Sps always dies on me

[Stanzo13]

Stability stability stability, I chased numbers when I had to go Fallow. I had Same Birdanest, and 4 other SPS and they were doing well with 1 ppm or Less of Nitrate and No Detectable Phosphate. All parameters remained +\- 2% for the entire FALLOW term. Well after 4 months and felt ICH had run its course I added Fish and that bio load shot my Nitrates to 40 ppm. SPS took a little bit got them down to 15-20 ppm and they remained there and low and behold 80 days into stable 15-20 ppm nitrates my SPS are Flourishing!!!! I know everyone will say that’s way way to high of Nitrates but I like to feed my corals and fish. This has taught me that stable parameters (whatever they are) is the most important thing!

These are all pics with 20-25 ppm Nitrates. 9.2 DKH 8.2 PH 480 Cal

Idk what that fourth pick is but I want one

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I wish I could have a bunch of experienced reefers come to my house and adjust flow and move corals, my rocks are completely terrible. I will not be buying any of those rocks again, I have no way to aquascape and very limited coral placement

You can just hang out with us.
Or look into local clubs. Some are super active.

It’s really a craft. It just takes some practice.

 

[Stanzo13]

You can just hang out with us.
Or look into local clubs. Some are super active.

It’s really a craft. It just takes some practice.

I need to get a bunch of that rock that's easy to lock together and some type of bonding putty that works, I think I was looking at dry bucanni Rock? Not really sure any suggestions?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I need to get a bunch of that rock that's easy to lock together and some type of bonding putty that works, I think I was looking at dry bucanni Rock? Not really sure any suggestions?

If your going to build dry, look at Marco rock. Basically it’s cement. Prettt easy.
There’s also some new tech too. Plastic pearls called reef welder
Nyos reef cement
Aqua forest stone cement

 

[pdiehm]

I set my tank up in July 2017, after tearing it down because of a whole bunch of nasty crap...it was an ongoing cycle. Hair, Cyano, Dino's. I'd get the hair done, then cyano appears...get that done, and then Dino's appeared. It was just ugly. Long story short, I battled this for 6-9 months, and got so frustrated, I actually listed my tank for sale. I drained it, removed the sand, and my god, the water was the dirtiest brown color you could possibly imagine. I bleached and acid bathed my pukani rock, let it sit in RODI for a few weeks and replaced into the tank. This time, I went barebottom...this was in july 2017.

Fast forward to now, I have 1 SPS coral...I had a bunch that was doing well, until I screwed up. I had an algae issue, and it's slowly dissipating (brown slimy algae, not dino's). My parameters as of last weekend (I need to test tonight): 7.7 dKH, 8ppm Nitrates, 0.08 PO4, 420 Calcium, and Magnesium as of 2 weeks ago was 1340. My tank is powered by a 6x80W T5 sitting 12" over my water.

Everyone says, it takes about a year, 18 months for a tank to settle in and find itself. I thought that was hogwash, but I think there's something to that. If your SPS do not make it, I would get your fish stocking finished, let your dry rock mature, and tank find itself. Then push into corals. For a hardy sps coral, I highly recommend the Cliffs Acropora from @BoomCorals. Like I said, I nuked my tank with an additive, but this coral not only survived it, but is growing, and colorful. That, to me would be a good coral to test your tank readiness. Just give it ~300 PAR, good flow, and just let it be, you will be surprised. My frag broke off the frag plug, so for grins and chuckles, I left the plug in the tank, and glued the broken frag to a rock. The frag is encrusted on the rock, and growing. The plug encrusted over the broken part, and encrusted on the rock, and has about 7 buds shooting vertical. It's a bright neon green flesh (Supposedly purple but I've never seen the purple...possibly when it gets to a colony).

PS: I agree with you on Pukani rock. If I had to do it over, I would get Marco rocks, or the Caribsea Life Rock Shapes.

If you ever want to chat PM me, and we can commiserate together. I have been there where you are (and I guess I'm still there in some respects).

 

[Hanfam1111]

Idk what that fourth pick is but I want one

Haha, believe it or not it’s a Meteor Shower Cyphastrea. This guy has had amazing growth, better than any other I would say. Just in the perfect spot I guess.

I attached three pics

First online at LRO where i purchased around March 1st, Second is after i removed from Frag and permanently placed on rock April 1st and the last one was Sept. 18th. They are not expensive.

LRO and Jason Fox have some up. Indirect lighting, halfway up tank and low to med indirect flow.



