SPS Not thriving part 2

ps2cho · Jan 17, 2015

Continuation of previous thread since its been a good amount of time.

I am still having some problems with a number of SPS that haven't shown a hint of polyp extension and look really unhappy and have practically no growth at all.
Here are some photos overall.

Not ALL SPS are unhappy...some "Look" happy, but haven't growed much, if at all in the last 6 months. Others like the digi's in the photos look really unhappy on the verge of death.

The most obvious unhappy SPS are the birdsnest, digi's and my toadstool frag

Equipment/other:
Tank is 13 months old.
70g water volume
75x turnover water flow
SCA-302 skimmer...emptying probably every 3 days brown gunk
2x Reefbreeders Photon 24 LED's. Ramp from 0 to 45% 9am to 9pm.

Tank stats from today:
78f
7.89 ph
9.6 dkh
450 ca
1280 mg
.02-.04 po4
4-6 no3

Feeding dosing regime:
BRS dosers on Alk and Ca
Reef Energy Part A&B 6ml each morning

Twice a week I do 1 tsp of Reef Roids or similar
Twice a week I do 1 cap of Zooplankton + Phytoplankton

One cube of frozen each morning
Flake/pellets in the evening

Fish and inverts:
1x yellow tang
1x kole tang
2x clownfish
1x royal gramma
2x cleaner shrimp
1x sand sifting starfish
CUC snails and hermits

Maintenance:
Not much....Monthly 10% water changes (any more and po4 drops to ZERO)
Bag of Activated Carbon in overflow -- change every 3-4 weeks.
Clean the glass weekly...not much algae growth...

I have noticed that my alk has crept up from 8.5 so I am reducing the dosing amount to bring it back down. I also added some more mg to bring it back up to 1350
(I'll be honest I haven't checked any stats in the last 2 weeks because of a new job...BUT it was only the alk and mg that moved a little, rest has been identical)

I am hoping I have given as much detail as I can to help give an idea of why I am still not being successful??

Here are some photos:

rovster · Jan 17, 2015

I've had similar issues in the past. My suggestions would be to reduce your photoperiod to 7-8 hrs and let your alk drop to 8 or slightly below. Maybe cut back on filtration. I know many run their alk high but when I was running low nutrients any time my alk got above 8 my montis and birdsnest would suffer. This is just my experience. Just to cover all bases, may want to check potassium as well. Hope you figure it out.

Greg79 · Jan 17, 2015

I would check on potassium too it seems to be pretty important with my experience,with 10% wc monthly it might be pretty low(I dose twice a week)
And it's good to have grounding probe(probably not the issue) 15$,and maybe drop alk to 8.5 or so(mine is about7.5 but it's ulns)
Other than that looks like you're doing everything good
Btw with no3 4-6 I wouldn't dose any aminos or other coral food, fish poop is the best

ps2cho · Jan 17, 2015

Ok I ordered the red sea colors kit that had Fe K, and iodine.

I will also let the alk drop to 8. I did see a difference when dosing aminos so I might continue and watch the nitrates...

I will post up the potassium when it arrives Wednesday

Triggreef · Jan 18, 2015

Your K will probably be spot on. Doesn't look like much in terms of the load that your tank would be using up. Mine is pretty heavy stocked and the K was always pretty much spot on without dosing (other than c-balance) and very little water changes (using red sea test kit, confirmed by triton test). Depending on your specific dosing, that may even contain some K. I suggest to be careful with the coral colors kit. Those contain elements that are hard or impossible to test for with hobby kits.

kidtango · Jan 18, 2015

Get a triton test and get a good reading on the condition of your water. Do a check on your alk daily and record it. Stable alk and balanced nutrients are key for SPS. You may have high concentration of metal or whatever that is in your water that maybe causing your SPS to not respond so well. Feed your fish more. I feed heavily to keep a heavy load of nutrients. I don't think ULNS is good at all.

