Why cant u keep sps?

[Daddy-o]

I try to keep my no3 10-25 and po4 0.10-0.30 but it doesn’t sound like this would of helped your buddy much if at all. Using 12 dKh salt with 8.5 dKh display doesn’t sound like they’re ready for sps. I really don’t think my range is a magic recipe either, just safer. The most important variable is heavy in and a touch less heavy out. So if you’re struggling keeping sps alive longer than a couple months, there is no magic “bacteria, or blue bottle etc” that is going turn your tank around. Check your source water, lighting and bio load.

I think the growth on some of my Acros may have stalled out.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I think the growth on some of my Acros may have stalled out.

I’ve discussed this with a bunch of collectors. All of them, me included, have acros that grow over night while others do almost less than nothing for 6 months. It’s impossible to make all of them happy at the same time all the time

 

[ycnibrc]

Who say we can keep wild colony?

 

[ycnibrc]

 

[vanpire]

Can't

Can't argue with success.

 

[ycnibrc]

When u can transform coral like this u know your water is prime

 

[EMeyer]

That’s polyp bailout not spawning with fertilization.

Actully much more likely to be asexual release of planulae larvae which is quite common in Pdam, rather than the rare but real phenomenon of polyp bailout.

It usually happens early morning, if you find larvae swimming it's planulation

Some of mine did this monthly for about a year.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I try to keep my no3 10-25 and po4 0.10-0.30 but it doesn’t sound like this would of helped your buddy much if at all. Using 12 dKh salt with 8.5 dKh display doesn’t sound like they’re ready for sps. I really don’t think my range is a magic recipe either, just safer. The most important variable is heavy in and a touch less heavy out. So if you’re struggling keeping sps alive longer than a couple months, there is no magic “bacteria, or blue bottle etc” that is going turn your tank around. Check your source water, lighting and bio load.

And your test kits/methods. I like to spring for an ICP test every now and then.

 

[BigKid4788]

When u can transform coral like this u know your water is prime

When dosing Zeo products are you continually dosing per instructions or are you occasionally adding bacteria and mainly just feeding w/ Zeostart3

 

[Roberto Denadai]

Ok lets presume u can fix all of these but still your tank don’t do well. What can cause that?
Well lets go back to the common denominators. All tank nowadays start with dry/dead rock aka not from the ocean. Live rock can be misunderstood, a piece of rock in my mature tank i can call it live rock but its not because i start just like everyone else with dry rock. Years ago we actually get live rock from the ocean which carry multiple strain of beneficial bacteria then we kept it in our tank for a year or more which create a nice population of bacteria for the corals especially sps.
Now we all start from dry rock and we started the cycle then start adding corals in after 6 mons. Presumption your tank parameters are good also everything else , your frags will be nice and growing for a few months then all of a sudden start to look bad then die normally around 9 mons to a year. This too me is an indication thats your tank dont have multiple bacteria strain which corals need. Probably u didnt add any additional bacteria to your tank and im not talking about carbon bacteria to reduce phosphate or nitrate.
Further more we buy only frags nowadays which different from before when we bought colonies. Wild colonies from the ocean carry those beneficial bacteria which can populate in your tank. I run zeovit which is a system heavily base on bacteria but there are many others system which offer the same.
So to end my thoughts the biggest change that i have seen is the lacking of beneficial bacteria which can cause your reef tank not capable to sustain a healthy sps.
I hope that i can help in anyway getting your tank better and healthier and with healthy tank make the hobby more enjoyable and grow

Anthony

I disagree

I started some tanks with dry/dead plastic rocks , some siporax im my sump and GFO and carbon and that´s all.

I had very good growth and colors.

All the bacterias we need are the natural ones and they are for free.

In my new reef, I started with dead/bleached rocks and I added corals ( 30 sps frags ) with 20 days and now the tank is 50 days old

Let's see what will happen here.

Just my two cents

Cheers

 

[ycnibrc]

I disagree

I started some tanks with dry/dead plastic rocks , some siporax im my sump and GFO and carbon and that´s all.

I had very good growth and colors.

All the bacterias we need are the natural ones and they are for free.

In my new reef, I started with dead/bleached rocks and I added corals ( 30 sps frags ) with 20 days and now the tank is 50 days old

Let's see what will happen here.

Just my two cents

Cheers

Your bacteria has to come from some where. In the old day we introduce them through live rock from the ocean. If u say its free and natural where are they coming from?

