New sps tank trouble

[benfinley]

Hi,

I'm just getting back into the hobby after a few years off. I'm attempting sps this time around but things aren't looking too well. I have an encrusting montipora that was bright green with tiny orange polyps that now is completely brown. I also have an acro that was a nice green color. It's beginning to brown out, show less polyp extension, oozing white slime and possibly losing tissue. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong here. I'm running GFO, carbon and purigen. I also have a great skimmer. I dose two part (kent nano) and perform water changes weekly. I've noticed my fluval m heater doesn't hold the temp very well at night so I just ordered an eheim jager.

Last thurs I went to the lfs and got the following test results:

KH: 7
Calcium: 390
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Salinity: 1.022 (I know it's a bit low, I've been topping off a little less)

 

[benfinley]

Here's the acro. It actually looks worse in person.

 

[seamonkey84]

doing water changes to slowly up your salinity is the way to go, or at least top off with new salt water. That will also help a bit with your low alk and cal levels. Continue dosing and get your own test kits (at least for Alk and Cal) and a refractometer.
How long have you had these pieces and what kind of lighting are you using?

 

[brannock_16]

Alk is low, my sps seemed to be most happy in the 8-9 dkh range, calcium is also relatively low...shoot for 420-460 ish. NSW has a SG around 1.026, so steadily increase it to here.

Also, do you test your own parameters or rely soley upon your LFS? If the latter is the case I would highly suggest investing in some API test kits of your own.

What kind of lighting do you have on the system? What kind of flow? Sps can be quite finicky and need very stable conditions to optimize growth and color.

Just my two cents, but I'm sure others will chime in shortly. Merry Christmas!

 

[benfinley]

Thanks for the replies! I have api test kits for kh and calcium but I have found the KH to be totally innacurate. I get a reading around 11! My LFS uses salifert test kits but they are so expensive. I plan on picking up a few soon here though. I have 3 koralia nanos (425 gph); my tank is 29 gallons. I also have a 150 watt aqualight advanced HQI light with a new 14 K pheonix bulb. It's weird because my calcium and alk tested perfect for a while and then suddenly dropped. I had my mag tested also and it was 1260. Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[benfinley]

Any recommendation for dosage on the two part?

 

[benfinley]

I have the new heater is installed. At night the temp was dipping an average of 5 degrees. Totally stable now. I will go to the lfs and pick up some test kits for at home testing after work and post my current params. Any other recommendations?

 

[dunc101]

Remember that the key to SPS is stability. It is imperative to keep your levels stable and it would be very hard to do this without the proper test kits to tell you the utilization that your tank is using for alkalinity and calcium. You can get the salifert alkalinity test kit from reefcleaners.org for $13! That is the lowest price I have found it, personally, and also where I have gotten my test kits in the past.

Once you get your levels stable.... just give it time. It literally took the SPS in my tank 1 year to start growing well. lol. It seems some people get instant growth, but for me, it took a while.

 

[benfinley]

Remember that the key to SPS is stability. It is imperative to keep your levels stable and it would be very hard to do this without the proper test kits to tell you the utilization that your tank is using for alkalinity and calcium. You can get the salifert alkalinity test kit from reefcleaners.org for $13! That is the lowest price I have found it, personally, and also where I have gotten my test kits in the past.

Once you get your levels stable.... just give it time. It literally took the SPS in my tank 1 year to start growing well. lol. It seems some people get instant growth, but for me, it took a while.

Thanks for the input! That's a good deal! How often do you recommend testing alk/calcium?

 

[Laddy]

Thanks for the input! That's a good deal! How often do you recommend testing alk/calcium?

Test once a week at first, write your findings in a log or journal. As alkalinity is a good overall indicator of your tanks perimeters, most test for this more than they do calcium. I test Alk once a week, and calcium a few times a year.