The best thing you can do is just test and study your tank. Everything tank is different. It is impossible for anyone here to really give you the exact answer that you're looking for to turn your reef around. Good luck and we hope to hear good news from ya.

Kid

Tek · Jan 18, 2015

How much carbon are you running? I had similar issues in the past so I went simple and removed all media. Water changes/skimmer only for nutrient export and things started to grow again. PE which was almost non existent came back.

Unless there is major growth I suggest not dosing anything besides the main 3(alk,ca,mg) when needed.

Triggreef · Jan 18, 2015

By the way, looking through your pics a second time, Stylo looks good, hydnophora looks good, euphylia looks good. Actually everything looks fine other than one or two digi that I could see, and one acro that looks like the base stn'd. That also looks like that stn was from some time ago since it is covered in coraline (or other growth) right up to where the living tissue is. PE looks okay on mostly everything except that one digi on the frag rack. Could that one have been stung by a neighbor?

Triggreef · Jan 18, 2015

kidtango said:
Get a triton test and get a good reading on the condition of your water. Do a check on your alk daily and record it. Stable alk and balanced nutrients are key for SPS. You may have high concentration of metal or whatever that is in your water that maybe causing your SPS to not respond so well. Feed your fish more. I feed heavily to keep a heavy load of nutrients. I don't think ULNS is good at all.

The best thing you can do is just test and study your tank. Everything tank is different. It is impossible for anyone here to really give you the exact answer that you're looking for to turn your reef around. Good luck and we hope to hear good news from ya.

Kid

And I second the triton test. But I believe I mentioned that in your previous thread.

ps2cho · Jan 18, 2015

I will do the triton test as well just in case.

jackson6745 · Jan 18, 2015

Have you considered a lighting change?

ritter6788 · Jan 18, 2015

What brand of carbon? There were some bad batches around a while back. Are you using Ro/DI with zero TDS?

ps2cho · Jan 18, 2015

jackson6745 said:
Have you considered a lighting change?

No since there are tons of people who have no issues with the Reefbreeders lights and stuff is growing fine.

Carbon is generic Petco. I will remove it, but I did before for about 2 months and it didn't make a large difference...but I will again either way.

jackson6745 · Jan 18, 2015

I remember reading all kinds of bad stuff about petco carbon.

ps2cho · Jan 18, 2015

I just ordered the Test from uniquecorals, so as soon as I get the results I will post them.
Until then -- I will remove the petco carbon "just in case".

Should I buy another brand and continue carbon, or stop altogether?

Tek · Jan 18, 2015

I suggested stopping. I haven't used carbon for over a year and my SPS are growing great.

that Reef Guy · Jan 19, 2015

Tek said:
I suggested stopping. I haven't used carbon for over a year and my SPS are growing great.

So Carbon affects your SPS Negatively?

How so?

Tek · Jan 19, 2015

that Reef Guy said:
So Carbon affects your SPS Negatively?

How so?

My acros slowly lost PE without any fish nipping and colors were pale with barely any growth. Both tanks had low N03 and P04 without running an oversized skimmer, dosing carbon, algae or ATS and I was baffled at how it could be that way even with a decent fish load. I was using TLF carbon and it stripped my tank. I may have used too much but I removed it all and started to overfeed the tank to help it recover. All has been well now and I have not had any issues with not using carbon. I am however running GFO again after stopping it along with the carbon.

Triggreef · Jan 19, 2015

Tek said:
My acros slowly lost PE without any fish nipping and colors were pale with barely any growth. Both tanks had low N03 and P04 without running an oversized skimmer, dosing carbon, algae or ATS and I was baffled at how it could be that way even with a decent fish load. I was using TLF carbon and it stripped my tank. I may have used too much but I removed it all and started to overfeed the tank to help it recover. All has been well now and I have not had any issues with not using carbon. I am however running GFO again after stopping it along with the carbon.

I think an argument could be made that the heavy feeding helped your tank begin to recover more than removing the carbon did.