Constantly Failing At SPS What Am I Missing?
- Thread starter RMS18
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Very true, maybe time to get yourself an RODI. I’m sure BRS will have their systems on sale some time in the next few months. Like Memorial Day. You could get the 4 stage plus for ~150.
Keeps us updated on what you do and results. First let’s get a little plane, don’t want to change too many things too soon because that can also set you back.
Key to SPS is perfect stability. I mean perfect! If something starts getting out of line and you are slow on catching it not only will it take longer to correct but the corals will take much longer to recover. Severe Alk, pH, or nutrient spike/drop can set back corals montbs.
Now are the SPS actually dieing?
Eric23
Active Member
The Hanna checkers are great and extremely reasonably priced but they aren't perfect, no test kits are.. That chart is straight from Hanna.. The problem with the phosphorus ulr kit is that the reagent is a powder and you really have to make sure you get all of it out of the package, you have to make sure it's all dissolved in the cuvette, and you have to make sure you measure water for test with a syringe and don't go by the line on the cuvette because they're not accurate it's not 10 ml
RussiReef
Valuable Member
I had similar problem with SPS years ago . After installing chloramine filter to my RODI system , my SPS stop dyeing and start grow .
That’s why control is key. F the lfs, make you’re own water and saltwater, make your own rigs..I got a 6 filter pre filter on my rodi different particle filters then carbon filters then reverse osmosis and then 4 de ionizer filters at the end of my setup. Maximum efficiency 0ppm form about 480
Here is the thing about water, if you don't know it's quality then all of this is for not. Water is where you need to start. Make your own water, buy an RODI and learn how to monitor it.
I have a BRS 6 stage plus with water saver and booster pump. I didn’t need all those extra but the help me ensure I have absolutely the best possible water, also the water saver and booster pump makes the system more efficient and better performance. I started out with the 4 stage plus and just added things as I could afford them. 4 stage plus is less than 200$ and possibly the best investment you will make.
Also I use IO, low cost and allows me to change water whenever there is a problem. Have problem? Change water. Something looks off? Change water. PO4 High? Change water. When you have a RODI and keep it well then problems seem to work out after a water change or two.
I have a BRS 6 stage plus with water saver and booster pump. I didn’t need all those extra but the help me ensure I have absolutely the best possible water, also the water saver and booster pump makes the system more efficient and better performance. I started out with the 4 stage plus and just added things as I could afford them. 4 stage plus is less than 200$ and possibly the best investment you will make.
Also I use IO, low cost and allows me to change water whenever there is a problem. Have problem? Change water. Something looks off? Change water. PO4 High? Change water. When you have a RODI and keep it well then problems seem to work out after a water change or two.
slayerhellfire
Valuable Member
oh ok I thought it was bigger than that, I tested mine yesterday it was 0.05 so it's actually higher?
slayerhellfire
Valuable Member
17 if I remember right, so 17 x 3.066/1000 would equal 0.052122
SashimiTurtle
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+1 check your source water. Make your own, and stay on top of your filters and resin. I just recently found out I wasted a ton of money on corals that all died, because I had not replaced my DI resin in a year. It still showed 0tds on the meter, but not everything is caught by a conductivity probe. $25 worth of DI resin cost me several hundreds in corals. The one SPS I had left, a forest fire digi, looked 100% better just 12 hours after a 90% water change with new DI resin in my 6 stage RODI.
Water is the life blood of your tank. Keep perfect water, and everything else just happens. Flow is easy, lights are easy. Water is where the magic happens, or doesn't.
Water is the life blood of your tank. Keep perfect water, and everything else just happens. Flow is easy, lights are easy. Water is where the magic happens, or doesn't.
chipmunkofdoom2
Always Making Something
This video is kind of long, but worth a watch. Mike Paletta, one of the legends in the hobby, had a similar issue to the one you're describing. Every SPS frag that he put in a new tank for the first year or so just wasted away and died. After adding some established rock and Miracle Mud, his tank started growing SPS just fine.
Perhaps adding some different rock or new biodiversity would help.
Perhaps adding some different rock or new biodiversity would help.
The easiest way to have SPS success is with a few basic building blocks... T5 or MH, real live rock from the ocean, a few inches of sand, water changes, fuge if necessary, Berlin method, 2-Part or CaRx and heavy skimming. Which of these are you not doing or have modified? Think about changing to this simple method.
Once you get good at stuff, then start tweaking with less-successful stuff like dry rock, barebottom, LED, zeovit (very difficult to do correctly, but can be awesome), supplements and stuff.
Once you get good at stuff, then start tweaking with less-successful stuff like dry rock, barebottom, LED, zeovit (very difficult to do correctly, but can be awesome), supplements and stuff.
OP
OP
RMS18
I keep water chemistry as my hobby
My LFS is a sponsor on here and their tanks in their store are doing very well. Their SPS tank holds wild collected Aussie SPS colonies very well, great color and PE. I would like a RODI system but i'm in a one level condo. I can take a picture of under my sink for someone who is great with plumbing to let assist me on hook up, but the Rodi system would not be able to be mounted their permanently. My fiancee and i are in the market for a house but that could who knows how long.
Yes i agree if we change something i want to do one thing at a time and give it a couple of weeks. Stability is there the numbers i gave have been like that in my system for weeks prior to the pictures i posted of the new corals. Other than the pictures i listed i have 2 SPS left, a green slimmer who has green PE very fuzzy but the skeleton of the coral is not longer green it dark purple like Coraline. I also have a birds nest which has not grown at all, faded in color and has not much PE.
As far as dying yes all the Acros i have had (over 20 frags / small colonies) do what my red plant is doing. Start to bleach at base and tips then algae grows, the PE goes away and it looks like a brown stick of poop and smells so bad when i take them out and toss them.
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OP
OP
RMS18
I keep water chemistry as my hobby
I did a Triton test, i have to see if copper is on there i think it is. I only had low potassium 380ppm, its been corrected to 400pm. Strontium was also very low, my test kit doesn't even pick it up. I have a supplement coming for that but doubt that is my issue.
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
For what it is worth, I have a BRS value RO/DI system. I leave it portable and it is totally stable sitting on the tile floor attached to the sink faucet. Been using it like that for months. They have it on sale fairly often.
