SPS not looking great!

[Dan Kyle]

This is about where I keep my primes at

Is that with SPS corals too? Does anyone know if SPS should still be near the top with this setting? Im assuming lower down won’t be so good, they might not get enough lighting?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

You should be getting plenty of light for any coral
You’ll want to put acros higher up

 

[AngryOwl]

Read through the thread... I'm no expert and I struggle to keep acros myself... but in my opinion there are too many changes being thrown at this tank to help. If this was my tank I would start with 1 thing at a time and work my way into every solution over time.

1) Test and adjust par - I'd leave this for 2-3 weeks to see if there are any changes to the tanks condition
2) If no noticeable improvements I would reduce the Nopox dose from 1ml daily to 1ml every other day - try this for 1-2 weeks
3) If not noticeable improvements I would completely stop dosing Nopox and closely monitor nutrients for also 1-2 weeks
4) If things still are not improving and NO3 and PO4 are 'limited' I would look at adding more fish or feeding heavier
5) Reduce the skimmer run time
6) ICP test - you could also do this right now just to double check
7) If things haven't shown improvement by now I have no idea what to tell you - I'm just as lost as you lol

But really I think all the solutions provided are valid but you have to consider that everyone making a suggestion to you implemented that individual solution vs throwing 5 different changes at the tank. Also IMO if you do too many things all at once... you will never know what the 'smoking gun' was. You and everyone on this thread will never learn what solution helped. Just my 2 cents and I hope to see updates showing a turn around for you!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Read through the thread... I'm no expert and I struggle to keep acros myself... but in my opinion there are too many changes being thrown at this tank to help. If this was my tank I would start with 1 thing at a time and work my way into every solution over time.

1) Test and adjust par - I'd leave this for 2-3 weeks to see if there are any changes to the tanks condition
2) If no noticeable improvements I would reduce the Nopox dose from 1ml daily to 1ml every other day - try this for 1-2 weeks
3) If not noticeable improvements I would completely stop dosing Nopox and closely monitor nutrients for also 1-2 weeks
4) If things still are not improving and NO3 and PO4 are 'limited' I would look at adding more fish or feeding heavier
5) Reduce the skimmer run time
6) ICP test - you could also do this right now just to double check
7) If things haven't shown improvement by now I have no idea what to tell you - I'm just as lost as you lol

But really I think all the solutions provided are valid but you have to consider that everyone making a suggestion to you implemented that individual solution vs throwing 5 different changes at the tank. Also IMO if you do too many things all at once... you will never know what the 'smoking gun' was. You and everyone on this thread will never learn what solution helped. Just my 2 cents and I hope to see updates showing a turn around for you!

His corals don’t have 6-8 weeks worth of life left to do a trial and error test, and it’s only 3 changes. Raise nutrients, SLOWLY drop alk and increase lighting.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Read through the thread... I'm no expert and I struggle to keep acros myself... but in my opinion there are too many changes being thrown at this tank to help. If this was my tank I would start with 1 thing at a time and work my way into every solution over time.

1) Test and adjust par - I'd leave this for 2-3 weeks to see if there are any changes to the tanks condition
2) If no noticeable improvements I would reduce the Nopox dose from 1ml daily to 1ml every other day - try this for 1-2 weeks
3) If not noticeable improvements I would completely stop dosing Nopox and closely monitor nutrients for also 1-2 weeks
4) If things still are not improving and NO3 and PO4 are 'limited' I would look at adding more fish or feeding heavier
5) Reduce the skimmer run time
6) ICP test - you could also do this right now just to double check
7) If things haven't shown improvement by now I have no idea what to tell you - I'm just as lost as you lol

But really I think all the solutions provided are valid but you have to consider that everyone making a suggestion to you implemented that individual solution vs throwing 5 different changes at the tank. Also IMO if you do too many things all at once... you will never know what the 'smoking gun' was. You and everyone on this thread will never learn what solution helped. Just my 2 cents and I hope to see updates showing a turn around for you!

I appreciate your input and I honestly believe there is two factors that has effected my SPS. Lack of nutrients and lighting. While I thought my lighting was ideal it seems not. I’ve now got my lighting on acclimation for a month. I’ve only took my skimmer offline for a week. I may go a little longer depending on what my NO3 levels read when I test again in a week. Alk I’m just letting that drop naturally. I’m confident from advice that I’m in the right direction and I don’t think the changes being made is too much. Least I hope not.

 

[AngryOwl]

I appreciate your input and I honestly believe there is two factors that has effected my SPS. Lack of nutrients and lighting. While I thought my lighting was ideal it seems not. I’ve now got my lighting on acclimation for a month. I’ve only took my skimmer offline for a week. I may go a little longer depending on what my NO3 levels read when I test again in a week. Alk I’m just letting that drop naturally. I’m confident from advice that I’m in the right direction and I don’t think the changes being made is too much. Least I hope not.

