Hi all,
I have been trying to keep SPS for about 9 months now, and i have not had much success and I was wondering if I could get some opinions on what I could do. The tank turned 1 year old on August 8th, 2012 and I have had practically 0 growth in the 8 months that I have been keeping SPS. I started out with 100% dry rock (about 90 lbs) and my tank was VERY clean (0 nitrates and 0.0 PO4 on hannah checker). About two months ago, a friend suggested my tank was too clean, so I started to feed heavily 3 times a day and I finally got my nitrates around 2.5-5 (last night was 5) and PO4 around 0.03-0.06 or so.
Here are the reasons I believe the tank was too clean:
1.) I never detected any nitrates or phosphates until 2 months ago.
2.) I never had a diatom bloom or any nuisance algae during the cycle... at all! Yep! About 4 months ago I started dosing Elos ammino acids and I finally saw diatoms on the sand bed. Since then, I have stopped dosing Elos ammino acids as I felt like I probably had too much in the tank as the sand was turning brown in a couple of days (it is not slimy and red like cyano but looks like diatoms as it is light to dark brown). During the eight months, I have even introduced bubble algae on accident that stayed in the DT for 4 months + without any spread of it at all (I finally removed it a month or so ago as I got tired looking at the four small bubbles).
3.) I cannot seem to increase light intensity or duration without an STN event starting (tips will literally start to STN like an ALK spike does). I am running lights at 75% blue, 40% white for "high noon" and then 90% blue, 23% white in the evening hours.
4.) I added way to many snails to begin with. I now have maybe a nerite and large cerith left.
My Water change schedule used to be 10% once a week. Now I am doing a 20% WC once every 3 weeks or so.
Equipment:
Tanks size: 90 gallon DT with 30 gallon sump. Probably around 100 gallons total water.
RO/DI Unit - BRS 5 stage - Change DI resin when TDS reads > 0
Lighting: 72, 3 watt DIY cree LED fixture with no optics mounted at 4 inches above the water. I believe lighting is fine as I had a 6 bulb T5 fixture with ATI bulbs for around 8 months with the same results.
Light Schedule: 3:30-11. With an hour ramp up and ramp down duration.
Flow: 1 - MP 40 @ 100% on reef crest mode
1 - JBJ Ocean Stream PH - on JBJ wave maker
1 - MaxiJet 1200 in circulation mode - on JBJ wave maker - oscillates with the JBJ Ocean Stream PH
Skimmer: REEF OCTOPUS DIABLO XS 160 PROTEIN SKIMMER
Fuge: A chamber in my sump consisting of approximately 11 gallons. Chaeto and LR rubble. FWIW, Chaeto has never grown well, either. I have had to totally replace the chaeto once and I still have never had to take any chaeto out to date. It does seem to actually be growing now since I have some nitrates, however. 6500k CFL light on 24/7 to light the fuge.
Parameters:
Alkalinity: 10 dkh (salifert)
Ca: 460 ppm (salifert)
Mg: 1350 (salifert)
Nitrate: Currently 5 (salifert)
PO4: 0.03-0.06 (Hannah)
K: ??? - The new Salifert potassium test kit will be here tomorrow.
I use Kalk in my ATO to maintain Ca and ALK.
Symptoms of corals:
1.) Hardly any growth at all. I have had a montipora digitata for about 4 months with maybe 1-2 inches total growth and a maricultured valida for a couple of months with maybe 1 inch. Everything else, I have seen practically no growth.
2.) Seriatopora frags stay healthy for about a month, and then the polyps start to bail out (STN). I have gone through an ORA pink birdsnest, and 2 ORA orange tip. All 3 have STN'd.
3.) Various other acros seem to SLOWLY STN from base up.
4.) Color is brown on most SPS (I thought this was a symptom of HIGH nutrients...).
5.) A green montipora capricornis has completely paled out and turned more "grey" than green. Potassium deficiency maybe?
Fish:
2 Clowns
1 Blue Hippo tang
1 purple gramma
1 melanarus wrasse
1 mckosckers flasher wrasse
1 Copper band butterfly (added to DT a week ago after 10 week QT)
I have checked for red bugs and flatworms on numerous occasions and have never found it (dipping, etc).
This may or may not be related, however, I have noticed many of my acros are completely white/bleached on the portion that is not receiving direct light (bottom side of the coral).
