Trouble with SPS

Q

Quick27

New member
Hey guys,

Looking for a little advice here. About 4 months ago, I transferred my 34G cube livestock into a 40G breeder. I used the live rock from my old tank plus new rock which I cycled separately. So even though the tank is fairly new, a lot of the rock has been established 2+ years. I have been slowly stocking mainly LPS corals with no problems. A local store had a black friday sale so I picked up about 6 sps frags. Every single frag has slowly melted away. First losing PE, then losing color, and then starting to slime up like I have never seen before (picture attached). Nothing else in the tank seems to be affected, including my bubble tip anemone which has looked happy as ever. I am hoping someone on here can help, hopefully it is just something I am missing.

Equipment: 40 Gal breeder w/ 15G sump, ES5 Skimmer, BRS reactor running carbon
Lighting: AI Hydra 52, swapped from previous tank
Flow: Gyre XF130

Water Parameters:
Temp: 79, very consistent
pH: 8.6
Nitrate: <5ppm
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: Undetectable
Calcium: 380ppm
Alk: 9.3dkH
Mg: 1200ppm

I dose 2 part b-ionic to maintain levels, was using no3po4 X but stopped using it a few weeks ago thinking that may be my issue, but no change.

IMG_2793_zpsdputpibd.jpg
 
Your rock looks like it's right off the shelf, no algae.
Since your nitrate and phosphate are 0 I'm betting your nutrient level is too far to low.
Start feeding your tank more.
 
Probably starving. It's just a big ole guess here but try feeding a little coral food every day to dirty up the tank, and stop all PO4 control until you have measurable PO4. Use the double rez with salifert ... 20ml, double drops, double powder (see instructions).

As far as params, I can't say they are good or bad but will suggest changes.

KH 7 to 8, and stable day to day, hour to hour.
CA 400, but as long as you are dosing equal parts 2 part no worries
PH ... 8.6? Really? Not sure it's an issue but maybe a calibration problem.
PO4, .06 to .08
NO3, 5 to 10

Lot's of different answers here, most can be correct. Don't take this as fact. :)
 
Thanks for the help fellas. My plan of action will be to start feeding a little more each day along with taking carbon offline. Like I stated, I already stopped carbon dosing 3 weeks ago, so hopefully I will start seeing some nutrients soon and see if that makes a difference.

Mark, as you noted, my pH probe was off. Recalibrated it today and I am showing a read right around 8.0 now.
 
markalot said:
Probably starving. It's just a big ole guess here but try feeding a little coral food every day to dirty up the tank, and stop all PO4 control until you have measurable PO4. Use the double rez with salifert ... 20ml, double drops, double powder (see instructions).

As far as params, I can't say they are good or bad but will suggest changes.

KH 7 to 8, and stable day to day, hour to hour.
CA 400, but as long as you are dosing equal parts 2 part no worries
PH ... 8.6? Really? Not sure it's an issue but maybe a calibration problem.
PO4, .06 to .08
NO3, 5 to 10

Lot's of different answers here, most can be correct. Don't take this as fact. :)
Click to expand...


This is good stuff here.
 
Best advice I can add is to keep your water parameters stable for best long-term success with SPS. Stability is key. If changes need to be made, make sure they are gradual in nature.
 
So, still can't figure out what my issue is. I have been feeding more, don't have any measurable nitrates but am around .08 phosphates now. Other parameters have been stable with what I posted originally. Temperature doesn't bounce around, pH is stable, salinity doesn't change. I just don't get it. A couple of my pieces have shown a little improvement I guess, a couple polyps extending but not like it should be. A couple hardier sps pieces I added recently did the same thing to me. Looked good for a few days, lost polyp extension, and then lost all color. The main reason I enjoy this hobby so much is sps and it has been disappointing to have such struggles with them. Everything else in the tank looks great, anemones, photosynthetic gorgs, lps..

Any more advice??
 
If the tank is over 4 months old and was built with established LR (and your parameters are what you say the are) I would look into your lighting.

Are you running the lights dimmed at all?
 
Thanks for the response. I copied my light settings from a thread on this forum and others seem to be having success with them. Have seen lots of photos with healthy sps using the same settings I'm running.

80% Blues
80% UV
60% Violet
45% White
25% Green
10% Red
 
I would start by bumping the white up (slowly) to see if you see improvement. Other than that, maybe give the tank another month. SPS tend to be very sensitive to whatever it is in new tanks that is lacking, and maybe yours still needs more time.

As an aside, I upgraded from a 90 to a 100 and used all the same equipment, rock, livestock and some water, and for a time I couldn't keep red dragon, which now is growing like a weed in my tank a year later. No idea what the difference was.
 
Realposition said:
I would look at your lighting. Are you running just 1 AI hydra on the tank?
Click to expand...

Yes, running a single Hydra 52 horizontally across the tank. Spread seems to be good and all of sps pieces are up top towards the middle of the tank.

jsnrho82 said:
I would start by bumping the white up (slowly) to see if you see improvement. Other than that, maybe give the tank another month. SPS tend to be very sensitive to whatever it is in new tanks that is lacking, and maybe yours still needs more time.

As an aside, I upgraded from a 90 to a 100 and used all the same equipment, rock, livestock and some water, and for a time I couldn't keep red dragon, which now is growing like a weed in my tank a year later. No idea what the difference was.
Click to expand...

Hopefully it turns around soon, been dying to add some nice pieces.
 
Quick27 said:
Thanks for the response. I copied my light settings from a thread on this forum and others seem to be having success with them. Have seen lots of photos with healthy sps using the same settings I'm running.

80% Blues
80% UV
60% Violet
45% White
25% Green
10% Red
Click to expand...

I have the same light I would recommend not going over 27% with the whites even I think that can be too high depending on how low you have your light awl. If you have low nutrients your sps are not going to be favorable to higher light off the start. The whites on these fixtures put out some serious par
 
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