Originally Posted by
Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/3020180
1rst and foremost dont even worry about it. your tank doesn't appear to have any outwardly issues with nutrients/water quality. your parameters are okay. I have sps in my tank bought at the same time from the same place with one doing great (super color, great polyp extention ect) and right next to it one that looks like crap. the one that looks good is suppose to be the "hard" one. some have done great from the beginning, some never looked right from day one (damn mail order). I've had some that looked perfectly good for weeks and months and woke up with it looking like yours. I've broken off the dead portion to have the other portion do perfectly fine with NO changes to the tank at all. go figure. I put too much GFO in and bleached a cap completely in 12hrs. then there's the 85% that do perfectly fine the whole time. one, what appears to be wild colony, of birdsnest isn't enough indication that you are doomed to have problems.
1) consider taking the rocks you have, drilling them and sliding them over a plastic rod (garden stake for example) to make two tall columns so you can place sps up high otherwise consider more rock or 400w halides or at least 250w with high end reflectors. 150w just wont cut it for SPS the way your aquascaped.
2) what exactly are your GPH flow numbers? I find whats high flow to non sps aquarium owners and sps aquarium owners are very different. everytime I suggest something I get the "you'll be blowing stuff all over" with flow rates that many sps tanks have trippled. rarely will a return pump alone however big it is offer enough flow for a SPS tank unless you have multiple branch offs throughout the tank which I just dont see.
3) lots of that birdsnest at this point is savable. snap off the ends above the dead portion, glue em to rubble or a plug. you may want to invest in a frag rack where you can keep sps frags up high until you do something about the aquascape or lighting.
4) dont buy large colonies like that anymore. aquacultured frags do much better. REAL aquacultured frags not a large colony snapped up and sold as aquacultured.
5) I garauntee you experienced SPS keepers with years of experience and the best of equipment have had unexplained failures with SPS. thats actually the fun of sps. they are just boring sticks otherwise. its the getting them to survive, grow, extend polyps and color well that makes them more entertaining and desirable than LPS that you have a hard time killing if you tried to.
Thank you so much. You made me feel alot better. I was so frustrated by the whole situation. It is hard watching a $50 piece of coral die, especially when it is so beautiful. How would you recommend I cut the healthy pieces? Can I apoxy them up higher on the wall? I've seen other people do that.
How do you measure GPH?
The lights are only 4 months old. My husband would never go for an upgrade right now. It would only make him mad. (I'm sure when he finds out the coral died I will never hear the end of it.) Next time it is time to replace the lights, I will definatly upgrade. I like the pole idea.
I will try to save as many pieces of this coral as I can and I won't try sps again until I can do something about the lighting. Thank you again!
