New to SPS... Par Readings & Advice Needed...

[DarthSimon]

Hey guys,
So I am new in game of really keeping sps long term. I have never ran a tank this clean before. Usually had softies and some lps... I’ve had my Red Sea Reefer running for about 8 months now and am taking a shot at SPS. I’ve started in the last few months with a few frags and larger pieces....
My water Chemistry is as follows:

Calcium 460
Alk 8.5
Ph 7.9 to 8.05
Temp 79.5
Salinity 1.0265
Nitrates 0 Nopox Dosing
Phosphates .03-.10
Magnesium 1350

Lighting I am running 3 Radion Gen4 with light Diffuser kits at 55% power Coral Labs Reef Energy AB Program.

I have had one loss so far in the month RTN on an acro that was fragged for me from a mother colony and 3 pieces were glued. Other than that all my sps look like they have good color and most have poly extension.

Here’s a few photos of what I have now closer up:

Should I increase my power and boost the par for top level acros? Or do my numbers look good?? Any other advice greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Steve

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I didn’t see your par numbers.

But if everting is doing well , I wouldn’t change stuff for one frag.

Many of the sps you have are a lot more tolerant of lower light , many acros aren’t.
But all the others are good, I quite possibly could have been unhealthy or in a bad spot. For Light or flow.
I’ve defiantly killer a few sps with not Enough flow.

 

[MontiFanatic402]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Keep doing whatever your doing. Unless you see your SPS start to fade, or strip. ...don't change a thing! Too many changes create instability, and SPS don't tolerate that very well. Your tank looks great BTW!

 

[DarthSimon]

Thank you, first photo has it but will repost:

 

[Denisk]

To be honest your par numbers could be slightly higher. I personally am running higher par so seeing your par at 250 could turn into 300 but you still want to keep your par low for the bottom as you have a mixed tank. I keep sps on my sand which makes all the difference. But whatever you do take it really slow, no reason to bump it up really hard. But as everyone says if it’s not broken why fix it. Everything looks great in your tank!

 

[sasa]

The amount of light corals can absorb highly depending on the nutrition levels. By the look I am 100% sure you have much higher nitrates than 0. Most likely around 5 ppm. What is not a problem. On the contrary it is much better ULN.

The higher nutritions you run your tank without any issue (like algae breakout) the more light your corals can absorb. By the look you could easily increase your light even to double the amount.

 

[DarthSimon]

My nitrates are near 0 actually, I do dos nopox via an apex Dos all day.... I think I’m at 7ml a day....

When you say nutrition you mean nutrients?? My phosphates have gone back and forth as low as .03 up to .11 in last few weeks....

 

[Ranjib]

You don’t have any hard to keep sps yet (at least I couldn’t spot). Your number look good enough. Don’t sweat too much around par, I would say if you even lower it , it will be fine.
How are things growing ? If they are growing fast enough you are good, else focus on feeding and flow (since rest of things look ok).

I would also advice introducing something like a milipora or tenius type acro (bit harder to keep) to test whether things are getting better or not,
Finally, I’ll also recommend getting rid of that green pociliopora, that’s equivalent to gsp , it will take up space, grow crazy and sunk you ca . I’ll also advice against getting more Montipora ( digitata) , since they are tolerant and you won’t really know if your tank is good enough for acros from their growth
Godspeed

 

[sasa]

Yep, sry for my english

If you use regular test kits believe me your no3 is not even close to 0. But be happy with that, actual 0 nitrates is very bad. We use these tests to measure no3:
https://www.hach.com/nitraver-5-nitrate-reagent-powder-pillows-10-ml-pk-100/product?id=7640208933

Never ever measured 0.0. But corals start to starve and loose color Under .5.

But long story short you can raise your par values to 300-400 slowly and IT should have a positive effect.

 

[DarthSimon]

I could increase the par slowly by raising my radion power percentage up. But will do this very slowly. I worry about the lps in lower regents of tan...

 

[DarthSimon]

So when you say focus on feeding do you mean feeding the corals fish??? Whole tank?? What do you guys feed sps??

 

[lbacha]

I use reef roids and reef chili. Your lps and softies will like the extra food as well. This also helps me add nutrients to the rank as I don't have many fish so I don't get a lot of nutrients that way

 

[Ranjib]

So when you say focus on feeding do you mean feeding the corals fish??? Whole tank?? What do you guys feed sps??

feeding specifically the sps. reef roid or coral frenzy , preferably spot feeding.