 

[SeaDweller]

Your bacteria has to come from some where. In the old day we introduce them through live rock from the ocean. If u say its free and natural where are they coming from?

Fish poop!

 

[ycnibrc]

When dosing Zeo products are you continually dosing per instructions or are you occasionally adding bacteria and mainly just feeding w/ Zeostart3

Zeobak n zeostart3 are continue dosing however i adjusted the dosage to my tank consumption

 

[EMeyer]

Fish poop!

I read things like this so often. As if all that was needed was "any bacteria". Sure, fish poop has some bacteria in it. So does human poop but I don't see anyone recommending that as a supplement! Different bacteria live in different environments, and the inside of a fish gut is quite different from the open ocean.

The question is, how do we inoculate the right bacteria, not "any bacteria". Aside from live rock, I have seen no evidence that anything else provides the bacteria that make up the community in a mature reef tank. I mean, if fish poop was all that was needed, wouldnt all tanks have the same bacteria? We all have fish poop.

And I'm not really picking on your suggestion of fish poop, its just funny to see how many times I can write fish poop in one post I'm really picking on the idea that "the bacteria will just show up somehow", whether its through fish poop or other unspecified means.

 

[Roberto Denadai]

Your bacteria has to come from some where. In the old day we introduce them through live rock from the ocean. If u say its free and natural where are they coming from?

Water, Corals etc My no3 is zero here after 50 days.

Cheers

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Roberto are you using sea water or synthetic salt?

 

[EMeyer]

Water, Corals etc My no3 is zero here after 50 days.

Cheers

Bacteria are far from the only organisms that take up NO3 in an aquarium, I don't see how low NO3 is evidence of a balanced microbial community. It may be that your microbial community is perfect, but I don't think NO3 levels really say anything about it.

 

[ycnibrc]

Like i state from the beginning im not a scientist my theory is base on my experience and observation. I have been reefing for a long time and before we dont have this cycle of problems. Its actually reverse most reefer rush to put sps in and cant keep them alive. Now its the opposite most tank have problem not new. Its happened around 9 mons to a year mark which in the old day were perfect. Fish poop have bacteria but is it beneficial to coral we dont know. However i can say for a fact u can dose certain bacteria to reduce phosphate or nitrate. If u have a program that lead to success please post it.
Im a coral farmer i need everyone to be able to keep sps so i can have more buyer for my ridiculous growing stag horn

 

[SeaDweller]

I read things like this so often. As if all that was needed was "any bacteria". Sure, fish poop has some bacteria in it. So does human poop but I don't see anyone recommending that as a supplement! Different bacteria live in different environments, and the inside of a fish gut is quite different from the open ocean.

The question is, how do we inoculate the right bacteria, not "any bacteria". Aside from live rock, I have seen no evidence that anything else provides the bacteria that make up the community in a mature reef tank. I mean, if fish poop was all that was needed, wouldnt all tanks have the same bacteria? We all have fish poop.

And I'm not really picking on your suggestion of fish poop, its just funny to see how many times I can write fish poop in one post I'm really picking on the idea that "the bacteria will just show up somehow", whether its through fish poop or other unspecified means.

Fish poop fish poop fish poop fish poop fish poop!

wait, fish poop! Fish farts?

fish poop needs to be bottled and sold, it’s quite magical, @EMeyer! anthony posed the question, and the most obvious answer (to me) is fish poop (maybe their skin too?), frag plugs, our hands? As the means of introducing “some“ free bacteria in an otherwise sterile tank (new dead and dried rock, new synthetic SW). Anyway, I think I may have typed fish poop more than you did, fish poop, so at least we fish poop know we can get free fish poop bacteria somewhere. Fish poop.

 

[Orko]

Maybe we can get some of the pros, here, to sell some crushed up rock from their systems?

Ppl I have a 120 and 40 gallon sump full of 40 yr old ocean live rock I do water changes maybe 2x a month and can grow SPS no problems have not tested the water in years I can see when it is not happy and do a water change. Only thing I put in tank besides food is esv 2 part and I feed once every other day. I have a purple Tang about 3c Inches bill Tang and fix face all about the same size the 5 other smaller fish. I run led's for lights run a small skimmer a ramora. No filter socks no "gadgets" at all water turn over is about 5 to 6 times an hour.