sps corals

[beermutz123]

I'm having a problem keeping my SPS corals alive every thing else grow great any help would be nice

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Nutrients, flow, lighting.

Give us some details and we can help you figure out which one(s) need attention.

[billdogg]

Originally Posted by der_wille_zur_macht

Nutrients, flow, lighting.

Give us some details and we can help you figure out which one(s) need attention.

In addition to the above, what other corals are you keeping? Soft Corals (especially leathers) can be particularly troublesome for SPS due to the turpines they excrete. Good skimming and lots of carbon can help to alleviate the problem but it will persist as long as they are together.

[karimwassef]

The key to sps is Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium. Then light and flow.
Where are you on those?

Also- sps can get parasites that are very small but cause massive damage.

[beermutz123]

I have no leathers most of my other corals are zoads my alk cal mag are on the low side but in the parameters I have birds nest, bali green slime, purple haze montipora, neon green styophara also I have a frog spawn that's doing good

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Can you describe your flow and lighting?

Also, can you list all the typical parameters - Ca, Alk, Mg, nitrate, phosphate? Tell us how often you're testing and what the values are.

Are you doing any supplementation? Water changes?

[wrott]

Stability of alk first, and stable Ca and Mg #s are critical--no sudden changes, that can kill acros 3-4 weeks after the swing. Stable temp too.
You need to use a doser or Ca reactor for success long term.
You should test alk every couple of days--salifert is best imo, it doesn't really matter how accurate the test is as long as it measures consistently. Then when you have a good handle on consumption of alk, check it once a week.

[karimwassef]

Originally Posted by beermutz123

my alk cal mag are on the low side but in the parameters

that's probably it. SPS number one key variable is ALK. What number are you at? Low as in 6 or 7.5?

If you don't stabilize and lift your Alk, you're not going to get successful SPS.

[crawlerman]

Almost all of the problems I've had with acros has been related to a swing in alk. Unless you are crazy low, stability is more important. Would be helpful if you gave the values instead of saying low.

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by crawlerman

Would be helpful if you gave the values instead of saying low.

The fact that they just stated "low" is enough for me to understand why they are having SPS problems...
Those that don't are all about the specific numbers and will respond with numbers taken out 4 decimal places

[beermutz123]

as of on sunday my alk was 7.7 what my issue is that I get the akl up to around 9 then I do my water change then I'm back to raising it back up because its low so what does every one use in there water change water to bring the alk up to what they want it at this is where I'm having a problem

[wrott]

What are you using to increase alk to 9 dKH? Maybe try for a steady 8 dKH.
8-9dKH is ok, just no large swings. How often and what % are your WCs?
Tank size? And baking soda is good, NaHCO3.

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by beermutz123

as of on sunday my alk was 7.7 what my issue is that I get the akl up to around 9 then I do my water change then I'm back to raising it back up because its low so what does every one use in there water change water to bring the alk up to what they want it at this is where I'm having a problem

What is the alk of your freshly mixed saltwater?

Its typically best (easiest) to just keep your tanks alk the same as the freshly mixed saltwater alk (or just slightly below it) so that no matter how large of a water change you do the alk stays the same..

Then if your current water change schedule/amount isn't enough to keep alk stable enough then start looking into dosing to keep it stable between water changes..

But an alk swing is certainly not good to have when trying to keep SPS corals..

[crawlerman]

you need to check magnesium. If it is low you will have trouble keeping the alkalinity high. I'd also say a steady 7.5 would be better than bouncing around. Test calcium, alk and magnesium. Slowly raise the levels until they are all balanced. One of them being off effects the others.

This is a sticky in the sps room, good read to understand this balance http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1179702

[rjjr1963]

I've been having good luck with Red Sea supplements on all my corals especially SPS. Alk,Ca, NoPox and reef energy A/B. I only dose the colors once per week. I'm still working on a base line and consumption. Skimming pretty heavily.

