New to sps and can't keep anything alive

[ndolf]

Stop your KALK also

Stop your KALK also

I see that you are also adding KALK to your RO. I suggest you remove that first. KALK dosing with RO if not done correctly will result in big PH swing and would very likely kill your SPS. As suggested above, remove your GFO and carbon. You can add these later once you get going. For now, the less stuff you have, the more stable you will be. And stability is more important for SPS survival than all these. All these are meant for better SPS color and growth, but can easily kill SPS too.

I upgraded to the 75g about 6 months ago. Yes it has been calibrated and I compared it to a local store so it seems be in check. But just for piece of mind I'll order more calibration fluid just to be safe.

As far as fish I have 2 perc clowns, flame angel, yellow tang, yellow coris wrasse, melanarous wrasse and an engineer goby.

I am running led's that start at 0% at 730 slowly ramp up to 85% for a few hours then slowly ramp down to 0% at 8






Didn't notice any color change before dying.




Yes I'm keeping all my softies, lps and anemones alive. Only thing I lost coral wise has been sps.




I'll start working on getting my salinity up, I think I'll start topping off with salt water instead of RO w/ kalk that should slowly bring it up.

Haha I MAY have gotten them from him! I don't blame him in any way what so ever I know there's an issue with my tank. I've acquired pieces from several sources and same thing always happens.

 

[Reefvet]

I see that you are also adding KALK to your RO. I suggest you remove that first. KALK dosing with RO if not done correctly will result in big PH swing and would very likely kill your SPS.

Using Kalk is not difficult nor is it likely to cause a 'big' pH swing. You say that without having any idea how much top off he's using.

KW is one of the best ways to stabilize your alkalinity. pH is something to be aware of but not the biggest concern in our small systems. Anything between 7.8 and 8.5 is fine. Most systems run between 7.8 - 8.1.

Measure your Alk several days in a row at the same time of day. IF it's dropping then dose to correct it. 9.25 is fine. Anywhere between there and 7.5 will grow beautiful SPS but the key is that it's stable.

 

[dvanacker]

The problem with dosing kalkwasser in your top off anyway is that it is dependant on your daily evaporation rate which changes. In this case dosing soda carbonate and calcium chloride (standard 2 part), is a better solution for stability of an SPS dominant system IMO/IME.

 

[dvanacker]

I lol at this too. It's funny cause it's true.

-dan

Ya that was kinda why I thought it would be a funny comment. If your new to keeping SPS odds are you going to have a rough time at some point because these are delicate creatures and there is a somewhat steep learning curve.

But let's face it, if it was easy it wouldn't be as fun. Also rest assure that if you are persistent, diligent, and consistent you will be successful at some point. In fact when you get things right there are plenty of SPS that do great in captivity with growth rates and colour that are hard to beat.

 

[epicurus84]

"I really hate 1.025 SG, since in Europe this is too high over here too low?"

I think salinity is the same in most SPS growing waters unless you talking about tidal pools

SG is different for each temperature. In the US it's measured at 20 degrees (celcius) and in the EU at 25 degrees (celcius) therefor you need to convert both.

1.025 sg != 1.025 sg.

Over here in Europe the sg in most tanks is 1.024. And thats more then high enough .

 

[Art13]

my first jump into sps, i got a purple bonsai, green stag, birds nest and digi, i lost the digi and birds nest oddly enough and the other two did just fine.

 

[Reefvet]

The problem with dosing kalkwasser in your top off anyway is that it is dependant on your daily evaporation rate which changes. In this case dosing soda carbonate and calcium chloride (standard 2 part), is a better solution for stability of an SPS dominant system IMO/IME.

The mistaken assumption you're working from here is that you should rely on the KW to maintain the Alk. And if you've got dramatic changes in your evaporation you'll have to adjust any other method of buffering as well.

KW helps to stabilize Alk and CA. It's not a complete solution if you're growing SPS. So you run KW, automatically dose 2 part and monitor Alk. You'll loose Alk much faster than CA so it's pretty easy to track.

It's worked for me for over 20 years.

 

[dvanacker]

The mistaken assumption you're working from here is that you should rely on the KW to maintain the Alk. And if you've got dramatic changes in your evaporation you'll have to adjust any other method of buffering as well.

