SPS Newb

I can't do more than 5 gallons a week as I live in an apartment and have to carry salt water and ro water in five gallon buckets three times a week as it is.

I bought dosers a while ago and have been dosing biofuel since I started the tank over a year ago. Currently I have an encrusting Monti. That is growing well and a green slimer that's growing as well. I have a true acro that seems to have finally died on me after doing well for a few months. It did fall to the sand three or four times once the glue broke free but for a while it looked grate.
 
ajcanale said:
Fluidized GFO + 2 Bags Chemi-Pure + Purigen + Biofuel Carbon Dosing ?!?

Overkill with nutrient control could very well be your problem here.

Light sensitivity could be an issues as well. LED's are intense. Most PAR meters under-measure LED's significantly.
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+1 Very good advise. I was out of the hobby for 10 years and came to bio pellets and GFO. I love gadgets and wanted to try all the new stuff and did. My Sps coral turned white and didn't grow for the longest time. I pulled the GFO and bio pellets and added more fish and feed 4 times a day and dose Micromacter7. The tank is thriving and everything is recovering and coloring up and growing again. Lesson learned
 
Take out your chem filtration and see what happens. Then add it back a little at a time as needed. I would bet money that you have stripped the water of all phosphate which caused the same problem for me when I started with sps
 
Ok so, while long overdue here is another unpdate.

All of the corals I had growing two months ago are still alive. I bought a few more and have only had problems with one, an acro that I think was upset by a quick drop in ALK from 7.6 to low 6's when magnesium dropped below 1200.

I am phasing out the Purigen and chemipure.

I seem to be having 2 main problems:

1) My Calcium is alway skyhigh, I use oceanic and testing right after mixing won't even give a calcium reading, store says it was over 600 ppm at one point. This means that I have trouble maintaining higher alkalinity at any given level of magnesium and so I don't dose the same amounts of ca and alk additives on a daily basis (right now I think its about 5 ml/day difference) I don't want to be continually precipitating out calcium carbonate. Any suggestions? (I don't want this to devolve into a discussion on which salt is best but the thought of changing to a different mix has crossed my mind)

2) The remaining filtration I have has allowed the increase in both coral growth (across all SPS except the one newer frag which is displaying STN, I have made a couple little tiny frags but we'll see) and coloration. However, in recent months macro algae and diatoms (brown dust) have dramatically increased. I do not currently see ANY phosphates or nitrates on any test kit I have (seachem for nitrates and salifert for phosphates). I do not want to experience the problems I had earlier (see above) but at the same time I hate seeing the algae in my tank.
 
BTW, my feeding has changed to better accomodate my Kole Tang and fatten up a very skinny citron goby to one full nori sheet a week over 3 feedings, 4-6 cubes of mysis, a cube of orange bug things comes from PE mysis, a pinch (about a minute of feeding) of flakes and or pellets a day.
 
Sorry to hear your having some growing pains, they will pass though. One thing I would mention is that your trying to re-create an entire ecosystem in a box but then we choose to only add "parts" of the system we like leaving others out. Then we wonder why we struggle to duplicate nature's results. Your going to have to pick a style of system that you feel comfortable with and then stick with it and stay the course. Sometimes we get in a hurry and start looking for "things" to fix our problems and we never get a stable system. It can take a long time with a specific biolode and feeding regimen to establish a balance between input and export of nutrients involving not only mechanical but also biological factors. Bacteria beds can take time, micro-fauna takes time to develop and so on. There are alternatives like Zeovit but they have there own "work" and price but again you have to stick with the program and work it long term for success. You will succeed, I'm sure of it, but pick a system and stick with it. Trying to give enough nutrients to grow and removing the leftover at the end of the day works for most. Stripping it "clean" is only the after part. feed it first and get params VERY stable. As for your algae concerns , for now beef up your clean up crew so as not to go introducing another "change", to them it's just food, they'll eat it all. I have a large crew to deal with things in my tank instead of just stripping everything out all the time. You will succeed!
 
