I'm at my wits end, I've tried just about everything to fix this and I really have no idea what to do.
First off, my levels:
PH: ~8.2 (tough to tell on the kit)
Salinity: 1.025
Alk: 7.7 dKH
Calcium: ~425ppm
Mag: 1175ish
Phosphates: Reading 0
Temperatures: 75.5-77.2F
And my current lighting cycle:
Halides: 6 hours
Actinics: on one hour before and after halides for a total of 8 hours.
For the most part, SPS don't seem to do well in my 90g tank. I've had problems with both montis and acros bleaching after a gradual browning. Typical lifecycle of a new sps frag (about half of what I put in does this) involves about a month of good color and acclimation, followed by a gradual loss of color and tip tissue loss.
At first I thought they weren't getting enough light (6x54w T5), so I replaced the fixture with a 2x250w 14k Phoenix + 2x54w actinic fixture. At first it was unmounted, sitting about 5" off the surface on a pair of 2x4"s.
I screened the top with 3 screens and removed one per week. I started having real noticeable problems after the last screen was removed. Acros near the top started seeing burnt tips followed by diatom growth. I moved them lower in the tank and clipped off the bad tips. Tissue loss on the ends continued until entire frags were consumed by this.
I figured it was light shock even though I acclimated my tank for 3 weeks with screens, so I put two screens back on. Loss abated somewhat but then my turaki mini colony (which had been good for two or so months) started browning out and getting tissue loss on the tips. I broke them off and moved it lower in the tank. It continued to get worse so I moved it back UP onto my rack halfway from the surface. Still waiting on that, but it's not looking as well as I'd like it to be.
To summarize, things I have tried to address:
- Alk instability- evened out. I hand dose but it doesn't vary much more than .2 dKH per day and I do dose every day.
- Temperature swings- The tank used to swing over 3F during a 24 hour period due to the halides. I've since mounted the fixture and it is hanging about 10" off the surface.
- Nutrients - I added some chaeto to my sump, which seems to grow well. I assume its sucking out nitrates. I also have a skimmer rated for 400g (though it is a Red Sea Berlin XL, it still does a fantastic job as I have no algae in the tank).
Right now I'm down to things I don't really think should bleach a well established monti cap in a week. I realize I have to bring my mag level up a bit, but as I understood it mag was mainly to stabilize calc/alk levels. They seem to be pretty good right now, but I realize I can still improve on it so I'll pick up some Tech M and see if it helps any.
I'm also planning on replacing the 14ks soon as they have about 7-8 months on them.
Thank you for anyone who has any input. I'd really like to get some good growth and I'm not seeing it.
First off, my levels:
PH: ~8.2 (tough to tell on the kit)
Salinity: 1.025
Alk: 7.7 dKH
Calcium: ~425ppm
Mag: 1175ish
Phosphates: Reading 0
Temperatures: 75.5-77.2F
And my current lighting cycle:
Halides: 6 hours
Actinics: on one hour before and after halides for a total of 8 hours.
For the most part, SPS don't seem to do well in my 90g tank. I've had problems with both montis and acros bleaching after a gradual browning. Typical lifecycle of a new sps frag (about half of what I put in does this) involves about a month of good color and acclimation, followed by a gradual loss of color and tip tissue loss.
At first I thought they weren't getting enough light (6x54w T5), so I replaced the fixture with a 2x250w 14k Phoenix + 2x54w actinic fixture. At first it was unmounted, sitting about 5" off the surface on a pair of 2x4"s.
I screened the top with 3 screens and removed one per week. I started having real noticeable problems after the last screen was removed. Acros near the top started seeing burnt tips followed by diatom growth. I moved them lower in the tank and clipped off the bad tips. Tissue loss on the ends continued until entire frags were consumed by this.
I figured it was light shock even though I acclimated my tank for 3 weeks with screens, so I put two screens back on. Loss abated somewhat but then my turaki mini colony (which had been good for two or so months) started browning out and getting tissue loss on the tips. I broke them off and moved it lower in the tank. It continued to get worse so I moved it back UP onto my rack halfway from the surface. Still waiting on that, but it's not looking as well as I'd like it to be.
To summarize, things I have tried to address:
- Alk instability- evened out. I hand dose but it doesn't vary much more than .2 dKH per day and I do dose every day.
- Temperature swings- The tank used to swing over 3F during a 24 hour period due to the halides. I've since mounted the fixture and it is hanging about 10" off the surface.
- Nutrients - I added some chaeto to my sump, which seems to grow well. I assume its sucking out nitrates. I also have a skimmer rated for 400g (though it is a Red Sea Berlin XL, it still does a fantastic job as I have no algae in the tank).
Right now I'm down to things I don't really think should bleach a well established monti cap in a week. I realize I have to bring my mag level up a bit, but as I understood it mag was mainly to stabilize calc/alk levels. They seem to be pretty good right now, but I realize I can still improve on it so I'll pick up some Tech M and see if it helps any.
I'm also planning on replacing the 14ks soon as they have about 7-8 months on them.
Thank you for anyone who has any input. I'd really like to get some good growth and I'm not seeing it.
