gavij012379
Member
I moved live rocks and corals from my 60 gallons into this 180-gallon tank and been running it since end of March this year. The SPS frags I had were doing great except some of the corals (zoas and sps) were bleaching most probably because I was trying to run two Kessil AP700 over a 6 feet tank at 90% and 10" off water surface. I would constantly run it at acclimation mode for 14 days (can't go more than that) and try different settings. I lost some corals mostly zoas but most were doing okay.
I started adding more SPS around end of April and more in June and they were doing fine as well. Around June I decided to maintain my Calcium at 470 ppm and Alkalinity at 12 dKH per Red Sea SPS accelerated growth value. My alkalinity and calcium were probably already there since I was dosing but in hindsight the old test kit I was using was giving me a lower reading of like Ca 410 ppm and Alk 10.1 dKH. When I bought a new test kit, I doubt the result I was getting since my Mg was like 1600 ppm without dosing for it (looks like Red sea coral pro and liveaquaria salt are pretty high in Mg and Bi-ionic 2-part soln I was using had Mg as well). So, I started dosing more and my Ca was probably at around 520 and Alk at 11.5 dKH around the end of August when I saw one of my very old SPS starting to bleach in an unusual way and also in areas where it gets less light. I was out on vacation for the next 5 days and didn't dose the tank (Ca and alk level decreased as expected) and when I came back on 8/31, I noticed the same thing in a lot of the SPS. Basically, I saw that there was decreasing polyp extension, coral color looked fading and after a while the tissue will be gone and the coral white and get covered in algae soon after. It took around 7 -10 days for the process. Now in a little over 2 months I have lost around 40 sps, mostly frags but still around 1200 bucks. Most of the LPS were doing fine but I lost some towards the end as well.
In the beginning I thought it was the light that caused the corals to die even though I had dialed it down to 65% from 90% before. But now I think it is the high Ca and Alk level that killed the corals. I am sure the light was bothering them as well. I am just trying to see if anyone has experience something similar or has an opinion since I don't want to spend another 1200 just to lose it in a few months. Lately it feels like too much hassle to keep these things alive.
I started adding more SPS around end of April and more in June and they were doing fine as well. Around June I decided to maintain my Calcium at 470 ppm and Alkalinity at 12 dKH per Red Sea SPS accelerated growth value. My alkalinity and calcium were probably already there since I was dosing but in hindsight the old test kit I was using was giving me a lower reading of like Ca 410 ppm and Alk 10.1 dKH. When I bought a new test kit, I doubt the result I was getting since my Mg was like 1600 ppm without dosing for it (looks like Red sea coral pro and liveaquaria salt are pretty high in Mg and Bi-ionic 2-part soln I was using had Mg as well). So, I started dosing more and my Ca was probably at around 520 and Alk at 11.5 dKH around the end of August when I saw one of my very old SPS starting to bleach in an unusual way and also in areas where it gets less light. I was out on vacation for the next 5 days and didn't dose the tank (Ca and alk level decreased as expected) and when I came back on 8/31, I noticed the same thing in a lot of the SPS. Basically, I saw that there was decreasing polyp extension, coral color looked fading and after a while the tissue will be gone and the coral white and get covered in algae soon after. It took around 7 -10 days for the process. Now in a little over 2 months I have lost around 40 sps, mostly frags but still around 1200 bucks. Most of the LPS were doing fine but I lost some towards the end as well.
In the beginning I thought it was the light that caused the corals to die even though I had dialed it down to 65% from 90% before. But now I think it is the high Ca and Alk level that killed the corals. I am sure the light was bothering them as well. I am just trying to see if anyone has experience something similar or has an opinion since I don't want to spend another 1200 just to lose it in a few months. Lately it feels like too much hassle to keep these things alive.
