Losing Battle with SPS

[Duffer]

for the last few months i have bought a few SPS corals and for the life of me within a week's time they either bleach out, or just plain die..

i have a RODI unit, do bi-weekly water changes, have AI HD primes

Parameters:
Nitrates 5
Phos .1
Alk 8.5
Cal 450
Mag 1300

The tank has been established well over a year

I'm real frustrated and almost giving up.

 

[dank reefer]

for the last few months i have bought a few SPS corals and for the life of me within a week's time they either bleach out, or just plain die..

i have a RODI unit, do bi-weekly water changes, have AI HD primes

Parameters:
Nitrates 5
Phos .1
Alk 8.5
Cal 450
Mag 1300

The tank has been established well over a year

I'm real frustrated and almost giving up.

If you could post some other info, it would gladly help.

How many gallons is your tank?
How much flow, or what do you have for flow in the Dusplay Tank?
What is the light schedule you are running?
Are you dosing anything? If you are what are you dosing, and how is it being dosed.
Are you running any Carbon, or GFO?

 

[JustAnotherReefer]

how many fish do you have in your system?

 

[Duffer]

If you could post some other info, it would gladly help.

How many gallons is your tank?
How much flow, or what do you have for flow in the Dusplay Tank?
What is the light schedule you are running?
Are you dosing anything? If you are what are you dosing, and how is it being dosed.
Are you running any Carbon, or GFO?

130 total gallons, 100 display 30 sump
2 xf230 maxspect gyre's, using the LTC preset
running 12 hr schedule uv's around 100%, blue's around the same, 8 hr of whites at 9%
dosing manually alk, cal and mag, testing ever 2 days
no carbon or GFO

 

[Duffer]

how many fish do you have in your system?

8 fish total

 

[dank reefer]

130 total gallons, 100 display 30 sump
2 xf230 maxspect gyre's, using the LTC preset
running 12 hr schedule uv's around 100%, blue's around the same, 8 hr of whites at 9%
dosing manually alk, cal and mag, testing ever 2 days
no carbon or GFO

And how many primes do you have over your tank?

 

[Duffer]

And how many primes do you have over your tank?

3

 

[Duffer]

the primes are 9" above the water line, wondering if it's too intense and they are burning the corals?

 

[JustAnotherReefer]

*nevermind

 

[dank reefer]

the primes are 9" above the water line, wondering if it's too intense and they are burning the corals?

I'm just wondering if it's not enough light.

When you place the corals in your tank, are you acclimating them to your light (placing them on sand bed) or are you putting them in their final resting spot?

I have 3 hydra26hd on a 90g tank with 4 t5. It's a 4ft tank, which I think yours is as well.

 

[Duffer]

at first i was just putting them in place where i wanted them, than i learned to put them on the sand bed for a while and slowly move them up..

 

[dank reefer]

at first i was just putting them in place where i wanted them, than i learned to put them on the sand bed for a while and slowly move them up..

I am no expert btw, so take this with a grain a salt, or 2.

I would suggest you to start off with a hardy sps like a birds nest and put it on your sand bed, and leave it there for 2-3 weeks and see how it does.

I wouldn't say that you can acclimate coral in 1 weeks time, but I may be totally wrong saying that. You might be getting your corals from someone that might be growing them using t5, or mh. You might be even getting them from someone that is running LED, but using a totally different spectrum than what you are running.

If you see that in the 2-3 weeks it's still going strong, then start moving it up, and then leave it there for another 2-3 weeks, and you want to continue that process until you set it in its final resting place.

Another suggestion would be to run the AB+ schedule for the primes.

Also. I would wait for more experienced reefers to chime in so that you can get other suggestions.

 

[hatfielj]

This is what I would try...
I doubt lighting is making your corals bleach and die that fast. I would bet it's something in the water more likely
That phos is a bit too high. You really want it 0.04 - 0.01 if you can. I don't know if that's causing the issue, but it's at least something that should be fixed IMO
Try lower your alk a little too, just to see if it helps. Anywhere between 7-8 would be good.
Send an ICP test and look for heavy metals or other issues
At the same time, make sure your RO/DI filters don't need changing
Ask your LFS to test your water for basic parameters to make sure your test kits and hydrometers are correct
Also, bi-weekly do you mean every 2 weeks or twice per week? Some people use that term differently. If twice weekly, that's too much. You might be stressing the corals out with frequent shifts in parameters. Do you make sure to test your new salt water to match parameters?

 

[Duffer]

I am no expert btw, so take this with a grain a salt, or 2.

I would suggest you to start off with a hardy sps like a birds nest and put it on your sand bed, and leave it there for 2-3 weeks and see how it does.

I wouldn't say that you can acclimate coral in 1 weeks time, but I may be totally wrong saying that. You might be getting your corals from someone that might be growing them using t5, or mh. You might be even getting them from someone that is running LED, but using a totally different spectrum than what you are running.

If you see that in the 2-3 weeks it's still going strong, then start moving it up, and then leave it there for another 2-3 weeks, and you want to continue that process until you set it in its final resting place.

Another suggestion would be to run the AB+ schedule for the primes.

Also. I would wait for more experienced reefers to chime in so that you can get other suggestions.

thanks my friend...can't hurt to give this a try

 

[dank reefer]

thanks my friend...can't hurt to give this a try

No problem.

Again just wait for the expert to chime in some more.

 

[Duffer]

This is what I would try...
I doubt lighting is making your corals bleach and die that fast. I would bet it's something in the water more likely
That phos is a bit too high. You really want it 0.04 - 0.01 if you can. I don't know if that's causing the issue, but it's at least something that should be fixed IMO
Try lower your alk a little too, just to see if it helps. Anywhere between 7-8 would be good.
Send an ICP test and look for heavy metals or other issues
At the same time, make sure your RO/DI filters don't need changing
Ask your LFS to test your water for basic parameters to make sure your test kits and hydrometers are correct
Also, bi-weekly do you mean every 2 weeks or twice per week? Some people use that term differently. If twice weekly, that's too much. You might be stressing the corals out with frequent shifts in parameters. Do you make sure to test your new salt water to match parameters?

I water change every 2 weeks...also thanks for the advise

 

[ycnibrc]

Do u dose any bacteria source? Do u start out with dry rock or live rock? Where did u buy your Coral from on line or lfs? Aquaculture or wild? The AI prime is more for nano tank if you belong to a reef club try to borrow a par meter and measure your light. Back in the 90 we start our tank with real live rock therefore after 1 year the tank has already mature enough to keep Coral. Nowadays we start with dry rock so even after 1 year and if you don't dose any bacteria source then the tank still not ready yet.

 

[Burrito]

might be a sidebar but if buying coral from a LFS or somewhere like WWC who use radions at a high output, is there a need to acclimate still if your output is similar?

 

[Duffer]

here is my light schedule;

 

[Duffer]

Do u dose any bacteria source? Do u start out with dry rock or live rock? Where did u buy your Coral from on line or lfs? Aquaculture or wild? The AI prime is more for nano tank if you belong to a reef club try to borrow a par meter and measure your light. Back in the 90 we start our tank with real live rock therefore after 1 year the tank has already mature enough to keep Coral. Nowadays we start with dry rock so even after 1 year and if you don't dose any bacteria source then the tank still not ready yet.

started with dry rock, no dosing of bateria
buy corals from LFS, some use AI primes, some use ocean revives