SPS Ninjas - guidance required

[Shaun_in_Cali]

@Chaswood79 its a standard 120G, 4'x2'x2', three kessils with equal spacing although biased ever so slightly towards the front of the tank.

So on testing Nitrates again - first time since Thursday the NO3 with the Red Sea test kit is essentially undetectable so 0. I have 4 x ceramic plates. @Macdaddynick1 - I see and register your above advice - with respect to this current piece - it has lost a little colour though not all and also does appear to have growth. Do you think I should just ride it out? maybe increase feeding and remove filter socks? The remainder of my corals (though only 3 weeks old) look in good condition with good polyp extension;

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Gents, thanks - I'll take the advice and stay chill. As I said it seems to be extending in areas., though I do think there has been a little colour loss, particularly on the right side. Thankyou for the prompt advice.

Cheers,

Shaun

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Apologies for the delay - Alk just measured between 9.2-9.5 using Red Sea reef foundation pro

You will need to measure this more precisely keeping SPS. A swing from 9.2 to 9.5 is enough to kill some corals. The most important thing is to regularly measure alkalinity (about 3x a week) and be ready to start daily dosing once your new frags settle in and start growing.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

I've noticed the biggest change to my display, and acros in particular, with the addition of a doser. My tank is much more stable. And I have had to start dosing nitrates and phosphates a couple of times a week.
My Blueberry Fields has suddenly really started to show growth, as well as my millies.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Red dragon is sensitive to certain things, no surprise a larger frag got stressed from the nitrate drop or even something else smaller possibly. I wouldn’t worry if everything else looks good, changing stuff now will just stress the system more.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

You will need to measure this more precisely keeping SPS. A swing from 9.2 to 9.5 is enough to kill some corals. The most important thing is to regularly measure alkalinity (about 3x a week) and be ready to start daily dosing once your new frags settle in and start growing.

I agree with the majority of your advice but an alk swing of 9.2 to 9.5 is nothing to worry about. My alk swings from 8.0- 9.0 every 24 hours and always has. Blaming coral issues on micro alk swings is complete nonsense. The majority of aquarium coral stress comes from starvation, either not enough light, fish poop or both.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Get those nitrates back up to 5-10 and things will be much happier. Alos borrow a PAR meter. Kessils are not the best light for SPS so you'll want to know exeactly where you stand PAR wise.

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Get those nitrates back up to 5-10 and things will be much happier. Alos borrow a PAR meter. Kessils are not the best light for SPS so you'll want to know exeactly where you stand PAR wise.

Thanks for all the advice gents. I received my Hanna Phosphate checker this morning and promptly ran a couple of tests. Results 0.28ppm for Phosphate.

So to sum up
Salinity 1.025
NH3/NO2/NO3 0
Calc 450
Alk 9.2
Mag 1520
PO4 0.28

any suggestions for a path forward - looking to reduce PO4 and potentially slightly increase NO3 (which may be achievable by removing the ceramic media). Edit to add I will be away with work for the next week, so I probably won't change anything until at least next weekend.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Thanks for all the advice gents. I received my Hanna Phosphate checker this morning and promptly ran a couple of tests. Results 0.28ppm for Phosphate.

So to sum up
Salinity 1.025
NH3/NO2/NO3 0
Calc 450
Alk 9.2
Mag 1520
PO4 0.28

any suggestions for a path forward - looking to reduce PO4 and potentially slightly increase NO3 (which may be achievable by removing the ceramic media). Edit to add I will be away with work for the next week, so I probably won't change anything until at least next weekend.

Dosing no3 will make po4 drop some, but I would not get it in the habit of chasing po4 unless they are much much much higher. My po4 fluctuates between 0.15 and 0.30 and my sps are very happy.

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Okay, thanks for the advice.

 

[SeaDweller]

Am I wrong in seeing the tissue peeling away? I can’t tell exactly from your pic, but it looks like TN. RD can be finicky, I have a colony that had tissue loss at the base because of lack of flow, but when moved, it stopped. Sometimes they die at the base as they grow. Luckily they’re cheap so if you lose yours, don’t worry about it too much.

 

[MARK M. DAVIS]

Red dragon likes medium, not direct, flow and grows deeper magenta in higher light. Direct flow and skin peels.

 

[Joedubyk]

DEFINITELY get or borrow a par meter. Kessils do not put out a lot of par, which can be a good thing in a lot of ways. But until you get a par meter you'll never know. I have 4 at 50 color and 85% intensity + 2 reef brites over a 108G i barely get 330 to the tops of my SPS colonies 3/4 way up the tank. They CAN grow coral and do so very well, but you really need to know what you're getting to the coral first

 

[madweazl]

You will need to measure this more precisely keeping SPS. A swing from 9.2 to 9.5 is enough to kill some corals. The most important thing is to regularly measure alkalinity (about 3x a week) and be ready to start daily dosing once your new frags settle in and start growing.

A change in .3 dKh isn't going to kill any coral.

As for lighting, 250-300 is likely generous at 100% intensity. Four A360WEs produced a max of 265-285 PAR in our 150g (5x2x2) in areas of heavy overlap from three arrays. Also, 60% color produces the highest PAR output; it falls off fairly sharply on either side of that. This was mounted 9" off the water.

You mentioned the nitrates dropped from 20 to 1; was that while the coral was present and how quickly did that happen? A large shift in parameters can exacerbate issues with stressed corals. The phosphate levels you have arent ideal but bring them down slowly if you chose to do so.

 

[Joedubyk]

A change in .3 dKh isn't going to kill any coral.

As for lighting, 250-300 is likely generous at 100% intensity. Four A360WEs produced a max of 265-285 PAR in our 150g (5x2x2) in areas of heavy overlap from three arrays. Also, 60% color produces the highest PAR output; it falls off fairly sharply on either side of that. This was mounted 9" off the water.

You mentioned the nitrates dropped from 20 to 1; was that while the coral was present and how quickly did that happen? A large shift in parameters can exacerbate issues with stressed corals. The phosphate levels you have arent ideal but bring them down slowly if you chose to do so.

agree x100. On everything. I as stated above, a couple of kessils really do not put out much par. In some ways, that's a good thing so it's harder to torch corals. He really should get his hands on a par meter if he wants to successfully keep and grow SPS