sps question does this seem right?

xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
ammonia 0
nitrate below 5
nitrite 0
ph 8.2
calcium 480
salinity 1.026-1.027
alk 300ppm
have 2 175watt mh lights acros are towards the top of the tank. just doesn't seem like they are opening up as much as they should be... does everything seem right. and now that i think about it i don't get much growth in my tank either...
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
Originally Posted by fishamajig
temp?
turnover? (gph)
other corals in the tank
pic?
these things might help
here's my pics page
my tank shots
it's a 75g with a 20g sump 20g refugium. i have a 9.5 mag for the return from the sump. i have 2 seio 820 powerheads and one powesweep power head it was rated for a 30g not sure of the gph on that though. temp 82.
 
fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
well it looks as if you have the sps at the top of the tank and have the powerhead directly blowing on it. as they say keeping sps you can never have too much turnover but my question is do you have the heads on a wave maker or something. you might want to vary the flow a bit so the coral dosent get bombarded from one direction all of the time. also you are complaining of not much growth, first off some acropora species are just slower growers than others and some like monti caps and such seem like they are growing before your eyes. check the kelvin rating of your halides if you have a 10 k you are going to have a better growth rate than if you have a 20k. maybe try moving the coral a bit down from the top. It can be so many things.
good luck
p.s. i am by FAR no opinion on the subject, I just read allot and have a couple sps
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
Originally Posted by fishamajig
well it looks as if you have the sps at the top of the tank and have the powerhead directly blowing on it. as they say keeping sps you can never have too much turnover but my question is do you have the heads on a wave maker or something. you might want to vary the flow a bit so the coral dosent get bombarded from one direction all of the time. also you are complaining of not much growth, first off some acropora species are just slower growers than others and some like monti caps and such seem like they are growing before your eyes. check the kelvin rating of your halides if you have a 10 k you are going to have a better growth rate than if you have a 20k. maybe try moving the coral a bit down from the top. It can be so many things.
good luck
p.s. i am by FAR no opinion on the subject, I just read allot and have a couple sps
i apreciate the replies. unfortunatly i can't put the seios on a wavemaker. but i have the powesweep thing in the middle which is oscilating so it sorta breaks up the stream from the seios.. i have 15k bulbs. and i know acros are slow growers.. i'm just saying in general with everything in the tank i heard star polyps are fast growers and spread easily i have had not much growthf from them at all... they look good open up and everything just don't spread..i suppose i'll try to reposition my powerheads or try moving them. i had one rtn i guess that's what it is.. turned completely white in a about a day... and no clue why.. don't want to lose anymore.. so any ideas anyone can offer let me know... thanks
 
buzzword

buzzword

Member
happy what were the acros that RTN'd next to? Chemical warefare from other species like LPS can harm them. Did you get them as frags and mount them too soon without letting them acclimate to your system? What are your phosphates and mag like? Just trying to help.
I am no expert but have about 28 pieces of SPS and have lost only one due to RTN with no idea why. Mine grow like crazy under my 10K MH's.
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
Originally Posted by Buzzword
happy what were the acros that RTN'd next to? Chemical warefare from other species like LPS can harm them. Did you get them as frags and mount them too soon without letting them acclimate to your system? What are your phosphates and mag like? Just trying to help.
I am no expert but have about 28 pieces of SPS and have lost only one due to RTN with no idea why. Mine grow like crazy under my 10K MH's.
the acros that died were at the top of the tank by themselves... i just don't have any ployps coming out...phosphates tested perfect. have not tested mag i just ordered a mag kit though... i may try moving them lower in the tank. so much money is just going down the drain with these things i don't know what it is it's driving me crazy though
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
i understand your pain
i have lost a few pieces of sps myself.... dont give up though....
so did the corals just bleach or did they RTN.... theres a difference between bleaching and RTN...
RTN u actually see the flesh melting off the skeleton and getting washed away in the current.... RTN is a bacterial infection that causes the corals flesh to detach from the skeleton...i had a large green stag that got RTN i fragged the crap outta it in order to save some of it and so far looks like i saved about 1/3rd of it and its starting to recoup and that was about 10 days ago....
bleaching on the other hand is when the coral expels and loses its symbiotic zooxanthellae algae that host in the coral providing it with nutrients... this can be caused by different things There are a number of stresses or environmental changes that may cause bleaching including disease, excess shade, increased levels of ultraviolet radiation, sedimentation, pollution, salinity changes, and increased temperatures...
corals will turn completely right if the changes are too much
how did u acclimate your sps's??
did u use a drip method?? when u bought them under how much light were they under at the store??... whenever i get anything from and LFS i ask all there water parameters and test there water when i getr home that lets me know how much of an acclimation process i have to put the coral through....
what kind of lighting were they under at the LFS.... if u take a coral that is dark and brown under dimmer lighting and place it directly at the top of a tank under bright light the coral will have excess production of food from the zooxanthellae algae and then the coral will kick the algaes out since it doesnt need them all and it will kick them all out due to shock....
all of your paramters seem fine... id try to bring calcium down a lil.... and try to get 0 nitrates....
i think it may be in the acclimation period.... how long did u have the sps corals before they died?
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
In a closed system Alk should be a solid 4.00 meq/l or DKH 11.2.
MG. at 1200-1500 will give you incredible growth in sps.
I just started dosing MG. a few months ago.When I first tested it was at 970..I went through three 16 oz bottles trying to get the value up.Then I found out I was dosing too little,my corals were loving it and soaking it up!Next test was at 860!
So I started reading some,and learned I could dose safely as much as 100 ppm per day until I got the numbers up.Last test{yesterday} I was at 1300.Magnesium is pretty expensive too!
Before dosing Mg. look at the purple millipora with three branches.

