SPS are Dying and not certain why

SashimiTurtle · Jul 5, 2017

Low nutrients, high alk. That's the entire problem IMO. Switch yu the blue bucket and let your alk drop slowly to around 7.5-8. You'll see a bit better color three but without any nutrients they will still be pale.

Centerline · Jul 12, 2017

Bdog4u2 said:
Ironically I had my best growth and colors when I didn't test my alk for probably a year and when I decided to start testing again my alk was around 6.5 dkh so I decided to raise my alk to 8 over a few weeks and all was good until I hit 8 then I could see my acro losing color so I let my alk drop to 7 and my colors came back so I tested nutrients and I had none that was detected by my kits so I decided low alk was my best option. I believe days of high alk tanks are coming to a close now that we able to run low nutrient tanks easier and high alk low nutes or the opposite is the reason people are suddenly losing corals that have flourished for months, as the tank starts to process nutes better alk should be adjusted to reflect new numbers....this is just my opinion

So check this out. I run a couple of tanks where I keep the alk at 12 dKH / Cal 475-500 / mg 1500. They are doing very well but I keep the P04 at .03 - .04 and the N03 around 10 - 20. So I'm not at all sure that the alk has much to do with color other than the rapid little growth spurts from hi alk and ph can make it hard for the zooxanthellae to keep up with the growth leading to white tips. So the tank has to be fed a few times a day. I actually think its easier to keep your params in line with higher alk as the alk itself acts as a carbon source for bacteria. I can assure you though that without N&P the corals will simply fail as the OP surmised. Below are a couple of pictures from yesterday of the 9 month old tank in my office. Just tested the alk at 11.5 as the doser hasn't come on yet for the day.

RobertP · Jul 12, 2017

That was the main reason I was initially running dkh at 11...wanted faster growth and my PO4 was fairly high. Now my PO4 is hanging around 0 and NO3 is around 8 so I think it is best to lower my Alk to match. I set a target of 8.6 and with the doser it has been steady the past couple weeks.
Almost out of salt so the time to switch is now. Planning to go with either the blue Red Sea or HW. If my LFS has the blue bucket I will do that, otherwise I will go with HW from BRS.
Thanks again for the advice!

RamsReef · Jul 12, 2017

To quote @gcarroll "Stability Promotes Success"

Fact:
SPS are sensitive to alk swings, do not make adjustments over 1 dkh at one time.
SPS reaction times are about 2 weeks delayed, if your SPS start dieing you need to figure out what you did 2-3 weeks ago.
If you want to run a system at 8dkh and your salt is 11ish dkh you are going to probably have a bad time at WC, run with an 8dkh salt and dose to maintain.

Semi Fact:
High nutrients require high dkh, high flow, high lights.
Low nutrients require lower dkh, lower flow, lower lights.
0.03 P04 and 4 NO3 are target ULNS

Now of course there will be reefers outside this norm, but generally these are outliers. From reading the forums success generally falls into 2 categories,
Strick control and adheasion to standards or Laissez-faire reefing. The chaos generally comes from people trying to bounce between the two systems.

My recommendation would be to go with whatever coral supplier you favor and match your system near theirs. Whatever you choose, keep it steady, keep it the same, and let your corals get comfortable.

Of course I am just a humble electron farmer so take my words with a grain of internet forum salt.

Centerline · Jul 12, 2017

RobertP said:
That was the main reason I was initially running dkh at 11...wanted faster growth and my PO4 was fairly high. Now my PO4 is hanging around 0 and NO3 is around 8 so I think it is best to lower my Alk to match. I set a target of 8.6 and with the doser it has been steady the past couple weeks.
Almost out of salt so the time to switch is now. Planning to go with either the blue Red Sea or HW. If my LFS has the blue bucket I will do that, otherwise I will go with HW from BRS.
Thanks again for the advice!

Ya, 8.6 is a good target. Plenty of wiggle room if you have a problem dosing for a few days.

Centerline · Jul 12, 2017

Ramasule said:
To quote @gcarroll "Stability Promotes Success"

Fact:
SPS are sensitive to alk swings, do not make adjustments over 1 dkh at one time.
SPS reaction times are about 2 weeks delayed, if your SPS start dieing you need to figure out what you did 2-3 weeks ago.
If you want to run a system at 8dkh and your salt is 11ish dkh you are going to probably have a bad time at WC, run with an 8dkh salt and dose to maintain.

Semi Fact:
High nutrients require high dkh, high flow, high lights.
Low nutrients require lower dkh, lower flow, lower lights.
0.03 P04 and 4 NO3 are target ULNS

Now of course there will be reefers outside this norm, but generally these are outliers. From reading the forums success generally falls into 2 categories,
Strick control and adheasion to standards or Laissez-faire reefing. The chaos generally comes from people trying to bounce between the two systems.

My recommendation would be to go with whatever coral supplier you favor and match your system near theirs. Whatever you choose, keep it steady, keep it the same, and let your corals get comfortable.

Of course I am just a humble electron farmer so take my words with a grain of internet forum salt.

Well said!