I'm looking forward to seeing updates!

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I just noticed the comment on nopox. Nopox was instrumental in killing all my sps. Your corals appear to be stressed and starving them selves. I’d like to know your hydra settings but in my experience nopox stressed my acros and they shut off all of their biological processes. I also didn’t have the highest quality of par and spectrum. I have a similar sized tank with 2 hydra 52 HD’s at 100 watts per fixture using the BRS ab+ clone program.
I’ve had 100% success since I dropped nopox and gfo. I’ve actually just removed my skimmer last week because my acros/sps are consuming so many nutrients now that they’re happy. I also keep my alk from 6.5-7.

I noticed on mine that once I got my alk up to around 9.3 my red montipora digitata has retracted all its polyps and looks very dull compared to how it did look. when I was at 7- 7.5 I free like madame it was consuming 1.5 dkh per day now it's higher it uses not alot maybe 0.25 and growth is little to none. Before and after as you can see it is pale

 

[Dan Kyle]

I noticed on mine that once I got my alk up to around 9.3 my red montipora digitata has retracted all its polyps and looks very dull compared to how it did look. when I was at 7- 7.5 I free like madame it was consuming 1.5 dkh per day now it's higher it uses not alot maybe 0.25 and growth is little to none. Before and after as you can see it is pale

These pictures are interesting. I did once read that the lower NO3 and PO4 levels you should be aiming for lower alk. I’ve been running a low nutrient system with a ‘higher’ KH and they aren’t doing well so I believe there is a lot of truth to this and you have just proved that.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The common approach to sps is low alk with low to ultra low nutrients and higher, but not too high for moderate to higher nutrients. I like low alk across the board because it leaves me a buffer if my nutrients drop or bottom out. I don’t believe higher alk adds much in terms of faster growth, especially if it causes stress to sps. I’ve been told if it does add faster growth the skeleton is actually more brittle with higher alk systems.

 

[Dan Kyle]

The common approach to sps is low alk with low to ultra low nutrients and higher, but not too high for moderate to higher nutrients. I like low alk across the board because it leaves me a buffer if my nutrients drop or bottom out. I don’t believe higher alk adds much in terms of faster growth, especially if it causes stress to sps. I’ve been told if it does add faster growth the skeleton is actually more brittle with higher alk systems.

I agree with you. I would never look for accelerated growth because I don’t believe they would build a strong as structure. I could be very much wrong but that’s just my view on it.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I agree with you. I would never look for accelerated growth because I don’t believe they would build a strong as structure. I could be very much wrong but that’s just my view on it.

Mine grew quite fast, well for me anyway as this is the first tank I've had with sps in it so my growth of these from 2 x 1 inch frags 1 of each encrusted for ages then shot upwards.
Now with higher alk I don't notice much growth on either green or red.

Also I have taken my skimmer off line and started to feed a little more. I only have 3 fish in there so I didn't put much food in so not much waste for the corals to use as food and with high alk and low neutrient I think this has a minor set back for the corals in general, including the LPS. The tank is a sumpless 24x18x18 hence why not loads of fish.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Mine grew quite fast, well for me anyway as this is the first tank I've had with sps in it so my growth of these from 2 x 1 inch frags 1 of each encrusted for ages then shot upwards.
Now with higher alk I don't notice much growth on either green or red.

Also I have taken my skimmer off line and started to feed a little more. I only have 3 fish in there so I didn't put much food in so not much waste for the corals to use as food and with high alk and low neutrient I think this has a minor set back for the corals in general, including the LPS. The tank is a sumpless 24x18x18 hence why not loads of fish.

That is a beautiful reef! The colours pop. I know what you mean by not feeding much because you don’t have many fish. I only have one fish to date because all the rest got wiped out from velvet. So I haven’t been feeding much myself. I feed my goby twice a day at the moment because of the issues I’m having.

I’m in a little awkward situation right now because every fish died apart from the goby. He is literally bullet proof. He is doing great! But I can’t introduce anymore fish to join him because I worry they will get velvet and I really need the stock so I can feed my tank more. It’s a bit of a horrible situation currently.

Also just to add on what you mentioned about low nutrients and higher alk, I agree completely. Not only have I witnessed this myself but I’m hearing a few of you saying the same so I think the goal is to low nutrients and lower alk levels. Higher nutrients would need higher alk. Just out of interest, what do you keep your NO3 and PO4 levels at?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

That is a beautiful reef! The colours pop. I know what you mean by not feeding much because you don’t have many fish. I only have one fish to date because all the rest got wiped out from velvet. So I haven’t been feeding much myself. I feed my goby twice a day at the moment because of the issues I’m having.

I’m in a little awkward situation right now because every fish died apart from the goby. He is literally bullet proof. He is doing great! But I can’t introduce anymore fish to join him because I worry they will get velvet and I really need the stock so I can feed my tank more. It’s a bit of a horrible situation currently.

