Coraline outpacing my SPS

S

superstein61

New member
Ok, when I took down my 37g in August and converted my 72g to SW, I started down the path of adding some SPS.

I am dosing 2-part solution from bulkreefsupply daily, and my alk, calcium and mag are all in the proper range.

As you can see - I am doing a great job (too great IMO) of growing coraline on my back wall but not so much on my rocks (and the rocks which were in my 37g had been covered well in coralline until a Turbo Snail decided to graze on it instead of some hair algae)

IMG_0650.JPG


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And all my LPS / softies are thriving. But the SPS I have added are just doing so-so and I am not sure why. My lighting is more than adequate Nova Extreme Pro with a good mix of bulbs Grim recommended), and my tank parameters (at least the ones I measure which admittedly isn't often) are good

My Birds nest which I bought as a larger frag from Drs Foster Smith is doing the best and has had decent growth:

IMG_0654.JPG


But the Acro (its either a Purple Tip Tri Color Acropora or a
Blue Stag Acropora ) in the same pic has had some small growth but not much.

Furthermore, the Green Slimer Acropora (which is really more yellowish in my tank) in this pic had some small growth encrusting the plug byut seems to have stopped growing and is even receding a bit if thats possible on the plug (plus you can see another acro that didn't survive on the same rock)

IMG_0658.JPG


Also have a Pink Pocillopora frag in that same pic and also shown below - its up quite high in my tank and has had some growth but also not a ton - plus I wonder if the color is being bleached form being up so high

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Since this is my first experience with SPS I don't know what to expect in terms of growth, etc. All of these frags have been in my tank since mid to late August

For scale - here are a few more tank pics

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any thoughts / suggestions?
Thanks
 
Maybe not getting enough flow? I doubt if that could be it, but I can't really think of much else that would hurt them. I'm assuming there's never been any copper in the tank, or with the rocks you're currently set up with. The LPS looks pretty great, so I'm gonna guess flow without knowing what else to look at.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14165437#post14165437 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cloakerpoked
Maybe not getting enough flow?
Click to expand...

That was the first thing I thought of also. Do you feed? If so what?

EDIT: Something else I just noticed is the leather. Might be putting out some defences that are affecting the SPS. Do you run carbon????
 
not to change the subject but what kind of fish do you have in the tank i am seting up a 75 gallon on saturday and was wondering wat your stock list was
 
Can you list your tank parameters for what you are testing?

Also, I have heard that leathers and SPS don't get along too well. It looks like you have a large leather in that tank.

Edit: I see Jesse already mentioned the leather, but that was the first thing that I noticed.

--Ray
 
I keep a very large devil's hand leather with my SPS and have yet to notice any kind of adverse reaction to either. However, I change my carbon once a month and run quite a bit of it, so that could also have a lot to do with why the chemical warfare doesn't seem to effect my tank as much. When I went to a mixed reef, I was very concerned about chemical warfare and did a fair amount of research on the matter, and most people seemed to have great success as long as they were pretty faithful about changing the carbon when needed. I doubt if that's the problem here though, because the birdsnest is doing well, and by many accounts, they're a little more sensitive than some other SPS like a green slimer, which I've found to be the hardest thing in the world to kill. When I look at your tank, I think flow right away. Try angling your outputs (if you have two of them) diagonally toward the front glass. This creates a more turbulent environment that all the SPS could benefit from. 2 powerheads could probably make a pretty big difference too, although to be honest with you, my main return line provides 90% of my flow in my tank, and that's more than sufficient because of the aquascape and strength of the returns.
 
Ok - here are more specifics on the levels:

72 gallon tank, 15 gallon sump with fuge

Today

Salinity 1.027
Temp 77
Calcium 380 (Salifert kit)
KH 11.5 (Salifert kit)
Mag 1500 (Salifert kit)
PH 8.4
Nitrate - negligble (less than .2 ppm)
PO4 - not sure, need to get a new kit

For flow - I have a closed loop powered by a Ehiem 1262 (rated at 900 gph) with 2 outlets using Educators.

