My SPS tank is a mess, please help

[kaptken]

i had a southdown deep bed in a set of frag tanks. and they tanked on me. i ended up growing a slimey jelly like green/brown algea, pond scum, on everything in the tank. acro frags too. it rots the edges of the coral. smelled a bit sufide. so over time i have sucked out all but 1/2 inch now and trying it for a while. clearing up. time will tell. saturated deep fine sandbeds can regurgitate. IMO.

another view is what do you do to maintain alk/calc. ? other than kalwasser make up? RO/DI removes all the good minerals from the water, kalwasser(calcium hydroxide) only adds calcium ions and carbonate ions. how do you keep your magnesium and strontium levels up? very important for coraline growth that repells slime algea, and coral growth. corals need a balance of calcium, Magnesium, carbonates, and strontium plus a drop of iodine, to grow. if any are low I think it limits the growth and health to the lowest element level. and then the reef cant defend itself from dino and algea . so you may have a high test score on DKH and Ca levels, but if you are low on the others you have stunted growth and coral/coraline health.

just curious, i'm messing with some of the same problems. and trying to think them thru.

 

[undertai]

ALK OF 3.5 IS LOW. Should be around 7 - 11 dhk. Everything else looks fine but you should invest in a clean up crew.

 

[beavis]

My bulbs are just a few months old. In retrospect, I have been battling the Dinos for some time, even when I had PC lights before I bought the MH.

I have recently (long AFTER Dinos attacked) started using the alkalinity component of Kent two part additive to boost ALK. The 3.5 is in mEq. I think you have to multiply by 2.8 to get dKh.

I have been living by the philosophy of not adding strontium or iodine, as I don't test for it. All of the trace minerals therefore come from water changes. When I first started, I would add a strontium, molybdenum, iodine supplement, but read that it was just a shot in the dark if you don't test those levels--- you could be way too high and not know it.

 

[shelburn61]

Can dinos really cause bleaching that bad? Looks almost like a temp swing or light shock. The dinos all over your sandbed might indicate trapped nutrients in there.

I really doubt supplements are your problem as long as you do water changes. Clean up crews are just a bandaid IMO. I think flow would help your situation, but I doubt it is the cause. On a tank this size I would look into seios or maxijet mods... unless you have the cash for a tunze

Any full tank shots?

 

[kaptken]

well, that old practice of small water changes to RESTORE natural levels of ions doesnt really hold water. first it assumes your salt mix is at normal seawater levels of all chemicals. which many are not.

spose you start with 100 gallons of tank water at 1300 ppm Mg. that's 1300 x 100 gal. = 130,000 units mg. to start at. the tank runs down to 1200ppm. you do a 20 gallon water change with 1300 ppm mg new salt water. that gives you (1200 x 80 gal. old water) + (1300 x 20 gal new water) = 122,000 units of Mg. or in other words still 8000 units short even after a water change. your Mg level would have dropped 80 ppm. and it gets worse the next change. and the next. so partial water changes alone do not restore a full tank to normal parameters. you need to add supliments. or use a calcium reactor which disolves all elements in the proportion they are consumed by corals and coraline. the kalwasser make up water on top of that helps offset the additional alkalinity loss due to bio functions in the tank.

 

[SFlogic]

gl bro hope everything turns out well, at least you have the support of a knowledgable community!!

 

[beavis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7065636#post7065636 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shelburn61
Can dinos really cause bleaching that bad? Looks almost like a temp swing or light shock. The dinos all over your sandbed might indicate trapped nutrients in there.

I really doubt supplements are your problem as long as you do water changes. Clean up crews are just a bandaid IMO. I think flow would help your situation, but I doubt it is the cause. On a tank this size I would look into seios or maxijet mods... unless you have the cash for a tunze

Any full tank shots?

On your advice and others, I have a SEIO pump on order. My tank has tended to run about 80-81 due to the 400W MH near the surface, which can't be avoided due to the canopy design. However, even the really deep frags are bleached. The Dinos are all over everything at all levels, but more so deeper in the tank.

BTW, what would you define a temp swing as ?

 

[Justin74]

I would define it as 4 or more degrees within a day. A consistant swing like that can be very stressfull.

400watts seems like overkill for a 46 gallon. People are having good results with that size of bulb on a smaller mid size tank? I would think no more than a 250w w/ maybe small supplementation would be appropriate. I have a 55g myself and am using T5 so not quite the same but am only using 195 of my potential 234 with excellent results and color, I also am using 2 seio 620's and about 650 gph on the return.

-Justin

 

[Justin74]

By the way, were your corals also bleaching under your old PC's?

-Justin

 

[RichConley]

You went from PCs to a 400w halide in a 46 gallon, and didnt move your corals down?

Get those corals down to the bottom of the tank, and increase flow.

 

[beavis]

The corals were bleaching under 192W PC and 257W PC. I thought maybe the PC were not enough to do well with SPS, so I bought the MH 400w. Most continued to lose color, but one turned a little pink. I have other frags at the bottom that have steadily lost color, too.

I am now into day 2 of total darkness, as suggested by others.

 

[kaptken]

its not the lights, its water chemistry or whats coming out of the sand bed. if something is low level in the water it stunts coral growth and health, and they bleach. it seems you have tried all level of lighting. even the 400w halide doesnt have the par of outdoor, equater clear day high noon sun on a 10 foot deep reef. but also watch your temperature.

add some Mg and Sr. a bit at a time. and see what happens over a month or so. it takes time for the corals and xoeanthelea to adjust.