I have a 90 gallon tank sps dominant. I am not even close to having a thriving reef. Why? I have no clue. ca 460 alk 8.5 mag 1300 nitrates 0 phos 0 (Elos test kit) temp between 79-81. Problem has been going on basically since i setup the tank a year ago. Half of them stn on me some burn tips others bleach some do fine but grow extremely slow. I have 2 other tanks a 12 and 34. I'll take a sps out that isn't doing to well put them in either of those tanks and I can them put a huge smile on there face. Have no idea what the problem is. Run carbon and phoslock. It seems like there is always a new coral going downhill. Rundown of what i can keep currently. Blue Milli(color competely washed out), yellow porites doing fine for months now polyps don't want to come out, yellow scroll doing good, candlelight acro doing good, pink jade doing good, orange digi doing good, purple plasma doing good, wild acro starting to stn, green slimer doing good, turquoise stag doing good, purple plasma doing better only semi bleached compared to completely before, pink lemonade doing good, flower petal cap doing good, sunset monti doing really well now starting to die off from the middle. Things i CAN'T keep: Cali Tort, Chip's Acro, Green Wooly Acro, Pearlberry, Wow Blue Acro, Green and Blue Stylo, Bird of Paradise. I'm at a complete loss and have no idea what to do anymore. Forgot lighting sorry Elos Planet II 2 Phoenix 150's and 4 39w t-5's. I would appreciate any help sorry it was so long. I'm just ready to give up because it ain't enjoyable. Fish I have 6 lyretail anthias, dusky wrasse, xmas wrasse, pink spot goby, and spotted mandarin.
Am I the only one that can't keep SPS?
- Thread starter jfingers8
- Start date
Trumpetytrump
New member
No luck here with sps... have had luck with everything but stoney corals.
GhostCon1
Rebmem Deretsiger
Do you use a skimmer? I can tell you now that having too many nutrients in your tank will cause browning out and poor PE. Also, high alk and cal swings will cause stn and rtn, IME.
I recently moved over a tri-color that turned completely brown. The new system is around 95gallons vs 20 and I have an over rated skimmer and much better lighting. I saw improvement in color in about a day and a half and PE in about one week.
What lights do the corals come from? Do you acclimate to your light? Do you dip?
Have you fragged the healthy part of the coral to save them?
I recently moved over a tri-color that turned completely brown. The new system is around 95gallons vs 20 and I have an over rated skimmer and much better lighting. I saw improvement in color in about a day and a half and PE in about one week.
What lights do the corals come from? Do you acclimate to your light? Do you dip?
Have you fragged the healthy part of the coral to save them?
Yes i use a skimmer forgot the model but it's a Octopus skimmer, i don't think i have to much nutrients because i don't have one coral in the tank that is brown. alk is always around 8-9. corals basically all come from metal halides i always start corals on the bottom and i always dip in Coral Rx, i always frag off the healthy part to save them i actually haven't even lost a coral because once i see it goes down hill i move them to one of the other tank and it recovers but still can't keep them long term.
I used Coral Vitalizer for a little while and Elos AA but didn't seem like that really didn't anything. I was using Red Sea Pro and I just switched to Coralife. Trying changes slowing to see if anything helps. Sometimes i think my corals are starving out but not sure.
rharr21
Premium Member
Do you have kids or have any come to visit you? My tank went through a period when it was doing bad and I lost a few corals, but everything tested fine. I eventually found a couple of aluminum candy wrappers and change (pennies and nickels) in the sump. It was not easy to find either, I am lucky I found them. My kid or one visiting must have done it.
agsansoo
Premium Member
I've killed a few frags with Coral Rx (dipped too long), it's strong. You might be stressing the new coals out too much with that stuff. I would also go with at least 250w MH instead of the 150w's. Sps's need lots of light, flow and a big skimmer. I'm also big on dosing bacteria and carbon ( i.e. sugar, vodka etc. ) to remove excess nutrients.
I have a daughter but she is only 2 months can't walk lol but this has been an on going problem basically since i set it up so i am pretty sure i can rule that out.
I paid $1500 for that light and everything is built in not sure i can go out and buy a new fixture right now but i don't think the light would be causing all these issues. I actually used to use Iodine to dip my corals and used to kill a lot of them and then went to Coral Rx and haven't had a problem yet. It can't be the dip because if i take the coral out and put it in another tank it does fine.
I've already done that a couple of times and everything is pretty close, but like i said again i use the same salt mix for all my tanks and if i take out a coral and put it in another tank it's fine.
rogerwilco357
Active member
sand bed
sand bed
do you have a sand bed and is it the same one since you setup the tank. have you been moving these corals alot and the rocks and sand stirring things up maybe in the deep sand bed if you have one, you say you move them from tank to tank to perc them up just wondered what else you move around?
sand bed
do you have a sand bed and is it the same one since you setup the tank. have you been moving these corals alot and the rocks and sand stirring things up maybe in the deep sand bed if you have one, you say you move them from tank to tank to perc them up just wondered what else you move around?
your lighting is not the problem. there are other factors here that are probably causing you these problems. where did you get your rock for the tank, how old is your sand bed, how did you clean all parts and tank before filling it up, are you sure there is no metal in tank or sump, is it possible that someone accidentally could have moped the floor or sprayed a chemical around your tank? is your tank directly bellow an ac vent, what do you use for flow and is it pounding the corals, are you sure there is no stray voltage in the tank, and are you sure there are n acro pests on your corals?
