Ph swing from 7.75 to 7.98 daily

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Is this swing acceptable for a mixed reef? I am still having quite a bit of trouble keeping the few sps in my tank alive. All the softies and lps including things like chalice corals are doing well. The sps just seen to slowly fade away.
Calcium - 450
Alk 8.7 - 8.9
Mag 1450
No3 is 5-10
Po4 is somewhere below .03
Below is my lighting schedule. Im at my whits end as i would like to keep a few nice sps corals.

Highgrade · May 23, 2019

That swing is not bad. Mine swings between 7.8 and 8.30 daily and I have no issues keeping SPS.

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Highgrade said:
That swing is not bad. Mine swings between 7.8 and 8.30 daily and I have no issues keeping SPS.

Then im just gonna give up trying to keep sps in my tank. I can't stand seeing them stn anymore.

Highgrade · May 23, 2019

James Mikell said:
Then im just gonna give up trying to keep sps in my tank. I can't stand seeing them stn anymore.

How old is your tank and do you have coralline growth?

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Highgrade said:
How old is your tank and do you have coralline growth?

Tank is about 8 months old and yes since i started dosing 2 part a couple months ago and got my parameters steady the coraline on my back wall has taken off. I went from 2 small spots to quarter sized growths all over my back wall and onto my rock. However my tanks uptake is only 2 ml a day of cal and alk.

Highgrade · May 23, 2019

James Mikell said:
Tank is about 8 months old and yes since i started dosing 2 part a couple months ago and got my parameters steady the coraline on my back wall has taken off. I went from 2 small spots to quarter sized growths all over my back wall and onto my rock. However my tanks uptake is only 2 ml a day of cal and alk.

Your parameters look to be good and coralline is a good sign your tank is ready for SPS. I see your lighting schedule. Are your lights AI primes/hydras and what size tank? Also what types of SPS are you trying to keep?

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Highgrade said:
Your parameters look to be good and coralline is a good sign your tank is ready for SPS. I see your lighting schedule. Are your lights AI primes/hydras and what size tank? Also what types of SPS are you trying to keep?

Its a reefer 250 so its only a 36x20x21 tank and a pair of hydra 26s. So far ive killed millies, acros, monties, and digis.

Highgrade · May 23, 2019

James Mikell said:
Its a reefer 250 so its only a 36x20x21 tank and a pair of hydra 26s. So far ive killed millies, acros, monties, and digis.

Very strange. How long does the SPS hang on for? Do they RTN overnight or slowly lose tissue? Could it be pest related - AEFW/MENs

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Highgrade said:
Very strange. How long does the SPS hang on for? Do they RTN overnight or slowly lose tissue? Could it be pest related - AEFW/MENs

Sps ususlly last about a month and slowly turn white starting at the tips. I have not seen any pests when checking at night and dip everything before it goes in my tank.

Highgrade · May 23, 2019

James Mikell said:
Sps ususlly last about a month and slowly turn white starting at the tips. I have not seen any pests when checking at night and dip everything before it goes in my tank.

White tips usually indicate ALK burn. What test kits are you using and how often are you testing?

jsak1976 · May 23, 2019

Why are you not giving your corals any white, red, or green light? If your trying to keep acros you’ll need to know what your phosphates are at not just below .03

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Highgrade said:
White tips usually indicate ALK burn. What test kits are you using and how often are you testing?

Testing with both hanna and salifert. Both readings are similar given their margin of error

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

jsak1976 said:
Why are you not giving your corals any white, red, or green light? If your trying to keep acros you’ll need to know what your phosphates are at not just below .03

I was giving 10% whites but had so much algae building up on the glass daily it was quite ridiculous. The po4 salifert kit reads either zero or .03 the color is not quite .03 but its deffinately not clear.

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Highgrade said:
White tips usually indicate ALK burn. What test kits are you using and how often are you testing?

And i test every other night if not every third night.

jsak1976 · May 23, 2019

James Mikell said:
I was giving 10% whites but had so much algae building up on the glass daily it was quite ridiculous. The po4 salifert kit reads either zero or .03 the color is not quite .03 but its deffinately not clear.

The corals still need those colors though, try giving like 10-15 white, green 5-10 and red 5 you don’t need much. Turn down the uv’s and blues a little if algae’s that bad. Buy the Hanna ultra low range phosphate or phosphorus tester, it will read down to .01 ppm. If your test kit goes from 0 to .03 and your under .03 then you could be at 0 and that will kill corals. Probably want to keep it in the .025-.05 range and your tester isn’t meant for that range.

jsak1976 · May 23, 2019

James Mikell said:
I was giving 10% whites but had so much algae building up on the glass daily it was quite ridiculous. The po4 salifert kit reads either zero or .03 the color is not quite .03 but its deffinately not clear.

What hydras do you have 26’s or 52’s?

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

jsak1976 said:
What hydras do you have 26’s or 52’s?

2 hydra 26s

Seminoles76 · May 23, 2019

If you started with all dry rock the I would seriously consider looking into dosing some Form of bacteria. I’ve started many tanks with live rock and had SPS flourish at the three month mark. First dry rock start and I was struggling with everything at the 9 month mark.

I agree lighting is not optimum. However i wouldn’t think it would lead to STN and death of coral. The height of your light may have some negative impact depending g on height.

Bottom line. Your parameters are good if stable. Bring in a little white, red and green like posted already. I wouldn’t make changes to the tank that attempts to avoid algae growth unless your parameters are way out of whack which they r not. Typically those changes can lead to upsetting g SPS.

James Mikell · May 23, 2019

Seminoles76 said:
If you started with all dry rock the I would seriously consider looking into dosing some Form of bacteria. I’ve started many tanks with live rock and had SPS flourish at the three month mark. First dry rock start and I was struggling with everything at the 9 month mark.

I agree lighting is not optimum. However i wouldn’t think it would lead to STN and death of coral. The height of your light may have some negative impact depending g on height.

Bottom line. Your parameters are good if stable. Bring in a little white, red and green like posted already. I wouldn’t make changes to the tank that attempts to avoid algae growth unless your parameters are way out of whack which they r not. Typically those changes can lead to upsetting g SPS.

I dose 1-2 ml of microbacter 7 every other day just to maintain. I started with half dry and half live rock from my nano tank that i had taken down. Ill add some of the red green and white and see if anything changes.

Seminoles76 · May 23, 2019

Gotcha. That sounds like a good plan with the micro7. Couple other thoughts.
1. Sometimes SPS and softies don’t get along. Depending on what type of softies you have.
2. I would look at flow of the tank.

And then you always see tanks where no matter what, SPS just don’t like the first year and decide to give the owner of the tank fits.