Stressed Out

T

tropical hawaii

New member
I have been having trouble trying to keep sps and I dont know why. It has been about 6 months now since ive started trying to keep sps and it is really getting me down that I cannot seem to do it.My tank has been running for about a year and a half it is a 125 gallon with a 30 gallon sump with a refugium, uv sterilizer, ro water filter, auto top off, 2-250 watt mh's, 8-65 watt anctics, 4-koralia 4's, a wavemaker, 2- g2skimmers, a phosban reactor, a carbon reactor, about a 100 lbs live rock, 3 inch sand bed. My perameters are ph-8.2, salinity 1.025, ammonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate-5, calcium-460, alk-11. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong before I go crazy> Thnak you:(
 
What exactly are the issues you are having?

BTW I graduated from Evanston High School in 1992. Not often do I see people from there.....
 
As landlord said, what problems are you having? How are you acclimating the corals? Your nitrates aren't the problem. Flow also shouldn't be a problem with the 4 Koralia's depending on their placement.
tom
 
The sps just seem to die away, they grow for about a week or so and then they just wither away and die I dont know what the problem is that is what I cannot figure out. By the way landlord what is your name cause I graduated from here too.
 
Are they tank raised frags or wild colonies? Is your alk stable day to day? How are you acclimating the corals?
 
I drip acclimate and the fags for the most part are tank raised. Someone told me it might be red bugs but I havent ever had a sps live. Everything else in the tank looks fine.
 
do u have any leather corals? maybe a lot of soft corals? sometimes they can produce toxins in the water that are harmful to acros and other sps, running carbon and other chemical filttration usually works in taking those out. I dont know details about this but its a possibility
 
I do have some leathers and a few soffties but I do run carbon, and a friend of mine has twice as many leathers and he has them right next to his sps and the sps do fine his sps grow like crazy.
 
Basically by acclimating, I meant to light. SPS don't really need to be acclimated to the water unless your parameters are way off from the tank they are coming from. Basically, pull them out of the bag, check them for pests, throw them in the tank. You should start by placing them on the bottom to let them acclimate to your lights. How old are your bulbs and what kind are they (name brand and kelvin)? Other then that, what test kits are you using? Could be a kit reading way off. Also, salinity, calibrated refractometer or hydrometer? Are you sure your temp is accurate? What fish do you have in the tank? Sorry so many questions, just trying to help. I was in your shoes about a year and a half ago.
tom
 
BTW - TH - My name is Kurt Schneider. I was originally from California but was put into the Majestic Boys Ranch in Randolph Utah for being a stupid kid... Ah the good ol days. In any case when I finished at the ranch I moved to Evanston to finish the last semester of my senior year. Great place, it was like going back in time, everyone cruising main street for fun doing burnouts in the Nova. hahahaha.


Along with the questions mentioned above.... What types of SPS are we talking about here? What kind of routine maintenance are you performing? Tank Temp? Possible medications in the tank? Kind of fishing around here. Nothing mentioned seems too far out the the ordinary for SPS to only last a week. When they die, exactly how does it happen. RTN, STN, etc??

One more thing - kinda stupid but the first time I ever had Biscuits and Gravy, it was at the Flying J restaurant there. I have never had better ones since.

--landlord
 
My salinity should be good cause I just bought a new hydrometer to test it and my bulbs are only 6 months old they are 14,000 k but I dont know what brand.salfirt test kits, i use a temp probe it stays at 79 and only changes about a half a degree from morning and night. When the sps die the edges are white like it is growing and the white just starts going all the way back untill all the color is gone. I really dont mind all the questions at this point I juust want to figure it out, thanks. By the way ive been trying to keep plating monti and monti digitata. I have some tangs and some clownfish,
 
I would definitly get your salinity checked with a calibrated refractometer. Hydrometers are not reliable, new or old. Also, try to calibrate your temp probe. Put it in a glass of ice water and leave it in until you read your lowest temperature. Should be 32 degrees. If it's not, make a note of how far it is off so you know what your real tank temp. is.
tom
 
Light acclimation could definitely be an issue as well as phosphate starvation. Yes, the zooxanthellae in coral needs some phosphate to grow, it IS an algae after all. Get a phosphate test kit and post your results. Sure high phosphate levels can do some harm to your SPS corals, however, a lack of phosphates will starve them and cause them to bleach. You may be running your water through your phosphate reactor too slowly thereby removing too much thereby causing your corals to starve.
 
I dont think it is light acclimation cause I always leave them on the bottom for about 2 days then move them to where I want them unless that is wrong.
 
Have you used any products that the shelf life my be expired or just really old (test kits)? Did you drop a penny or metal in the tank leeching? Stray voltage ? If your cal is high chances are the mag is fine. How high are your lights above the tank?And how deep is your tank?For me I start low then mid the upper over a week or even two depending on the sensitivity of the coral, when you move the up is that when they start to die?Have you tried leaving one on the bottom
 
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