I hate sps

[road_runner]

I think youre missing mine ? Not gonna argue.. i said my peace.. get the phosphates and nitrates up and people will maybe stop killing sps. Spec8ally when you have high calcium and alk...

Do not get upset man, take it easy I did not say anything offensive ha ha.
I agree with you, the trend of lowering po4 no3 is out of control and I am not for thay.
But also not for having po4 and no3 so high sps color start to darken.
It's all about your preference.

I am.predicting this system have skyrocket no3 po4 thi...how can you expect the system to maintain reasonable po4 no3 without mechanical filtration...or maybe it is.....all am saying let's do some testing and find out for sure..
At the end of the day it's up to the op..we cannot do more them recommending.
Cheers

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Do not get upset man, take it easy I did not say anything offensive ha ha.
I agree with you, the trend of lowering po4 no3 is out of control and I am not for thay.
But also not for having po4 and no3 so high sps color start to darken.
It's all about your preference.

I am.predicting this system have skyrocket no3 po4 thi...how can you expect the system to maintain reasonable po4 no3 without mechanical filtration...or maybe it is.....all am saying let's do some testing and find out for sure..
At the end of the day it's up to the op..we cannot do more them recommending.
Cheers

Ive never had a coral lose its color from my high phos and nitrates. I guess im lucky lol.

 

[road_runner]

.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

I take it back.. i have had ONE coral brown on me. It was a yellow porites.. besutiful one too i was dissapointed.. it nrown on one side though which was odd... until i found out that side was getting less light... i had the coral in the middle of my tank.

I didnt realize until it was 50% brown that i had it in too lpw of light.

I habe a new peice of s yellow porites i got a week ago.. its on the highest point on my tank.. only 3 inchs from the surface. My lights are 7 8ncjes above my tank.

And i habe it almost direct flow on left and rigjt of the coral so its getting (mixed flow) i never really see the polyps come out.. but i do see them slightly... i heard porites are nearly impossible to get polyps to extend out lile in the oceon.

But its still yellow and looking much better then in the frag tank i got it from.. in fact the other hslf of it is still in that frag tank at tje store and its turning brown.. but they have it about 20 inches away from their t5s and their t5 light the reflector is dull from yearsss of salt.. so i think this coral needs insaine light to keep from turning brown

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Ha ha not luck. It means you know what you doing.
There are many ways to reef and coral are highly adaptable..just think about it, they get collected from the seven seas yet survive in our aquariums that has diffrent temp, salinity and pretty much diffrent everything.
It's all about stability am sure you agree.
I have 2 systems, one ultra low nutrients ther other opposit to ultra low nutrients.
Both sps dominant and coral happy.
I must say, there is some colorations I cannot reproduce unless I'm ultra low nutrients..I do not know how to describe it honestly...I love that color thu.

What acro is that big baby blue pinkish.purplish one ?

 

[road_runner]

What acro is that big baby blue pinkish.purplish one ?

dang man I forgot am so sorry. It's a tort but forgot which exactly(

 

[road_runner]

What acro is that big baby blue pinkish.purplish one ?

dang man I forgot am so sorry. It's a tort but forgot which exactly(

 

[smartwater101]

I'm not seeing a post about nutrient export. Like GFO? Did OP clarify?

Bumping up the Phosphate should be easy peasy unless something like GFO/phosphat-e is being used regularly.

Still curious what the nitrate # is.

 

[MabuyaQ]

I'm not seeing a post about nutrient export. Like GFO? Did OP clarify?

Bumping up the Phosphate should be easy peasy unless something like GFO/phosphat-e is being used regularly.

Still curious what the nitrate # is.

Nothing easier then using less (amount/frequeny) GFO to increase PO4.

