SPS beginner here

[destro]

Hi,

I've been keeping LPS for 7-8 years and had my ups and down. I've never had SPS until recently.
I have this particular tank running now for 9 months. It's been stable and the LPS corals are doing amazing. About 3 weeks ago, I decided to give SPS a try and struggling to say the least. It's not the start I was hoping for. Hoping you can help me doctor my SPS issues.

Red Sea Reefer 170
Radion G3 - LPS/Soft program schedule (blues, royal blues, uv 100%, white 15%, red 20%, green 20%) Intensity limited to 60%
Two MP10 with flow ranging from 30-40% during the day and 20-25% at night.

Recent parameters:
SALT 35.4 (apex)
SALT 1.025 (hanna)
ORP 491 (apex)
PH 7.97 (apex)
TMP 25.2°C (apex)

ALK 8.6 (apex)
ALK 8.7 (hanna)
CA 421 (apex)
CA 430 (hanna)
MG 1292 (apex)
MG 1305 (hanna)

PO4 0.12 ppm (hanna)
NO3 16 ppm (red sea)

Dosing Red Sea Energy AB - carbo/amino acids.
Rowaphos semi-online (manually controlling usage)
Skimmer online

"Green goddess birds nest" appears to be the only sps doing well.

On the left "Burning Banana" developed a white patch (skeleton) and fear it will get worst.
The other one on the right I have no idea what it's called. It has a purple body and red polyps when it WAS happy. Polyps no longer extended.

"Rainbow Phoenix Montipora"
This one look amazing during the first week. It turned dark the second week and now the tops are completely white.

I'm feeling regret on some of these frags and disappointed I let them down. Hoping you can see anything obvious that I'm doing wrong. It's a last ditch effort.
At the end of this weekend I plan to re-home them to their original system and hope they regenerate.

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Might want to turn the uv down a bit.

 

[W1ngz]

My guess is lighting, everything else looks ok aside from maybe the nitrate and phosphate being a little on the high side, though I've read of people having success with those kind of numbers too.

Any chance you can beg/borrow/rent a par meter and see what your lighting is like in the areas you want to put these? In a pinch, a Seneye can get some ok readings.

 

[PatW]

You nutrients might be on the high side. I run nitrates at 2 ppm and phosphates at around .03 ppm. Some people run both higher than I do but the consensus seems to be less than 10 ppm for nitrates and say less than .1 ppm phosphates.

I wonder if the lighting is the issue. If you could beg, borrow or a par meter that might help you figure out if the lighting is an issue.

 

[destro]

Any chance you can beg/borrow/rent a par meter and see what your lighting is like in the areas you want to put these? In a pinch, a Seneye can get some ok readings.

You're the third person that mentioned this. I'll have to make some calls. Thanks.

 

[destro]

You nutrients might be on the high side. I run nitrates at 2 ppm and phosphates at around .03 ppm. Some people run both higher than I do but the consensus seems to be less than 10 ppm for nitrates and say less than .1 ppm phosphates.

It's funny b/c I ran into some issues with dino b/c nutrients bottomed out. I let the nutrients rise and quickly dino was gone. Where do you draw the line? haha

 

[CoralWealth]

you nutrients are fine (would be better if lower though), that wouldnt cause the stn you are seeing.

I have had phosphates over 0.2 and nitrates over 20 and SPS are good, the color just isnt best.

What is your RO/DI? How often are you doing water changes?

 

[destro]

What is your RO/DI? How often are you doing water changes?

Vertek Puratek 200GPD
Replaced both membranes, new resin, new pre-filter, and carbon.
Oddly after everything was changed, the TDS meter bounces between 0 and 1.
That reminds me to pick up a separate TDS hand held tester from LFS.

5g water changes every 1-2 weeks. System is 34g DT and 9g sump

 

[CoralWealth]

Just make sure the TDS is ALWAYS 0, never know what is in that 1. Have you checked your city water for chloramines? Mine has it and I had to get specific carbon filters for that and it helped alot.

How is coralline algae growth for you?

 

[W1ngz]

Toronto does use Chrloramine. That could explain your almost-but-not-quite 0 behaviour, but mostly I'd think that would just burn through resin quickly. It shouldn't make it out the other end.

