Sps questions

[loganlemaster]

I have a question about a coral. I've been in the hobby for a few years but never had much success with sps. I think mainly because of high nitrates. I have decided to try and take my tank to the next level. I am running biopellets and have brought my nitrates down to .25 on salifert kit. I also run gfo and phosphates are undetectable on hanna meter. My lights are led, my calcium is 390-400 and alk is 7.2. Ibought this coral at my lfs. it was under leds but not getting a whole lot of light. i kept it on my sand bed then moved it up. its getting 250 par where its at currently in my tank.the tips were a dark purple when i got it. they are now starting to lighten up and turn white. it gets flow directly from my return line. I dose my alk in the sump and think it may be burning the coral. also unsure of all these stringers? is this a feeding reaction?

 

[takayan]

I do not think it is feeding reaction. Your PAR value,250, is low side for SPS. Also if the LED is too close to SPS, they do not like it. Which LED are you using?

 

[loganlemaster]

Maxspect razor.

 

[takayan]

Maxspect razor.

How far is from LED to the SPS?

 

[loganlemaster]

12 inches

 

[takayan]

I recommend to lower the light intensity of the razor and observe the symptom for a couple days.

 

[rtparty]

Most people want to see nitrates around 5-10 and you should have some detectable phosphate as well or you're starving the coral.

What are you using to measure phosphate? If it's a powder style kit, it is basically pointless

 

[loganlemaster]

I have reduced the flow through the bio pellet reactor and also through the gfo reactor in hopes to raise those two levels a bit. i have also increased feeding.

 

[Scorpius]

Those are mesenterial filaments. They come out when something is irritating it or it's hungry. Your Acropora is losing flesh and if things are not corrected to it's liking it will perish. Been there many times myself. Killed many Acropora as well. It's not impossible to reverse, it's hard to pinpoint what your coral is reacting negatively to.

Keep a log of what you do to your system. It'll allow you to backtrack and figure out what went wrong when.

 

[loganlemaster]

It only does this when i feed the tank zooplankton. As soon as i turn the return pumps back on they disappear.

 

[Scorpius]

It only dose this when i feed the tank zooplankton. As soon as i turn the return pumps bake on they dissappear.

Well that narrows it down more. It's hungry, maybe. You need detectable nitrates and phosphates.

I run .02ppm nitrates and .02-.05 phosphates. I'd like to see higher nitrates in my setup.

I despise gfo. Stuff is potent and dangerous if used too much.

 

[loganlemaster]

Well that narrows it down more. It's hungry, maybe. You need detectable nitrates and phosphates.

I run .02ppm nitrates and .02-.05 phosphates. I'd like to see higher nitrates in my setup.

I despise gfo. Stuff is potent and dangerous if used too much.

I Lowered the intensity of my light, Ii think I will shut the gfo reactor off and monitor phosphates for a few days. I've been feeding the tank alot heavier because of the no3 and po4 leels.

 

[Scorpius]

I Lowered the intensity of my light, Ii think I will shut the gfo reactor off and monitor phosphates for a few days. I've been feeding the tank alot heavier because of the no3 and po4 leels.

Whatever you do, do it slowly. One thing at a time.

 

[reefmutt]

I don't really have anything new to say so I'll just say I think scorpious has you on a very solid path.
I agree with all of his comments.
Keep us posted! It's always a learning experience to see if the advice you got helped.
Good luck!