Can’t keep sps alive.

[Kimmi2413]

Been having trouble keeping sps alive in my tank. Tanks about 8 months old. Lighting I got 3hrydra 26 with T5 (3blue + 1 purple +)

Just got my nitrates up to 5
Alk 8.4
Cal 430
Mag 1300
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77-78
Ph 7.8 to about 8.2
Phosphates last checked was .04

Everytime i put new sps in the tank they start to stn after a few days. I have some frags that are doing good and growing. Any advice would be nice!

 

[Brandon Rush]

What's your light schedule/flow look like?

 

[Kimmi2413]

What's your light schedule/flow look like?

t5s come on at 8am to 2pm.

Flow I have an mp10 on reef crest and two jeabo pp8 i believe on the 2nd setting. Have those on the back glass. There seems to be good flow cuz PE is good and can see them getting blown good enough.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I don't know how to read your apex light schedule but I would be putting more light on them.

my reefbrite xho blues run for 13 hours a day
4 t5 ho bulbs for 12 hours
and 6 hours of beautiful and powerful 20k radium MH.

corals really really like blue light!!

 

[Brandon Rush]

t5s come on at 8am to 2pm.

Flow I have an mp10 on reef crest and two jeabo pp8 i believe on the 2nd setting. Have those on the back glass. There seems to be good flow cuz PE is good and can see them getting blown good enough.

What kind of tank, how far are your lights mounted? From my initial guess is your're hitting them with too much light. Are they browning or bleaching? From my experience too much light would really upset them. I see you have an APEX feel free to check out my light schedule (WWC Official Light Settings) in the schemes section.

 

[Kimmi2413]

What kind of tank, how far are your lights mounted? From my initial guess is your're hitting them with too much light. Are they browning or bleaching? From my experience too much light would really upset them. I see you have an APEX feel free to check out my light schedule (WWC Official Light Settings) in the schemes section.

I have a reefer 250 my lights are about 10” above water surface. None and bleaching or turning white. I just got these like two days ago. They all still have polyp extension even the one that is stn’ing. Seems to happen to all the new ones I get.

 

[ourcoralreef]

Maybe start them lower and aclimate them to the top

Are you seeing the tissue disappear in pices or is the whole thing turning white
Is it only certain types of coral ie. acros or all new sps

What coral do you currently have

 

[Kimmi2413]

Maybe start them lower and aclimate them to the top

Are you seeing the tissue disappear in pices or is the whole thing turning white
Is it only certain types of coral ie. acros or all new sps

What coral do you currently have

I did that, seems to be mostly acros and the skin comes off in chunks

 

[TexasTodd]

Do they die starting at the bottom or top?

 

[Kirschy17]

Your tank looks new, the corals you try to take care of seem pretty hard to keep(acros)

Go from whats working for you. What corals can u keep alive that look healthy?

If its softies, try a easy lps(acan/ euphylia)
If those grow nicely, try easy sps( stylo, monti) if those do good try an easy acro.

Something that doesnt have crazy colors. Those are often hard to get out of those corals even for experienced hobbyists.

My 2 cents: Try doing babysteps, if something doesnt work go back untill what works.

Im in the hobby for 9 months and did not lose a single coral following that rule. Start out slow.


I am aware of this being not the kind of answer you were looking for, but since your parameters are obviously in check, something has to be off that you dont know about yet. Also your lighting schedule looks fine to me.

 

[dwest]

Your tank parameters look good. I don’t see any coralline algae growth on your rocks. When that takes off will be a good luck indicator to try easy sps.

 

[Kimmi2413]

Do they die starting at the bottom or top?

Bottom

 

[Kimmi2413]

Your tank looks new, the corals you try to take care of seem pretty hard to keep(acros)

Go from whats working for you. What corals can u keep alive that look healthy?

If its softies, try a easy lps(acan/ euphylia)
If those grow nicely, try easy sps( stylo, monti) if those do good try an easy acro.

Something that doesnt have crazy colors. Those are often hard to get out of those corals even for experienced hobbyists.

My 2 cents: Try doing babysteps, if something doesnt work go back untill what works.

Im in the hobby for 9 months and did not lose a single coral following that rule. Start out slow.


I am aware of this being not the kind of answer you were looking for, but since your parameters are obviously in check, something has to be off that you dont know about yet. Also your lighting schedule looks fine to me.

I’ve started slow have soft corals and worked my way up to acros. Have some acros that are doing good but seems to be the news ones I put in start to lose there skin

 

[Kimmi2413]

Your tank parameters look good. I don’t see any coralline algae growth on your rocks. When that takes off will be a good luck indicator to try easy sps.

I have coralline algae growing on the rocks and glass

 

[ourcoralreef]

Seems to me you might have a red or black bug problem
Search “red bug acros” for more information

 

[Reeferdood]

The things that I notice from the picture is the lack of coraline algae tells me the setup is fairly new. The clipping looks like you superglued it directly to the rock, right? If so, IMHO acros should be encrusting before putting them in their new environment. Their success rate is greater this way from what I have noticed. Acros need a lot of flow so keep that I'm mind. Your Magnesium should be up @1400 or slightly higher as well. And lastly, did you dip the coral before placing it?
Welcome to the SPS world, it is a challenging one..

 

[Kimmi2413]

The things that I notice from the picture is the lack of coraline algae tells me the setup is fairly new. The clipping looks like you superglued it directly to the rock, right? If so, IMHO acros should be encrusting before putting them in their new environment. Their success rate is greater this way from what I have noticed. Acros need a lot of flow so keep that I'm mind. Your Magnesium should be up @1400 or slightly higher as well. And lastly, did you dip the coral before placing it?
Welcome to the SPS world, it is a challenging one..

Tanks is 8months old, has coralline algae growing not in all places but it’s there. I started with dry rock and and yea it came from a thriving tank with no pests at all. Has a lot of flow also. Should I just glue them to plugs instead of directly onto the rocks

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I had a lot problems with stn on acros. I also have ai hydra 52 hd’s. My parameters were always perfect so I could never figure out what was causing it. So I raised my lights to 16” awl, found a program I like and left it alone. But I think the most important change was I stopped chasing low nutrients. I removed my gfo reactor, stopped dosing nopox, stopped dosing LC, etc. I just have a little chaeto reactor now. My nitrates dropped to 2 and my phosphates went up to 0.1 now but my acros look happier than ever. I also switched to polyplab ONE which keeps alk, cal, and mag perfectly balanced. Hope that helps.

 

[Kirschy17]

I’ve started slow have soft corals and worked my way up to acros. Have some acros that are doing good but seems to be the news ones I put in start to lose there skin

Try to find a line. What corals dont do well? Which ones do work? Why dis some acros work for you? Have you changed anything?

 

[TexasTodd]

Base up is usually PO4 too low or too high. It's never that simple but it is in general what causes it.