What the heck am I doing wrong with SPS?

[PotatoPig]

The app is garbage, so bear with me here. I don't know what spectrum each color bar on the graph represents but here goes the max numbers: red 20%, gray 30%, burgundy 70%, blue 90%

Hmm. Maybe we have a different version. Mine has six channels:

White
Blue
Green
Purple
Light Blue (this is the almost UV one)
Red

It might be worth renting a par meter. These lights (if the same as mine) crank out a lot of par.

When I tested mine at 100% they were putting out almost 800par at about 4-6” below the water and something like 400+ at the base. It’s possible you’re overcooking them and stressing them out, especially with such a heavy blue weighting on the lights, when the lights come biased to blue already - there’s only a few red/green diodes so these will make up a small portion of the light output even when at equal percentage power as the whites/blues/UV(ish).

 

[kdx7214]

Out of curiosity have you checked all your equipment for broken parts. Rust, rusty magnets? Check your sump make sure nothing fell inside that would rust.

That's one of the first things I did. I was worried about the pumps I use (Hygger) but all seems to be working just fine. About the only thing I've not done is clean the main return pump. I did open it to check for rust though and it seemed okay.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

you can't see it when testing alk once a week but thats probably going all over the place and kalk in the ato at random times is not helping the situation.

try testing alk every day 12hrs apart but more important once before lights on and once before lights off and keep a journal and you will see how you alkalinity is swinging.

along with every other swinging parameter if you can lower the swing you will have better success. stability promotes success

unless it's chemical or pest related then that's another thread...

 

[kdx7214]

Hmm. Maybe we have a different version. Mine has six channels:

White
Blue
Green
Purple
Light Blue (this is the almost UV one)
Red

It might be worth renting a par meter. These lights (if the same as mine) crank out a lot of par.

When I tested mine at 100% they were putting out almost 800par at about 4-6” below the water and something like 400+ at the base. It’s possible you’re overcooking them and stressing them out, especially with such a heavy blue weighting on the lights, when the lights come biased to blue already - there’s only a few red/green diodes so these will make up a small portion of the light output even when at equal percentage power as the whites/blues/UV(ish).

Hmm. This is the latest one from the website and it has 6 settings in the time points, but doesn't tell what they represent and only four show up on the graph.

 

[Lavey29]

Hmm. With that light about all I can do is set it to 100% on everything and hope for the best then. Not sure what else I could do with it. The blue spectrum runs at 90% for about 12 hours. All of the comments I've read on here say they have to run theirs at 30-40% to avoid too much. Not sure if my phone is accurate to be honest.

The app is fairly accurate. I measured it against an actual par meter reading. Your rocks only go to mid tank. With 293 par at the surface you are probably getting 150 par at your top rocks. No SPS are going to do well in that low par.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I think I might suggest trying a Duncan. My first Duncan survived me using tap water instead of RODI, phosphate levels of 5, yes 5, nitrates around 40-60, high metals and low lights. They also have a ton of character. That same Duncan now has about 25 heads and if you get a single head you can find them for quite cheap.

 

[kdx7214]

you can't see it when testing alk once a week but thats probably going all over the place and kalk in the ato at random times is not helping the situation.

try testing alk every day 12hrs apart but more important once before lights on and once before lights off and keep a journal and you will see how you alkalinity is swinging.

along with every other swinging parameter if you can lower the swing you will have better success. stability promotes success

unless it's chemical or pest related then that's another thread...

Gotcha. I'll start doing the before/after lights testing. Probably have to get some more reagent as I'm running low. I do know that since I added the new lights I'm getting a pH swing from lights on to lights off (8.07 with lights off to 8.21 with lights on).

 

[kdx7214]

The app is fairly accurate. I measured it against an actual par meter reading. Your rocks only go to mid tank. With 293 par at the surface you are probably getting 150 par at your top rocks. No SPS are going to do well in that low par.

