Let's talk about water quality in an SPS tank.

redFishblue said:
Dag, not sure it's the age of your tank (since it is 1 year old) that you are having some difficulty with sps. Its definitely possible to keep them much sooner. Hope you figure it out and good luck.
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Agreed!!
There is something you're overlooking in your system redfishblue
 
Chondro said:
My glass looks like that after only 24 hours from the time I cleaned it.

What can be wrong?

Any ideas would be appreciated, Thanks.
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What about skimming? I would tell you to look into the quality and consistency of the skimmate coming from your skimmer. It should be a dark black. Basically what black coffee looks like. And there should be a a decent amount, 4-6 oz a day give or take a little.

I would also look into running carbon. I think a good amount is 1/2 cup per 50 gallons. and change it out once a week. Even every 48 hours if you want to be real aggressive for a week or so.

Dag said:
I meet the parameters and still can't keep SPS. I'm hoping it's because my tank is only 1 year old, and with time I'll have better success.
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Sometimes there are other things that we can't test for, which is why I think it's more than just a numbers game. The absolute basics are the numbers and stable parameters. Frequent fluctuations are to be avoided. pH is really the only thing I am comfortable seeing go up and down during the day.

When you write you can't keep SPS what does that mean exactly? What happens to the coral?
 
I would also ask the source of the SPS. Local frags in my experience have proven much hardier and acclimatize to my conditions better. Maybe that's what you're stocking with ... but just want to be sure.
 
JB NY, you said that you should have 4-6 oz of skimmate a day. Do you think you can reach a point were there isn't anything to skim? It seems I have to feed heavy to get a lot of skimmate and I also run a low bioload.
 
When you write you can't keep SPS what does that mean exactly? What happens to the coral?
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The colony or frags (yes, many of which were local) will be OK for a few weeks, and then begin to lose flesh, slowly turning white, until algae overtakes the whole thing.

I do have some soft corals in the tank (e.g., kenyan tree, ricordeas, and gorgonias (encrusting and branching), and I run charcoal 24/7, and the total water volume (with refugium) is about 300 gallons.

I don't want turn the thread into a diagnosis of my problems, and anyone who is willing to help troubleshoot, I would be happy to start a new thread or email more details.
 
dphinsx2 said:
JB NY, you said that you should have 4-6 oz of skimmate a day. Do you think you can reach a point were there isn't anything to skim? It seems I have to feed heavy to get a lot of skimmate and I also run a low bioload.
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Sure, but if you are having any water quality issues your going to be pulling out lots of stuff. For most people, myself included, there are always enough waste in the tank for the skimmer to always pull enough junk out of the water ( really don't believe in over skimming). Also, if your tank has such low nutrients that your skimmer is hardly pulling anything out, normally you well aware of how good your tank is.
 
I wonder if our tank kept corals...adapt to the daily tempature swings? Especaly the 3rd 4th 5th generation frags and so on.
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more like they adapt to not having daily temp swings.

im very new at this sps lark, but on temp i beleive that temp swings of around 2c a day benefit the corals, as this is what is happening in nature. just simply because of the day and night difference. and this happens in terrestrial waters to tropical areas, but the difference is less.

but i try and get a swing of around 1c a day.

andrew
 
Hi
Just like to say this is one of the most enjoyable and informative threads I've read in years !!!
Thanks
Ralph the lurker
 
Also, people can have a larger temperature swing then they realize. Not all but many people disconnect their heaters in the summers. I don't know about you, but I almost always find a few nights (when the air conditioning is on) during the summer that the temp drops enough to have the heaters kick in. I know that's what happens on my tank.

So what I'm saying is, I see no reason to disconnect heaters or chillers anytime during the year. Other than for cleaning purposes.
 
Sorry JB! I posted the question below before reading the whole thread. Sounds like you focused on carbon and skimming. Anyway, while I have you here, just wanted to say that I always enjoy/appreciate your posts and picts. A big 'thanks' to you from a marine tank noob!

JBNY, regarding your comment "...I used to only be able to go 3-4 days and then it really needed to be cleaned. Since last August (10 months ago) I got more aggressive on my water quality, and in the past 8 months or so I can easily go 7 days without cleaning my glass and you can hardly even notice any buildup on the glass when I do clean it..". What do you mean by 'more aggressive'. It doesn't sound as though you added mechanical filtration, so how did you cut down on dissolved nutrients (if that is the basis of your improved water quality)?
 
Well I just broke down and finally read this thread. Once again JB good idea! I have been having problems with my 75 lately(corals are growing great, just fighting an algae bloom for a while) and have been planning a new 90. I guess without knowing it I have been searching for the one thing that would keep my new tank from having the same problem and of course allways trying to improve color. Anyway, it's all comon sense! No secrets, no magic potions, no wonderfull new products that will change our reefs forever, just plain old reefers common sense. I feel much better now.
thanks, Chris
 
Well I just broke down and finally read this thread. Once again JB good idea! I have been having problems with my 75 lately(corals are growing great, just fighting an algae bloom for a while) and have been planning a new 90. I guess without knowing it I have been searching for the one thing that would keep my new tank from having the same problem and of course allways trying to improve color. Anyway, it's all comon sense! No secrets, no magic potions, no wonderfull new products that will change our reefs forever, just plain old reefers common sense. I feel much better now.
thanks, Chris
 
JB NY said:
Tom, I think the PO4 minus product works great in helping the skimmer export phosphates. I had used it for almost two years with good results until I switched to using GFO products to control phosphates.

I still use the PO4 minus, when I remember, the day after cleaning my skimmer. I generally find my skimmer takes a few days to start getting good skimmate after a cleaning. When I add the PO4 minus I generally get the skimmer to start skimming well the day after it is added. HTH
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JB, good thread. I just got done reading the whole thing. To bad it as lost some steam. This may be a dumb question, but what are GFO products for phosphate control? Are you referring to PhoBan/RowaPho?
 
Yeah, GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide
) is a generic term for the iron based PO4 removers like rowaphos and phosban.
 
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