I cant keep sps alive.

yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
I'm at my wits end on why i cannot keep an sps alive for more then a few days at best.
Here is a break down of my tank
This tank has been up and running for 3 months everything in it came from my other tanks that i took down and consolidated into one.
I have an RO/DI putting out 0 on TDS that i use for weekly 5 gallon waterchanges and top off.
I have a 60 gallon RR with 20 gallon sump. 100 or so lbs of LR and 75lbs of sand.
Phos reactor
Sump has fuge w/micro algae that has light on 24/7
AquaC-EV180 Skimmer
I have 2 175w 20k Halides running 9 hours a day.
I drip kalk with ATO
I wash my filter sock daily in my washing machine with no soap
For flow i have 2 koralia 4s and my 1k gph return pump from sump.
Stock list
2 Black and White clown, pajama cardinal, and a fire shrimp. Cleanup crew that has bounced from tank to tank and i have no way of knowing the exact number of snails/crabs but the tank has no hair algae and no build up of waste that is visible to me.
Today's test readings are as follows
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
SG 1.024
Calcium 480
KH 8.3 Alk 2.97
PH 8.4
P04 .003 lowest reading on test card could have been lower but there was a small tent of blue
Temp 82
I do have some stray voltage but battery in my Fluke is dead so i don't know the exact voltage.
Photo was taking today
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
Well i can keep softys, zoas, LPS, clams, pretty much anything except sps.
i drip acclimate the sps in a bucket for about 30 mins.
 
05xrunner

05xrunner

Active Member
to many leathers...They release of a toxin and usually will kill the SPS..some say just running carbon will take care of it but maybe in your case it wont..I will bet its your leathers killing off the SPS.
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
wow never knew that. i bought that 1 kenya tree like a year ago and now its everywhere. i will remove them , thanks.
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
I have a mixed reef with no ill effects but I've heard that of kenya trees... something in there is toxic to your sps.
 
C

cmaxwell39

Guest
I notice that you have a lot of leathers in the tank. Do you run carbon at all? If not could it be some chemical warfare that is affecting your sps? What types of SPS have you tried?
 
yerboy

yerboy

Active Member
i have not been running carbon at all. i just added some to my phos reactor. I have a few sps that are alive in the tank that i got a week ago from a local reefer in a trade that have been looking worse and worse each day.
Hopefully the carbon will have a positive effect.
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
i hv to agree with the leathers possibly releasing toxins. i always tell people on this site; when in doubt, run carbon.
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
If that was truly the case, I would think he would have problems keeping LPS too, no?
Could it be that the Kalk drip is wrecking havoc on the PH levels?
 
pbnj

pbnj

Member
Leather Corals:
"It's important to note that some species are highly toxic to stony corals (especially larger polyp stony corals in the genera Lobophyllia, Symphyllia and Trachyphyllia). Since specific species identification of leather corals can be quite difficult (sometimes even to identify a genus), these corals should be added with reservation to any tank with stony corals."
 
05xrunner

05xrunner

Active Member
82 is fine...I have still ye to really hear anyone have any issues with LPS..I got a friend who has a bunch of HUGE leathers in his 220 and alot of LPS as well and zero problems..Yet he cannot keep SPS either.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
I am not asking you to believe that if you lower the temp to 79 it will fix your prob, but to prove by lowering the temp, that having a temp of 82 is not the problem. So try lowering the temp to 79…
 
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