Oh, I didn't mean the app, I meant the phone hardware. It's an old phone, so might have had some issues over the years.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Gotcha. I'll start doing the before/after lights testing. Probably have to get some more reagent as I'm running low. I do know that since I added the new lights I'm getting a pH swing from lights on to lights off (8.07 with lights off to 8.21 with lights on).

yes that's normal if your not manipulating PH, the alkalinity does a similar thing...

try salifert test kit they work well enough and cheaper for multiple test, Hannah is good for a quick weekly when everything is going as planned

 

[Lavey29]

You may have mentioned this but when you receive your SPS do you dip them prior to the tank? If so, how? Once in the tank typically how long before you see STN develop?

 

[kdx7214]

The app is fairly accurate. I measured it against an actual par meter reading. Your rocks only go to mid tank. With 293 par at the surface you are probably getting 150 par at your top rocks. No SPS are going to do well in that low par.

Looking at their website it seems the max par on those lights is 300, so the 293 I'm showing looks reasonably accurate.

 

[kdx7214]

You may have mentioned this but when you receive your SPS do you dip them prior to the tank? If so, how? Once in the tank typically how long before you see STN develop?

I dip them in Coral RX following the instructions that come with it (I don't remember that many steps off the top of my head).

When I add them to the tank they look just fine for 1-3 weeks. Then they begin a slow decline until just the skeleton remains. If you look closely in the picture I posted you can probably make out a couple of them.

 

[Lavey29]

Looking at their website it seems the max par on those lights is 300, so the 293 I'm showing looks reasonably accurate.

I have low par lights to which is why rock scape is high and all my SPS are in the upper third of the tank with quite a few touching the water surface.

 

[kdx7214]

yes that's normal if your not manipulating PH, the alkalinity does a similar thing...

try salifert test kit they work well enough and cheaper for multiple test, Hannah is good for a quick weekly when everything is going as planned

I use a Salifert kit for Mg due to the wild problems with the Hannah one they pulled off the market. I'll see if I can get some of these kits and compare.

 

[TokenReefer]

This doesn't really get into exactly what I was reading but it's a good start Still looking..

Water flow is more important for corals than light. Part II: The science of corals and water flow

This second article in the series will review some of the published scientific research describing how water flow affects coral health.

reefs.com

 

[Lavey29]

I dip them in Coral RX following the instructions that come with it (I don't remember that many steps off the top of my head).

When I add them to the tank they look just fine for 1-3 weeks. Then they begin a slow decline until just the skeleton remains. If you look closely in the picture I posted you can probably make out a couple of them.

Ok, there are different opinions but I don't recommend dipping SPS corals that are shipped. They are stressed from shipping and dipping followed by a new tank environment can cause much further stress leading to decline. The 1 to 3 week timeliness fits this pattern and combined with very low par for them just compounds the problems.

 

[kdx7214]

I have low par lights to which is why rock scape is high and all my SPS are in the upper third of the tank with quite a few touching the water surface.

I have some extra rock in the sump that I can move up. I'll try that later today, if the body cooperates.

 

[kdx7214]

Ok, there are different opinions but I don't recommend dipping SPS corals that are shipped. They are stressed from shipping and dipping followed by a new tank environment can cause much further stress leading to decline. The 1 to 3 week timeliness fits this pattern and combined with very low par for them just compounds the problems.

These were bought at a store in St. Louis and I drove it home myself (around 2 hours) in an insulated cooler. It looked perfect in the store tanks.

 

[Lavey29]

These were bought at a store in St. Louis and I drove it home myself (around 2 hours) in an insulated cooler. It looked perfect in the store tanks.

That's better then shipping but still the change in tank environment is stressful. Do you know what alk your vendor maintains? I never dip my SPS whether shipped or store bought.

 

[kdx7214]

That's better then shipping but still the change in tank environment is stressful. Do you know what alk your vendor maintains? I never dip my SPS whether shipped or store bought.

I have no clue. I'll check on that the next time I'm there, but it might be a while. We don't get to travel much. Now that I think about it I might be in that area in early April to visit the in laws.