I have almost the exact set up and parameters. My Red Sea Max 260 is about 8 months old and not until about a month ago did my sps start to thrive and grow. It was very frustrating perhaps the tank is just still to young. I'm 0/3 on birdsnests which are supposedly easy, but my montipora digitata's, pociloporra, stylophora, and rainbow granulosa acro are all doing well. I started dosing some PO4 and Red Sea AB+ and that seems to be helping. Good Luck
SPS Corals: What am I doing wrong?
- Thread starter NigeltheBold
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AZ_Reef
Valuable Member
Maybe your flame angle was nipping on the corals when no one is watching. That’s what happed to my sps and he is in my sump now. Put him in the sump for few days and see if sps get any better.
NigeltheBold
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What does your lighting schedule look like? Do you use any additional powerheads/wavemakers other than the returns, or are the returns enough? I'm curious to see a pic of your setup if you wouldn't mind sharing.
Ryan Avery
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Very true! I mean when if you test at the same time everyday.
I have 2 MP10s on 60% reef crest, and I have an additional powerhead in the back on a timer that once every 2 hours for 15 minutes shoots behind the rock structure to stir everything up. I'm a first timer so take it for what it's worth.
mattdg
Well-Known Member
It is likely that your system is still settling in and one day in the near future, you will suddenly have some success. When it comes to SPS coral, patience and slow changes can not be overstated. It could also be that your trace elements are out of whack, if you are dosing too much. At the phase you are at, water changes with matching parameters are the best way to keep trace replenished. When the coral start taking up cal/alk, you can measure for more precise amounts of trace, such as the Red Sea program outlines. To my eye, the coral do not look light starved. If anything, they appear to be overlit. Perhaps, renting a PAR meter would help determine one way or the other and put your mind at ease. Best to know your lights are set optimally and never adjust them again.
Cwentz758
Do you even Reef bro?
I have two of the LED 50s and my SPS seem to be coming along fine. I run them at 55% blue and 5% white. BRS has a good par video on the 90. It throws out some par. You may be burning them. Especially with the lights intersecting in the middle of the tank.
willieboy240
Active Member
Search. Why can’t I keep sps on here. Anthony Pham goes into detail. Short answer is. Your tank is too young. Bio isn’t there.
NigeltheBold
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Makes sense. That would also sort of explain why I haven't seen much coraline algae yet. There's a few spots here and there, but not a lot. I think I will adjust my lighting and give the tank more time before attempting any more SPS Corals.
Agree with time. In about 6 months more or less, your success rate will shoot way up. I also am highly suspicious that the flame angel is or will cause problems. They are amazing fish though.
NowGlazeIT
Happy to help, Ask away.
Yea my tank swings 1+ dkh every day in a little 10g holding tank.
As others have mentioned, IMO acros take 1-1.5 years for a tank to mature before they'll do well. Until then, work on stabilizing your cal/alk/nitrate/phosphate and trying some easier sps like Birdsdnest and Montipora. When you think you might be ready for acros, try tester corals from the $10 rack at your lfs.
Knaszak
Community Member
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?
B S
OP your alk is too high and your po4 is too low. Get your po4 up to 0.10-0.20 ppm and bring your alk down to 8-8.5
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And get more fish. Sps like a lot of fish poop, so feed them multiple times a day
