SPS No Growth

F

FullCircle

New member
Dear Fellow Reefers,

I hope that some of you more advanced aquarists can share some of your wisdom in my dilemma. I have a 90 gallon mixed reef tank that was initially set up 6 months ago. At first, I introduced reef-safe fish, softies and LPS (xenia, dendro, star polyp, etc.) to the tank and they are doing great to date. However, I am not experiencing the same luck with SPS, of which I have been sparingly adding to the tank for the past 4 months. I lost several SPS frags/small colonies to what could be attributed to STN/RTN and bleaching. The SPS that I currently have in the tank (e.g., valida, tenuis, millepora, monti-cap, etc.) exhibits minimal PE (more so during photo period) and extremely slow growth rate if any. In fact, I have not seen any noticeable growth in these frags or colonies in the past several months. My LFS tried to convince me that some folks just have a "green thumb" when it comes to SPS. I don't necessarily agree, but rather side with mere facts as in water chemistry/maturity, equipment, etc. I am astonished at the successes that some of you have achieved in this hobby and hope that you can provide your feedback. BTW, I am only 6 months in to the hobby, so be nice!

In any case, I included some of the more general data below, because many of you would probably like to know these things before you make your assessment.

WATER PARAMETERS (consistent for the past 3 mo. unlesss otherwise noted):

SG: 1.026 (using refractometer)
Temp: 78-80F
PH: 8.3
dKH: 9-10 (initially higher at 11-12, but have been stable for the past 3months)
Phosphate: 0
Calcium: 450-470 ppm
Magnesium: 1200-1300 ppm
ORP: 390-420 mv
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
TDS: 0

NOTE: All water tests completed using either ELOS and/or Salifert test kits.

DOSING:
The only thing that I dose is magnesium (seachem) to maintain proper levels. I would like to achieve success without the need to bombard the livestock with chemicals and am opting for the natural route even if it takes a bit longer to see the silver lining.

CIRCULATION:
(2) Tunze Nano powerheads
Tunze Nano wavebox
Tank turnover rate: estimated at 18-20x

EQUIPMENT:
30 gallon refugium (w/chaeto macro)
PM RL150 skimmer
PM Calcium Reactor
PM Phosphate Reactor (w/phosban media)

CORAL FEEDING:
Oyster eggs, rotifers and phytoplankton (2-3 times per week).

LIGHTING:
(2) 14K 150W MH and (2) actinic 96W PC.

PHOTO PERIOD:
7.5 hours of MH and 1.5 hours PC before/after MH.

1. Is the tank not matured enough at 6 months for SPS?
This tank was seeded with LR, LS and water from a very successful and established SPS tank. I have also read about the many succcesses with tanks that have been running for less than a year.
2. Could it be pests that I am unable to detect?
I have been observing the tank with a 2X magnifying glass both day/night for many months, but have not seen any pests in the tank other than small bristle worms. No AEFW, redbugs, nudibranchs, etc. were ever detected in this tank. I make it a habit to dip the corals in API Melafix Marine and complete a drip acclimation prior to introducing them into the DT.
 
Parameters are textbook perfect. Photo period is a little short IMO, but wouldn't cause the problem you describe. A few other questions:

1. How often are you testing - particularly for alk and pH?
2. Are the SPS at the top of the reef or ??
3. Temp - are you monitoring 24/7 or observing periodically?
4. When did you last calibrate the refractometer?
5. Age of the bulbs - were they bought new with the tank or is their age known?
6. Any algae growth?
7. How about coralline algae - any growth?
8. Water changes - how much and how often?

Some thoughts:

- If parameters have been stable for 3 months, even a newer tank should show SPS growth.
- Even if there were pests, it's highly unlikely all SPS corals would be affected - you'd see some corals thriving and others suffering, depending on the pest involved.
- Swings in pH or Alk can be the biggest enemy of newer setups - monitoring these parameters on a very frequent basis may help provide more insight.
 
Ozarks,

1. I tested the water so many times that I am on my second set of test kits in just a few months (ridiculous, I know). I test every 2-3 days apart, and because alkalinity is stable, PH is dead on every time.
2. The SPS are positioned on the top 1/3 of the tank approx. 10-12 inches from the lights.
3. I'm using Neptune Apex Aquacontroller and JBJ chiller, so temperature have been relatively steady between 78-80F.
4. I calibrated the refractometer 2x already in the past 3 months since purchased. I calibrate with purified water that is set aside to equalize with room temp. along with the refractometer. Before purchasing the refractometer, I was using a floating hydrometer that was extremely inaccurate to say the least.
5. Everything for this tank was purchased new. The tank came with 10K MH and actinic PCs. I wanted a bit more of a blue tint to the water, so I upgraded to 14K MH and 50/50 PCs. I made this change approx. 1.5 months ago and was still unhappy with the results. So, I left the 14K MH alone and re-installed the actinic PCs, of which is on the tank right now. This coral problem occurred before the light change.
6. Algae growth was bad in the first 3-4 months as expected, but have been very minimal in the past 2 months. Slight surface algae on the substrate after a day's worth of light, but amazingly, I wake up to brand new and clean substrate every morning, thanks to the sand-sifting starfishes.
7. Coralline algae is growing moderately well on the live rocks and back glass. However, the coralline algae that was on the center plastic overflow have all turned brown. Very strange! This could be the cause of the 50/50 PCs that I installed for a short period. From what I've read, coralline algae is more commonly found in slightly deeper waters and therefore prefer more blue.
8. I forgot to mention this. I do a 20% water change religiously (without missing an interval since set-up) every 2 weeks.
 
