SPS Corals: What am I doing wrong?

[NigeltheBold]

I have a Red Sea Max E260 (69 gallon) tank with two Reef90 LED lights, the built-in protein skimmer, about 50 pounds of live rock, a handful of various Corals, a healthy maxima clam and a few happy fish. With the exception of a chunk of pink pocillopora, I can't seem to keep SPS Corals alive for more than a couple of weeks. My zoas are doing well and multiplying. My maxima clam is doing well and showing signs of growth. My parameters are all pretty solid, and I even sent a sample of water to ATI for testing, and the results were pretty good. I'm wondering if my lights aren't powerful enough, or maybe my SPS Corals aren't placed high enough in the tank. I'd rather not have all of my SPS so close to the surface, and it can be tough to pile live rock that high. I'm also wondering if my light cycle is too long (see below).

The tank has been set up for about 6 months.

Here's a picture of my setup:

Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2-8.3
Temp: 77
Nitrate: 5ppm
Phosphate: .03ppm
Alk: 8.5-9.5
Calcium: 450
Mag: 1500

Both filtration pumps are on full power, and I've attached two random-directional flow nozzles to them. So I think the tank is getting plenty of flow. Trace elements added weekly. Lights at full power white and full power blue for about 8 hours per day, plus 6 hours of ramp up/down for a total light cycle of 14 hours. SPS seem to do well for the first week or so (polyp extension, great color), and then I start to see their polyps less, and color starts to fade. I'm also seeing some tissue peeling/dying on some frags (I'll try to post some pics next). What am I doing wrong?

 

[NigeltheBold]

 

[Juniorh2r]

What kind of lights do you have?

 

[NigeltheBold]

What kind of lights do you have?

Two Red Sea Reef LED 90s. They're mounted on the arms above the tank. They're about 8" above the surface. There's no way to lower the arms any lower than that.

 

[Ryan Avery]

First, in my opinion your photo period is too long. I would do a 11 hour photo period with a one hour ramp up and down. I have the reef LED lights and they are plenty powerful. You also need to be acclimating your frags if you running you lights at full power. Also, for acros your parameters can’t be “pretty solid” . Your all needs to be spot on day after day. Hope this helps

 

[NigeltheBold]

First, in my opinion your photo period is too long. I would do a 11 hour photo period with a one hour ramp up and down. I have the reef LED lights and they are plenty powerful. You also need to be acclimating your frags if you running you lights at full power. Also, for acros your parameters can’t be “pretty solid” . Your all needs to be spot on day after day. Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply. Are your Reef LED 90s mounted on arms about 8" above the surface? I'm wondering if mine are too high, but I have them the way Red Sea intended them to be (using the arms).

My parameters don't fluctuate much from what I listed above. Do you see anything wrong with those numbers?

 

[miniChou]

Do you not have any wave pumps? If your flow is only coming from your returns, then I would say you don't have enough flow.

 

[AZ_Reef]

I have never seen anyone use full white. May be turn it down a little bite? What’s your par?

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

I agree that the light period is too long, also flow could be improved by additional powerhead units. I only see one fish in the photo, are there more? Coral needs fish poo to live.

 

[NigeltheBold]

I have never seen anyone use full white. May be turn it down a little bite? What’s your par?

I don't have a PAR meter, but I was going by this illustration from Red Sea's website. According to this, I should have enough light for most SPS corals. But I don't know if it's accurate. Further down the page, it says that having both blue and white at 100% should give me 90 watts and about 500 PAR at the surface.

 

[NigeltheBold]

I agree that the light period is too long, also flow could be improved by additional powerhead units. I only see one fish in the photo, are there more? Coral needs fish poo to live.

Yes, there are more fish. I have a flame angel (he has not been seen nipping at any corals or inverts), a copperband butterfly (same), an ocellaris clown, and a spotted mandarin. I'll shorten the light cycle a bit. Would you also recommend 11 hours total?

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

11 hours is good. Wondering if the flame is doing some midnight snacking when no one is watching too. Try the lights first, then maybe isolate the flame if the problem persists.

 

[dadnjesse]

I don't have a PAR meter, but I was going by this illustration from Red Sea's website. According to this, I should have enough light for most SPS corals. But I don't know if it's accurate. Further down the page, it says that having both blue and white at 100% should give me 90 watts and about 500 PAR at the surface.

I wouldn't trust their website the only way to know is rent a par meter. Was the rock live or dead live rock?

 

[NigeltheBold]

11 hours is good. Wondering if the flame is doing some midnight snacking when no one is watching too. Try the lights first, then maybe isolate the flame if the problem persists.

Okay, I'll give the lighting a shot. What would you recommend for more water flow? Does it need to be a wavemaker or just a powerhead?

 

[Ryan Avery]

I am using the Red Sea arms at 8 inches. I only run mine at 85 percent and my sps are growing really well. Not enough light is definitely not your problem, if anything they are getting too much light too quickly. People that are blasting there corals with high par acclimated those corals to that much light over a period of time

 

[Ryan Avery]

Also, generally you don’t want your alk to swing any more then .2 dkh a day

 

[NigeltheBold]

I wouldn't trust their website the only way to know is rent a par meter. Was the rock live or dead live rock?

I used dry rock on the bottom and live rock on the top. Probably about 60% live rock and 40% dry rock.

 

[NigeltheBold]

I am using the Red Sea arms at 8 inches. I only run mine at 85 percent and my sps are growing really well. Not enough light is definitely not your problem, if anything they are getting too much light too quickly. People that are blasting there corals with high par acclimated those corals to that much light over a period of time

Just curious, are your SPS corals located near the surface? Or at varying depths? And do you run your blue lights and white lights at the same level?

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Okay, I'll give the lighting a shot. What would you recommend for more water flow? Does it need to be a wavemaker or just a powerhead?

You're already all redsea, I'd get their gyre pump.

 

[dadnjesse]

Also, generally you don’t want your alk to swing any more then .2 dkh a day

You might think that until you get a automated tester, you would be surprised how much of an Alkalinity swing your tank goes through on a full day.