SPS not happy in my tank

[ryangrieder]

so, my tank has been doing very good lately. Zoas & Palys have been spreading wayy to fast lately, my gorgs are growing new heads, my leathers have doubled, my brain is quite content, hammer has new heads, fish all look prego because they eat so much, ect. only problem is i still cant get SPS happy in the tank. it does not make sense.

set up:
57 rimless
6 bulb t5 with reef brite leds and 3 true lumen strip leds
water pars
amm,trate,trite - 0
ph 8.3
cal 490
mag 1350
dkh 9
phos .5
esv salt with rodi
nac 7 skimmer
GFO reactor
carbon reactor
2 mp10wes
my tank thread to see pics http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/tank-threads/98098-finally-my-oceanic-57-rimless-thread.html

i had a purple bonzai frag, it was doing ok, then stopped opening, now is bleached out
i have a some type of green with red polyp monti that just showed on the rock i bought my leather on, its not dead, but its not growing, and ive had it for 4 months now.
i put in the past 2 or 3 sps frags and they all just slowly stop opening, then bleach out...
am i missing something?

 

[ed4]

The only thing that jumps out at me are your alk and Ca #'s. What test kit are you using and are they reasonably viable (not expired, not stored in high humidity & heat)? Maybe, if you can, confirm those #'s with a buddy's kit.

Ca at 490 & your alk at 9 seems strange and off to me, as your Ca is awfully high, and should sink your alk.

My guess, and it's a shot in the dark, is that your alk might be dangerously low.

 

[RARECLOWNSNJ]

IME when i keep anemones lps,zoas i notice that sps doesnt last.

Leathers and Anemones are known to pollute the water with chemical warefare. I dont even keep leathers with my anemones.

 

[ryangrieder]

i use SERA test kits. love them. i have the complete kit. i also own elos kits as well. ill retest right now.

magnesium i usually keep really high. this way no algae issues. i know a good amount of people who have 500 cal and 1400 as mag and their sps grow like weeds. those water pars have been like that since set up, but i have not dosed it awhile, so ill re test now

 

[ed4]

Ensure that Alk are maintained within reasonable levels. From reading other people's accounts of low Alk levels, their SPS loses colors, pales out and melts.

I'm sure Sera makes good test kits. Personally, I use API for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH, as I'm ok with the resolution / margin that the results produce.

 

[FaviaFreak]

how long is your photoperiod?
is the light fixture new?

 

[ryangrieder]

how long is your photoperiod?
is the light fixture new?

hey man, have not seen you in awhile sunday at MA, ill be making a trip soon, been awhile...


sorry, what do you mean how long is photo period?

and light fixture i got about.... few months ago maybe? i had a 4 bulb tek light, and now the 6 bulb tek light. i think i got it a few weeks before the frag swap.

 

[ecvernon]

"sorry, what do you mean how long is photo period?"

he meant how long do you keep your lights on..

 

[pauliwalnuts]

water pars
amm,trate,trite - 0
ph 8.3
cal 490
mag 1350
dkh 9
phos .5

Don't you guys think the PO4 might be a bit high on the high side ?

 

[ecvernon]

yea kind of high is that 0.50 or meant to be 0.05

 

[ryangrieder]

Ok, new tests results... I used salifert, elos, and sera

pH:
Salifert 8.3
Sera 8.2

Ammonia:
Salifert 0
Sera 0

Trate:
Elos 0
Salifert 0-5
Sera 0-5

Trite:
Sera: 0

Calcium:
Salifert 400
Sera 430

Magnesium:
Elos 1280
Salifert: 1240

Alk:
Sera: first test was 8, second test was 7, then 8 again sooo 7-8

Phosphate:
Sera .05 (sorry not .5, I forgot the .0)

Light time on a timer
9:30am blue reef brite
10:30am 2 actinics kick on
11:30am 1 actinic, 1 purple, and 2-15k kick on
6:30pm 1 actinic, 1 purple, and 2-15k turn off
7:30pm 2 actinics turn off
8:30pm blue reef brite turns off
8:30pm 3 strips of actinic true lumen LEDs turn on for moon lights
9:30am 3 strips of actinic true lumen LEDs turn off
Back to the top all over again...

