to get it established a little more

What have you changed recently? Like in the last month or so?
- Did you start or change dosing?
- Any new equipment or equipment changes?
- Any new media, chemicals, live bacteria additions?
- Any new fish (like angels) or recent coral (from an untrusted source)?
- Did you remove sand or refugium? Or any big changes to the tanks stability prior to the 7 month point?

 

[SpSDrew]

The new 60 gallon frag tank was added about 45 days ago. BB tank with just eggcrate shelf’s.

All fish are removed due to an ich and have been for a month

 

[ReefGeezer]

The new 60 gallon frag tank was added about 45 days ago... All fish are removed...

Bing, bing, bing... more water volume added and and no fish to provide usable food for the corals. Feed a little Reef Roids, Oyster Feast, Cyclopeeze, or etc.. Just a little goes a long way. The corals may not necessarily use it directly, but it will soon provide a little DOC for them to use. Go really easy on the reef roids. It'll raise phosphates quickly.

 

[SpSDrew]

I’ve been feeding them every 3 days so the tank. I just broadcast feed once and turn off the power heads for 20 minutes.

Should I kill the skimmer and open up my roller mat some ?

 

[SpSDrew]

Should I continue to feed amino acids ? The past 2 days I’ve had my cal/alk dosers turned off since the corals are not up taking them currently.

 

[Bacon505]

Seem like all those colony are bought that size and not grown?

 

[thaistalyn]

Should I continue to feed amino acids ? The past 2 days I’ve had my cal/alk dosers turned off since the corals are not up taking them currently.

You should maintain your current routine of amino feeding and broadcast/target feeding your tank. Leave the skimmer and rollermat - keep your equipment stable. Instead of turning off calk/alk dosing you should continue to monitor ALK consumption and dose to keep it at your desired level. Keep shooting for stability of your parameters before you added the FRAG tank and fish. The Frag tank has or will explode with the "uglies" and consume your nutrients, which you will need to replenish with feeding. Without fish poop, dissolved organics (DOC) will come from the food detritus.

A side note on Reef Roids is to follow the directions - many feel the need to dump more powder in than recommended and see PO4 go up. An alternative is Benepets, which has given me good results.