Adventures in keeping a sps reef

[Orito]

to die within a month probably too much light.
corals can go long with low light, won't grow or look good, but don't die fast.
SPS takes a lot of time to show stress and even long to recover...

 

[Llorgon]

to die within a month probably too much light.
corals can go long with low light, won't grow or look good, but don't die fast.
SPS takes a lot of time to show stress and even long to recover...

I was seeing growth in most of the frags. A few had encrusted onto the rocks and some just encrusted over the plug. I will try and get some par readings just to be safe though

 

[Llorgon]

I did another 10g water change last night. Also scrubbed the rocks and removed some more dead corals.

Since most of what is left in the tank is euphyllia I'm seriously considering doubling down on that and turning this into a euphyllia dominant tank.

Also going to test the water again tonight and make sure nutrients haven't gone to zero or anything like that again.

 

[Llorgon]

Nitrate is still at 6ppm

Phosphate at 0.107ppm

 

[BAMatter]

Nitrate is still at 6ppm

Phosphate at 0.107ppm

PO4 a bit high for NO3 levels. May be a good idea to run some GFO to slowly bring that number down to around 0.05ppm give or take, considering the PO4 level may even be higher with the hair algae sponging some up. You can also try to get a better PO4 reading by removing as much cyano and hair algae manually as possible and testing after 24 hours. I know I mentioned it in my thread, but live phyto, pods, and maybe even some MB7 daily… your tank needs biodiversity to outcompete the nasties. It will take some time, but things will level out. I wouldn’t make any decisions on your dream tank in terms of SPS/LPS/euphyllia/etc, things will settle down and once your parameters are more stable you’ll be able to keep what you want to!

 

[Llorgon]

PO4 a bit high for NO3 levels. May be a good idea to run some GFO to slowly bring that number down to around 0.05ppm give or take, considering the PO4 level may even be higher with the hair algae sponging some up. You can also try to get a better PO4 reading by removing as much cyano and hair algae manually as possible and testing after 24 hours. I know I mentioned it in my thread, but live phyto, pods, and maybe even some MB7 daily… your tank needs biodiversity to outcompete the nasties. It will take some time, but things will level out. I wouldn’t make any decisions on your dream tank in terms of SPS/LPS/euphyllia/etc, things will settle down and once your parameters are more stable you’ll be able to keep what you want to!

Ya, PO4 has been a bit high. Those numbers are actually about 24hrs after removing a good chunk of gha and cyano. I'm away for the weekend and a few days next week. Then I am going to try the phyto and MB7. Hopefully that turns the tanks around since right now, both aren't doing well for some reason.

 

[BranchingHammer]

Ya, PO4 has been a bit high. Those numbers are actually about 24hrs after removing a good chunk of gha and cyano. I'm away for the weekend and a few days next week. Then I am going to try the phyto and MB7. Hopefully that turns the tanks around since right now, both aren't doing well for some reason.

I personally wouldn't run GFO to take down the phosphate at this point. I would go for more clean-up crew to take care of the gha, and cyano can fade away as the tank restabilizes. I've also felt the same frustration many times in the past. It can be really damaging to watch your tank have issues that you're struggling to prevent. How long has it been since the tank had a fairly large water change? Just thinking it might help reset things...

 

[Llorgon]

I personally wouldn't run GFO to take down the phosphate at this point. I would go for more clean-up crew to take care of the gha, and cyano can fade away as the tank restabilizes. I've also felt the same frustration many times in the past. It can be really damaging to watch your tank have issues that you're struggling to prevent. How long has it been since the tank had a fairly large water change? Just thinking it might help reset things...

I think right now, the most I am going to try is the phyto and MB7. Things get worse after each water change. Things in this tank started going wrong at the beginning of july about a day after a water change. Last water change was Tuesday and I have seen more missing tissue in the few remaining SPS today.

It's doubly frustrating as the same thing is happening in my 3 year old 25g. It was growing everything and now even the acans are having issues.

Just so much failure in this hobby for me it seems.

 

[BAMatter]

I think right now, the most I am going to try is the phyto and MB7. Things get worse after each water change. Things in this tank started going wrong at the beginning of july about a day after a water change. Last water change was Tuesday and I have seen more missing tissue in the few remaining SPS today.

It's doubly frustrating as the same thing is happening in my 3 year old 25g. It was growing everything and now even the acans are having issues.

Just so much failure in this hobby for me it seems.

What’s your water source? RODI? Have you tested the clean water before the change to see if it may have nutrients in it?