.

butt

 

[MnFish1]

My idea on the Apex would be dose and monitoring levels, I had an a80 and swapped to an a360we and my corals seem to love it, all lps is low and off to the side I watched a lot of videos on placement for par and rateings for my lights and I promise I try but every couple months I decide to move something for the better

Can you translate what you just said. A80. A250awe

 

[vetteguy53081]

Low to moderate lights high on blue. moderate water flow, dosing CA, ALK and MAG plus trace elements/iodine/potassium and strontium essential.

 

[MnFish1]

Well the key issue (IMO) is not the stability though that is exttremely important. The key is - where did you ge the coral - how long did it ship, etc etc. I will never buy another coral online. I mean - the first part of 'stability' is when you put it in your tank.

 

[Stanzo13]

Can you translate what you just said. A80. A250awe

Kessil a80 and kessil a360 wide

 

[Reefinmike]

I dose brs kalkwasswr but I have no idea if I do it enough or too much.

IMHO, you should never be dosing for anything you don't have means of testing. Your tank likely has very low calcium and alkalinity usage and blindly dosing kalkwasser could send both levels through the roof. I've been getting back in to the hobby after a bit of a break and I've found out how important it is to accurately be in tune with your tank parameters when starting a reef. I highly recommend two reliable ways to test your salinity, alkalinity, calcium, and PH. One reliable way to test magnesium and nitrate is ok but two is always better. Don't waste your money on cheap API test kits and swing arm hydrometers. I started with them and they are wildly inaccurate and inconsistent. Salifert, red sea and nyos make good test kits each brand having their own caveat.

For salinity I use an apex with conductivity probe to monitor the tank and a refractometer with two different calibration solutions. Be sure to check your refractometers calibration every time before testing tank water. Let the sample you are testing to acclimate to the same temp as the refractometer and calibration solutions before calibrating and testing. Never calibrate with RO/DI water.

For alkalinity I really like the Hanna checker colorimeter and general consensus is that is the only reliable, easy to use and affordable colorimeter from them. I also use the red sea kit which is about half the price per test and consistent with the hanna checker. If you want to save some money, you can just buy the reagent refill, print instructions and use a test vial and syringe from another kit.

For Calcium I use salifert and red sea. I prefer red sea because of the larger sample size, easier to level powder reagent and easier to see color change

For PH I use my apex's probe to monitor my Ph but I also keep a salifert kit handy. Swings and ph stability greatly depend on your alkalinity and excess co2 in the house/tank

For Magnesium I use salifert and red sea. If you only have money for one, I'd buy the salifert kit. the red sea kit takes a couple minutes longer to test but both are just as accurate.

For Nitrate I use nyos and red sea. red sea is better for sub 5ppm nitrates, the nyos kit has a minimum detection of 1ppm but is faster to test.

Instant ocean can vary a ton batch to batch. I've tested 6 buckets so far. usually alkalinity is good between 9-11. calcium is usually 350-450 but I have had one batch with 560ppm. Magnesium is usually around 1300 but the same batch with high calcium had magnesium at 1900!

Before you dose ANYTHING, you should have a good pulse on what your tank uses by testing related parameters daily for atleast a week. before dosing kalk you should test your alkalinity every day and calcium every 2-3 days for 7-10 days to get a pulse on what your tank uses. Dose accordingly and test both every day for another 7-10 days. once your tanks usage has settled out I would still check your alk 2-3x a week and calcium once a week. I've been testing alk daily for over a month and calcium every 2-3 days. I have been dosing daily with two part to account for usage but I've not been able to settle on a point to start automatically dosing kalk. alk usage has gone from .2 to .7dkh per day in just the past two weeks! The apex and apex fusion has been extremely helpful to log parameters and doses to get a better pulse on the tank.

If you aren't able to justify spending the money on everything at once I highly suggest you quit dosing, use a quality salt and buy a refractometer at the minimum. Red sea blue bucket gets good reviews and would probably be a safe bet for your tank. I have always use IO and I will continue to use it but not without testing every new bucket and supplementing chemicals.

Edit: How big is your tank? The kessil lights brighter than they look and it's easy to torch corals by putting them up high and directly under the light.

