No coral growth
- Thread starter DNA
- Start date
Been keeping SPS for a long time now. Brown acro 9/10 times is either too much light or high phosphates. 9/10 times high phosphates are due to water source. Bleaching from the bottom more times then not are alk swings. Keep the alk in check your tank will do fine. Also most important for a successful sps tank is stability. Weather its 1.025 or 1.023, 7 or 10 dkh, 450 or 320, 8.4 or 7.9 ph, etc etc. Keeping them in line with one another and keeping them from swinging too much will really give you successful growth and color. I have gone through alot of the battles you have but as soon as I stabilized all of these I noticed incredible changes in my aquarium. Invest in an RODI, the initial cost will pay for itself in the first month, not only in better water source but also in less headaches and stress. Good luck to you.
I never saw you mention that you started testing your alk. If you want to keep sps you must test and keep your alk stable. Until you are doing this you are just chasing your tail.
edited just to add cal and salinity, temp etc should all be stable as well, however alk swings are harder on sps than almost any other type of instability.
edited just to add cal and salinity, temp etc should all be stable as well, however alk swings are harder on sps than almost any other type of instability.
needmore-reef
New member
DNA- Your tank photos from 2005 are great. I hope you don't give up. Good Luck.
I noticed a huge growth spurt in my sps, when I stablized my Alk. Turned out my coral load was consuming more Alk than Ca and I was dosing 2 parts equally. Now all I really have to test for is my Alk and if it stays between 9-9.5 dkh the sps grow. Prior to that I only tested every other week and noticed that if I dosed equally my Alk would drop to 6dkh over a two week period. I switched up my dosing regiment to do 8ml Alk for every 5ml Ca and for the last few months I've seen better polyp extension, color, and growth of my corals. I also dose Brightwells Coral Amino's which seems to help the color.
Grant W
New member
Just spotted you thread and the things that jumped off the page for me were of course instability, but also the alk and magnesium dosing have to be stable as well as your source water must be rodi or you will be fighting yourself. Part of your cleaning regiment should be to gravelvac small portions of your sandbed to remove build up debris and try to stop using the chemical agents as they are at best a bandaid approach to solving the issues. The flatworm outbreaks are fueled by nitrate and phos increases and need to be dealt with through water quality improvement via water changes with good ro water and maybe simply add a dual stage reactor with GFO and GAC to remove pollutants from the system. However you must test your alk, Ca and mag. Hope this helps. Grant
klondike4001
New member
Another vote to test Alk and Mg, if those values are off you will continue to slowly lose corals.
DNA
New member
Thanks all, I really appreciate your thoughts and good advice on my problems.
I'll take a better look and monitor alkalinity, but the calcium reactor is supposed to keep it in check.
There is no stray voltage. Carbon and GFO are in separate fluidized reactors.
Here are the current parameters
Date April 5. 2011
Time 18:10
Alk 8,3. I measure this rarely, but it was at 8 last time.
Ca 370 This is the lowest I've seen, but the average is 425.*
Mg 1200 I'll raise it a little.
pH 8,3. Swings from 8,1-8,3 for the last 1-2 months.*
80,6°F = 27,1°C
*Dropped the pH in the calcium reactor and expect the new media to dissolve better and Ca levels to rise.
Does anyone know how long phosphate saturated rocks take to recover?
I'll take a better look and monitor alkalinity, but the calcium reactor is supposed to keep it in check.
There is no stray voltage. Carbon and GFO are in separate fluidized reactors.
Here are the current parameters
Date April 5. 2011
Time 18:10
Alk 8,3. I measure this rarely, but it was at 8 last time.
Ca 370 This is the lowest I've seen, but the average is 425.*
Mg 1200 I'll raise it a little.
pH 8,3. Swings from 8,1-8,3 for the last 1-2 months.*
80,6°F = 27,1°C
*Dropped the pH in the calcium reactor and expect the new media to dissolve better and Ca levels to rise.
Does anyone know how long phosphate saturated rocks take to recover?
DNA
New member
It says SG for specific gravity and 1,025 - 1,026 is were it stays.
Today I actually saw a few polyps on some of the corals for the first time in months meaning it's swinging in the right direction at the moment for them. Then at the same time others are clearly suffering.
I'll post some updates later when something significant happens.
Today I actually saw a few polyps on some of the corals for the first time in months meaning it's swinging in the right direction at the moment for them. Then at the same time others are clearly suffering.
I'll post some updates later when something significant happens.
DNA
New member
Got my first RO/DI unit 3 weeks ago and I have done three 30% water changes since then.
