Can i be starving my SPS.

[duke62]

Imnot sure whats going on wit my sps but 2 pieces are stning and my only conclusion is lack of food forf the sps. I dont have major temp swings.i get maybe a .4 to 8 swing but its usually 79.5. I dont have alk swings im hooked up to my calcium reactor and when i test its 9.4 to 10 which isnt a real swing at all. Ive been doing some research and the only thing i can come up with is lack of anything my corals might be starving. My skimmer doesnt pull alot i could probably go 2 weeks without emptying the cup and i have barely any agae growth on my glass i can go without cleaning the glass for 5 to 7 days. I feed the usual feedings of a cube of pe mysis and cyclopeeze once a day some blood worms for the fish at like 3pm both those feeding i rinse the crap out of the food and some flakes or pellets at 1130 am.i dose zeo zyme once a week a half a teaspoon and now im thinking i can be stripping everything from the tank. I was reading and it says to not rinse the frozen food twice a week to bring up some phosphates and i was also thinking of dosing the zeo every other week and keep with my 2 5 gallon water changes a week to add to the trace elements.i have 100 gallons of water in my system. Now i do alot of reading and im pretty confident im doing the right thing and im also going to try some oyster egss as well and going to up my feeding of spectrum filter feedeer powder food at night to 3x a week. I was only doing it maybe 1 time every other week. So what do you guys think. Can i be starving the corals and what would you recommend i should be doing.I have 48 pieces of sps in my tank most are frags and they are every spcies of sps .the 2 that are stning are a mille which is a 2in frag that was encrusting and a big stag which is still growing but has stned at the base and it was ther first one i saw doing this. I noticed it a month ago

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Try adding some phyto or microvert etc. Anything very small particle in liquid form.

 

[duke62]

yeah im going to try the oyster eggs.i just hope im right.i know its 2 out of 50 sps that i have but i dont want to see any stn going on in my tank

 

[blueink]

i will bet ...your sps are not starving.
however, more importantly, what are your:

ph=before the lights goes off
ph=before the lights go on
ca/alk/mg/po4 level
how are you keeping the alk/ca levels up
what test kit are you testing with.

a full tank shot and your equipment setup would help also.

 

[MACH5]

+1 ^

I highly doubt your issue is due to lack of feed. Like mentioned above please post your params and photos would be a plus. IME with a lack of nutrition, acros go pale and lose color. STN or RTN indicate more of a water chemistry imbalance or inadequate flow.

 

[Mattl22]

I feel like sps would lose color first if not getting enough nutrients not stn ! Also think them starving is unlikely if ur not running biopellets! What fish do u have in there?? Any blennys? It's so hard too pin point problems with sps!! Do u use kalk ? Have any alk swings??

 

[duke62]

from what i read they lose color when to much nutrients is in the water.

 

[Mattl22]

I IMO they brown out with too much nutrient! But with too little nutrient they get a washed out pale look!

 

[Mattl22]

What have u added or changed with tank recently! If it's just the 2 then no biggie but it's heart breaking watching all ur sps die day by day! It happened too me when I first started dosing kalk if u overdose kalk ur tank is in trouble

 

[duke62]

there not dieing 1 by 1 its 2 pieces out of 50.im just a worrier and dont want anything dieing.i fragged the pieces that were stning and so far so good

 

[MACH5]

Then there maybe nothing much you can do. Sometimes pieces are lost with no good explanation. If you notice more STNing then you have an issue. But 2 pcs. out of 50... well...

 

[duke62]

i know i know.i started all SPS in august and havent lost a piece and i am trying to save the ones that are dieing.believe me im a fanatic and i inspect my tank like a mad man and i know i am having no swings and everything is doing well parameter wise except for my nitrates which are a little high right now.nothing crazy but im watching it.i hate to lose corals

 

[MACH5]

I hear you Duke. I am a fanatic as well and hate to loose anything! But when you go full on SPS you must be prepared for some unexpected losses. It's part of the game. If all seems well except a couple of pieces, don't be tempted to "fix" your system. Let it be.