KW helps to stabilize Alk and CA. It's not a complete solution if you're growing SPS. So you run KW, automatically dose 2 part and monitor Alk. You'll loose Alk much faster than CA so it's pretty easy to track.

It's worked for me for over 20 years.

changes in evaporation have no effect on a 2 part system.

If your not using KW as a supplement for alk and calcium, or to raise your pH because you have a calcium reactor there really is no good reason to use it at all. That is why most people using 2 part don't bother with kalk,why add another variable that can go wrong.

 

[Chrisq0904]

I'm not using kalk to raise my levels, just to help maintain them. After what people are saying on here maybe I'm better just ditching it and using just using plain ro for my top off.

 

[Chrisq0904]

Is there any chance of this coming back?

 

[dvanacker]

If there is flesh there is always hope and by the look of that picture there is still flesh and polyps.

I went over this thread and really dont see anything definitively wrong. 1.022 SG is not ideal but if it is stable shouldnt be killing things. GFO can sometimes cause a problem if you have high phosphate and add a lot of it, which drastically drops the PO4 fast. But if you have been using it for a while and your not using an excessive amount that shouldnt be a problem either.

Parameters look fine. You say you are using kalkwasser.....are you using any other product/equipment to add calcium and alkalinity as well? Are you monitoring your alk pretty closely and do you see much swing?

 

[Chrisq0904]

If there is flesh there is always hope and by the look of that picture there is still flesh and polyps.

I went over this thread and really dont see anything definitively wrong. 1.022 SG is not ideal but if it is stable shouldnt be killing things. GFO can sometimes cause a problem if you have high phosphate and add a lot of it, which drastically drops the PO4 fast. But if you have been using it for a while and your not using an excessive amount that shouldnt be a problem either.

Parameters look fine. You say you are using kalkwasser.....are you using any other product/equipment to add calcium and alkalinity as well? Are you monitoring your alk pretty closely and do you see much swing?

I'm slowly bring up my salinity. I did a 15g WC today and am going to use saltwater for my top off until salinity gets to around 1.025. I have been running gfo for a while and I'm using around 1/2 cup and that usually keeps my phosphates in control. I just got b-ionic 2 part for alk and ca. I use brightwell for mg but as soon as I run out of that I'm going to get the b-ionic as well just to stay in the same brand. I was testing once a week but now I'm making it a habit to test alk everyday until I figure out how much do dose daily then I will test every 2-3 days.

 

[Chrisq0904]

Results as of today:

KH: 9.5
MG: 1360
CA: 405
SG: 1.024

I'm using bionic 2 part. I put in the calculator that I want to go up to 420 and I selected the b ionic original. The calculator came up with 79.7ml. There was also a waring to not dose the whole thing in one day, but to dose 1/3 - 1/2 and test again the next day. Is that how the normal procedure is for dosing 2 part or am I safe do dose the entire amount? I already dosed 40ml where my DT drains into the sump.

 

[dvanacker]

Its safe to bump calcium up to 50ppm per day IMO.

For alk I would try to keep instant changes under .5dkh per day.

 

[Chrisq0904]

While having saltwater in my ATO my salinity hasn't increased much yet but my levels have increased. They are:

Sg dropped to 1.023

KH: 10.1
MG: 1380
CA: 435
P04: .04

I still have a few pieces alive but they do not look good in the least bit.

 

[JavyJaverson]

the number one killer of sps in my experience has been alk swings, so watch out for that.

 

[Chrisq0904]

the number one killer of sps in my experience has been alk swings, so watch out for that.

I'm thinking for now I may focus on raising my salinity and then focus on stable parameters. Trying to keep everything level has been driving me crazy. I will prob lose more by doing this but I don't want to give up!

 

[cugly]

Are you using a dosing machine for your 2 part or is it all by hand?

 

[Chrisq0904]

Are you using a dosing machine for your 2 part or is it all by hand?

It's all by hand but I have a dosing pump on the way.

 

[cugly]

It's all by hand but I have a dosing pump on the way.

get a doser so it will be a lot more stable with alk and ca..