Of course it's way to early to tell for sure, but so far there are no obvious visible changes at all. I superimposed images from from 3 weeks apart and no growth has taken place in the coral on the image below.
My TDS are 28 in and 0 out. I had high hopes for this to help, but it's not looking good.
Here is an example. The purple coral pic taken December 2010 in the dealers tank and today in mine. The base is dead, the tips survived, but are light brown and dying as we speak.
The turf algae is still growing as fast as before despite of light feeding, GFO, Vodka and algae in the sump.
I don't think this coral has had any growth at all since it arrived more than 6 months ago. Still the coraline algae to the left has doubled and changed color drastically.
I've got more pictures, but they tell the same story and are too depressing. My red M. digitata is 90% dead due to tissue pealing off and similar problems are with the rest.
Current theory is phosphates are now leaching out from rocks so now it's either to wait months or years for that to run it's course or throw everything out and start again on square one.
Of course it's way to early to tell for sure, but so far there are no obvious visible changes at all. I superimposed images from from 3 weeks apart and no growth has taken place in the coral on the image below.
My TDS are 28 in and 0 out. I had high hopes for this to help, but it's not looking good.
Here is an example. The purple coral pic taken December 2010 in the dealers tank and today in mine. The base is dead, the tips survived, but are light brown and dying as we speak.
The turf algae is still growing as fast as before despite of light feeding, GFO, Vodka and algae in the sump.
I don't think this coral has had any growth at all since it arrived more than 6 months ago. Still the coraline algae to the left has doubled and changed color drastically.
I've got more pictures, but they tell the same story and are too depressing. My red M. digitata is 90% dead due to tissue pealing off and similar problems are with the rest.
Current theory is phosphates are now leaching out from rocks so now it's either to wait months or years for that to run it's course or throw everything out and start again on square one.
DNA
New member
Some corals look better after 2 months of RO/DI and 4 water changes, but no growth still. There is better polyp extension and darker colors though.
Algae growth is still out of control and I've got two options. Wait for months or years for phosphates to get depleted or throw away all the rocks and sand.
Not knowing the length of the waiting period is bad and
300 pounds (150kg) of rocks cost 2 arms and 2 legs around here
Algae growth is still out of control and I've got two options. Wait for months or years for phosphates to get depleted or throw away all the rocks and sand.
Not knowing the length of the waiting period is bad and
300 pounds (150kg) of rocks cost 2 arms and 2 legs around here
DNA
New member
I've been at it for so long there is nothing else left to do that I can think of. The symptoms fit as well with fast algae growth and no coral growth.
I'm the first one around here to purify the water for an aquarium. The RO/DI units are not available since they are considered useless for cold water purification. Still at this point not using one seems to be the mistake since my problem is most likely because of a hot geothermal water contamination from a faulty single action faucet.
GFO will help for sure, but you may need a lot of it in severe cases.
I'm the first one around here to purify the water for an aquarium. The RO/DI units are not available since they are considered useless for cold water purification. Still at this point not using one seems to be the mistake since my problem is most likely because of a hot geothermal water contamination from a faulty single action faucet.
GFO will help for sure, but you may need a lot of it in severe cases.
javajaws
Premium Member
I'm not really sure how anybody could hope to keep a successful tank with SPS and NOT monitor the alkalinity in their tank on a regular basis. You've really gotta measure this and keep it in line.
You keep mentioning rock...but sometimes less is more, especially if its old and caked with detritus. Taking a few pieces out each week and scrubbing them down (in saltwater) might not be a bad idea at this point.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
Agreed, you have roughly 1 lb per gallon and only a hand full of fish for such a large tank. Slowly removing the rock and cleaning them may do a world of wonder.
DNA
New member
On Fridays I add filter socks, blast all of the rock thoroughly several times during the weekend and remove them on Mondays. Every other weekend I clean the gravel.
It's not lack of husbandry that's the problem. The turf algae is out of control and covers around half of all lit surfaces. I've spent vast amounts of time picking it hoping the algae in the sump, GFO and bacteria to take over, but the battle is futile until the fuel runs out.
Javajaws: Since that was written I measured alkalinity regularly for quite a while and it stayed constant. Until I solve the phosphate problem, alkalinity seems very unimportant, but of course it is to a healthy tank.
It's not lack of husbandry that's the problem. The turf algae is out of control and covers around half of all lit surfaces. I've spent vast amounts of time picking it hoping the algae in the sump, GFO and bacteria to take over, but the battle is futile until the fuel runs out.
Javajaws: Since that was written I measured alkalinity regularly for quite a while and it stayed constant. Until I solve the phosphate problem, alkalinity seems very unimportant, but of course it is to a healthy tank.