 

[Balz3352]

No gfo

 

[Balz3352]

Am gonna guess you no3 is high. Also your light is too low for sps

Before I put a write up for you,can you share pictures of the whole system.
I can help you with some guidance but you should be ok with couple rules

1- you do not try every openion you see out there. At least not at the same time
2- you follow the plan. We will do testing, might change some kits if we do not trust it, will seek data and react only based in data, not much guessing and short cuts
3- patience patience patience
4- finally you meed to over communicate so I understand your system progress. The progress will be as good ad yoi communicate your system.

If you up to it I can start helping you and invest in frequent write ups..

Your call.

Do you honestly think that 250 watt mh are not strong enough for sps? I don't expect sps to grow on the sand but on top or mid tank?

 

[road_runner]

Do you honestly think that 250 watt mh are not strong enough for sps? I don't expect sps to grow on the sand but on top or mid tank?

Oh mayne I misread, I thought for some reason you are running 2 t5 bulbs. Now I see I was mistaken.
In any event I think you are covered here you have couple of suggestions and helpers.

Good luck.

 

[JPergamo]

I've learned over the years sps is always a balance of alk, nutrient levels, and lighting. If you want to keep a higher alk for some benifits like maybe an increased growth rate, then nutrients need to trend in that same direction and this will allow for a higher PAR blast. If you wish to run a lower nutrient system, then alk and lighting need to be in conjunction at a somewhat lower level, for instance maintaining an alk of 7 or so, close to seawater. This approach, however one may choose to run a system, is the easiest way to approach finding some sort of balance to get results.
And also, Many times over the years, I have fallen into the trap of trying to change something too quickly. This always will be the biggest mistake one can make. That includes everything, from spiking nutrients, lowering them quickly, blasting higher par all at once, raising or lowering alk way too fast and so on. Hope this helps, it's a generic outline for a some potential success.
Happy reefing, the fun is in the experimentation and experience.

 

[jda]

Balz - I skipped ahead when the semi thread takover started arguing about phosphates, but did you ever get a feel for Nitrate?

.02 P is fine and about 4x more than seawater. It is higher than where I keep mine. I would not worry about this nor chase it up or down.

Have you calibrated your refractometer? Checked your temp probes? All of the basics?

 

[smartwater101]

.02 P is fine and about 4x more than seawater. It is higher than where I keep mine.

To be fair seawater also has a dkh closer to 7. If you're running .02 what do you prefer your alk to be at?

 

[road_runner]

To be fair seawater also has a dkh closer to 7. If you're running .02 what do you prefer your alk to be at?

If you seek logic all the time you will be exhausted.
Coral are highly adaptive, it's about the balance, ratios and stability you provide that will make it thrive..there is no one right answer...
Focuse should be on helping the OP not throwing shades and asserting self importance..
As I said i actually doubt OP po4 is indeed that low. If value is indeed 0.2 it's good value, trick is to know no3... Checking kits is first step.

 

[smartwater101]

Focuse should be on helping the OP not throwing shades and asserting self importance..

I was asking a genuine question. I've purchased coral from @jda and they look great. Getting an idea of how he runs his tank is a benefit to both me and OP.

The lack of self awareness in your comment is a bit baffling considering how much you've trolled this post.

 

[Flippers4pups]

As a gentle reminder, please keep the discussion civil.

 

[road_runner]

I was asking a genuine question. I've purchased coral from @jda and they look great. Getting an idea of how he runs his tank is a benefit to both me and OP.

The lack of self awareness in your comment is a bit baffling considering how much you've trolled this post.

How did I troll this post? I am trying to help with the small things I know.
But I wonder you do not think a post where half of it calling on people discussing is takeover then one line in the post asking the op about salinity is not trolling?
But I get it.
So I will gather my shattered dignity and move on ha ha.
Hope the OP find the help he needs.

Cheers all.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Balz - I skipped ahead when the semi thread takover started arguing about phosphates, but did you ever get a feel for Nitrate?

.02 P is fine and about 4x more than seawater. It is higher than where I keep mine. I would not worry about this nor chase it up or down.

Have you calibrated your refractometer? Checked your temp probes? All of the basics?

OP has 0.02 po4 with 9.0-9.2 alk