Placement Tips

[snulma1]

Hey Folks,
Thanks for all the great info on this forum, I've been a longtime reefer (18yrs) with many tanks (due to moves and failures) but have never truly been successful at keeping SPS. Each time I would get a great piece they would either brown out, STN, or bleach.

I have recently come back into the game with a Waterbox Frag tank (60.3). Currently with two AI Hydra 32's approx 12" above the surface with lights @ approx 50% (for UV, Blue, and purple) and cool white @ 25%.
My recent parameters are:
SG 1.024
pH: 8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 1
Phosphate: 1
KH: 8.4
Ca: 500
Mag: 1220

I have 2 True Perc clowns in the tank which are fed PE pellets 1-2x daily, with intermittent feedings during the week of mysis or cyclopeeze,
I bought 2 SPS frags (1 plating monti and 1 birdsnest). Set them on the sand and waited 1 week to move them up.
The monti looks like it is dying, and the tissue on the birdsnest bleached but the polyps are still a neon green.

I waited a few weeks to make sure the tank was stable after that which nothing has changed.
I then purchased 5 more frags of SPS, 1 goni, and 1 hammer
They have been in my tank for 1-4 weeks sitting on the sand and haven't browned/bleached or suffered tissue loss.
I'd like to start moving them to their more final place but am unsure how to do this w/o repeating the initial errors.

How do you determine placement for your SPS to ensure they thrive, and how do you temporarily place them if you feel that they may need to be relocated?

Thanks for the help!

 

[T-J]

Monti's and Birdsnest are some of the easier SPS corals to keep, so if those are dying on you, there may be some issues with the tank.
Phosphate is high, so you may want to back off on the pellet feeding. You also don't mention what your flow is. That is just as important as parameters and light.
I've said this more times than I can count: Get a PAR meter. (rent, borrow, buy) That is the only way you'll know what can go where in your tank. Otherwise you are literally guessing at the light intensity based on the location in your tank.

 

[snulma1]

Monti's and Birdsnest are some of the easier SPS corals to keep, so if those are dying on you, there may be some issues with the tank.
Phosphate is high, so you may want to back off on the pellet feeding. You also don't mention what your flow is. That is just as important as parameters and light.
I've said this more times than I can count: Get a PAR meter. (rent, borrow, buy) That is the only way you'll know what can go where in your tank. Otherwise you are literally guessing at the light intensity based on the location in your tank.

Sorry I left that out. In addition to the return I have 2 Mp40's on anti-sync.
As for the PAR testing. I have an old Apogee par meter which when I tested showed approx 200-250 on the top of my rockwork and 100-150 on the sand.
I don't know if these numbers are reliable only because the PAR meter was not designed for LED's. So it's numbers are likely skewed.
I assume (and I could be wrong) that the skew is on the lower side (so the PAR is actually higher) due to the bleaching of the tissue vs. browning from not enough light.

 

[CCauthers]

Some birdsnests do have light skin, some pictures would help

 

[snulma1]

 

[snulma1]

Hard to take a good picture with the cell phone only.

 

[T-J]

Hard to take a good picture with the cell phone only.

Just turn you white lights on. If it's an iPhone, make sure to tap the screen on the coral so it focuses on it. You can long tap on the screen and then drag your finger down to control how much light is let in, so your pictures won't be all blown out from over exposure.

 

[T-J]

Also, for reference, I have a Forest Fire Monti and a Monti Cap doing great in about 400 PAR. A Pink Birdsnest in about 350 PAR. So they can handle higher PAR levels without bleaching out.

 

[snulma1]

Also, for reference, I have a Forest Fire Monti and a Monti Cap doing great in about 400 PAR. A Pink Birdsnest in about 350 PAR. So they can handle higher PAR levels without bleaching out.

Ok, but how did you get them to that spot?
You didn't buy them and automatically place them into a 400 PAR location, right?
How did you go about moving them and finding out they could handle that PAR?

 

[T-J]

Ok, but how did you get them to that spot?
You didn't buy them and automatically place them into a 400 PAR location, right?
How did you go about moving them and finding out they could handle that PAR?

Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't! Lot's of things factor into how/when/where I place stuff.
If I start low in the tank, I place them on a magnetic coral rack. Then each day or two, I move it up a little bit higher. Understand that the edges of the tank are still less PAR than more toward the center. After a week or so, depending on the coral, I'll place it in the final spot.
Some things just go "plop!" into their spot after temp/salinity/etc acclimation. A higher sensitive Acro may go through the week or two process depending on the conditions it had been kept in previously.
Ask your LFS what the PAR is on the corals you're buying. Some may know, so you'll have a better chance for success!

 

[snulma1]

Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't! Lot's of things factor into how/when/where I place stuff.
If I start low in the tank, I place them on a magnetic coral rack. Then each day or two, I move it up a little bit higher. Understand that the edges of the tank are still less PAR than more toward the center. After a week or so, depending on the coral, I'll place it in the final spot.
Some things just go "plop!" into their spot after temp/salinity/etc acclimation. A higher sensitive Acro may go through the week or two process depending on the conditions it had been kept in previously.
Ask your LFS what the PAR is on the corals you're buying. Some may know, so you'll have a better chance for success!

I did ask the LFS store what PAR they were at but they didn't know.
I'm they had their fixtures higher, and appeared dimmer than my lighting. Which is why i'm wondering if my lighting is the issue, but you are right, hard to compare apples to apples w/o their numbers

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

What does “PO4 1” mean? 1.0 ppm? 1 ppb on the ul phosphorus checker?

 

[snulma1]

What does “PO4 1” mean? 1.0 ppm? 1 ppb on the ul phosphorus checker?

1 ppm on a photospectrometer

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

1 ppm on a photospectrometer

Which brand test is that?

1 ppm no3 and 1 ppm phosphate is pretty unbalanced. What are you doing for nutrient export?

 

[snulma1]

Which brand test is that?

1 ppm no3 and 1 ppm phosphate is pretty unbalanced. What are you doing for nutrient export?

The test is run from my LFS using a machine.
It is confirmed by my Redsea and Hanna test kits

Why do you say my levels are unbalanced?
They have been this way for the 2-3 months I've had the fish in the tank and have had no algae issues.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The test is run from my LFS using a machine.
It is confirmed by my Redsea and Hanna test kits

Why do you say my levels are unbalanced?
They have been this way for the 2-3 months I've had the fish in the tank and have had no algae issues.

Your po4 is really high and your no3 is really low is all.

 

[snulma1]

I don’t think it’s horrible. But I do want to lower my po4.
mom just not ready to run biopellets or gfo yet.
I think it’s coming from the livereef rocks I’m using.

 

[snulma1]

I also am gonna rent a par meter which is made for LEDs so I can get a real reading

 

[T-J]

I don’t think it’s horrible. But I do want to lower my po4.
mom just not ready to run biopellets or gfo yet.
I think it’s coming from the livereef rocks I’m using.

Yes. It's horrible. Most reefers consider .1 to be the upper limit for Phosphate. You're at 1.0.
And, one of the more accepted Nitrate to Phosphate ratios is 16 to 1. You're currently at 1 to 1. Using the Redfield Ratio (16:1), you're Nitrates should be at 16, which is also high...but that's because of you Phosphates being high.
If your Phosphates were at, let's say, .05, then your Nitrates should be around 1 using the formula.

 

[snulma1]

So how do you recommend rectifying this?
GFO?