Also just to add on what you mentioned about low nutrients and higher alk, I agree completely. Not only have I witnessed this myself but I’m hearing a few of you saying the same so I think the goal is to low nutrients and lower alk levels. Higher nutrients would need higher alk. Just out of interest, what do you keep your NO3 and PO4 levels at?

Ah the thing is I haven't tested for nitrates or phosphates as I am awaiting new kits the phosphate I have said zero but I know that's a lie as algae on the glass and I'm having an issue with cyano and now I'm feeding a little more that is slowly dieing back and the nitrate says 20 but that's debatable I don't trust the kits to be honest. I've been reefing for close to 13 years and you can just tell things aren't quite right. This tank was set up in August 2016 with stock from my old tank. I'm juggling 3 nanos at the moment using the same water (Nsw) and the other 2 just have a pair of clowns in each and they are all different. Bloody madness.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Ah the thing is I haven't tested for nitrates or phosphates as I am awaiting new kits the phosphate I have said zero but I know that's a lie as algae on the glass and I'm having an issue with cyano and now I'm feeding a little more that is slowly dieing back and the nitrate says 20 but that's debatable I don't trust the kits to be honest. I've been reefing for close to 13 years and you can just tell things aren't quite right. This tank was set up in August 2016 with stock from my old tank. I'm juggling 3 nanos at the moment using the same water (Nsw) and the other 2 just have a pair of clowns in each and they are all different. Bloody madness.

I’m in the same boat myself. Currently my nitrates are reading at 0.75 and my phosphates are at 0.03 but I get a little milky haze on my glass every day or two that needs cleaning off. I also have very small patches of hair algae in some areas and red slime at the back of the tank that just won’t go away so I ask myself... is my system low in nutrients or am I seeing this reading because nuisance algae’s are consuming the nutrients which is giving me low test results. It’s frustrating to say the least.

 

[Dan Kyle]

Quick update - my Monti and Stylo has definitely died so I’ve removed them from my reef. None of my other SPS are looking any better. I’m beginning to lose another Monti. Going the same way as the one in the original post.

Water tests as of today (02/02/19);

PH - 8.4
NO3 - 16 (suspicious result, 5 days ago it was 0.75) low resolution test was 4ppm so I did a high resolution test and it was 1ppm, multiply that reading by 16 = 16. I did feed the tank an hour before testing so this could have effected the result? Not a good move on my part, I know.
PO4 - 0.01 (before it was 0.03)
Alk - 8.4 (not changed) Quite normal considering
Cal - 420

To summaries I’m confused entirely on these results. The dramatic difference in a matter of days. All tests have been carried out by Red Sea. I don’t know whether the PO4 is a false result as I do have little spots of GHA in certain parts of the tank. NO3 result has jumped significantly in my opinion from that of 0.75. Feeding an hour before may be the reason for this? I will test again tomorrow before feeding.

If my PO4 levels are at 0.01 then I’m not at all surprised my SPS are dying so that would make sense. My LPS aren’t effected though other than my acans. They aren’t as expanded as they should be.

Ultimately I think because I only have one fish my system is just not getting anywhere near enough nutrients BUT I can’t add anymore fish because I recently had a velvet outbreak which wiped out all but one. I would like to say he is doing good because he is eating like a pig. He doesn’t have a dust coating on him like he once did and he isn’t swimming directly in the current like they all did before they got wiped out. Do I have the green light to buy anymore fish? Or should I still go fallow for 76 days? Of course going fallow my corals are suffering so this is the situation I’m in right now. I was considering going fallow for the 76 days and maybe buying shrimps like cleaner shrimps just to keep my nutrient levels higher. Shrimps are immune to velvet disease, right?

Regardless any suggestions at this point will be considered because I feel like nothing is going to improve at this point.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Did you get new corals on Tuesday?

 

[Dan Kyle]

Did you get new corals on Tuesday?

Thankfully not. Because of weather conditions we agreed to hold shipment.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Thankfully not. Because of weather conditions we agreed to hold shipment.

Stay the course. I predicted they were goners. What all do you have in there now?

 

[Dan Kyle]

Stay the course. I predicted they were goners. What all do you have in there now?

I have acans, long tentacle plate coral, torch and a brain. The acans aren’t expanding as much as they normally do. The plate coral is also the same. Tentacles aren’t reaching out very much. It’s not the light because they was like this before I adjusted and acclimated to new settings.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I have acans, long tentacle plate coral, torch and a brain. The acans aren’t expanding as much as they normally do. The plate coral is also the same. Tentacles aren’t reaching out very much. It’s not the light because they was like this before I adjusted and acclimated to new settings.

The light shouldn’t of changed much with the acclimation period. Give it a couple more weeks with weekly water changes. I don’t have any experience with sick fish, as I’ve never had a sick fish in my 18 years of reefing, so sorry, I’m no help there. They’ve either been alive or just died.
Did you have any sps that were good before the changes?