Nem and SPS Help

[kred47]

Hey everyone,

my 40b has been up and running for about 2 months now, LPS and rock anem doing great. I’m just starting to get over the ugly phase and I think I was given some pretty bum advice. I was told by my lfs that a BTA would be fine in my tank even though it’s new, because I used rock and media from an old established tank. Also was told by a guy in a reefing group that SPS would be fine for same reason. Well, the nem was doing fine until about two days ago when it closed up. Got the 8 SPS frags over the weekend and I don’t think they’ve opened up once. I did my research on SPS prior but I think the whole idea of established media and rock was misguiding. Please give any and all advice I don’t want these guys to die because I got them too early.

parameters:

Alk: steady at 7.3 for a week now (knew I had to test daily when first getting SPS to see if dosing is needed) is this too low? I know seawater is 7-8 so should I dose the alk up? Using Red Sea Coral Pro mix.

Ammonia: .025 maybe? Using api test kit just ordered salifert

Nitrate: 40ish same deal just ordered salifert

pH: 8.0

no idea what’s happening since my rock anem is doing fine and so are my LPS

 

[Spare time]

Nitrate is high. Also you don't have ammonia.


I'm more concerned about you might having 0.00 phosphate since it looks like you have dinos.


Are these sps getting high flow? What kind of light are they under? Do you dose at all? You will need to start dosing soon.

 

[kred47]

Nitrate is high. Also you don't have ammonia.


I'm more concerned about you might having 0.00 phosphate since it looks like you have dinos.

I do have 0.00 phospates, sorry should of put that in the params. I was under the impression that I shouldn’t dose phosphates up yet, and that they would increase naturally in time. Should I being addressing that now??

 

[Spare time]

I do have 0.00 phospates, sorry should of put that in the params. I was under the impression that I shouldn’t dose phosphates up yet, and that they would increase naturally in time. Should I being addressing that now??

Yes definitely. Get to at least 0.03 ish. I'd start raising that and lowering nitrate.

 

[kred47]

Yes definitely. Get to at least 0.03 ish. I'd start raising that and lowering nitrate.

Ok got it, should I use NeoNitro? I’m not familiar with dosing at all. I’ve been trying to learn but thought I had at least another couple months to get well versed in it. Is neonitro a good product? Or is there one that’s more favored?

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Id hate to steer you wrong, so give it time...no telling if thats dinos or not (without verification) , it does look like it, but it could be something else.

 

[kred47]

Nitrate is high. Also you don't have ammonia.


I'm more concerned about you might having 0.00 phosphate since it looks like you have dinos.


Are these sps getting high flow? What kind of light are they under? Do you dose at all? You will need to start dosing soon.

Hi sorry missed the last part of this. I have a 165W black box light hanging 10 inches above the surface. Unfortunately no par meter but I do have the blue channel set at 9 strength so I think light is good. As far as flow I have about 25X flow in the tank and the power head wave and return wave meet right in the middle of the SPS, so they’re getting the highest flow in the tank. As far as dosing my alk has been consistent since adding them about a week ago, so no I haven’t started dosing just yet

 

[Spare time]

Hi sorry missed the last part of this. I have a 165W black box light hanging 10 inches above the surface. Unfortunately no par meter but I do have the blue channel set at 9 strength so I think light is good. As far as flow I have about 25X flow in the tank and the power head wave and return wave meet right in the middle of the SPS, so they’re getting the highest flow in the tank. As far as dosing my alk has been consistent since adding them about a week ago, so no I haven’t started dosing just yet

I am not sure what settings to use on the Blackbox so maybe someone else can help with that too since that may be a bit low in intensity. A separate post on thay might help too but the phosphate issue is the main thing of concern

 

[Jackal799]

Ok got it, should I use NeoNitro? I’m not familiar with dosing at all. I’ve been trying to learn but thought I had at least another couple months to get well versed in it. Is neonitro a good product? Or is there one that’s more favored?

Nah, neonitro will raise your nitrates. Use neophos and go slow. On a 40b you can easily do small frequent water changes to lower your nitrate but you have to keep your phos from bottoming out or you’ll be in dino hell before you know it. I’d really tackle those Dino’s as you’re first priority. I just beat them in my tank by using uv at night in combination with nitrate/phos dosing and microbacter 7/clean.

 

[kred47]

Nah, neonitro will raise your nitrates. Use neophos and go slow. On a 40b you can easily do small frequent water changes to lower your nitrate but you have to keep your phos from bottoming out or you’ll be in dino hell before you know it. I’d really tackle those Dino’s as you’re first priority. I just beat them in my tank by using uv at night in combination with nitrate/phos dosing and microbacter 7/clean.

Ok will be picking up this stuff after work. Thank you