Does anyone have any suggestions? I am completely stumped at this point.
Could a lack of potassium cause this problem? My current thoughts are 1.) the tank was too clean and 2.) this caused my Potassium levels to drop? I will know this for sure tomorrow at least as long as the new salifert test kits are as good as the videos and some reviews I have read.
Does anyone have any other thoughts?
Sorry for the long post...
YT video that I made yesterday, it works up until about 5 minutes, I will fix it tonight.
http://youtu.be/cOd0ZW5sQcE
Now some shots
FTS:
Digitata - About 2 inches of growth in 4 months or so.
Yello Acro - No growth in 8 months. Note that I recently (1 week ago) put the white epoxy around it as it came detached. Also notice the STN. It has stopped for now, however.
Pally's. The acro that was on the rock STN'd and died about a month ago =(. In the 8 months I had it... barely any growth.
Purple digitata - 4 months in tank. The encrusted part on the plug was actually done in my reef, that is the only growth, however. Base is white and "underneath" the acro is bleached/white as well (polyps not receiving direct light)... It does not seem to be progressing anymore, however.
Hairy green acro - 0 growth whatsoever in 8-9 months I've had it!
Green candy canes - They were 6 heads and are now 13. I've had these 5 months or so. They are growing, but at times the flesh recedes completely (like an STN event on an SPS coral as teh actual flesh dissappears from the base).
Acro Unknown - 0 growth in 8-9 months except encrusted.
Unkown Acro - 0 growth in 8-9 months except encrusted plug. Recently re-mounted in same location it has always been hence the white epoxy.
Washed out green montipora capricornis. This was vibrant green when I received it from a friend also using LED's. This frag is 3-4 months old in my tank. Potassium deficiency?
Other corals
I do have 2 colt corals that have been in the tank the entire time.
2 small zoanthid colonies.
I run carbon and do NOT run GFO. Everytime I run GFO an STN event occurs.
Here is the link to the photoalbum with even more pics:
http://s1116.photobucket.com/albums/k575/duncster101/Reef August 13 2012 -1 year later/
Any input is greatly appreciated!
I have been trying to keep SPS for about 9 months now, and i have not had much success and I was wondering if I could get some opinions on what I could do. The tank turned 1 year old on August 8th, 2012 and I have had practically 0 growth in the 8 months that I have been keeping SPS. I started out with 100% dry rock (about 90 lbs) and my tank was VERY clean (0 nitrates and 0.0 PO4 on hannah checker). About two months ago, a friend suggested my tank was too clean, so I started to feed heavily 3 times a day and I finally got my nitrates around 2.5-5 (last night was 5) and PO4 around 0.03-0.06 or so.
Here are the reasons I believe the tank was too clean:
1.) I never detected any nitrates or phosphates until 2 months ago.
2.) I never had a diatom bloom or any nuisance algae during the cycle... at all! Yep! About 4 months ago I started dosing Elos ammino acids and I finally saw diatoms on the sand bed. Since then, I have stopped dosing Elos ammino acids as I felt like I probably had too much in the tank as the sand was turning brown in a couple of days (it is not slimy and red like cyano but looks like diatoms as it is light to dark brown). During the eight months, I have even introduced bubble algae on accident that stayed in the DT for 4 months + without any spread of it at all (I finally removed it a month or so ago as I got tired looking at the four small bubbles).
3.) I cannot seem to increase light intensity or duration without an STN event starting (tips will literally start to STN like an ALK spike does). I am running lights at 75% blue, 40% white for "high noon" and then 90% blue, 23% white in the evening hours.
4.) I added way to many snails to begin with. I now have maybe a nerite and large cerith left.
My Water change schedule used to be 10% once a week. Now I am doing a 20% WC once every 3 weeks or so.
Equipment:
Tanks size: 90 gallon DT with 30 gallon sump. Probably around 100 gallons total water.
RO/DI Unit - BRS 5 stage - Change DI resin when TDS reads > 0
Lighting: 72, 3 watt DIY cree LED fixture with no optics mounted at 4 inches above the water. I believe lighting is fine as I had a 6 bulb T5 fixture with ATI bulbs for around 8 months with the same results.
Light Schedule: 3:30-11. With an hour ramp up and ramp down duration.
