Can’t seem to keep any SPS

[Bosreef]

Thats a 36" tank correct?

All tho its a small volume tank thats alot of area to cover for an ai prime.... where are u keeping this sps ? If its directly under the lights (within a 12" area) the lights will handle sps but if they are off to the sides at all i can see your par crashing on the sides of that tank...

But also I'm learning with a small tank watch those water changes ! Parm shifts quickly will kill sps. (Been in hobby 10 years just recently switched to a nano)

 

[chrisjj625]

I have the same tank and lighting and my tank has been up since March. I already have SPS growing. For one thing I’d up your lighting 50% on that schedule seems low. Also, have you seen the most recent BRS video on this light? May want to try that lighting. I am running that currently and just dialed it back To 80% because stuff was beginning to bleach at the top of the tank.

 

[Reefer40b]

You can rent a par meter from many places now so its not too expensive. I think it would be worth your time this to me seems to be a lighting issue. If your really wanting to do SPS I would look into new lights AI primes are not suited for that tank unless you have a whole lot of them..

 

[snowhite]

Another surprisingly decent, and affordable PAR option is the Seneye Reef unit. BRS and others have reviewed it and it does a surprisingly decent job reading light levels. At least it will tell you if you're pushing 150par or 350 par. May not be as accurate as 120 vs 125, but most are surprised by it.
I have one I bounce around between my different tanks periodically weekly just to see if anything is fluctuating more than expected, and to take light level readings.

Definitely good enough for "oh no, that's not enough light" or "oh no, that's way to much light" which was my main reason to get one.

 

[Djhype97]

I have the same tank and lighting and my tank has been up since March. I already have SPS growing. For one thing I’d up your lighting 50% on that schedule seems low. Also, have you seen the most recent BRS video on this light? May want to try that lighting. I am running that currently and just dialed it back To 80% because stuff was beginning to bleach at the top of the tank.

Yes I saw that video. I’m just running it at a lower percentage for fear of the same results. I just checked the AI app again because i had been slowly increasing the percentage over the last few weeks and its at the 70% intensity level as of now.

UV 116
VIolet 116
Royal Blue 88
Blue 88
Green 7
Red 7
White (is the only thing i do not follow) is at 27% - I just feel like anything more is too much white. Could this be a problem not running it at the full 46% or recommended setting?

 

[Djhype97]

Another surprisingly decent, and affordable PAR option is the Seneye Reef unit. BRS and others have reviewed it and it does a surprisingly decent job reading light levels. At least it will tell you if you're pushing 150par or 350 par. May not be as accurate as 120 vs 125, but most are surprised by it.
I have one I bounce around between my different tanks periodically weekly just to see if anything is fluctuating more than expected, and to take light level readings.

Definitely good enough for "oh no, that's not enough light" or "oh no, that's way to much light" which was my main reason to get one.

I will definitely check that out. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Djhype97]

I have the same tank and lighting and my tank has been up since March. I already have SPS growing. For one thing I’d up your lighting 50% on that schedule seems low. Also, have you seen the most recent BRS video on this light? May want to try that lighting. I am running that currently and just dialed it back To 80% because stuff was beginning to bleach at the top of the tank.

How high do you run the lights from the water level?

 

[Mark Bradley]

My LFS, from whom I get my RO salt water, and who maintains a large SPS display tank told me the critical issue was alkalinity - said it needed to be between 7 and 8 to ensure success. Obviously other things matter but I was trying to keep my alkalinity at 9 - and he said this was the key.

 

[t5Nitro]

Not necessarily true with respect to my alk is a rock at 7.8 or 7.4 pending on the reagent I test with. I also have a hard time with sps. Like all other factors it is just one of the components to success.

I particularly would like to par map my tank as others have mentioned in this thread. I'm running an orphek fixture but who knows what the par is with so many custom light settings. Maybe I'm way under or overdoing it. In a future tank I'd probably enjoy going back to the gold standard ATI fixtures. They just grow corals.

 

[chrisjj625]

How high do you run the lights from the water level?

10, but I just moved them up an inch as well.

 

[Crashnt24]

When stuff like this happens, it pays to have a ICP test done. Just do it so you can know for sure whats in your water that you might be missing. For me it was tin, had a crap ton of tin in my water and it was affecting my growth. Got rid of the tin, started dosing No3 and BOOM, my sps are taking off.

Also vendors... I love _____(don't want to give them a bad rep, because they are a good overall vendor) but their Acros were really bad a couple months ago. I lost 4 Acros to RTN/STN after a week of dropping them in my tank. I swicthed vendors for Acros and I haven't seen any losses yet. Just a thought.

 

[Joedubyk]

0.031 po4 too high????!!! I couldn’t disagree more. 0.031 po4 is too low for sps frags

agree. and probably why his corals are paling

 

[Joedubyk]

I think one of the BIGGEST reasons why so many struggle w/ SPS is because people think they like "clean tanks." And while that may be somewhat true, they LOVE to be fed just like any other coral. If you have a 30g tank, and only a few fish, your sps will probably not be eating much. You'll have to either dose nitrates/phos, try adding aminos, or oysterfeast, etc to make sure they're getting nutrition.

 

[Djhype97]

I think one of the BIGGEST reasons why so many struggle w/ SPS is because people think they like "clean tanks." And while that may be somewhat true, they LOVE to be fed just like any other coral. If you have a 30g tank, and only a few fish, your sps will probably not be eating much. You'll have to either dose nitrates/phos, try adding aminos, or oysterfeast, etc to make sure they're getting nutrition.

I think I may need to feed more or add aminos. I only have 3 fish in there:
Yellow Coris Wrasse
Lubocks wrasse
Neon Dottyback

my nitrate is always 5ppm, no more than 10 if I feed heavy.
I’ve seen my Phosphate as low as .012ppm if I only feed flake. Or between .03-.06 if I feed reef roids

 

[Joedubyk]

I think I may need to feed more or add aminos. I only have 3 fish in there:
Yellow Coris Wrasse
Lubocks wrasse
Neon Dottyback

my nitrate is always 5ppm, no more than 10 if I feed heavy.
I’ve seen my Phosphate as low as .012ppm if I only feed flake. Or between .03-.06 if I feed reef roids

3 fish aint poopin enough to feed your corals IMO

 

[Djhype97]

3 fish aint poopin enough to feed your corals IMO

Is there one more fish that I can add that would be a good pooper?

 

[t5Nitro]

I've now got 8 fish in my 75 after @Chaswood79 recommended I add fish. My NO3 sits between 25 and 40 on NYOS kit. Phos is 0.05 by hanna. Still no dice on my tank. I think there is something to letting the tank mature for 1-2 years. Either way it's more fun to have more fish in there!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I've now got 8 fish in my 75 after @Chaswood79 recommended I add fish. My NO3 sits between 25 and 40 on NYOS kit. Phos is 0.05 by hanna. Still no dice on my tank. I think there is something to letting the tank mature for 1-2 years. Either way it's more fun to have more fish in there!

Shoot me a pm

 

[t5Nitro]

Hopefully that didn't come off as a slam Chas! I'm letting the tank settle a bit longer before I try again. I added these extra fish after most the SPS died off. Now my nitrates are higher. I do have a slimer hanging on with some STN at the base but we'll see what it does!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Hopefully that didn't come off as a slam Chas! I'm letting the tank settle a bit longer before I try again. I added these extra fish after most the SPS died off. Now my nitrates are higher. I do have a slimer hanging on with some STN at the base but we'll see what it does!

Not at all. Just wanted to see if there’s more help/info I can discuss with you without hijacking the OPs thread.