First go at SPS

MonoReef

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I just started my SPS journey and here are a few of my pieces. I’m in shock as my Cal is 280 right now, I think my test is bad but I’m going into the LFS tomorrow to get it re tested. DKH is 6, adding reef builder to Top off water but everything seems healthy ‍♂️
Lighting is AI Hydra 26,52 and a Prime,

- PC Rainbow
- Oregon Tort
- Peter Pan Tenius
- Rainbow Tort
- Tri Color Acropora

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Beautiful coral frags!

OK, welcome to Reef2Reef!
Welcome 1.jpg


So I have questions:
How long has this tank been set up?
Do you have previous saltwater experience?
Do you know why your Ca was so low?
With the kind of sps corals you have, an alk of 6dKH is dangerously low. Some stony corals die quite quickly starting at 5 dKH.
What kind of products are you using to dose?
 
The tanks story is a bit of a long one


In May I upgraded from a 55 to a 75 and November 1st I upgraded to a 100g half moon tank since I was moving.I’ve been doing Saltwater tanks for about 3 years and only have ever dosed Amino Acids.

I’m not sure why the Cal is so low I assumed from the SPS using it. I have a Bubble Magnus 3 Channel doser in the closet I’ve been afraid to break out cause I’d hate for it to fail and cause a crash. I wanted to get a handle on manual dosing and then go Apex DOS in the next two years.
I have the whole line of discontinued BRS powder MAG,ALK and CAL supplements and Reef Builder I wanted to start using.
How would you all recommend raising the Cal/Alk in a safe way so I don’t lose anything? Everything seems really happy with lots of growth so I’m scared to start tinkering.
 
Test your Ca , alk and Mg. Ca and Mg can get low or high without severe consequences, like death. It will mostly cause slow growth, weak skeletons and ill health. Alk on the other hand will kill sps fairly quickly at low levels and is safe at high levels unless they get crazy high, like 15dKH. And even then it's more likely to be unhealthy than to kill.

I had alk fall to 5.0 dKH as it killed a huge $250 monti in less than 24 hours.

Alk is the one that is critical. Test it. Then start dosing it up to the level you feel it should be at. I keep my alk between 7.0 and 9.0 dKH. And the more stable you can keep it the better. I dose manually now and I slowly add it into the main tank right in front of a wavemaker. If it precipitates, I add more freshwater to the mix I'm adding. The less concentrated mix of alk to be dosed will be less likely to cause any precipitates.

If I'm raising alk by more than 1.0 dKH I do it over several hours, like every 30 minutes add a little more.

I've never had any issue with dosing Ca or Mg and having it cause precipitates. I've dosed Ca to raise levels in the tank by 100 ppm and never have any issue with dosing it all at once.

Mg rarely needs to be dosed unless you do very small or no water changes. If you do dose it, it's as easy as Ca. Just pour it in.

Since you are concerned, I'd recommend you mix up the alk you want to dose. Dose a small amount and test again after 10 minutes. To determine the amount you want to dose, use a reef chemistry calculator like the one I use: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Just put in the numbers, pick the brand of Ca, alk and Mg you are using and it will calculate the amount to add.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to try and help.
 
Let’s get this fixed today!
heading home and I’ll PM you!!
 
If you do in fact have BRS supplements then I would recommend using their calculator. I keep my Alk at 8.3 dkh and cal at 440 ppm. I have my mag a little at 1460, but it doesn’t hurt anything.
 
Welp got everything to normal levels and everything is super happy!
PH: 8.3
ALK 8
Cal 410
Mag 1300
Am 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Pho
 
Welp got everything to normal levels and everything is super happy!
PH: 8.3
ALK 8
Cal 410
Mag 1300
Am 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Pho
That’s not normal. You need to have detectable levels of PO4 and NO3 at least. If not, corals can and will suffer.
 
I feed benepets reef food 3 times a week and marine freezy twice. 15 fish total with about 200lbs Of live rock with Nero 5, Maxspect 130,MP10 and a flow of 400gph out of the return at surface
 
I feed benepets reef food 3 times a week and marine freezy twice. 15 fish total with about 200lbs Of live rock with Nero 5, Maxspect 130,MP10 and a flow of 400gph out of the return at surface
Feed more. Or get new tests and test again for those levels.
 
I would recommend getting some montipora digitata too for your first SPS. When I first tried keeping SPS, my montis tended to be much resilient to changes than the acros and bounced back much better.
 
Very ambitious to choose those as your first. Good luck with them. I recently started into sps and went with some montis, birdsnest and stylo. They grow insanely fast compared to my lps.

Definitely agree with getting those params in range and most importantly keeping them stable
 
I agree on raising the levels. Concern here is Nothing goes fast in saltwater and you may be making an attempt to quickly jump the parameters which leads to chasing numbers. BEFORE you make any changes- Make a stop at a trusted LFS and have them test for you to verify the parameters and compare with your readings.
You're better off BUYING a few gallons of saltwater from LFS and setup a temporary holding tank, even rubbermaid tub, and get parameters up to par over the weekend and do it the right way.
These are beautiful pieces shown and Id hate to see you lose them and become quickly discouraged.
 

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