New to SPS, but it all keeps dying!

[awais98]

If you truly have no3 and po4 at zero, alk should probably be lowered a bit to maybe 7.5. Are they dying from the top down or base up? Top down usually indicates alk burn. You say you do 20% water changes, does your new saltwater parameters match your tank's parameters? If the new saltwater parameters are way off compared to your tank's parameters, you could be causing huge swings and instability every time you do a water change.

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[kevin_e]

A 6 month old tank is anything but stable and no people don't have good success with sps in younger tanks. Sorry it just doesn't happen unless they use rock and such from a stable system and in this case it isn't nor is the op experienced enough to even be successful at it.

I does happen, frequently. That's not the reason.

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[RHreef]

I'm currently growing sps in a two month old system started with mainly dry rock, if you're parameters are where they need to be then there is no issue!

I would say lack of nutrients as well corals need food. What's your fish load like? The only way it's okay to have nutrients that low in my experience is with a heavy bio load so there's plenty of food going in before the nutrients are removed.


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[Reefer40b]

How do you have your Photon set? Are the whites up too high? This is not a fantastic acro light, IMO... it is OK, but not great. The white diodes in this light can burn coral if you have them up too high - this is not a "too much" thing, but a "wrong kind" thing where the diodes have too many bad peaks/waves for corals. The people who like these lights keep the whites down low.

Forget about the N and P - if you are not using media and chemicals to lower them, then you have enough. The calcium, alk and other params look fine too.

If he had a photon V1 I would agree but this is SO NOT true for the V2 which he says he had. I grow all types of acro's under this light no problem. Whites are indeed powerful 5w cree and I keep them very low 15-20% peak.

 

[Reefer40b]

I'm currently growing sps in a two month old system started with mainly dry rock, if you're parameters are where they need to be then there is no issue!

I would say lack of nutrients as well corals need food. What's your fish load like? The only way it's okay to have nutrients that low in my experience is with a heavy bio load so there's plenty of food going in before the nutrients are removed.


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I think yea you need to up your fish load and feed em alot, fat fish make alot of fish poop which is great coral food!

 

[Patrick Cox]

Did you start your tank with dry rock or true live rock? If dry rock, my experience aligns with the statement that 6 months is likely not enough for acros. I am sure it can be done by some people but I couldn't. My best success was starting a tank with fresh Tampa Bay Live Rock. And even that tank took some time to settle in.

Also, I have never been very successful chasing zero Nitrate and Phosphate. My corals would often STN away. I have done best with SPS when feeding my fish and corals to the point that I get algae growth. And then you need some way to combat the algae. I finally realized that a good CUC can and will clean algae from your rocks. I recently added about 15 Astrea snails to my 100G tank and I can see the paths of bare rock that the snails are leaving. I will probably add more. And my corals look great.

Finally, I have had much better luck with T5 lighting than with LED when it comes to SPS. YMMV.

Good luck.

 

[kevin_e]

Did you start your tank with dry rock or true live rock? If dry rock, my experience aligns with the statement that 6 months is likely not enough for acros. I am sure it can be done by some people but I couldn't. My best success was starting a tank with fresh Tampa Bay Live Rock. And even that tank took some time to settle in.

Also, I have never been very successful chasing zero Nitrate and Phosphate. My corals would often STN away. I have done best with SPS when feeding my fish and corals to the point that I get algae growth. And then you need some way to combat the algae. I finally realized that a good CUC can and will clean algae from your rocks. I recently added about 15 Astrea snails to my 100G tank and I can see the paths of bare rock that the snails are leaving. I will probably add more. And my corals look great.

Finally, I have had much better luck with T5 lighting than with LED when it comes to SPS. YMMV.

Good luck.

I started with dry rock and dry sand and acros went in after 3 months. A 6 month old tank is not the issue here. I very much doubt many SPS keeps waited 6 months or longer to put in SPS.

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[Patrick Cox]

I started with dry rock and dry sand and acros went in after 3 months. A 6 month old tank is not the issue here. I very much doubt many SPS keeps waited 6 months or longer to put in SPS.

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Maybe, maybe not.

 

[reefmutt]

I’m in the ‘lower alk a bit, add a couple fish and don’t use any product to lower n and p’ camp.
Wait a few weeks/month and see where you are for nutrients and for the system to balance a bit..
6 months is plenty old to keep acros if the system is stable.. some some systems take longer than others to get fully established but since you say you were only transferring established rock etc, 6 months is probably fine..
But don’t expect any real positive changes overnight- it’ll take weeks.
If the system is stable, don’t fret about your lighting. It’s fine as well. As long as it isn’t set to any extremes, the corals will acclimate to it- as long as the system is stable and balanced.
I may have said stable and balanced a lot.. sorry about that.. it’s really the key..