I have a 60" x 27" x 16" reef tank that was started in October of 2019. I cycled the tank for 4 months before adding fish or corals. I run the triton method and currently dose 10ml of each component. Filtration is with socks, ATS, UV, Skimmer and carbon. Lighting is 8 bulb ATI with 2 reef brite actinic fixtures. Schedule is 12 hours total with one LED and then the other, first channel for an hour and all lights for 4 hours and then ramp down. 3 Ecotech mp40 on 50% reef crest cycle and then lagoon at night. Started with dry Marco rock and bare bottom with ABS. I have struggled with Dino's, cyano, pineapple sponges and some type of stringy pest when I clean the tank or stir up detritus and algae on the bottom. Alk 8.0, calcium 440 and mag 1350. N 3 and P 0. I know there is P in the tank from the algae. Still struggling with cyano and algae and in spite of all my efforts SPS is not happy. Currently have 4 beginner frags. Anyone else struggle to get dry rock bare bottom tank started?
Trouble with SPS
- Thread starter Doug Junge
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Pkunk35
Valuable Member
Hey man, sorry to hear. I’ll try to stir some convo, maybe get some ideas goin.
Do you “feed” or dose aminos or anything for the coral?
pH reading?
Do you have coralline algae growing? Good growth would indicate that calcification is possible.
Any other stock In The tank doing well, so is this sps only problem or tank wide issue?
Algae issues sound like nutrient import/export or feed/clean is off. I can’t comment on the bare bottom as I haven’t done one ever but one thing BRS commented on was the lack of sand reducing the bacteria thus causing issues.
Do you “feed” or dose aminos or anything for the coral?
pH reading?
Do you have coralline algae growing? Good growth would indicate that calcification is possible.
Any other stock In The tank doing well, so is this sps only problem or tank wide issue?
Algae issues sound like nutrient import/export or feed/clean is off. I can’t comment on the bare bottom as I haven’t done one ever but one thing BRS commented on was the lack of sand reducing the bacteria thus causing issues.
Mical
2500 Club Member
My first impression from your post is - on a 6ft tank with 3 MP40s running at 50% reef crest and lagoon modes IMO is low flow. Both of my tanks IE: 120 w/ 2 MP40s run reef crest at 65-80% throughout the day and tidal overnight at 55%.
I dose phyto daily but nothing else. 1 cube of LRS in the morning and TDO or PE pellets through the day. 14 fish total. PH will range from 7.8 to 8.1. Corraline algae everywhere. Thats what is stumping me. My third tank but first bare bottom. Thanks for the help!
Thanks. These are my first mp40's. Used WAV in the past. Thanks for the suggestion!
No. I use the mobius app.
Pkunk35
Valuable Member
Agree with flow too, everything likes flow and helps with algae. Sps need the most so this makes the most sense to me too.
In addition I’m wondering if bacterial additions or aminos might help feed the sps in such a new tank. I don’t want to add to the algae problems tho so maybe research or go slow if anything is dosed.
This thread was really interesting on that topic and very long:
www.reef2reef.com
In addition I’m wondering if bacterial additions or aminos might help feed the sps in such a new tank. I don’t want to add to the algae problems tho so maybe research or go slow if anything is dosed.
This thread was really interesting on that topic and very long:
Why cant u keep sps?
Well first and for most im not a scientist or marine biologist my theory base only on my experience and observation on my reef tank. I just want to help those that have problems keeping sps. In this discussion please keep it positive and dont make it to “i know better than u or led is better...
www.reef2reef.com
Miller535
Valuable Member
Dinos and cyano can and do thrive in low to no Po4 tanks. I personally had both before with zero nitrates, and near zero phosphates. You should not assume you have PO4. Dinos and cyano also have a negative effect on corals as they tend to smother them. I am making generalizations as we have not seen your tank. A picture of your tank would help a lot.
Here are some pictures. You can see the algae etc on the bottom and rocks. I understand the PO4 and have tried to increase them but it seems like I'm either at zero or .10
Do you think 3 mp40's is enough?Agree with flow too, everything likes flow and helps with algae. Sps need the most so this makes the most sense to me too.
In addition I’m wondering if bacterial additions or aminos might help feed the sps in such a new tank. I don’t want to add to the algae problems tho so maybe research or go slow if anything is dosed.
This thread was really interesting on that topic and very long:
Why cant u keep sps?
Well first and for most im not a scientist or marine biologist my theory base only on my experience and observation on my reef tank. I just want to help those that have problems keeping sps. In this discussion please keep it positive and dont make it to “i know better than u or led is better...
I read the thread and it seems like my issues have been with the dry rock. I've never started a tank with it before. When I observe my tank over time it just seems like something is "missing"? I have dosed microbactr 7 but it doesn't seem to make any difference. I will say that the phyto has been helpful though.Agree with flow too, everything likes flow and helps with algae. Sps need the most so this makes the most sense to me too.
In addition I’m wondering if bacterial additions or aminos might help feed the sps in such a new tank. I don’t want to add to the algae problems tho so maybe research or go slow if anything is dosed.
This thread was really interesting on that topic and very long:
Why cant u keep sps?
Well first and for most im not a scientist or marine biologist my theory base only on my experience and observation on my reef tank. I just want to help those that have problems keeping sps. In this discussion please keep it positive and dont make it to “i know better than u or led is better...
Thanks for your help!
