Can't keep sps

[inked]

Hi
I have been trying to keep a few sps in my reefer 250 and am not having any luck. They either fade completely out or the flesh actually peels completely off. After a month or so.

Here are my parameters.

Alk 9
Ca 430
Mg 1300
N03 5
P04 .04

I feed once a day and dose the reef foundation ABC when needed. My lights are the hydra 26 hd that came with the tank. They are turned down fairly low whites about 30 blues 60ish everything else max 20. 2 mp40s running at min. My LPS seem happy. Not sure what am doing wrong with the sps.

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[Rookie2reef]

What's temp does it go up and down?

 

[inked]

I have it set at 78. I added a additional thermometer to be sure. I have noticed it go between 77 and 79.

 

[samksy]

I would stop dosing reef foundation and do a 35-40% water change to reset the tank parameter. And go with a biweekly water change. With what you have in your tank, you probably can get away with dosing. Good luck.

 

[Username Invalid]

Salinity?
What's your water change schedule?
Carbon? GFO?

 

[inked]

1.026 on the salinity. Run carbon changed monthly. No gfo. I dose nopox 4mg a day. Started that because p04 was at 1 and n03 was 10 about a month ago. Thought that was my problem.

The foundation supplement I dose is alk my mg and ca. Rarely move. Water changes are at least 20 percent a month I try for 40 but don't always get it done.

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[Dre]

You need a damn good skimmer

 

[BYU]

I don't know whats wrong but if you want to try a piece of birds nest for free pm me
i live near advance marine aquatics

 

[Rookie2reef]

Have you seen flame angel nipping?

 

[heuerfan]

Maybe you are doing to much? Tank is to perfect and clean?

I have a lot of sps in my 55 gallon and don't have a sump, skimmer or refugium and they all doing well.

Just my 2 cents, good luck.

 

[inked]

Skimmer is a curve 5 .

I haven't seen my flame picking at them but that doesn't mean he doesn't I guess.

Thank you for the birds nest offer but I think it's just a death sentence for it at this point lol.

I do agree that the tank is just to clean. After my cycle i got the normal diatoms I threw in a clean up crew and have never had anything else which I thought was odd. I do clean my glass daily which just gets the brown dusty type that comes right off.

Funny part is I have had tanks in the past which were just thrown together with the cheapest hardware out there and was at least able to keep easy sps.




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[inked]

One other thing that I have noticed all my other parameters stay solid between water changes except alk. If I don't dose the foundation b it will fall into the 6 range from 9 within a week.

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[brooklynreefers]

oh that is your problem, you cant let the ALK dip and raise that drastically. you need to either have a doser or know how much to dose every day. alk swing is the ultimate SPS killer. find you self a good 2 part dosing solution and stop using that all in one solution.

then find out how much supplements your tank needs daily and dose accordingly.

alk swing cause sps to peel its skin off.

on the side note what test kits are you using ?

 

[inked]

oh that is your problem, you cant let the ALK dip and raise that drastically. you need to either have a doser or know how much to dose every day. alk swing is the ultimate SPS killer. find you self a good 2 part dosing solution and stop using that all in one solution.

then find out how much supplements your tank needs daily and dose accordingly.

alk swing cause sps to peel its skin off.

on the side note what test kits are you using ?

I am not using the redsea abc+ I am using the individual A B C liquid.

P04 is Hanna
No3 salifert
Ca redsea
Alk redsea
Mg redsea

I just got a dosing pump and plan on setting it up this weekend. Is it normal for the alk to be used and not .Ca?


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[heuerfan]

Agree with Brooklynreefer. I can't see your tank having a huge demand for alk and calc.

I personally like using bionic and salifert test kit.

Most important is to see how much demand your tank needs which requires daily testing unfortunately

Good luck!

 

[Nycreef]

One other thing that I have noticed all my other parameters stay solid between water changes except alk. If I don't dose the foundation b it will fall into the 6 range from 9 within a week.

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1. You need a doser for alk to keep it stable. thats a huge swing.
2. Too Much Carbon can be striping your water and affecting the sps negatively.
3. PO4 between .02 and .06 is near perfect
4. Stick with salifert test kits and the hanna checker is rarely correct
5. Be careful with your xenia and gsp, it will take over your tank

 

[inked]

Ok so I setup my dosing pumps and set it to half of what I think it will need. Guess I just test everyday until it stays consistent?

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[Nycreef]

Test everyday or every other day and adjust your alk and cal slowly till you see it stays at where you want it. I say where you want it cause everyone keeps theirs where they feel it's right for their Sps. There's a sweet spot between PO4, alk & cal.

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[inked]

Thanks everyone for your input. I appreciate it.

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[inked]

Just a quick update. Installed my dosing pump on Thursday night. My tank has been maintaing a 9. My stylo is starting to darken up a little so am hoping this is working

Thanks again for all your help.

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