Chlorine or Chloramine? A look at the Cities of Canada.

Canadian Cities Switching to Chloramine? Learn why cities are replacing chlorine with chloramine for disinfection. Learn now with Aquatell!

www.aquatell.ca

 

[destro]

Just make sure the TDS is ALWAYS 0, never know what is in that 1. Have you checked your city water for chloramines? Mine has it and I had to get specific carbon filters for that and it helped alot.

How is coralline algae growth for you?

I'm not sure how to go about checking my city water for chloramines, but I'll ask around and see what other hobbyist in the area know.

The coraline algae is spotty but definitely present. More on some rock than others.

 

[hyprc]

Didn't initially see the age of that particular tank. Might still be on the young side for SPS (I'd go montis first, the pricy ones tend to be more picky).

 

[jda]

Do you have access to a PAR meter? Any idea how much light you are getting on these? Could be quantity or quality. Do you happen to run any T5s and forgot list them - if so, then have them carry the load for a while until everything heals up.

 

[destro]

I picked up FX-CHLORA Carbon Block to replace a generic carbon block. This one cost 5 times more but indicates it reduces chloramines, chlorine and dissolved organically. Ran it for 15 minutes but TDS won’t go to zero (00PP) At least I know it will improve the water quality.
They didn’t have the TDS hand held meter in stock so I’ll probably order one to get a second measurement.

 

[motortrendz]

If your still.nor getting zero tds your di is probably exhausted as well. But I honestly think your issue is lighting based.

 

[destro]

All my sps have been re-homed in their original system and doing better. I don't think introducing SPS into a LPS dominant system will work out well for me. It's too difficult to please both in a small system.

SPS need higher par and stronger random flow (Reefcrest) while the LPS are acclimated to a medium flow (Lagoon) and lower par.

Perhaps it's time to plan for a new tank.

Thank you all for your input.

 

[W1ngz]

No one here will argue a new tank! If that's not practical, you can accomplish both with some creative rock work.

 

[destro]

The most incredible thing I've ever witness and wanted to share with you.

As you some of you know I've re-homed all my sps pieces. The burning banana and mystic montipora made close to 100% recovery in the system they originally grew out in. Very happy with this and I don't plan to take them back; simply donating them to a good home.

Now the miracle story. My "rainbow phoenix" or "beach baum" was re-homed same time as the others, but took a turn for the worst and went completely skeleton white - dead! (fully inspected) I was very disappointed with this one. I actually told my friend to toss it out, but he said he'd give it another few days. After a few days, we stopped talking about it and I already accepted the lost.

To my surprise (a week later) my friend showed me some recovery. HOW!? How is this even possible? Can corals revive from completely bleach?

I'll take some pictures soon.

 

[PatW]

It's funny b/c I ran into some issues with dino b/c nutrients bottomed out. I let the nutrients rise and quickly dino was gone. Where do you draw the line? haha

All of this is by guess and by gosh. We know that natural reefs often have far lower nitrates and phosphates than we run in reef tanks. But natural systems have high flows and they never see nutrient depletion. I have seen coral reefs completely destroyed in areas of really high nutrients.

In my own system, if my phosphate hits 0 on the Hanna ULR, the acros can show the effects. I do not know how high I can go without ill effects. I just know that 0 is not good. I shoot for .03 ppm or a bit higher.

For nitrates, I shoot for between 1 and 2 ppm as measured by Red Sea Pro. And that level seems to keep LPS, montipora, birds nests, acros and so on happy.

I have discovered that keeping nutrients really low will not eliminate algae. In facts cyano and Dino’s seem to do better with low nutrients. What keeps algae at bay is having decent grazers.

So as long as your grazers are dealing with the algae, you are fine for one part of the equation.

I do not know just how high you can go with nutrients. Vivid Aquariums likes nitrates below 2 ppm. Adam of Battlecorals does not seem to run really low phosphates. WWC seems to keep Levels low, have a fish and feed them often figuring that fish poop will feed everything. I suspect that each tank finds a balance and the parameters can vary quite a bit and still work.

 

[Undertaker]

I'm not sure how to go about checking my city water for chloramines, but I'll ask around and see what other hobbyist in the area know.

The coraline algae is spotty but definitely present. More on some rock than others.

Call your local water works they will send you out a report.