What's wrong with my SPS?

S

sgrosenb

Premium Member
Hey all,

I've had my tank up for about 1.5 years now. I have some SPS that are doing great (green birdsnest, bird of paradise, mandarin setosa, multiple Caps) but I'm having trouble with most of my other SPS. I can't seem to keep them alive, or if I do, they often wash out and then over a period of a few months they die. They start to lose their tissue from the bottom up, and eventually just turn white. Sometimes if I order a frag, it happens within a few days, or sometimes one will be doing fine for a few months, and then the color washes out, and then it dies from the bottom up. I've had multiple Oregon Blue Torts that have died this way - when I get them they're nice and dark blue, then they start to turn more clearish-blue, and then they start to lose their tissue on the bottom.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? My specs are below. I feel like everything is in order, but I just can't seem to keep a lot of SPS.

Tank: 156g 5x2x2 Oceanic
Phosphate: Undetectable
Nitrate: Undetectable
Calcium: 420-430 (constantly)
Mag: 1450-1500 (A little high - but it hasn't been always)
Alk: 9.6-10.4 (constantly)
Ph: 8.0-8.2 (constantly)
Lights: Currently have LED's, but this happened with my 250W MH's too
Skimmer: Bubble King 200 External
45 Gallon Sump w/ Fuge
Phosban Reactor w/ Rowaphos
Currently Dosing Reef Biofuel, MicroBacter, and 3-part Mag, Calc and Alk

For flow I have 2 Tunze 6105's that I've kept on pretty low (30%), so my flow hasn't been extremely strong, but it's been decent. Could this potentially have an effect?

Also - I do weekly water changes, and historically I've done pretty big ones (usually 25% per week). I understand this is a bit high - maybe that could be bad too? I've been using ReefCrystals for the last year or so.

Thanks for the help - I welcome all comments / questions. Thanks!
 
I think your alk is too high. When using a pro-biotic method like Micro Bacter 7 you really need to maintain stable alk closer to natural sea water which is around 7.5...8 at the most. alot of people have similar issues when running bacterial methods especially when thier nutrient levels become nearly undetecable. Also upping that flow a little probably wont hurt.
 
Thanks neo - I just started the biofuel and microbacter about 2 months ago, and this has been happening for much longer, but I'll definitely let that fall while I'm dosing. I'm not sure that's the cause, though, as I've been losing corals for a while. Any other thoughts? Thanks
 
I would up the flow. I would also runs some carbon (not on an everyday basis, but to eliminate any heavy metals or chemicals that might have inadvertently been introduced into the system)

You haven't noticed any aefw bite marks, have you?

How are the WC parameters compared to your tank params. Weekly seems like a bit much.
 
Definitely no aefw. I've upped the flow, and have run carbon on and off over the past year. But could carbon or flow really be the solution? What effect would heavy metals have? And how would they have gotten in there? Thanks again for all they help
 
I'd suggest poly filter over carbon, it color changes to reflect what your pulling out of the water so you know if your actually removing any contaminant. I agree that 25% weekly might be a little aggressive. Water changes of that volume weekly can swing your alk around a bit often which sensitive sps like torts don't respond well to.
 
You might want to check for stray voltage, just to make sure you dont have an unsealed heater or a cracked pump housing or any other hidden corroding parts.
 
Ok - that's great advice - thanks. It's got to have something to do with the fact that my monti's, birdsnests, caps, setosa and lps are all great but my stags and torts don't do well at all. How do I check for stray voltage? Would that affect other things besides my torts and stags?
 
I feel that your system may be too clean and you need some nitrates in the tank. I had this issue in my last tank, and had the same issue in my current tank. However in my current tank I didnt let it get to the point of corals dying. As soon as corals got too pale I started to dose Amino acids. Helped a lot and within two weeks pale SPS got thier colours back.

And yes, if you are dosing carbon/MB7 you need a lower alk or it can cause STN/RTN on your corals.
 
I am nitpicking at your system, but from what you posted you have a great set up, without seeing it, I think you need more flow, your alk seems fine, as long as you don't see burnt tips, are you acclimatating the sps?

You have leds? Which kind? What was your mh set up? Were are you placing the sps?
I would run carbon 24/7 to rule out toxins etc. I won't hurt anything.

Post pics I am sucker for them, and you seem to have a good set up...
 
neoalchemist74 said:
You might want to check for stray voltage, just to make sure you dont have an unsealed heater or a cracked pump housing or any other hidden corroding parts.
Click to expand...

How do you check for stray voltage? And as far as hidden hidden corroding part contamination, is there a test kit to check for it? Thanks!
 
Not really away to test for cotamminants. as for stray voltage post a thread with that question. theres probably some better people than me that can help with that.
 
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sahin said:
I feel that your system may be too clean and you need some nitrates in the tank. I had this issue in my last tank, and had the same issue in my current tank. However in my current tank I didnt let it get to the point of corals dying. As soon as corals got too pale I started to dose Amino acids. Helped a lot and within two weeks pale SPS got thier colours back.

And yes, if you are dosing carbon/MB7 you need a lower alk or it can cause STN/RTN on your corals.
Click to expand...

Im in agreement with this. I would check that your light schedule not be to long and that you maybe cut back a little on water changes. Assuming tank Bio-Load is light...keeping lights on for 7,8,9 hrs combined with frequent water changes may starve your corals. This might account for your pail colors followed by death.
 
+1 on the alk being on the high side and also you are probably a bit too clean, the corals need a bit of nitrates and phos. I would let my alk drift down too about the 8 range and reduce water changes to like 10% weekly. The numbers I run at are nitrates about 5 and phos at about.003 and I have nice color on all sps and they grow like weeds. Hope this helps.
 
You mentioned that your running Gfo. I believe it was Rowaphos.You want to make sure your not running it too aggressively. Some people report problems resulting from running too much flow through the reactor which can cause fines that can cause a negative reaction to certain corals.
 
Thanks guys. I do run a lot of gfo, and a decent amount of flow through it. I will lower that big time. I'll also slow the light period a bit and lower my water changes. Thanks for all the help all. I'll repost in a month or 2 and let everyone know how it looks.
 
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