Sps rtn

[AdamC00]

I have been ordering SPS corals from DD over the last couple of months. I try to buy the larger pieces. When I order them, I will order 3-5 pieces at a time. Each time I order, I have about half that thrive and do great in my tank and the other half RTN's very quickly. It is usually completely dead within 2 days. All water parameters are in line and steady. There have been no changes to the system. All corals are placed on the sandbed with high flow. Lighting is T5 and MH. Any suggestions why this happens or methods I could take to prevent this?

 

[glaukos]

Adam i know you said your parameters are in line and steady but where are they exactly?
And what tests are you using?check if they have expired.I know the second part sounds silly but i can remember at least two times mine's had expired and i kept testing lol
Just some ideas/thoughts:beer:

 

[AdamC00]

Adam i know you said your parameters are in line and steady but where are they exactly?
And what tests are you using?check if they have expired.I know the second part sounds silly but i can remember at least two times mine's had expired and i kept testing lol
Just some ideas/thoughts:beer:

Ca - 425 - salifert
Alk - 9.3 - hanna
Ph - 8.0 - 8.3 - apex
Mag - 1300 - salifert
Phosphate - 0.02 or less - hanna
NO2 - 0 - salifert
NO3 - 0 - salifert
Temp - 79-81 - apex
Salinity - 10.24

None are expired

 

[glaukos]

Maybe they come from higher salinity levels 1026-1027 f.e leading some of them to have trouble adjusting to your lower salinity adam.
Toughest survive and the more sensitive or stressed from the trip,don't.
Just a humble guess my friend

 

[lunar]

Do you know the water parameters where are they coming from? How long do the corals travel? Bigger corals have less chances to survive in another environment.

Krzysztof

 

[Scorpius]

I ordered four acropora from Unique Corals and got one for free. The free one started stn and then went full rtn on me today. Haven't a clue what happened as it took a month for it to die. My other four are doing great at the moment.

RTN/STN issues boggle me and I never can get them to stop.

 

[ShesEasy]

the paramiters of which the coral came from should not matter, I order from a place and there prams are diff then mine yet I never had any issue

I did just learn that ALK jumping up and down can be a major contributor to STN and RTN, to back that up a couple months ago my calcium reactor broke, and in the months leading to now I have lost probably a dozen different pieces to stn and rtn, because as I work a lot I have a hard time keeping up on my alk and dosing it (I dose as a mixture I dump in the tank via brightwell prducts)

so I dunno the 100% validity of that bt I can say I can see the relation of unstable alk and stn/rtn.

also remember sps is sensitive so even a constant up and down of 7.5-8 could cause it

something to look into

how do you maintain your alk and calcium

disclaimer: I'm no master of the sps

 

[AdamC00]

I sent my water parameters to the supplier and they told me that they were good and they do not see anything that would cause this based on my parameters.

 

[C.Eymann]

With Acros "good flow" is too broad of term, many will not put up with laminar flow, it needs to change and be variable yet at the same time broad and strong. You said corals were in good flow on the sand bed? Makes me think possibly not enough or the right type of flow.

How are you dosing alk/cal/mag? How does alk fluctuate over a 24hr period ? or even a 72 hr period?

Elaborate on your in-tank flow a bit and what you are using to achieve it.

 

[AdamC00]

With Acros "good flow" is too broad of term, many will not put up with laminar flow, it needs to change and be variable yet at the same time broad and strong. You said corals were in good flow on the sand bed? Makes me think possibly not enough or the right type of flow.

How are you dosing alk/cal/mag? How does alk fluctuate over a 24hr period ? or even a 72 hr period?

Elaborate on your in-tank flow a bit and what you are using to achieve it.

I have (2) MP40s on either end of the tank. They operate on Reef Crest Mode with the max intensities at 100% and 90%.

I am dosing alk/cal/mag via a dosing pump. I have it set up to dose 8 times a day so it divides my total dosing by 8. My alk is very steady. At most I may notice it change by .1 over a couple day period.

 

[C.Eymann]

How big is your display? if its more than 4ft flow can very well be your issue, how about temperature stability?

Pics would help. RTN usually means there is a big problem. You say you are ordering corals from DD which are all mostly wild collected small colonies and they can be vary sensitive compared to to aquacultured corals