The next level! 65g SPS

[Greentree]

Greetings Reef Central!

I started my tank July 2015, FOWLR. Once that was stable and I was confident I could try something new, I bought a set of radions and picked up a few zoas and hammer coral. A few months later, a Hollywood stunner, acans, and a favia.

Things went so-so, it took me a bit to get my nitrates under control (Marine pure ceramic biomedia plate in the sump did the trick) and I picked up a birdsnest. It died, so I made some adjustments - another powerhead, more water changes. Picked up a more advanced test kit. Params all seemed ok, however I was growing hair algae like it was my job. Corals were stable but not growing. Picked up another birdsnest and an a mille. Both slowly died, and I was super confused.

Had my water tested at the LFS and learned that my phosphates were at .6! Eek! The only thing I didn't have a test for at home. Added a phosban reactor with GFO. Slowly brought phosphates down, they hover between .03 and .09. I feed frozen often for my anthias and I believe this is the cause, but I haven't cut it down because everything seems to be ok and hair algae slowly went away.

I've since picked up a few more birdsnests and a few tiny acro frags, they were doing well to I kept adding more SPS. Started dosing Alk (1 oz/day) since that was the only thing that was being consumed at a noticeable level. Finally things took off I had to get rid of my Hollywood stunner because it took over. Birdsnests are growing like weeds. Acros are encrusting their bases nicely and all polyps are open and fluffy.

I think it's time to take things to the next level! What would your next move be? I'm serious about my tank and I really want to start aiming higher - more colors, growth, overall health, stability, redundancies, etc.

Here are my stats:

 

[Greentree]

65g reef tank - 38 x 18 x 24

20g sump
Marine pure ceramic biomedia plate (8x8x4)
PhosBan Reactor150
Skimmer: Bubble Magus NAC7
Powerheads: Jabao pp-8
Pump: Mag 10
Lighting: Radion XR15Pro x 2

Lubbocks Wrasse
Canary Wrasse
Lawnmower blenny
Red belt anthias
Lyretail anthias x 2
Ignitus anthias
Purple queen anthias
Blue/green chromis x 3
Mandarin Dragonet

Params:
Ca 420 ppm (no dosing yet)
Alk 10.5 dKH (1oz two part Alk -soda ash daily, manually)
sg = 1.026
Temperature 82° F
pH 8.0
Mg 1400 ppm
PO4 0.09 ppm
NH3 0 ppm
NO2 0 ppm
NO3 0 ppm

 

[Greentree]

I need to take some decent pics.

 

[Greentree]

One more cell phone pic

 

[Greentree]

Any advice is much appreciated. I did notice that a frag I put in a few days ago seems to be losing flesh at the base pretty quickly. It's definitely in a lesser flow area. Any thoughts? I have a Hawkins echinata near it - should they have more flow?

 

[Greentree]

Hi guys - Over the last few days I've been noticing less polyp extension than usual. Checked the params, everything remains unchanged. This morning I woke up to my raspberry tabling acro sliming in one area that and the flesh looks whitish and puffy. Any thoughts? Please help!

 

[Greentree]

One more pic... Sorry for the quality.

 

[Y-Diver]

Your alk looks a little high to me... Typical is around 8.5-9.0

Make sure there is plenty of random flow.

What is your light cycle?

 

[Greentree]

Thank you so much for the input.

I do think it's time to add another powerhead- I'll pick one up and set 2of the 3 on alternating timers.

I've read that pushing the Alk to the higher end can improve growth, but I don't really see that many successful SPS keepers do so. Is this the reason? I did a water change after taking these pics. I'll wait until it drops to 9 and then start dosing again at an adjusted rate.

See attached for my lighting specs. Any feedback is much appreciated, it's an area that I feel especially uneducated.

 

[Greentree]

Update - The coral has settled down a bit.

 

[Mr.Fishtank]

You got a nice setup there.

How high off the water are you radions? Running them at 80% is really high. Especially if the corals were not acclimated very slowly to that intensity. When I ran radions over my 90 gallon i had them 9 inches above the water and the max intensity after using the acclimation mode was only 55%. I used the radiant color preset and really loved the colors that I was getting out of my corals. Growth was slow but I could have increase the intensity of the lights by 5-10% more to get a little better growth. Ecotech also has a newer schedule called AB+ and alot of people are using that with great results. But what ever you do I would turn them down some. JMO

 

[Flanders]

I've read that pushing the Alk to the higher end can improve growth, but I don't really see that many successful SPS keepers do so.

