Sps issues

scabbedwings616 · Jul 4, 2020

I have a few acros and a few monti caps that are doing well. Whenever I get a new frag, it typically doesn’t do well. Tank parameters have been stable for a while now. Over 3 months. Recently got a trident which makes it much better and able to watch, calcium reactor is dialed in well. I am at a loss on what it could be. No I haven’t done an icp test cause of the monti caps were dying it would have happened already. I have two tanks connected to the same system and one sump. The other tanks fine and no issues at all. Any help would be great.

Charlie’s Frags · Jul 4, 2020

scabbedwings616 said:
I have a few acros and a few monti caps that are doing well. Whenever I get a new frag, it typically doesn’t do well. Tank parameters have been stable for a while now. Over 3 months. Recently got a trident which makes it much better and able to watch, calcium reactor is dialed in well. I am at a loss on what it could be. No I haven’t done an icp test cause of the monti caps were dying it would have happened already. I have two tanks connected to the same system and one sump. The other tanks fine and no issues at all. Any help would be great.

Acros and montis do fine in one tank and not the other that is part of the same system?

((FORDTECH)) · Jul 4, 2020

What is difference of flow and lights in each tank

((FORDTECH)) · Jul 4, 2020

I’m having same issue but with chalice corals doing well in 1 tank but not other in same system

scabbedwings616 · Jul 4, 2020

Chaswood79 said:
Acros and montis do fine in one tank and not the other that is part of the same system?

No, just the display one. It has been struggling. I use the montis from my other tanks to test to see how they are doing.

Flippers4pups · Jul 4, 2020

What is the main issues with them? Growth, color, polyp extension.....etc.

scabbedwings616 · Jul 4, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
What is the main issues with them? Growth, color, polyp extension.....etc.

All of the above. Poly extension and growth. In the tank I have an mp40 and a maxspect 250. I also have a jabeo in there that I turn on to get the back for an hour a day.

Flippers4pups · Jul 4, 2020

Key points as factors:

*Health of frags before purchasing. Freshly cut frags aways struggle.

*Water parameters. Need some nutrients for color and growth. N03 at 5-10 ppm and P04 around trace .02. Calcium around 400-500. Mag around 1400. Alkalinity somewhere between 8-11 dkh. RO/DI always.

Good video to watch:

*Lights. Light intensity around 200-300 Par. Spectrum- full spectrum with 400+nm range. Photoperiod- 6 hours full intensity, 8-10 hours blue spectrum.

*Flow. As high as you can get it without damaging tissue and other corals such as LPS and softies and not cause a sand storm.

*Coral pests. Dip every coral!

*Bacteria. Dry rock must be supplemented with "live" rock from a established system or the ocean. It's is well known that tanks with nothing more than dry rock struggle with SPS to become established and flourish, why? Bacterial strains associated with live rock essential for SPS coral health. Bottled bacteria doesn't seem to have all those strains. Goes hand in hand in helping prevent STN and RTN. helps but doesn't always keep it from happening.

*Tank maturity. Tanks with SPS seem to do better at the one year mark +. Why? Bacterial strains, tank husbandry is established and the tank becomes more stable helping with keeping nuisance algae away.

*And finally, stability. Goes hand in hand with above.

All of the above is been my experience, your milage may vary.

Expect new frags to take months to become established and encrust.

scabbedwings616 · Jul 4, 2020

Tanks about 4 years old now. Just added the frag tank last month to the display. As you can see it’s been stable for the past week and all. I just got the trident, and I have not gotten the dkh past 10. The dip in the graph was my regulator going bad and having to replace it.

Charlie’s Frags · Jul 4, 2020

What are your no3/po4? Sps frags do much better with po4 in the 0.08-0.12 range, and I never had any success using gfo or Carbon dosing with sps frags.

scabbedwings616 · Jul 5, 2020

I will have to test. I only have the api test kit for no3. Po4 I’ll test to see where it is at. I have two different types of birdnests and they are all fine. Typically they don’t do well for me.