Not enough light?

[AngeloM3]

Alright... well I've been in this hobby for about a 1/2 year now. I've kept softies going good... none have died. I recently tried my hand at some SPS. Spent $135 on 9 SPS's from someone here on RC.

Got them... they all looked fine. Put them in top level of tank (after 1hr 1/2 of acclimating) and they have a decent amount of current passing over them. Within 24hrs of being in my tank all 9 SPS's bleached. 2 weeks have passes and their still bleached and now there is algae starting to grow on them. I figure that they will not recover.

All parameters are within norm.....

50g tank, 20g sump/fuge, 1x 175w HQI 14k, 2x 65w Actinics on a 12hr on/off cycle.

Does that seem like to less of light?

 

[raddogz]

Seems like a silly question but did you acclimate them to your tank first (drip acclimate or light acclimate)?

If they are still white and algae growing on them they might be very well dead.

Btw, what are your water parameters.

Sorry.

 

[AngeloM3]

Drip acclimate them.... are you suppose to light acclimate SPS?
I've never light acclimated any of my livestock (fish, inverts, softies)
Also I do have a bag of carbon in the sump

These are the parameters the day of adding the SPS to my tank... and the parameters as of today... nothing has changed
Temp = 80 during day, 78 at night
pH = 8.3
Sal = .026
Cal = 400ppm
Phos = undetectable
Ammonia = undetectable
Nitrite = undetectable
Nitrate = 5 or less
Alk = i forget the reading... but its in the medium/high range

 

[AngeloM3]

How i drip acclimate all of my livestock......... float bag for 30min-45min
then every 15min... add a squirt or two of tank water from a turkey baster... i do that every 15min for 1 hr

Also doesnt help that as soon as i put the SPS's in the tank... my Red Stripe Angelfish thought it was a good idea to nip at them.... so in the future unfortunatly i don't think i'll be able to keep SPS with my Red Stripe

 

[Mchava]

Re: Not enough light?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7762326#post7762326 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AngeloM3
Within 24hrs of being in my tank all 9 SPS's bleached.

I dont think that acclimation is the problem. I think its someting else. For sps to bleach in 24hr there is someting realy bad going on in your tank. I dont acclimate my sps to my tank. I just let them sit out of the water for about 2 min then place in my tank. I think there might be someting to do with your nitrate and po4 levels. Which test kit did you use to test your water. Some kits are not as good as others.

 

[raddogz]

All nine in one sitting to go bad?

Yes, you are supposed to acclimate SPS to lighting. Usually, you need to acclimate them by placing them at the bottom of the tank, and then slowly move them up.

The only exception may be if you purchase the sps from a lfs or bought a frag from someone local where you already know what kind of lighting they have and it's a short distance home.

 

[AngeloM3]

i use salifert test kits and when i test parameters i always test twice just to make sure its giving the correct reading.... again... all my softies are fine and are growing really fast!

i have a feeling it was because i didnt light acclimate them...... them sitting in a pitch black box for 24hrs... then going right under a 175w HQI probably did something

 

[AngeloM3]

is 1x 175w HQI 14k and 2x 65w actinics PC's on a 50g ok for SPS's and LPS's?

 

[reef runt]

yh i keep my sps under 150 watt mh's in a 20inch deep tank and im keeping them at the bottom middle and top of the tank


might be chemical war fare between softies