 

[Dexters Reef]

Before I had dosing pumps, I was measuring alk daily and adding it as needed. Now I am just about fine tuned with the dosing pumps and have been testing every 3-4 days.

We cant tell you how much to dose, you need to figure out how much is used each day by your tank. As you add sps and as existing ones grow, the daily consumption will increase.

Test at the same time every day for a week without adding anything. See how much you lose each day, and if there is a pattern and from there you will have a great starting point to figure out your daily dosage amount

 

[benfinley]

Water is perfect. Perhaps I was dosing too quickly. Here's hoping things stabilize now!
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
KH: 8
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1350
Salinity: 1.025

 

[benfinley]

I would highly suggest investing in some API test kits of your own.

I invested in the salifert kits. I have a few api kits but they don't seem accurate to me.

 

[benfinley]

Is it a possibility that something is wrong with my light? One side of my bird nest has good polyp extension and the side in direct light looks sad. Also note the white tips. I've heard that aqualight advanced fixtures have crappy UV filters (only covers half the bulb).

 

[ampemployee1]

Water is perfect. Perhaps I was dosing too quickly. Here's hoping things stabilize now!
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
KH: 8
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1350
Salinity: 1.025

@benfinley, the params you listed are characteristic of a ULNS (Ultra low nutrient system). My understanding is reefers who run ULNS typically need to add nutrients back into the system to support SPS growth.

IMO, aside from the difficulty of maintaining "0.0" ppm, its more practical to target a consistent P range of 0.02 to 0.04ppm rather than have to add nutrients back into the system to facilitate coral growth. Enjoy!

 

[benfinley]

@benfinley, the params you listed are characteristic of a ULNS (Ultra low nutrient system). My understanding is reefers who run ULNS typically need to add nutrients back into the system to support SPS growth.

IMO, aside from the difficulty of maintaining "0.0" ppm, its more practical to target a consistent P range of 0.02 to 0.04ppm rather than have to add nutrients back into the system to facilitate coral growth. Enjoy!

What would you recommend for adding nutrients? I just keep up with excellent maitinance and a low bioload, I'm not dosing carbon or anything. I add seachem reef plus and oyster feast for the corals. Should I add another fish?

 

[ampemployee1]

I'm not an expert, so I'll let someone with more experience comment. In my case, initially (first 6 months) my system had really low phosphate levels, but low bioload. I added additional fish and livestock, and now I run GFO in a reactor. Voila, low phosphate issues gone forever!

Enjoy the time where P levels are not an issue...hope the honeymoon lasts a long time!

 

[benfinley]

I'm not an expert, so I'll let someone with more experience comment. In my case, initially (first 6 months) my system had really low phosphate levels, but low bioload. I added additional fish and livestock, and now I run GFO in a reactor. Voila, low phosphate issues gone forever!

Enjoy the time where P levels are not an issue...hope the honeymoon lasts a long time!

Well I am running a bit of GFO in a reactor. I wanted to keep P low before it became a problem and to get rid of some of the algae I was struggling with. Bad idea?

 

[wndry]

No i run gfo too my new tank is realitively new i agree phosphate battle will happen evetaully i wouldnt add anything ekse let ur tank mature more

 

[ampemployee1]

If you trust your P test kits, and your levels of P are not measurable, you may not need to run GFO. For one, GFO is expensive, and more importantly, your corals needs some P to grow. I would consider taking a baseline P measurement, take the GFO offline and test your P a day later. If you are not measuring any P, I'd take the GFO offline until you start to measure P, and moderate its use to get your P in the range of 0.02-0.04ppm.

What I'm suggesting is essentially what I've read somewhere on the RC Reef Chemistry forums when I was researching running GFO on my system. The range 0.02-0.04 is what many of the best looking reefs are dialed into. My SPS growth, PE and coloration seem to be best in that range.

Some folks also recommend keeping a close eye on your Alk when running GFO, as some have experience with Alk depleting more rapidly when running GFO.