Higher alk doesn't seem to play well with with ULNS systems and carbon dosing. But other than that, reefkeepers have been running high alk for many years for the reason you stated successfully. If you are at 10.5 dkh with good results, I wouldn't worry about it. If you continue to have issues, you might try gradually lowering it.

 

[Greentree]

You got a nice setup there.

How high off the water are you radions?

Thanks Mr.Fish! My radions are pretty close - 5 inches. I took time to ramp up when I first got them, but I can't say I take much care to acclimate new corals to the intensity.

That actually brings me to a new question. I have a tabling acre for which I do not have an ID. It's low/middlish in the tank but centered. I added it about 3 weeks aco and I've finally noticed that it appears to be slightly bleaching where it's getting most light. How long does bleaching take? Should I move this guy down and over?

 

[Greentree]

Higher alk doesn't seem to play well with with ULNS systems and carbon dosing. But other than that, reefkeepers have been running high alk for many years for the reason you stated successfully. If you are at 10.5 dkh with good results, I wouldn't worry about it. If you continue to have issues, you might try gradually lowering it.

Ah, thank you for that reply. I did let it fall a bit, more than I meant to in fact - in about a week it dropped to 8.5. I'm bringing it up slowly. Calcium is down to 375 finally (glad to see its being used!) so I'll mix up the solution and start dosing that tomorrow.

Do you think this drop in Kh could have caused the issue with the coral mentioned above?

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Hello and welcome to the sps addiction.. That is a sweet little set up. As far as changea, you have to ask yourself what do you want most growth/ok color or... Color/ok growth. If you want faster growth, then yes you would run high alk/high nutrients/hight lights. For the most part these systems have amazing growth and ok colors. Now the next system is a low alk, typically in the 6.7-8. If you choose to run thia low, then you should stride for undetectable nutrients to very low. Most of these System are Zeo, aquaforest , prodibio etc. I my self as well as most people here run this type of system or ULNS. Reefers like Perry, Biggles, Mark, and Matt all have very very low nutrients and keep alk arround 6.7 - mid 7s. From what i can see from your parameters, your alk is kinda high since u have 0 nitrates. If you choose to stay this high, then raising your nitrates is a must. Try to always aim form higher nitrates than phosphates. Good luck
Jorge

 

[Greentree]

Oh wow, that is a extremely helpful, thank you! That's a tough decision. I feel like since everything is so small and I'd like to grow out the colonies I have, I'd lean towards growth. Once things are grown out a bit, could I then shift to an ULNS? What are your thoughts on that?

Also, how does one raise nitrates without messing up phosphates? I've always struggled with phosphates but have never had detectable levels of nitrates.

Should I be feeding corals or using other additives for the coral's benefit?

I have so many questions! I feel like I've read everything on this forum and it just makes me want to ask even more Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Oh wow, that is a extremely helpful, thank you! That's a tough decision. I feel like since everything is so small and I'd like to grow out the colonies I have, I'd lean towards growth. Once things are grown out a bit, could I then shift to an ULNS? What are your thoughts on that?

Also, how does one raise nitrates without messing up phosphates? I've always struggled with phosphates but have never had detectable levels of nitrates.

Should I be feeding corals or using other additives for the coral's benefit?

I have so many questions! I feel like I've read everything on this forum and it just makes me want to ask even more Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated.

You can raise nitrates in several ways. Feeding more is one, but you risk raising phosphates. I think the easiest way is to dose some sort of nitrate additive. I have used
Spectrazide tree stomp remover. This works wonders and is super cheap. There is a write up out there on how to use it safely. As far asyour question on how to run your tank, idk. I have never had any luck with high alk, so i stay away from it. But if it works for you then go for it.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

http://www.*********.com/threads/ne...dosing-with-spectracide-stump-remover.218866/

Change the xxxxxxxx for r e e f 2 r e e f . Since i can post the link here

 

[Greentree]

Very cool! Looks like it's a version of this? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...mpid=03cseYY&gclid=CLfn3anu-88CFQeQaQodP5sMHQ

 

[Piper27]

I would love to see a front tank shot if you can post one. The white strands are filaments, could be from a feeding response. I get them everytime I feed on certain acropora. Some say they see them when the acros are irritated, not sure what would irritate acros to make filaments come out though.