Can’t keep SPS alive !

[Shirak]

Since I turned off my scrubber No3 has gone up to 10ppm and Po4 is 0 on the Hanna meter. Makes me wonder now what can possibly causing my coral to suffer when all my parameters are good.

Personally I wouldn't call 0 PO4 good. I think that's your current problem. You were dosing nitrate because it was 0 and your phosphates were .03 so you took the scrubber offline. Now your nitrates have bumped up and your phosphates have bottomed out. So you have flip flopped lack of one nutrient for lack of another. I would get a bottle of NeoPhos or something similar and shoot for .03 phosphate to start. Need to test nitrate and phosphate daily until you get a handle on how nutrients are moving each day. As you dose some phosphate algae and corals will start using more nitrogen each day. Probably start to see some coralline growth kick in too. Just keep all your other feeding and dosing the same.

 

[svogun]

Personally I wouldn't call 0 PO4 good. I think that's your current problem. You were dosing nitrate because it was 0 and your phosphates were .03 so you took the scrubber offline. Now your nitrates have bumped up and your phosphates have bottomed out. So you have flip flopped lack of one nutrient for lack of another. I would get a bottle of NeoPhos or something similar and shoot for .03 phosphate to start. Need to test nitrate and phosphate daily until you get a handle on how nutrients are moving each day. As you dose some phosphate algae and corals will start using more nitrogen each day. Probably start to see some coralline growth kick in too. Just keep all your other feeding and dosing the same.

I agree that this is a problem. But it doesn't explain the LPS dying....

 

[Shirak]

I agree that this is a problem. But it doesn't explain the LPS dying....

Hmm I don't know about dying. He said the hammers and torches were not opening fully since taking the scrubber offline, but they were fine previously. The ups and downs of the nitrate and phosphate may have upset them? It would be worth keeping an eye on to see how they adjust without the scrubber running. I do think the 0 phosphate is a problem for the lps too though. Might try target feeding them a little to see if they perk up.

 

[svogun]

Hmm I don't know about dying. He said the hammers and torches were not opening fully since taking the scrubber offline, but they were fine previously. The ups and downs of the nitrate and phosphate may have upset them? It would be worth keeping an eye on to see how they adjust without the scrubber running. I do think the 0 phosphate is a problem for the lps too though. Might try target feeding them a little to see if they perk up.

Agree. Target feeding and getting the phosphate in balance with the nitrate should help.

 

[MSOEME2009]

I'll chime in as my tank is 4 months old and only 20G and I have SPS, LPS, and Zoas.

This is my second tank and I opted to do a few things including letting it run for 3 months, 2 w/o fish, 1 with (no lights).

1.025 SG, not 1.026.
8.4 Alk
440-480 Ca
1440 Mg

Don't chase pH; my pH at night is 8.1-8.2 at night from refugium and is higher at night actually.

Filter floss & refugium only nutrient export. I maintain 0.03-0.05 PO4 and 5 PPM NO3. I adjust my refugium lighting to maintain this. If it's too low, I dose.

I use chemipure blue nano in lower than recommended amounts (50%).

AWC system doing 1.5% per day via DOS.

Dosing full KZ products. I dose Brightwell Chaetogro, Microbacter7. I don't have algae problems (yet).

Dosing phyto daily with my TDO pellets. I have a TON of pods.

Flow in tank is 50x or more in reef crest. I used special grade sand. I only have enough to cover 1/4" to 1/2".

I have All-For-Reef for keeping ALK & Ca on a Kamoer X1.

I use a RedSea ReefLED90 for lighting and bought a seneye for PAR measurements. Make sure you don't blast new corals. Use a frag rack. I run 60% blue and 30% white but acclimated and have had to shift corals around.

I lost a new acro overnight, it happens. WWC refunded it no problem.

My last tank I starved stuff and nothing grew. No skimmer has been awesome in conjunction with AWC.

I wanted it as ULM as possible and having it that way has been very enjoyable.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Lots of speculation and no pictures. Hard to give advice when we can’t see what the corals that were or are dying look like. Low nutrients is not always a coral killer. Most of the time it’s a drawn out process of death not a two week process.
Now your removing the scrubber which is going to change the way nutrients are used. I would just feed more or add fish before that. Maybe even try adding both po4 and nitrate if you think nutrients are what’s doing the corals in. Then if that doesn’t help you crossed that off the list.

Where are these corals being bought from? Were they growing actively when purchased?