 

[FaviaFreak]

P04 won't cause bleaching of SPS, it causes browning if anything, I believe if the pieces are bleaching it's because they never adjusted to the new light fixture, bleaching and polyps not opening go hand in hand with light shock and photoinhibition..or possible chemistry issues/pest

how high is your fixture off the surface?

 

[ryangrieder]

P04 won't cause bleaching of SPS, it causes browning if anything, I believe if the pieces are bleaching it's because they never adjusted to the new light fixture, bleaching and polyps not opening go hand in hand with light shock and photoinhibition..or possible chemistry issues/pest

how high is your fixture off the surface?

my light hangs 1 foot over the tank

 

[Arati]

what about temp? do you have ac chiller?

 

[pauliwalnuts]

P04 won't cause bleaching of SPS

I never said It did btw. Just pointing out the PO4 level that he was at. Lol. Bleaching out of SPS coral can be from photoinhibition. A good way to find out, if it is indeed what's happening with your coral, would be by lowering that specific piece down lower in the tank and see if starts to do better (starting out at the complete bottom is recommended, then gradually raising it to where it looks it's doing its best.
With photoinhibition, normaly coral such an softies can't withstand the light levels that would bleach a SPS coral ( unless it came from an aquarium where the coral wasn't exposed to the normal PAR, color temp, light type (MH, LED, florescent). From all the pieces he put in the tank none has survived ! Not one would acclimate to the intense lighting that's bleaching the SPS, but making the softies thrive! Lol. This is why this theory seems a bit flimsy. I still think something within the water chemistry isn't right.

 

[Mattl22]

Yes what temp u running and what r the swings ?

 

[FaviaFreak]

I dunno Ryan it is a tough call, your others corals are thriving, zoas, softies, gorgs, etc but the sps are crapping out. I see where you said you run carbon which should eliminate any chemical warfare within the tank from your softies, all of your other numbers look well within range and conducive to happily maintaining sps.

Some people did mention temp swings which is also a good point do you have a chiller? how does your temp fluctuate throughout the day, especially during these hot days?

also, is it a gradual crapping out of the sps or does it seem to happen relatively fast?

 

[ryangrieder]

well, i have not purchased any sps frags recently. im going off of the previous frags i had. the bonzai i had, the green polyps were fully open when i got it from MA, then when it went in my tank, looked the same for about half a month. then slowly the polyps did not open as much. then eventually the polyps would not come out, but the bright purple base stayed purple for about a month...then started fading, and today its just brown. my monti i have was a nice green with red polyps, and today, the green is faded, the polyps are still red, but only half way open. i also had a some pink frag with little white polyps. did not know name, but i know its very common, its white but a flor. pink tint to it. that was going great for a month, then same as bonzai. slowly died.

temp currently is high. 83, but thats because ac is not on. AC is on all the time and while i had the SPS, the tank did not adjust that much. probably from 78.5-79. i usually keep it at 78.5 all the time. just this past week its been high because the AC is broken and being fixed monday finally. but, like i said, this was all previous, not current. when AC is fixed and tank stays at 78.5, then i think i may try some more simple frags of some SPS.

kev, you still work sundays at MA? if so im going to try to stop by some time soon, and maybe you can point me in the right direction for cheap/simple/easy/basic SPS frags. ill give it a try with some new ones. but not til temp is set.

ill snap a pic of what my monti currently looks like when i turn the system off and feed in a few minutes.

 

[Mattl22]

Try a green birdsnest it's an amazing looking coral fast grower and I find most birdsnest very hardy in fact had one frag from a BN fall on my sand bed and it actually lived and started growing

 

[ryangrieder]

Try a green birdsnest it's an amazing looking coral fast grower and I find most birdsnest very hardy in fact had one frag from a BN fall on my sand bed and it actually lived and started growing

thanks, ok i will mark green birdsnest onto the list. thanks. i am semi new to SPS. im mainly LPS and softies. so the SPS names fly right over my head until i learn some more.