Can’t keep sps alive.

[Kimmi2413]

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.

Nice thanks! I’ll give that a try and see

 

[Kimmi2413]

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

Thanks

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I just notice much happier acros when I’m not stripping the water artificially

 

[Kimmi2413]

I just notice much happier acros when I’m not stripping the water artificially

I took my skimmer offline to see if that helps a bit

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Probably nutrients if it isn’t temp,salinity, or lighting which it doesn’t look like any of those.

Check pests that’s something only you can see tho.

Try some acro power see if they wakes em up

That’s an easy one to test they should be noticeably happier in a few days after feeding.

Wouldn’t be concerned with Nitrate or phosphate now it’s so low my money is on food and their starving.

Keep in touch

 

[Kimmi2413]

Probably nutrients if it isn’t temp,salinity, or lighting which it doesn’t look like any of those.

Check pests that’s something only you can see tho.

Try some acro power see if they wakes em up

That’s an easy one to test they should be noticeably happier in a few days after feeding.

Wouldn’t be concerned with Nitrate or phosphate now it’s so low my money is on food and their starving.

Keep in touch

I added some acropower and I think that’s when it all started .

 

[Reefpilot]

I see you posted your phosphate level, what are your nitrates? At your KH level, and .o4 phosphate, you need a nitrate level up to around 2, maybe a little higher. Usually stn from the bottom is starvation, not all the time but some.

Is your KH level stable? What about calcium, does it move? Are you dosing?

Hope this helps a bit. Ive went through the misery of stn acros.....still happens once in a while. I know its frustrating. Lots of good advice on here though. Sps need a stable, established tank. And I mean rock stable. If you are putting in frags that have any stress on them, into a system that isnt quite stable, this may be the issue.

Good luck, keep asking questions.

 

[Chris04]

Could be your water source , what time of filters are you using in your RODI ?

 

[Kimmi2413]

Did a triton test everything came back good expect I have high mag of 1600 and I have high levels of tin,sodium, zinc, semi high sulfur and Barium. Iodine is 0. I noticed when I was running carbon I seen rust of the bag it was in and the carbon was magnetic can that be the cause of my sps deaths? I haven’t been dosing anything and my alk and cal are just stable not getting consumed by anything well at least that’s what the tests are showing.

 

[pga7602]

Didn't read through all the comments, but judging by your rocks, your tank may be too new for sps. Did you start with dry rock 8 months ago?

 

[Kimmi2413]

Didn't read through all the comments, but judging by your rocks, your tank may be too new for sps. Did you start with dry rock 8 months ago?

Yes

 

[Jmareef1022]

It's just a new tank , feed it more do more water changes, repeat and you'll be ready soon. Once all param are stable and nice established tank then you'll be ready. It took me a few years to finally grow and handle acros and the main thing is stability. I would advice to stay away from high end acros . I would say what's happening is wherever your getting your acros from they're water quality is much different than yours, the coral gets shocked and stns or rtns. I would cutoff the carbon and do some water changes every 2 weeks and try to get your water stable, try not to chase your numbers. Just keep temp and salinity at range and watch mother nature take it's course. I hope this helps and makes sense .

 

[Kimmi2413]

It's just a new tank , feed it more do more water changes, repeat and you'll be ready soon. Once all param are stable and nice established tank then you'll be ready. It took me a few years to finally grow and handle acros and the main thing is stability. I would advice to stay away from high end acros . I would say what's happening is wherever your getting your acros from they're water quality is much different than yours, the coral gets shocked and stns or rtns. I would cutoff the carbon and do some water changes every 2 weeks and try to get your water stable, try not to chase your numbers. Just keep temp and salinity at range and watch mother nature take it's course. I hope this helps and makes sense .

Thanks for the advice really appreciate it. Think that’ll be the route I’ll take and once everything is settled try the high end stuff again

 

[Jmareef1022]

Yup, they're really not a hard coral to keep one you've figured it out. Check this out no chasing numbers, no sump and no dosing in my tank. This is one of my acros.

 

[Kimmi2413]

https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/aquarium/auswertung-b/icp-oes/71209/

 

[Tamberav]

Seems to take a long time for dry rock to really mature. Look for sponges, the tiny feather dusters, ect. Those are a good indicator.

 

[Kimmi2413]

Seems to take a long time for dry rock to really mature. Look for sponges, the tiny feather dusters, ect. Those are a good indicator.

I have a bunch of sponges but I’ll keep leering it mature more before I put any more sps

 

[Dennis Cartier]

https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/aquarium/auswertung-b/icp-oes/71209/

Ok, so you have some things in your ICP that warrants further investigation. You have high tin and zinc, you should look for a source of corrosion in your tank. Is something rusting over/near the tank? Based on the zinc, is there a galvanized piece of metal that might be getting splashed with salt? Also the 0 iodine would concern me with softies, LPS and even SPS. It has been my experience that softies need iodine, LPS like some iodine and SPS do better with some iodine iodine. Just don't over do it.

Lastly you sodium being so elevated (as well as you magnesium) would lead me to think that your salinity is actually quite elevated. I would recheck your local performed salinity measurement as I suspect it is not accurate.

As far as nutrients, I am with everyone else. Low nutrients are going to be a big risk for you at this point, more than high nutrients. High nutrients will cause brown, less colourful corals, but they will be growing. What I would suggest you shoot for is stability over a specific nutrient level. Corals can acclimate to a lot of nutrient levels if given the chance.

It sounds like you are not dosing, which means your corals are not growing and they are either just existing, or are declining. When you are having a steady decrease in alkalinity on a daily basis, then you will know that you have calcium carbonate being deposited. Hopefully in a coral skeleton, or even coralline algae.

I would suggest starting with salinity and then the source of the heavy metals, and then trying to keep things stable with as few changes as possible.

Dennis

 

[Land Shark]

You are on the right track having an ICP test done. Those high levels of tin and zinc definitely will kill acros. Resolve those issues and you will then be on a level playing field. Right now, all the other parameters can be perfect and acros will still die every time.

 

[Kimmi2413]

I’ve checked everything and don’t see any rust on anything, that’s why I’m stunned on where I can be getting Tin and zinc from. I bought a new refractor meter to check my salinity because I have the icecap one and I think it’s been reading wrong as well all this time. What would be a good iodine to dos? I’m not dosing because I’ve noticed my alk and cal weren’t getting consumed because I’ll check every other day and it’ll still be at the same ppm which I found odd and that’s anther reason why I got the icp test done . My coralline algae grows and then all of a sudden it stops. What’s a good way to get rid of the metals?