 

[Llorgon]

water source is RO/DI, last changed the filters late june ish. Last tested TDS 1 week ago and it was still 0.
Haven't tested it for nitrate or phosphate. I guess I would need to pickup some freshwater test kits for that. Or I guess just test my new saltwater before using it

 

[BAMatter]

water source is RO/DI, last changed the filters late june ish. Last tested TDS 1 week ago and it was still 0.
Haven't tested it for nitrate or phosphate. I guess I would need to pickup some freshwater test kits for that. Or I guess just test my new saltwater before using it

Yep I’d test some freshly mixed water. Have you also sent an ICP test in to see if anything jumps out at you? Wouldn’t hurt to send out a tank sample and a freshly mixed salt water sample…

also- what’s your salinity at, and what’s your dosing regimen look like?

 

[Llorgon]

Yep I’d test some freshly mixed water. Have you also sent an ICP test in to see if anything jumps out at you? Wouldn’t hurt to send out a tank sample and a freshly mixed salt water sample…

I sent out an ICP test on the tank water. Didn't come back with any red flags. Haven't tried the new water. That might not be a bad idea.

 

[BAMatter]

I sent out an ICP test on the tank water. Didn't come back with any red flags. Haven't tried the new water. That might not be a bad idea.

Yea nothing really looks crazy. Could be pointing to lighting or even flow, both of which SPS likes high. Any PAR readings? What are your settings on your WaveEngine for your Pulse 2’s?

also- what’s your salinity at, and what’s your dosing regimen look like?

 

[Llorgon]

Yea nothing really looks crazy. Could be pointing to lighting or even flow, both of which SPS likes high. Any PAR readings? What are your settings on your WaveEngine for your Pulse 2’s?

also- what’s your salinity at, and what’s your dosing regimen look like?

It could be, but since the same thing is going on in my smaller tank, I am leaning towards something else.

Can't remember exact par, but I think it was in the 300-400 on the rocks. I was getting growth in the frags until end of june. Pulse 2's are on the SPS reef setting 50-95% When I had polyps they were nice and wavy.

Salinity is 1.026 checked with hanna salinity checker and refractometer. Calibrated both and checked again.

Dosing is all auto. Red sea foundations powder. Alk, cal, mag. I have noticed since June I had to really up my dosing of mag in both tanks. Previously mag was maybe 1ml/day. I am up to 5ml now for it to be stable. For reference, cal I am dosing 3ml.

I have also noticed coraline has stopped growing on the rocks. Glass and pumps only now which is a bit strange.

 

[BAMatter]

It could be, but since the same thing is going on in my smaller tank, I am leaning towards something else.

Can't remember exact par, but I think it was in the 300-400 on the rocks. I was getting growth in the frags until end of june. Pulse 2's are on the SPS reef setting 50-95% When I had polyps they were nice and wavy.

Salinity is 1.026 checked with hanna salinity checker and refractometer. Calibrated both and checked again.

Dosing is all auto. Red sea foundations powder. Alk, cal, mag. I have noticed since June I had to really up my dosing of mag in both tanks. Previously mag was maybe 1ml/day. I am up to 5ml now for it to be stable. For reference, cal I am dosing 3ml.

I have also noticed coraline has stopped growing on the rocks. Glass and pumps only now which is a bit strange.

That’s an interesting observation about the coralline. What do you keep your Alk at and what salt do you use? Ever tested your fresh mixed salt for parameters? If there’s a large difference in Alk/Cal vs what you keep your tank at, you could be causing sudden changes in figures by doing the water changes…

 

[Llorgon]

That’s an interesting observation about the coralline. What do you keep your Alk at and what salt do you use? Ever tested your fresh mixed salt for parameters? If there’s a large difference in Alk/Cal vs what you keep your tank at, you could be causing sudden changes in figures by doing the water changes…

Haven't tested my fresh salt mix in quite awhile. I had been using red sea blue bucket, which had alk of 8. When these same issues started with my other tank I switched to tropic marin pro reef which is supposed to mix to 7 alk.

I have been trying to keep alk at 8, but it's crept up a bit with the die off. Each week I lower the dosing amount. Cal has been around 450-470 for months now.

On the small tank I have been doing 5g water changes every week since I set the tank up. Never had any issues until recently.

 

[Llorgon]

Since last time I tested my water the nutrients have gone from N - 7.8ppm to 2.9ppm and N04 - 0.14ppm to 0.08ppm

Still lots of gha, but also seeing growth of the caulerpa in the sump.

 

[BAMatter]

Since last time I tested my water the nutrients have gone from N - 7.8ppm to 2.9ppm and N04 - 0.14ppm to 0.08ppm

Still lots of gha, but also seeing growth of the caulerpa in the sump.

Just keep manually removing the hair algae. Hopefully the caulerpa, and bacteria, will start to outcompete the hair algae.

 

[Llorgon]

Still lots of algae in the tank, I have my last summer vacation coming up then I am going to start mb7 with some pods and phyto to see how that goes.

 

[Llorgon]

I ordered some live phyto and MB7 yesterday. I am hoping that dosing those in combination of scrubbing the rocks daily will help me get ahead of this gha