After dosing...look at it now~over 40 branches.This is just a few months difference.
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
Originally Posted by promisetbg
In a closed system Alk should be a solid 4.00 meq/l or DKH 11.2.
MG. at 1200-1500 will give you incredible growth in sps.
I just started dosing MG. a few months ago.When I first tested it was at 970..I went through three 16 oz bottles trying to get the value up.Then I found out I was dosing too little,my corals were loving it and soaking it up!Next test was at 860!
So I started reading some,and learned I could dose safely as much as 100 ppm per day until I got the numbers up.Last test{yesterday} I was at 1300.Magnesium is pretty expensive too!
Before dosing Mg. look at the purple millipora with three branches.

After dosing...look at it now~over 40 branches.This is just a few months difference.

i'm still waiting for my mag test kit.. i'm bringing my water to get tested this morning for everything i have to find the problem i can't afford to keep losing acros. first one that died i'll admit was my fault nitrates were high.. but now i'm on top of everything witht the tank. all levels are perfect well the ones i have the kits for... i'm picking up some live food for the corals today hoping it helps and moved the corals lower in the tank and not so much right in front of the stream.... thanks for all ur help so far...
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
Originally Posted by promisetbg
Thank you..it has come a long way from this~


hehe i know what u mean this is what mine started from
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
magnesium was just under 1000.. hope that was the problem i also picked up some dt's today hoping that will feed them nicely
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
Sorry to but in but IMO your alk at 300 ppm is too high. Not sure what effects that would have but much higher than what I have learned it should be around 200 ppm. Might want to try lowering that some too and I agree the mag. should be 1300+
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
Originally Posted by xhappyx
magnesium was just under 1000.. hope that was the problem i also picked up some dt's today hoping that will feed them nicely
DT's phytoplankton will do nothing for your corals.It is ok for feather dusters,small clams,coco worms,Christmas tree worms....
Cyclop-eeze,Coral Vibrance,artemia,DT's oyster eggs....and for LPS meatier items such as shrimp,mysis,squid,etc. will benefit corals.
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
Originally Posted by murph145
i understand your pain
i have lost a few pieces of sps myself.... dont give up though....
so did the corals just bleach or did they RTN.... theres a difference between bleaching and RTN...
RTN u actually see the flesh melting off the skeleton and getting washed away in the current.... RTN is a bacterial infection that causes the corals flesh to detach from the skeleton...i had a large green stag that got RTN i fragged the crap outta it in order to save some of it and so far looks like i saved about 1/3rd of it and its starting to recoup and that was about 10 days ago....
bleaching on the other hand is when the coral expels and loses its symbiotic zooxanthellae algae that host in the coral providing it with nutrients... this can be caused by different things There are a number of stresses or environmental changes that may cause bleaching including disease, excess shade, increased levels of ultraviolet radiation, sedimentation, pollution, salinity changes, and increased temperatures...
corals will turn completely right if the changes are too much
how did u acclimate your sps's??
did u use a drip method?? when u bought them under how much light were they under at the store??... whenever i get anything from and LFS i ask all there water parameters and test there water when i getr home that lets me know how much of an acclimation process i have to put the coral through....
what kind of lighting were they under at the LFS.... if u take a coral that is dark and brown under dimmer lighting and place it directly at the top of a tank under bright light the coral will have excess production of food from the zooxanthellae algae and then the coral will kick the algaes out since it doesnt need them all and it will kick them all out due to shock....
all of your paramters seem fine... id try to bring calcium down a lil.... and try to get 0 nitrates....
i think it may be in the acclimation period.... how long did u have the sps corals before they died?
sorry i missed ur question... they rtn.d i actually watching the color float off of it in the ccurrent. very upsetting....i believe they were under vho lighting. at the lfs... idripped them in a bucket when i got home for about an hour then placed them low in my tank and each day moving them till they were closer.. they were colorful for maybe day one of two but after that the polyps stopped coming out.. i got them last weekend and have lost a few of those....what should my calcium be at then? what's the best method for lowering it? and currently i'm trying to get my magnesium up a little bit since it was down a bit.. thanks for the help and suggestions
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
If an sps starts to RTN you must take action or it can spread to other corals.The best thing is to take out the coral that is dieing...with RTN they waste so fast anyway.I believe most times it is bacterial.Handling can cause it,and even keeping corals that are'nt from the same location can be a problem.If a coral gets broken it can present a problem as well..or if you scratch the tissue at the base while placing it in your tank.
CA should be 430-450,Alk at 4.00 meg/l,Mg at 1200-1500.
If your CA is to high the best way to lower it is a good size water change.
MG is difficult to raise,as you add the corals will drink it in so to speak.You can safely add 100 PPM per day to raise it,but no more or it will come out of solution.
I would go a little slower than you did with acclimating them to your light,and try to find an LFS that uses MH's over their sps.
 
xhappyx

xhappyx

Member
Originally Posted by promisetbg
If an sps starts to RTN you must take action or it can spread to other corals.The best thing is to take out the coral that is dieing...with RTN they waste so fast anyway.I believe most times it is bacterial.Handling can cause it,and even keeping corals that are'nt from the same location can be a problem.If a coral gets broken it can present a problem as well..or if you scratch the tissue at the base while placing it in your tank.
CA should be 430-450,Alk at 4.00 meg/l,Mg at 1200-1500.
If your CA is to high the best way to lower it is a good size water change.
MG is difficult to raise,as you add the corals will drink it in so to speak.You can safely add 100 PPM per day to raise it,but no more or it will come out of solution.
I would go a little slower than you did with acclimating them to your light,and try to find an LFS that uses MH's over their sps.
thanks for the info... i'm not buying anymore that' for sure at least till i know i can keep these that i have still alive.... any product suggestions for gettting the mag to the proper level?
 
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