 

[Stanzo13]

Good time to mention I have a aqueon 29 and my light from some videos from brs and forums how mines set (50÷color full intensity) it could be anywhere from 100-150 par

 

[Stanzo13]

Good time to mention I have a aqueon 29 and my light from some videos from brs and forums how mines set (50÷color full intensity) it could be anywhere from 100-150 par

Edit: 140-160 par

 

[Reefinmike]

Woah, full intensity? Those BRS par readings you are referencing are likely based on a 24" wide tank, not a 12" wide tank. With a narrower tank you will see the glass bouncing a lot more light back in the tank. I bet actual par measurements are double what you think they are. on my 18" wide 90 I run two sets of two 54w t5 bulbs 4 hours, each overlapping one hour for a total of 7 hours and two kessil 360's ramping to 70% color and 80% intensity over 12 hours. This is the brightest I can go and I have to slowly move new corals up to the light. the kessils at 80% can easily bleach a new sps halfway down in the tank.

 

[MnFish1]

Woah, full intensity? Those BRS par readings you are referencing are likely based on a 24" wide tank, not a 12" wide tank. With a narrower tank you will see the glass bouncing a lot more light back in the tank. I bet actual par measurements are double what you think they are. on my 18" wide 90 I run two sets of two 54w t5 bulbs 4 hours, each overlapping one hour for a total of 7 hours and two kessil 360's ramping to 70% color and 80% intensity over 12 hours. This is the brightest I can go and I have to slowly move new corals up to the light. the kessils at 80% can easily bleach a new sps halfway down in the tank.

Also the higher the alkalinity - depending on your nutrient levels - the more likely it seems that higher light levels can be harmful. Low flow and high light levels also cause more problems from my experience

 

[dnyceli]

Salinity, Temperature, Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphate, Nitrate. You need to find these out. You should never dose anything you can’t test for or dose if you are not testing to know where your parameters stand. I feel you don’t have Corals that would consume much calcium or Alk at this time and you should not have to dose Kalk. Also how are you dosing the Kalk? Kalk can swing the parameters fast and also change the PH. Simple water changes should be adequate right now. I also have a feeling your nutrients are very low, and by dosing Kh or run high light you will burn coral

 

[Stanzo13]

Salinity, Temperature, Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphate, Nitrate. You need to find these out. You should never dose anything you can’t test for or dose if you are not testing to know where your parameters stand. I feel you don’t have Corals that would consume much calcium or Alk at this time and you should not have to dose Kalk. Also how are you dosing the Kalk? Kalk can swing the parameters fast and also change the PH. Simple water changes should be adequate right now. I also have a feeling your nutrients are very low, and by dosing Kh or run high light you will burn coral

I got brs kalkwasser I would let it drip in for maybe 5-10 minutes once every few days but I haven't done it in about a week now. I feel as though a small gravel vac should be in order pretty soon

 

[Reefinmike]

Please reread my post and start by understanding your tank’s chemistry with quality test kits before spending anything on corals... or gravel vacs. Blindly “dripping kalk for 5-10 minutes a day” is like putting “157 seconds worth of gasoline” in your car before taking a road trip through the desert without looking at your fuel gauge at any point. What did your fuel tank start at? How fast are you pumping gas? Is it eco-nut 10% ethanol fuel? Will you die stranded in the desert with no fuel or water?

 

[Reefinmike]

Please reread my post and start by understanding your tank’s chemistry with quality test kits before spending anything on corals... or gravel vacs. Blindly “dripping kalk for 5-10 minutes a day” is like putting “157 seconds worth of gasoline” in your car before taking a road trip through the desert without looking at your fuel gauge at any point. What did your fuel tank start at? How fast are you pumping gas? Is it eco-nut 10% ethanol fuel? Will you die stranded in the desert with no fuel or water?

 

[Reefinmike]

Please reread my post and start by understanding your tank’s chemistry with quality test kits before spending anything on corals... or gravel vacs. Blindly “dripping kalk for 5-10 minutes a day” is like putting “157 seconds worth of gasoline” in your car before taking a road trip through the desert without looking at your fuel gauge at any point. What did your fuel tank start at? How fast are you pumping gas? Is it eco-nut 10% ethanol fuel? Will you die stranded in the desert with no fuel or water?

 

[dnyceli]

I got brs kalkwasser I would let it drip in for maybe 5-10 minutes once every few days but I haven't done it in about a week now. I feel as though a small gravel vac should be in order pretty soon

First of all. Why are you dosing Kalk? Is your level low? Second, where is your level now? Third, how much is dosed in 5 minutes and how much is dosed in 10 minutes. Fourth, where does each of those dosing times take your level too?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

We all started somewhere.