SPS driving me crazy

[96silvia]

not very much of one. no my auto doser pretty much makes up for it during the day. if I didn't dose my guess is it would take about 2 weeks to be a noticible swing.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

When was the last time you did a full test and what was the results?

 

[96silvia]

greenstreet I have tested at different times during the day and evening and I get the same results sunday night. I also ran the test when I first saw the mille rtn. both times results were the same.

my parameters:
nitrite 0
nitrate .02
po4 0
alk 9
cal 440
mag 1440
salinity 1.026

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Ok wish I could of helped bro good luck. Will be following.

 

[96silvia]

maybe this sounds crazy but after I got the 2 part dosing fine tuned My parameters don't change unless I do a water change. then the cal goes up and alk goes to 8.5 mag goes up to around 1500 for about a week then everything settles back down to the parameters I posted.

 

[96silvia]

thanks for the ideas if I figure this out I will post up. I am getting another frag of the palmers mille to try this again..

 

[Greenstreet.1]

What are you testing po4 with ?

 

[nl5882]

What are you testing po4 with ?

Second that. Also have u noticed any livestock problems?

 

[that Reef Guy]

Is it just me or is that cyno on the bottom right? If you have cyno I would have someone else check your water quality. You say you have 0 P04. What test kits are you using? Hard to believe you have A tds of 2, 0 Po4 and cyno. do you use somekind of P04 remover? Sorry for your loose. They were nice size colonys.

I find that Cyano normally comes from Lack of Flow and not Water Quality.

Also, SPS needs lots of Flow so that could explain why they are Dying.

Increasing the Flow will get rid of Cyano as well as possibley save the SPS.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Welcome to the world of sps. You have to check everything all the time, be paranoid, recheck, have someone else verify your checks. And then stuff still dies. You aim to control the factors we know about it, lighting, flow, nutrient export, alK, CA, Mag, Nitrate, PO4, temp, feeding, pests. You try to keep them stable. But there are more parameters to track, we just don't know what they are. So you try to be diligent, cautious, meticulous and keenly observant. And make sure your wife is okay with your SPS budget because it grows and grows.

Oh by the way. Its always alk, check everything else but its always alk. If you can keep alkalinity stable, then you are undoubtedly doing everything else right. I am not being flippant about alk, if you are measuring and observing your alK routinely then you are most likely measuring and observing all the other factors as well.

Man, you are scarring people away from SPS.

I have SPS and do very little of that.

I do big Water Changes Weekly.

I keep them High up on Racks (About 5 Inches under the Light).

I have a lot of Light and a lot of Flow and they do great.

I do not even check my Calcium or Magnesium because it always is so High.

I do not have a Fancy setup with Calcium Reactors and all that stuff either.

I do not even have a Sump.

My set up is very basic.

Yes, you do have to keep an eye out for pests but a 6 Line Wrasse can take of that.

P.S. My Alkalinity is the least stable thing in my aquarium right now.

Sometimes it will drop to 5

I do not know why people say that SPS is hard to do.

I find them easier to keep than most any other Coral.

 

[96silvia]

I can't remember the name of the kit. I will have to check that when I get home. no livestock problems at all.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

If alk is unstable you will always have sps problems.

 

[96silvia]

I am using nutrafin tests for po4. if I was having issues with alk I would understand that. but I am not so what else can I weed out.?

 

[96silvia]

as Promised here is a pic of the dead Palmer's mille

 

[Reef head]

That is crazy that you don't have all the fancy stuff and keep sps growing great. Sps doesn't like swing in alk, I try to keep it at 7-8. I don't think it is a scare tattic to say sps is harder to keep than most, I'd say it is the truth. Low end sps or lack of better words beginner sps would be able to do the swings and low alk of what you're stating. I personally would not want that with the amount of money to be subjected to chance of loss, but hey.... Everyone has their own ways I guess.

 

[EricTheRed]

maybe this sounds crazy but after I got the 2 part dosing fine tuned My parameters don't change unless I do a water change. then the cal goes up and alk goes to 8.5 mag goes up to around 1500 for about a week then everything settles back down to the parameters I posted.

If you want to avoid the swings from wc's you should look into a salt that is closer to nsw. The regular Red Sea (not the Pro) won't spike ca/alk/mg or the Tropic Marin PRO doesn't cause a spike. Stability...stability...

 

[Chameleon]

too little light it sounds like...bump up your intensity...maybe ad a 3rd one

 

[b_rad_G]

With 2 wp40 the issue isn't flow. I have 2 wp25 in my 125 and have literally blown the flesh off a frag halfway across the tank.

High phosphate will not kill sps unless it is a rapid change or they get choked out by algae.

The lack of light could be a problem. I have 84 full spectrum led and 4 t5ho over a 125 and run at 100% on blue and around 35% white.

Unless I missed it you didn't post pH. Do you know what the pH is? Do you have gas heat on the basement?

 

[b_rad_G]

After re reading the op....don't coral beauty's nip at most corals? Never had one and never researched them but I really **** most angels nipped?

 

[gregoryleonard]

Borrow a PAR meter and get some readings where the SPS are and see if the lighting is adequate enough for Mid-expert level SPS.
My $0.02 worth.