[beermutz123]

I tested my change water and it was at 8 alk and my mag was around 1150 I just started testing my change water because of the swings I have a125 gal tank with sump about 12 gals I do a 37gal water change every two weeks

[beermutz123]

i also dose alk and calcium between water changes

[NS Mike D]

may 2017

Originally Posted by beermutz123

I have some algae growth on my rocks and I cant seem to get my nitrates nitrite down my nitrates are 30 and nitrites are 24 with a hanna ulr nitrite reader I use a nyos tester for nitrates

aug 2017

Originally Posted by beermutz123

I've been doing sugar dosing for about 4 months when I first started the algae started to die off but now its not doing anything and protein skimmer was producing a real heavy dark skim know it more like a tea yellow one of my nitrate tester only goes to 4ppm and its way beyond that that one is a red sea pro. and my other tester is a nyos test and it reads 40 my phosphate are normal low like .02 or lower the ammonia is zero and the nitrites .3 ill switch to the vinegar dosing and see what happens plus a big water change

very high nitrates would be my first suspect for making sps unhappy

[mcgyvr]

beermutz, you have been asked quite a few questions and have failed to answer many of them..
We can't help you this way..
So it would probably be beneficial for you to read this whole post again and do your best to use more than one sentence in your next reply and try to answer everything in one shot..
Then read the responses then continue on from there..

sadly others are having to go back into other posts and pull information out of them and they shouldn't have to do that either..
You are asking for help.. you should be doing the work answering the questions being asked of you..

Good luck with your troubles..
I think the reasons are pretty clear...

[JammyBirch]

My experience is that magnesium is the key. I had similar trouble in the beginning, and found my mag was low. The problem, in my opinion, is not that your alkalinity is too low i run mine at 7-7.5, like natural sea water and have great results.

The problem is that if your mag is below 1250, you will have alk and calcium swings, that is what SPS cant handle. Consistency in these levels is the requirement don't pay too much attention to the numbers, except for mag.

High nitrates will do this to some extent but they have to be really high, like 20ppm or more.

I'd recommend, dosing some mag until the level in the tank gets to 1250-1350. Then measure the rest and slowly set the numbers where you want them.

[NS Mike D]

Originally Posted by JammyBirch

My experience is that magnesium is the key. I had similar trouble in the beginning, and found my mag was low. The problem, in my opinion, is not that your alkalinity is too low i run mine at 7-7.5, like natural sea water and have great results.



The problem is that if your mag is below 1250, you will have alk and calcium swings, that is what SPS cant handle. Consistency in these levels is the requirement don't pay too much attention to the numbers, except for mag.



High nitrates will do this to some extent but they have to be really high, like 20ppm or more.



I'd recommend, dosing some mag until the level in the tank gets to 1250-1350. Then measure the rest and slowly set the numbers where you want them.

^^^. Very good advice.

He also carbon doses. Do you recommend he stop until he gets his parameters stable. I picked up his posts from algae/nitrate threads. I have to agree that he not worry about nitrates (and thus algae) for now focus and alk ca and mg?


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[smatter]

I'm pretty certain I know what the problem is. SPS are the problem

[JammyBirch]

Originally Posted by NS Mike D

^^^. Very good advice.

He also carbon doses. Do you recommend he stop until he gets his parameters stable. I picked up his posts from algae/nitrate threads. I have to agree that he not worry about nitrates (and thus algae) for now focus and alk ca and mg?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ya, i'm no expert on carbon dosing, but what i know about it is most people use it to reduce nutrients in the water to control algae. I've never carbon dosed, i reduce feeding or try and find something that eats what i want to get rid of before going the chemistry route. I'm not big on dumping things into the tank, other than 2part...

The other thing to keep in mind is algae blooms come and go, for example my tank is having one right now as it does every year at this time. The sun is low in the evening sky and shines in on it so the algae is going to happen. Some of this stuff you live with...if your tank looks like a golf course then you have bigger problems that carbon dosing will not remedy.

[beermutz123]

sorry everyone for taking so long to get back but I was up in the mountain and no service so here are my parameters ph 8.4, alk 8 ,cal 525, mag 1120, phos .24, nitrates.1, nitrites .006, ammonia 0, I use reef fusion 2 to bring up my alk in my water change water just started doing that. I dose alk and cal using bulk reef supply my mag was always good until I started doing larger water changes ill start dosing mag this week. I stop carbon dosing awhile back when I started doing large water changes

[karimwassef]

Mg is important to keep your Ca stable. I keep mine above 1400 and preferably over 1600. To be at 1100, I suspect your salinity is off. If not, something is off balance and you should dose Mg.