Why are my SPS dying?

jimrawr

jimrawr

New member
Looking for some help here guys.. I am not a complete newbie, but I am also not that experienced. This is my second reef tank, the first which I was able to successfully keep acros/millis/caps. Now on my second tank I am having problems keeping SPS frags alive. My LPS all seem to be doing fine and growing.

So far ive lost:
ORA Red Planet
Turaki mini colony
ORA Birds of Paradise mini colony
ORA Purple Rim cap isnt looking healthy at all (mostly browned with some areas of green)
Blue Milli frag

I will go through my tank right now and maybe someone could help me pinpoint the problem

92g corner
Flow: two Koralia 4s and one Seio 650. Is this too much flow?
Lighting: 400w Reeflux Bulb with Icecap ballast & Lumenarc Mini Reflector. Photoperiod is 6 hours on MH, and then T5 actinics are on 24h a day.
Water: RODI (comes out around 1-2ppm after DI, need to replace resin soon)
Sg: 1.023 (It was a bit low last week at 1.020 and I am not sure how long it was there. I didnt check it in awhile and I must have put more fresh water in than salt when I did a water change I guess)
Alk: 7.7dkh
Calcium: 400
Mag: Never checked
Copper: Never checked but never used
A/N/N: all zeros, I have a very low bioload (5 fish in 92g)
pH: 7.8 early to around 8.1 at end of photo period
Temp: Goes from 78-81 at end of lights out

Today I added a calcium reactor, which I am hoping will stabalize things, but I also dont think ALK/CAL is the root of my problems since they arent completely out of wack. Also I do 10 gallon water changes weekly using IO salt.

Can anyone help me determine what I may be doing wrong?
 
"Lighting: 400w Reeflux Bulb with Icecap ballast & Lumenarc Mini Reflector. Photoperiod is 6 hours on MH, and then T5 actinics are on 24h a day."

Did you really mean to say your T5 actinics are on 24h a day or is this a typo? If not a typo I spot a problem...

Salinity of 1.023 is still lower than many prefer, I usually see 1.026 as a target level.

Check your Mg, it is important to keep this in the proper range.

Just some quick thoughts, I am sure others will chime in also.
 
Its not a typo. They are two 36w T5s which are actinics. I just leave them on as night lights as they arent bright at all and give the tank the nighttime look..
 
I think that your low salinity and your low alkalinity could very well be the root of your problems with sps's, specially in a fairly new tank.
Bring the salinity to to 35ppt and after that is in line re-check your alkalinity and correct if necessary to be between 9 & 11 dKH
After that re-check calcium and bring it up to 430-450.
Your flow and lights seem fine
 
Are you saying to bring sg to 1.035.. ?? I usually aim for 1.025 which I will bring it back up to by the end of today. Alk & Calcium will slowly raise now that I have my reactor up and running..

The thing thats surprising to me is that even with these somewhat low levels, I wouldn't expect these things to be dying like this with regular water changes. On my old tank I never dosed, nor had a reactor. My levels of Alk & Cal were always how it is now and everything flurished. I used IO salt on the previous tank too, and those two elements are always pretty low without dosing. I guess no two tanks are the same.

I welcome other suggestions, as I have already started slowly raising my alk&cal with the reactor as of today.
 
Why are my SPS dying?

Your alk and ca levels need to be where they are at when adding a ca reactor. Ca reactor should be used to keep the levels stable not raise levels

Corals need a lights off period so I would change that.

I suggest check with a voltmeter if you have stray voltage as koralias and rio are notorious for that

Next check your phosphates and nitrates, then take a sample to lfs to double check the readings.
 
caribbeanguy said:
35 PPT is 1.026 SG. HTH
Click to expand...

Gotcha, thanks.

How long has this tank been set up?
Click to expand...

Since January

Your alk and ca levels need to be where they are at when adding a ca reactor. Ca reactor should be used to keep the levels stable not raise levels
Click to expand...

I am using the reactor to raise the numbers and then I will tune it in to keep them stable. Is that not acceptable? I do have some kent marine products I can use to dose and raise levels, but I thought my plan was okay as well.. ?
 
Why are my SPS dying?

Also until you adjust your sg you will never achieve optimum ca alk balance

Alk that low is prob main cause of sps death. Sometimes you can get away with low alk if your ca is high but I would not try it

Also to keep sps you need to check magnesium as that helps balance out alk and ca
 
Why are my SPS dying?

For me I would use the Kent products as you are just using extra co2 and introducing low ph into your tank. Wouldn't take that long to raise it to 9-10 range. I keep mine in low side of the range 9 dkh as I keep chalices and nine is the sweetspot in my tank
 
Right understood. I will wait until tomorrow too see how the calc reactor is doing. Right now I have it set pretty low (around 40 bubbles per minute of co2) so I am not sure if it will even raise the levels at all.

After 24 hours I will test and see what are the results for the 24 hour period. If everything has remained the same, then I will dose the calc and alk to get to around 450 & 9.0dkh. Then continue to tune in the calc reactor.

Still open for more suggestions if anyone has any other ideas?
 
Hmm thanks Ill look into that. Ive never dosed mag or tested for it, which I know probably isnt very smart :/
 
Turn the nigth lights off, acroporas need a time of darkness to recover from the stress of processing the light and nutrients during the day, we need sleep and and they need darkness.

I read a study a few weeks ago and basically even a small amount of light at night inhibits their recovery.
 
get a mag kit and keep your mag high. It wil lact almost like a buffer for Ca and Alk to help stablize it and keep it in solution (stablizing PH)
 
maestro said:
Turn the nigth lights off, acroporas need a time of darkness to recover from the stress of processing the light and nutrients during the day, we need sleep and and they need darkness.

I read a study a few weeks ago and basically even a small amount of light at night inhibits their recovery.
Click to expand...

+on leaving a light period off,thats when they feed.
 
You cannot use your reactor to correct calcium deficiencies, your system needs to be at optimum level, which is not, for the reactor to maintain it, with your corals dying and not calcifying the alkalinity will go through the roof before you get 1 ppm of calcium increased. You will need to use calcium chloride for this, kents turbo calcium will do
Like i said before correct the salinity first, then the alkalinity if necessary and last your calcium. don't try to do all at the same time cause most likely you will cause further imbalances
 
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