sps keep dieing

[TWINPEAKS]

Most every sps I get dies within 3-4 weeks,they start turning white at the tips and it bleaches all the way to the base within 2 days.
Tanks parms.
alk. 11 dkh
cal. 400 ppm
ph 8.0
temp 80
mag. 1400ppm
sal. 1.025
lighting
250 watt M.H. 10k. about 20 inches away
These parm. are when checked last but will post a update later today.

 

[danfrith]

Sounds like they might be bleaching from the light or more likely Alk burns, have you tried lowering your Alk a bit?

 

[breutus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12716909#post12716909 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by danfrith
Sounds like they might be bleaching from the light or more likely Alk burns, have you tried lowering your Alk a bit?

bleaching from not enough light, right?

Also twinpeaks, what is flow like in your tank?

 

[frenchie]

i can't keep any sps either, i start them at bottom of tank under 5 54 watts t5's and work them up but in a month time there white, i given up on them for now until i can get neccesary equipment to keep tank water parameters to stay real stable.

 

[Angler02]

I keep my 150's 8 inches off the top of the water. I'm no sps guru but sounds to me like you need to lower you lights.

 

[Angler02]

Although that could also depend on the refletors you have as well.

 

[Nanook]

What brand bulbs are they and how old are they?

What is your flow like in the tank?

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels?

How heavily stocked is the tank?

Where are you getting SPS from?

Any temperature swings?


SPS need stable parameters to survive, they aren't rocket science, but you need to keep fresh bulbs and low nutrients to keep them successfully.

 

[TWINPEAKS]

Not sure on the bulb brand but its less than a year old and the lps seem to be just fine.The flow could be bumped up a little I'm running a mag 36 cut back a little on a 6' tank with total water volume is 90 gallons (60 tank and 30 sump).I'll have to check the nitrates and I never get a reading on phosphates.The tank only has 2 blue damsels,1 peppermint shrimp,6 line and about 6 snails all bare bottom temp stay between 79 and 81 degrees.
This is my frag tank that I'm trying to get going its been up about a 16 months.All frags have come from other members this happen in my 180 tank also completely separate system.

 

[Charlie's Angel]

I would test nitrates and I beleive phosphates almost always read zero on a standard test. If you have any algae problems, then most likely you have elevated phosphates. Do you run GFO and/or carbon. Might help. Also, when was the last time you changed the filtration in your RO/DI. Maybe that needs to be changed? Just some thoughts.

 

[jbarone]

What SPS are you losing? SG could be bumped up too.

 

[idareefer]

alk burns come from dosing to much at once, I run my alk at 11.2 and have awesome color & growth and never any alk issues except when my alk get below 9 then the corals feak some, also like other have mentioned, low to no nitrates & phos along with good water flow. I never run phos remover, paramaters are usually in line so not needed.

 

[JxMetal]

I don't think it has anything to do with the params that you've shown us.

Those all look good, some even better than mine.

How about temperature?

LPS and softies do fine?

Many leathers?

 

[chadfarmer]

are you using kalk reactor?

 

[TWINPEAKS]

No kalk reactor,I do drip kalk on occasion
latest parm.
ALK. 8.3
ph. 8.0
cal. 365
no nitrates or nitrites
temp stays around 79-81
sal. 1.025
lps and softies,leathers do fine.
alk. seems a bit low recommendations?
How do you run a cal. reactor without a monitor to turn on/off the co2

 

[reefnut1]

Do you use a grounding probe? You may have stray electricity.

 

[TWINPEAKS]

No grounding probe ,no elect. either

 

[DARKSILENTTYPE]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12724587#post12724587 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TWINPEAKS
No kalk reactor,I do drip kalk on occasion
latest parm.
ALK. 8.3
ph. 8.0
cal. 365
no nitrates or nitrites
temp stays around 79-81
sal. 1.025
lps and softies,leathers do fine.
alk. seems a bit low recommendations?
How do you run a cal. reactor without a monitor to turn on/off the co2

I run my Alk at 7.5

I run my reactor with bubbles on all the time I adjust my bubble rate by where I want my Alk to be if the Alk is a little high I run less bubbles and the reverse if Alk is to low .

John

 

[chadfarmer]

what test kits

 

[TWINPEAKS]

salifert Alk,Cal, Mag,API on everything else.
Slowely raising Alk. to 10.5 and cal. to 435

 

[dphins]

Do you run carbon? Leathers and sps don't like each other.