I have had a terrible track record with clean up crew. Hermits eating snails, fish eating hermit, hermits eating coral, emeralds and shirmp eating polyps and shrooms.

I like the liquid carbon sources which have given me the longest success with stony corals, about 4 months and growing. I do not want to change out of that system any time soon. I just feel like I'm losing the war against the algae and it will take over my tank.

For a reality check in my 75 there is about 20 pieces of bubble algae and maybe a dozen small spots of turf or hair algae so its not a crisis.

However, in the past three months I have seen my tank go from no algae to some algae to a tiny bit more algae and I want to try and stay ahead of the game and change up my practices if I can.
 
Also the salt issue is one i've been having for a while but have been reluctant to change as I'm pleased with the results, though i dose my mixing water with about a leter of bicarbonate solution from BRS to try to lower the calcium and raise the alkalinity before I change the water.
 
I would stop worrying about the amount of algae in my tank until everything is back in order. Perform some small frequent water changes with a salt brand which matches your desired parameters the best.
 
I am not saying you should change methodology. However every tank has to find balance between input and export either thru natural means or manipulation thru additions. Either way your going to have periods where it gets off and you will have setbacks or algae outbreaks, etc.. The idea is to find ways to get thru those without a crash or giving up on working the system your using. Sometimes we have to use temporary solutions, i.e. GFO, pellets, rowaphos, etc, to keep working our current system until we find the balance point and ultimately long term success. As far as the emerald crab problem try to use only females as the males tend to cause more coral attacks than the females. I have hermits, snails, shrimp, certain fish, micro-fauna and a big skimmer to keep things in check as my attempt at carbon dosing failed miserably. Remember your re-creating the ocean and if you choose to leave certain parts out then that work falls to you to do, either thru additional cleaning or dosing or zeo, etc.. This works for me, you will find something that works for you but it takes time. Don't get overly concerned over short term problems, attack and solve, and keep working one type of system till you win. I would take haluk.k's advice and use a salt that fits your params without all the fiddling, it's just one more possible problem, eliminate it.
 
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I think I will be switching to IO so I'm not dosing the change up water to try and decrease the Calcium. It's just too high.
 
BTW I run a reef octopus diablo 200xs skimmer on this tank, so I would assume I have all the needed skimming power, while it doesn't fill up it does get about an inch and a half of dark green skimmate once a week.
 
Maybe an obvious answer, but are the corals right in front of the outlet of the return or MP40? If so, maybe you are "blasting" off the tissue and making the polyps not want to extend.
 
In my opinion, you're adding too much unnecessary filtration, additives, and chemicals.

Just keep things simple: heavy skimming and consistent water change!

And I personally like to keep my Alkalinity at around 8dkh and Calcium at 420ppm.
 
No, none are in direct flow. The ones that look the best are in very high flow areas. The worst few are in lower flow areas (like my frag rack near the bottom).
 
I have found that when dosing just alkalinity the levels don't stay consistent and I get crazy alkalinity swings. But when I am just a little over in alkalinity I can maintain consistent levels.

Fwiw I stopped dosing all Ca today
 
afm32607 said:
BTW I run a reef octopus diablo 200xs skimmer on this tank, so I would assume I have all the needed skimming power, while it doesn't fill up it does get about an inch and a half of dark green skimmate once a week.
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IMO this may not be enough skimming. I have a super reef octo skimmer and empty the cup 2-3 times a week of nasty skim. Maybe try adjusting your skimmer a little wetter.

Also I would reduce your feeding some if you are seeing algae. From one of your above posts you feed 4 fish a cube plus pellets daily, plus a sheet of nori a week.

Here is what I feed my 90. 1 cube of mysis OR a good pinch of pellets daily and 1/4 sheet of nori every other day.
All that keeps sailfin and tomini tang, 2 clowns, chromis, dottyback, and a clown goby fat and full. The same cube is also used to feed my sun coral.
 
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