Flow: 1 - MP 40 @ 100% on reef crest mode
1 - JBJ Ocean Stream PH - on JBJ wave maker
1 - MaxiJet 1200 in circulation mode - on JBJ wave maker - oscillates with the JBJ Ocean Stream PH
Skimmer: REEF OCTOPUS DIABLO XS 160 PROTEIN SKIMMER
Fuge: A chamber in my sump consisting of approximately 11 gallons. Chaeto and LR rubble. FWIW, Chaeto has never grown well, either. I have had to totally replace the chaeto once and I still have never had to take any chaeto out to date. It does seem to actually be growing now since I have some nitrates, however. 6500k CFL light on 24/7 to light the fuge.
Parameters:
Alkalinity: 10 dkh (salifert)
Ca: 460 ppm (salifert)
Mg: 1350 (salifert)
Nitrate: Currently 5 (salifert)
PO4: 0.03-0.06 (Hannah)
K: ??? - The new Salifert potassium test kit will be here tomorrow.
I use Kalk in my ATO to maintain Ca and ALK.
Symptoms of corals:
1.) Hardly any growth at all. I have had a montipora digitata for about 4 months with maybe 1-2 inches total growth and a maricultured valida for a couple of months with maybe 1 inch. Everything else, I have seen practically no growth.
2.) Seriatopora frags stay healthy for about a month, and then the polyps start to bail out (STN). I have gone through an ORA pink birdsnest, and 2 ORA orange tip. All 3 have STN'd.
3.) Various other acros seem to SLOWLY STN from base up.
4.) Color is brown on most SPS (I thought this was a symptom of HIGH nutrients...).
5.) A green montipora capricornis has completely paled out and turned more "grey" than green. Potassium deficiency maybe?
Fish:
2 Clowns
1 Blue Hippo tang
1 purple gramma
1 melanarus wrasse
1 mckosckers flasher wrasse
1 Copper band butterfly (added to DT a week ago after 10 week QT)
I have checked for red bugs and flatworms on numerous occasions and have never found it (dipping, etc).
This may or may not be related, however, I have noticed many of my acros are completely white/bleached on the portion that is not receiving direct light (bottom side of the coral).
Does anyone have any suggestions? I am completely stumped at this point.
Could a lack of potassium cause this problem? My current thoughts are 1.) the tank was too clean and 2.) this caused my Potassium levels to drop? I will know this for sure tomorrow at least as long as the new salifert test kits are as good as the videos and some reviews I have read.
Does anyone have any other thoughts?
Sorry for the long post...
YT video that I made yesterday, it works up until about 5 minutes, I will fix it tonight.
http://youtu.be/cOd0ZW5sQcE
Now some shots
FTS:
Digitata - About 2 inches of growth in 4 months or so.
Yello Acro - No growth in 8 months. Note that I recently (1 week ago) put the white epoxy around it as it came detached. Also notice the STN. It has stopped for now, however.
Pally's. The acro that was on the rock STN'd and died about a month ago =(. In the 8 months I had it... barely any growth.
Purple digitata - 4 months in tank. The encrusted part on the plug was actually done in my reef, that is the only growth, however. Base is white and "underneath" the acro is bleached/white as well (polyps not receiving direct light)... It does not seem to be progressing anymore, however.
Hairy green acro - 0 growth whatsoever in 8-9 months I've had it!
Green candy canes - They were 6 heads and are now 13. I've had these 5 months or so. They are growing, but at times the flesh recedes completely (like an STN event on an SPS coral as teh actual flesh dissappears from the base).
Acro Unknown - 0 growth in 8-9 months except encrusted.
Unkown Acro - 0 growth in 8-9 months except encrusted plug. Recently re-mounted in same location it has always been hence the white epoxy.
Washed out green montipora capricornis. This was vibrant green when I received it from a friend also using LED's. This frag is 3-4 months old in my tank. Potassium deficiency?
Other corals
I do have 2 colt corals that have been in the tank the entire time.
2 small zoanthid colonies.
I run carbon and do NOT run GFO. Everytime I run GFO an STN event occurs.
Here is the link to the photoalbum with even more pics:
http://s1116.photobucket.com/albums/k575/duncster101/Reef August 13 2012 -1 year later/
Any input is greatly appreciated!
Last edited:
