Sps not doing well. Help

[Medmondsii]

Hello all and thanks for all the help you guys give me. I have a sps coral that has been in the tank for 2 and half weeks and now is starting to RTN. I would some suggestions non what I'm doing wrong here? I will post my water parameter in the next post.

 

[Medmondsii]

Water parameters
Salinity 34 ppt
Alk 9.7
Cal 442
Mag 1470
Ph in picture
Po4 in picture ran 2x
Nitrate in picture

 

[IslandLifeReef]

How big is your tank? How old? What type of lighting?

PO4 looks like 0.5 which is high. Alk at 9.7 dKh is high IMO.

 

[Medmondsii]

How big is your tank? How old? What type of lighting?

PO4 looks like 0.5 which is high. Alk at 9.7 dKh is high IMO.

My display tank is 280 gal. And have 45 gal sump.

 

[Medmondsii]

How do I get po4 down?

I hope this piece don't die. I have some frags in qt now and don't want to move them to the display tank until I know everything is alright.

 

[moz71]

How old is your tank? And did you have parameter swings lately. Common in new tanks which would cause this. GFO would get phosphate down but things need to be stable. I see you are using API test kits. I found them to be off some times

 

[Medmondsii]

How old is your tank? And did you have parameter swings lately. Common in new tanks which would cause this. GFO would get phosphate down but things need to be stable. I see you are using API test kits. I found them to be off some times

My tank is over 1 yrs old. I hope api isn't too far off. I started add esv aquatic 2 part. I want to raise cal and alk a bit. Now that my parameters are in spec. I have stopped for now.

 

[moz71]

My tank is over 1 yrs old. I hope api isn't too far off. I started add esv aquatic 2 part. I want to raise cal and alk a bit. Now that my parameters are in spec. I have stopped for now.

Hmm usually you have to continuously add two part to keep up with demand. When you say you stopped the 2 part how long was that. That may be your swings!!!For instance I have my 2 part on automatic doser. Dosing ever day to keep it stable. The more corals you get the more you have to dose every day. This is what I am now thinking is your issue. I lost several corals once when my doser malfunctioned and alk dropped

 

[moz71]

Also when you added how much did you raise it. Too quick is not good. Also regarding API test kits. I was being nice before as there will be many people on here saying they are junk and would not trust them. Just as example I use the Hanna digital checkers. Yes more money but I also hated reading color charts as impossible to gauge

 

[Rmckoy]

Before lowering phosphates , try with another kit other than api .
same for nitrates and alk .

knowing what they are one day , doesn’t suggest stability , try testing alk and nutrients everyday at the same time for 5 days

looks like either a immature system or parameter fluctuations

 

[Rmckoy]

Question …
Why would you want to raise alk higher?

nsw is around 7-7.5
The higher the alk , the more you have to dose to maintain the same level .

 

[brahm]

tbh it would be tough to answer without a fair bit more info.

A snapshot of your parameters doesn't really offer much as we can't tell if you are were at 8DKH yesterday and 9.5 today. Ideally, you'd keep a log (spreadsheet) with your parameters to get an idea of how much things are swinging.

We also don't really know much about your tank, what your flow or lighting is like, your husbandry practices, what other corals you have in there, your husbandry practices, and so on. Maybe you do water changes once a week maybe you never do, maybe you have an ATO maybe you toss in 5-gallon bucket of sink water once every two weeks to top it off.. way too many variables.

As for the coral it's self again not a lot of info, was it shipped to you, bought in a store, what did it look like before it started to RTN, as far as we know it could have been already dying. Looking at the plug it doesn't look like the coral was encrusting on to it, why not necessarily a bad thing on it's own it's a tell that this wasn't a piece that was actively growing in someones system before being sold.

 

[ZoWhat]

Acro looks freshly cut and plopped on a dab of super glue

Whoever you bought it from obviously just cut the tip off and glued it and sold it.

Not the way to buy Acros.

