Help-my sps aren’t surviving!

[Jackcarp]

So I thought I would start adding some sps into my tank which has been up for about 2 years. I’ve kept sps in my old 20 gallon with success, but upgraded my tank. I have some montipora, zoanthids and frogspawn that have been doing well.
I couldn’t resist a live sale here on R2R so I bought 8 frags. One has already completely died and the tips on the others are turning white. I need your experience to know how to save them if possible!

My details:
110 gallon display
30 gallon sump
30 gallon refugium with Chaeto and grow light
Kessil 360N x 2 (I don’t know what my par levels are)
Apex controller
2 part for calcium and Alk

Parameters:
pH 8.25-8.3
Ca- 450 (although that went up to 500 over the past few days despite turning off my doser)
Alk 9.7
Phosphates-0
Nitrates-0 (I just started adding brightwell NeoNitro to bring this up to 3ppm)
Salinity-1.025 (refractometer)

Maintenance:
5 gallon water change weekly
Feed mysis and brine shrimp 1-2 times a day (sometimes LRS reef frenzy)

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

 

[pdiehm]

others can chime in, but tips turning white is a sign of alkalinity burn or bleaching from the light.

 

[niQo]

What did you use to test PO4?

 

[Jackcarp]

I use Salifert

 

[Jackcarp]

I have the corals sitting on a rack in the lower corner of the tank where it shouldn’t be in as much light. I could turn the lights down if that would help. I don’t know if they need the light to heal?

 

[Jackcarp]

others can chime in, but tips turning white is a sign of alkalinity burn or bleaching from the light.

I have the corals sitting on a rack in the lower corner of the tank where it shouldn’t be in as much light. I could turn the lights down if that would help. I don’t know if they need the light to heal

 

[jwshiver]

Generally with No3 0 and PO4 0 9.7dkh is too high. I would let it drop naturally from 7 to 8 and try to gradually and slightly raise both No3 and PO4

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Sps, acros?

Light is a question yes. Flow in that spot is a good question too.

The narrow lenses I’d wager are hot spotting in the middle but it’s hard to say.

With the nutrients that low , why are you doing water changes?

 

[Jackcarp]

Sps, acros?

Light is a question yes. Flow in that spot is a good question too.

The narrow lenses I’d wager are hot spotting in the middle but it’s hard to say.

With the nutrients that low , why are you doing water changes?

Lol. I have no idea. I figured it would help to keep things stabilized, including the trace elements etc.

I have a maxspect gyre in one end of the tank that provides pretty good flow.
Should I turn down the light intensity for a bit? My lights are about 12” from the water and my tank is about 23” deep.

 

[Jackcarp]

Generally with No3 0 and PO4 0 9.7dkh is too high. I would let it drop naturally from 7 to 8 and try to gradually and slightly raise both No3 and PO4

So the Alk will be too strong without the nutrients in the tank? I can turn off the dosers and let the Alk drop a little. I just didn’t want to throw off the stability.

 

[pdiehm]

In general, if you truly have 0 NO3, 0 PO4, the water is cleaner, and the light is not buffered as much making the spectrum cut through it more easily.

At least that is the way I understand it. with low nutrients (say under 5ppm NO3, 0.03 PO4), you probably want Alkalinity no higher than 8.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

IMO. 8-9 is no big deal.

Honestly with the lights your just guessing.

A lux meter is $15 in amazon
With kessil and most led devide lux by60 and it puts you in the ballpark.

Measure the top of the tank , with that depth , you’ll want probably 30-35000 lux at the waters surface.

IME killing acros, they turn all kinds of colors when you blow it. Some fade , some brown , some rtn the next day. Even different acts right next to each other I killed were died a different death.
Weather it’s alk nutrients or the tank just isn’t ready. There’s no formula or standard.imo.
So I personally won’t point to just one factor.

 

[29bonsaireef]

Alk is too high for your No3/Po4 levels. Would recommend alk to be between 7-8 for LN tank.

 

[Jackcarp]

IMO. 8-9 is no big deal.

Honestly with the lights your just guessing.

A lux meter is $15 in amazon
With kessil and most led devide lux by60 and it puts you in the ballpark.

Measure the top of the tank , with that depth , you’ll want probably 30-35000 lux at the waters surface.

IME killing acros, they turn all kinds of colors when you blow it. Some fade , some brown , some rtn the next day. Even different acts right next to each other I killed were died a different death.
Weather it’s alk nutrients or the tank just isn’t ready. There’s no formula or standard.imo.
So I personally won’t point to just one factor.

I need to look into getting a lux meter. Thanks!

 

[Jackcarp]

Alk is too high for your No3/Po4 levels. Would recommend alk to be between 7-8 for LN tank.

Thanks! I may try a little lower-shouldn’t cause any problems since I have seen huge variations in Alk with tanks belonging to others.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I need to look into getting a lux meter. Thanks!

Here’s a pretty good discussion and walk through
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-lux-meter-how-do-i-use.368945/#post-4549549

 

[jwshiver]

So the Alk will be too strong without the nutrients in the tank? I can turn off the dosers and let the Alk drop a little. I just didn’t want to throw off the stability.

Yes.

 

[Hans-Werner]

I recommend not to add nitrate before phosphate. I think burnt tips may be a sign of high nitrate and low phosphate. The cause is that the incorporation of nitrate by the zooxanthellae produces radicals (reactive oxygen species, ROS) which cause damage to the corals and zooxanthellae which cannot be repaired due to low phosphate.

I recommend to do some kind of feeding, either feed the fish more or feed the corals with frozen plankton, artemia nauplii or some coral food product. In my eyes this is much saver than playing with nutrient solutions.

High alkalinity and low phosphate usually causes STN from the base but this may be a bit different in frags which have no real base yet.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Is the refugium/chaeto your only nutrient export? Are you using gfo, biopellets or carbon dosing?

 

[Jackcarp]

I recommend not to add nitrate before phosphate. I think burnt tips may be a sign of high nitrate and low phosphate. The cause is that the incorporation of nitrate by the zooxanthellae produces radicals (reactive oxygen species, ROS) which cause damage to the corals and zooxanthellae which cannot be repaired due to low phosphate.

I recommend to do some kind of feeding, either feed the fish more or feed the corals with frozen plankton, artemia nauplii or some coral food product. In my eyes this is much saver than playing with nutrient solutions.

High alkalinity and low phosphate usually causes STN from the base but this may be a bit different in frags which have no real base yet.

Thanks for the advise. I have started feeding my fish a bit more and feeding the coral with reefroids. I want to increase the phosphate but don’t know how except more fish excrement .