12 small size fish including, Bartlett's Anthias, Blue/Green Chromis, True Percs, Saddleback Clowns, Yellow Tang and Black Cap Basslet. Elos phoshate test kit consistently comes out at 0.00 ppm. This was somewhat questionable to me, so I bought a cheap API phosphate test kit. The API shows the same result 0.00 ppm.
 
Are you running any GAC? It could be the softies releasing stuff the sps dont like. And your flow is a little on the low side for sps.
 
SPS Growth

SPS Growth

Sounds like your softies are releasing some stuff your SPS do not like. Also just in my experience i do not feed Phyto that often maybe once a week at most. It has worked for me. Good luck with your tank.
 
Maybe your light is a little to blue for growth. I have always been told if you want the corals to grow use 10K, when you want them to slow down, change to a more blue spectrum. With 14K blubs and all that actinic might be to blue.

Just my 2 cents.
 
^^^

+1

(LIGHTING:
(2) 14K 150W MH and (2) actinic 96W PC.)

This right here IMO,is your problem.
You should have 2-250 watt Halides,preferably with 14 K Ushio bulbs.
I'll bet you so far in the blue that there's not enough par to make SPS grow.
Also I'm betting you have some high PO4 as well.
 
stingythingy45 said:
^^^

+1

(LIGHTING:
(2) 14K 150W MH and (2) actinic 96W PC.)

This right here IMO,is your problem.
You should have 2-250 watt Halides,preferably with 14 K Ushio bulbs.
I'll bet you so far in the blue that there's not enough par to make SPS grow.
Also I'm betting you have some high PO4 as well.
Click to expand...


+1, 150's over a 90?
 
I agree that lighting is on the low end for the setup, but I would still expect decent polyp extension and growth with the SPS at the top of the reef. I'm leaning to water parameter problems - especially given past history of RTN/bleaching of the corals. What about other contaminants - are you running carbon?
 
depends on sps your getting to...i know this sounds wierd but i have this green slimer has the most awesome greenishpurple color.. yet in over 1year now its grown maybe half a inch.. while i have some others that just grow so fast definately get some carbon(i like the bulk reef supply stuff) prob some left over chemicals from the lps
 
Thanks all for replying. All very good points and I will examine each one closely, such as:

PO4: The test results have always been questionable to me. This is why I bought a 2nd test kit for comparison purposes, but the results turned out the same at 0.00 ppm. In fact, my tank water has always been 0.00 ppm ever since the setup and I find that kind hard to swallow. Anyways, I plan to puchase a new product from Hanna Instruments called "Hanna Checker" to make a 3rd comparison. Some of you may already know this, but I wanted to share with those who have not heard yet. These are handheld colorimeters that are dedicated to single parameter testing (particular interests include the phosphate and iodine meters). They also appear to be a great value at $49.50 each. An Elos test kit alone costs me almost $30.00. I've read all of the product information on this new meter, but nowhere does it say that it is compatible with testing saltwater. I'm still waiting for confirmation from the company as to its application in the aquarium hobby. Anyways, check it out at www.hannachecker.com.

SPS acclimation: I've been doing the drip acclimation followed with a coral dip before introducing in to the DT. LFS recommended trying "slime acclimation," so I will try this on the next coral. Can someone explain this process, as I am still not clear as to how it works.

GAC: I'm not running any carbon and wasn't aware that it was necessary. Again, I'm relatively new to this hobby and have been learning a ton a day. What do I need to run GAC and are there any particular brand/product that you would recommend? Can I run this carbon together with phosban in my phosphate reactor? Any known articles on this topic as it relates to the reef tank that you may know of?

Lighting: It sounds like my 2-150W 14K MH may be insufficient for my tank size of 48.5 x W18.5 x H25. I really hope this is the case, because I would hate to pump out all the coins only to find the same result.
 
I dont agree that it is the lighting. By any chance is your fixture an outer orbit by current USA? Because im running that over my tank (150 watt 10k MH with 130 watt antics) and i have great growth rates. Try snipping the tips on a few of the branches of each of your colonies and see if u get growth out of them once u do that.
 
well the best advice ( and the one that will save u from spending a lot of money on new lighting) is to snip the tips on a few of the branches of each of your colonies and see if the branches u sniped began to grow. I had a milliapora that wouldn't grow until I did that and now it's growing fine.
 
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