Tips or nubs need to be HEALED in the same tank they came from.

You should NEVER buy a freshly cut Acro and then acclimate it to a different saltwater tank with different parameters.

Always buy frag that shows grow ONTO the frag plug

It has a very little chance of survival...cut, glued and sold.

Look like Seller got 'cher money on a quick chopshop

 

[Medmondsii]

Before lowering phosphates , try with another kit other than api .
same for nitrates and alk .

knowing what they are one day , doesn’t suggest stability , try testing alk and nutrients everyday at the same time for 5 days

looks like either a immature system or parameter fluctuations

For cal and alk I'm using Hana checker.
For mag I'm using salifer kit
For everything else using api.

 

[Medmondsii]

Acro looks freshly cut and plopped on a dab of super glue

Whoever you bought it from obviously just cut the tip off and glued it and sold it.

Not the way to buy Acros.

Tips or nubs need to be HEALED in the same tank they came from.

You should NEVER buy a freshly cut Acro and then acclimate it to different saltwater and parameters.

Always buy frag that shows grow ONTO the frag plug

It has a very little chance of survival...cut, glued and sold.

Look like Seller got 'cher money on a quick chopshop

I bought this frag a the lfs on black Friday. I am a nub when it come to buying frags and I learning a lesson right now for sure.

 

[moz71]

I bought this frag a the lfs on black Friday. I am a nub when it come to buying frags and I learning a lesson right now for sure.

Hey don’t beat yourself up! Many (if not all) of us been there. Unfortunately I learned many expensive lessons but still jugging along . Just too addicted.

 

[Medmondsii]

tbh it would be tough to answer without a fair bit more info.

A snapshot of your parameters doesn't really offer much as we can't tell if you are were at 8DKH yesterday and 9.5 today. Ideally, you'd keep a log (spreadsheet) with your parameters to get an idea of how much things are swinging.

We also don't really know much about your tank, what your flow or lighting is like, your husbandry practices, what other corals you have in there, your husbandry practices, and so on. Maybe you do water changes once a week maybe you never do, maybe you have an ATO maybe you toss in 5-gallon bucket of sink water once every two weeks to top it off.. way too many variables.

As for the coral it's self again not a lot of info, was it shipped to you, bought in a store, what did it look like before it started to RTN, as far as we know it could have been already dying. Looking at the plug it doesn't look like the coral was encrusting on to it, why not necessarily a bad thing on it's own it's a tell that this wasn't a piece that was actively growing in someones system before being sold.

I was thinking keeping my alk around 9. As it has dropped to 8.5. and wanted to keep cal around high 400 to lower 500 . So I started to dose very slowly 14 ml every other day .
I don't have a bunch of coral in my tank at the moment. I have 1 green torch, 1 favia, 1 superman sps, and anemone.

 

[ZoWhat]

I bought this frag a the lfs on black Friday. I am a nub when it come to buying frags and I learning a lesson right now for sure.

I'd march right back.in there and demand recourse

They should know better.

Any reputable LFS would not sell a freshly cut acro without signs of growth and healing.

SHYSTERS.... In my book bc IMO fresh cut acros have about a 5% survival rate going from one tank to another without healing

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Try stylophoras or Pocillopora before Acro. I kept losing acros while green Stylo and pocillaporas did ok. After losing a ton of acros they finally took of at 1.5 year tank maturity. Check out my build thread to see how I suffered!

 

[i_am_mclovin]

Acro looks freshly cut and plopped on a dab of super glue

Whoever you bought it from obviously just cut the tip off and glued it and sold it.

Not the way to buy Acros.

Tips or nubs need to be HEALED in the same tank they came from.

You should NEVER buy a freshly cut Acro and then acclimate it to a different saltwater tank with different parameters.

Always buy frag that shows grow ONTO the frag plug

It has a very little chance of survival...cut, glued and sold.

Look like Seller got 'cher money on a quick chopshop

Not if you’re buying locally. Shipped frags should be healed yes.