I'm so tired of failures after failures.

are you buying wild or aquacultured SPS?
IMHO wild SPS are much more likely to STN than auquacultured...
i have measurable phosphates (.25-.50) and my SPS are doing great. the only ones i've lost have been wild...
 
Phosphates typically aren't measured very well unless you are using a hanna handheld meter. The drip test kits have a hard time measuring free/locked phosphate molecules - typically resulting in a skewed result.

I would recommend running some GFO, and/or getting your water checked out via a handheld hanna PO4 meter, instead of a test kit.

IMO, a test kit for phosphate that is truly accurate doesn't exist, and I won't waste my money on one.

HTH,
 
I get most of my stuff from local reefers so I'm assuming they're aquacultured? What's a good GFO. I've used phosban and phosguard in the past with mixed result.
 
ChuckG said:
Without DI resin there could be contaminates getting through.. namely ammonia. With a 20% weekly water change this could result in a healthy little ammonia spike. You need DI resins and TDS of zero to be sure you are not adding something undesirable via water changes and topoff.

EDIT: BTW ammonia will not show up in a TDS measurement
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I also think that this is the best place for you to start. I highly recommend adding DI to your RO. If your source water isn't pure, nothing else you do will matter.
 
wackie1wackie said:
I'm not sure if my temp fluctuate that much since my house is only 4 YO and the insulation is near perfect.
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This jumped out at me so I thought I would check in...What is your daily temp in the tank? How do you control you temperature in the tank?

Also, I have had a lot of trouble myself in the past year+ with acros. Theya re the most sensitive and difficult to keep so when water issues are there acropora are often the first to die off. With my issues I suspect my water source may be to blame. I live in a house with very, very old pipes and I suspect heavy metals may have gotten through my RODI system...just speculation but the tank is doing better since I stopped using my house water for water changes and my friend started making my water for me at his house. I bring it home and mix up my saltwater using the same salt that I always have. I wont know for sure until a few more months goes by.

I didn't notice if you answered the previous posters regarding the DI portion of a water filtration kit... Is your water system just RO or does it include DI as well. How many stages is your water filtration kit??

One last question. Is this the same tank you used for a FOWLR system?? If so, did you ever dose copper? I notice you are keeping other animals successfully so the answer is probably "no" but thought I would check.

I think it is possible that this may go back to intital water source issues.
 
Have you checked the parameters of your newly mixed salt? The reason I'm asking is cause when I used to use oceanic the parameters of the newly salt mix where very unstable. I always had to correct the parameters before doing a water change. Sps need very stable parameter so you might want to look into that if you have done so already. Aslo strayvoltage can be causing you those problems. Good luck.
 
No this is not the same system i used for FOWLR. That system is a separate 500G tank in the garage. I might get a DI unit and hook that up to my existing RO(3 canisters). I dont have controllers but my thermometer doesn't fluctuate that much in a 24hr period.

Stray voltage is not an issue same goes for the mixed salt. Never had any issue with Oceanic brand.
 
It doesn't seem like there is any sense of urgency to get the DI hooked up to your existing RO unit. In my opinion that should be the first thing to cross off the list of stuff to change. Even if does not solve your problem, your tank is still better off with 0-TDS water instead of 6-TDS
 
ReefTECK said:
IMO, and many others, phosphate (PO4) is the most critical parameter in an sps system PERIOD. Of course all others are relative, but any sps will survive through a CA dip, or change in kH/pH.
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Are you sure about this? I almost rarely use a GFO and my SPS are flourishing. In my experience with SPS, one of the single most important parameter is Alkalinity. I've had best results when running it around 7-8 dkH. Stability is key.

Haksar said:
Have you tried vodka.
I am gonna try from tomorrow with Vinegar.I need to reduce po4 and need more color on my SPS.Growth is too slow.
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I would refrain from throwing around advices like this... vodka (or any other Carbon source) should be studied and researched carefully. You don't just "try it" out of nowhere just because your SPS are not doing well. In fact, vodka might even harm your system even more -especially if it's already stressed to begin with.

wackie1wackie said:
I have ZERO algae. That's the only thing great going for me.:bounce3:
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I think that IS a problem... algae is a part of a healthy system. Heck, there are algae living in your SPS' skeleton! At this point you need to question the chemicals that you are adding to the system. What are they?

My advice to you is this.... STOP DOSING all these chemicals. just stop. From now on just do a regular water change. Run your temp at 79-80', salinity at 1.025, Ca 400-420, and Alk at 8 dkH. Keep testing and remember -do not add any chemicals! You need some time (a few months) to let your system stabilize and the SPS should get acclimated to the system without any help of chemicals. The only exception is if your Alkalinity drops, you should buffer it with a baking soda SLOWLY. This takes a couple of days.

I can't emphasize this hard enough... in this hobby, you need PATIENCE. Nothing good ever happens fast in this hobby.. when you make a change, the effect doesn't usually show up until about a month later so you need to be patient. Keep your hands OFF your tank and let the corals flourish and adjust by themselves. Trust me on this.

Again... less chemicals, more natural water changes. Stick with that regimen for a month or two and let us know how it turns out. I really DO want you to succeed.. keeping SPS is not really that difficult, but it needs patience and discipline.
 
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i would maybe even stretch your water changes out to 20% once a month. it could help with stability. and stay away from phos-guard, it bleached out some of my sps pretty bad. and like someone said earlier, PO4 test are useless. get a hanna. you can get the hanna checker for like $40.
 
jbob said:
i would maybe even stretch your water changes out to 20% once a month. it could help with stability. and stay away from phos-guard, it bleached out some of my sps pretty bad. and like someone said earlier, PO4 test are useless. get a hanna. you can get the hanna checker for like $40.
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$40, I need to get one of these. I always saw the hanna photometer which is over $200. Are the checkers pretty good for testing Phosphate?
 
xtm said:
A

You need some time (a few months) to let your system stabilize .
Click to expand...


That's what i did. I let my system sit for the longest to the point I just top it off with RO water. Wish there were folks going around charging people to fix their problems. Heck I don't mind paying at all. I think im going to soak in everyone's advice and give it one more go. Starting tomorrow im going to buy an DI unit. A phosphate reactor. And a hanna. Then sit back and wait a month or two. Until then can someone post their tank shots to get me through. I want to see all the rainbows in your tank to tie me over for a while..seriously :bounce1:
 
well they're on pre-order status right now, but they're sposed to be really close to the bigger photometer.
 
So what is your sg? How do you measure it? Whats your sand bed like? how do you go about acclimating sps when introducing them (specifically to your lighting)? Do you know the perameters of the tank you are getting the corals from? Describe "tons of flow"
 
wackie1wackie, I think you haven't sunk enough money into the money pit we call a "reef tank". j/k I was in the same place as you about two years ago. Every sps I placed into the tank turned brown and died ! I killed some really nice corals. :(

The things IMO that turned my tank around were:
1) Stop testing the water so much (i test once a week at the most) and just notice changes with your eyes.
2) Increase the lighting. Better reflectors. SPS's love intense light.
3) Increase the random flow. Tunzes of vortech.
4) Switched back to RC salt.
5) The most important IMO, I started dosing bacteria. NeoZeo or zeovit etc ...
 
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