My return from the sump is from a mag 7 - but I do have it throttled back some

Also had a Koralia 1 (400 gph) to supplement flow

Am running Two TLF reactors - one with carbon, one with GFO

Lights are the Nova Extreme Pro T-5 setup (6 bulbls 324 watts)

A month ago, my levels were:

Salinity 1.027
Temp 76
Calcium 420
KH 11.0
Mag 1280
PH 8.2
Nitrate - negligble (less than .2 ppm)

---------------

Given the comments about flow - I just removed the Koralia 1 - and replaced it with a maxi-Jet 900 with the sureflow mod (1600 gph). Also am in process of boosting Calcium back to 420 given it has dropped based on todays reading

Any other thoughts?
Thanks
 
Yes - the yellow fish is a clown goby. I have never seen him nip at any coral. have had him for about 3 years.

Salinity - Yea, I never used to keep it that high in my 37g - but when I set up this 72g, I followed randy farleys articles on tank parameters - and he advocated 1.026 to 1.027 for salinity (same as natural sea water)

I agree with you on the 380 calcium - going to add some supplement to boost that - my target is 420
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14174120#post14174120 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by superstein61
Yes - the yellow fish is a clown goby. I have never seen him nip at any coral. have had him for about 3 years.

Salinity - Yea, I never used to keep it that high in my 37g - but when I set up this 72g, I followed randy farleys articles on tank parameters - and he advocated 1.026 to 1.027 for salinity (same as natural sea water)

I agree with you on the 380 calcium - going to add some supplement to boost that - my target is 420
Click to expand...

Your Refractometer should have a 35ppt mark, set your salinity to this instead of 1.027 as that is the exact salinity of the sea,

Your calcium is low for your alkalinity. Balanced calcium for that alkalinity is about 440. Mg should be 3x's your calcium so yours is a bit high but I am not sure if that has a negative effect.

I would test your Ca/Alk every week if possible (mg once a month).

--Ray
 
The Magnesium will give you some trouble in inverts like snails or shrimp, but shouldn't be causing toxic levels to the fish. I agree with some other people that the salinity also seems high. Keep in mind that it will rise as your water evaporates before you top off the tank, so in all reality, your salinity probably fluxuates between 1.027 and something somewhat higher than that.

Even with the calcium a little low for the dKh, there's nothing there that would explain the regression of the slimer. I would watch the goby at night as well as during the light cycle, because he may be "hunting" your SPS in the dark. Even still, some of your params seem a little less than optimal, but should still allow growth at a slower rate, so I'm going to blame the goby until I see a red flag in the water parameters.
 
Ok, thanks all - I will switch to 35ppt on the refractor, boost my calcium and try and keep my eye on the clown goby

The mag is high - but I just supplemented some in the past week - so it typically isn't this high
 
Looks like the normal cycle of a new tank to me. Every tank I have ever had has always had the coraline outcompete the sps for calcium and grow exceptionally well.

Once the tank matures and the coraline has peaked; you should notice a shift in growth from coraline to sps growth. Probably once all is covered well and the coraline plates pretty good.

I noticed a slowing of coraline growth and sps spurt at about the 1 year mark on 2 of my systems.
 
Forgot something...

With Mag at 1500 you may have trouble getting alk near 10 dkh and calcium at 400+

Did you dose Mag recently? The drop in either alk or calcium can be contributed to a Mag dose within 24 hours of a test, which would also give you the high Mag reading.

These levels do deal with coraline and coral growth, but are near acceptable levels with the exception of Mag.

I try to keep my system at the following levels:

Alk 9-9.5
Calcium 400-450
Mag 1250-1350

These are pretty balanced as far as ions go.

Good luck!
 
Never thought about Coraline outcompeting the SPS...but even still, do you think that would explain the regression in the slimer, or could that be attributable to something else?
 
Rickyfins - thanks, that is helpful

I had been debating on scraping the back wall to remove the coraline (looks better without it but its obviously a pain to keep clear). I actually did scrape a small section as I was experimenting with some pumps for flow. but it sounds like from your post I would be better off leaving to coraline continue to grow on the back wall (wich it would like my rock more than it likes the walls)

As to mag - yes, I dosed mag recently - but it was at least 4 or 5 days before I did the test. thanks
 
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