sps Problems

arashsheikhpoor · Jun 23, 2015

so over the last months I have had problems with my sps. Basically I dont get very good polyp extension. especially with my milleporas.

Through out this whole time, my alk has been at 8.5 Ca at 450 Mg at 1300 PH 8.3 Temp at 80.5 and salinity at 1.025 ( checked with hanna)

And have been using a pair of AI hydras (not 52) with whites at 60 and blues at 85.

Recently the colors have also been browning out too.

a month ago I tested my nitrates and phosphates and they were 15ppm and .30

Did a lot of water changes and reduced feeding to try and eliminate those problems.

Now fast forward to 1.5 weeks ago. I installed a gfo reactor to reduce the phosphates. Since then the phosphates are at .045

Since the browning started I have done the following:

Added a single t5 ati blue plus
added a chiller to stabalize temps
the phosphate reactor

And today I did this:

Changed the top off container from rubbermaid office trash can to my old 10 gallon glass tank.
Cleaned out my sump and took out all sand.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what i can do?

Xaznkewlguyx · Jun 23, 2015

All that is left to do is wait.. Assuming your flow is adequate.

arashsheikhpoor · Jun 23, 2015

My flow is made up of 3 rw8's and my return.

janiners305 · Jun 23, 2015

P04 for sure to high ive been there done that dont drop p04 to fast or they will die and that trashcan depending on what type it is can be leaching p04 or silicates into tank make sure you go slow with the gfo crank up that skimmer do small water changes weekly and make sure the water your using is 0 tds!

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arashsheikhpoor · Jun 23, 2015

will do another phosphate check tomorrow.

Emac909 · Jun 23, 2015

janiners305 said:

If u think his p04 is high then u don't even want to know what mine is and all my sps look great

BeanMachine · Jun 23, 2015

Personally I would dim your lights just a tad. Don't change to much at once, best to make small changes so you can pin point the cause.

Honestly I don't think those hanna checkers are terribly accurate. I'm with [MENTION=4195]Emac909[/MENTION]. On the colormeter at SCMAS meetings my po4 tested last month .12... however on the checker yesterday got .03. I haven't done anything but a small water change in that time. Why I think the checker is junk. I don't run any GFO. I do run biopellets. **I'm not suggesting you run biopellets.

LAreefguy · Jun 23, 2015

Emac909 said:

lol whats your p04 at, im curious.................

xmas_one · Jun 23, 2015

Changes, especially fast ones, even in a direction which may be better will piss off SPS in a hurry. Stable tanks with less than conventionally "good" parameters will do much better than a tank that is getting new equipment and changes thrown at it in a futile attempt to chase the "ideal" parameter dragon.

People are starting to rethink the need for low PO4/NO3, lots of high nutrient tanks out there that are looking awesome. Check out Richard Ross on BRS YouTube talking about phosphates.

Emac909 · Jun 23, 2015

LAreefguy said:

Like 3 months ago it was at .75 with the Red Sea kit. I dont run gfo or pellets. The only thing that I fight phosphates with is chaeto and macro algaes. But honestly I don't care the tank is running great stuffs growing, fish swimming, and I never look at the tank anymore. Ok maybe once a week I'll look at the tank. The other day my auto feeder was empty and I have no clue for how long.

pciscott · Jun 23, 2015

Corals brown quickly and recover slowly. It can take months for them to come back. As far as Polyp extension do you have any fish that nip? If you have great polyp extension at night but not in day you can have a problem fish? Sometimes it is hard to find a fish that nips because anytime you are close to the tank the fish is swimming back and forth screaming feed me. A video camera to watch for an hour from cover too see if you have a nipper can help. I would also pull a couple of your Millies and dip them, this will rule out if you have a pest. AEFW is hard to spot and dipping and watching the corals and seeing if any thing comes off is important because many people do not even know they have this and trade corals. I have seen people with conditioned corals have great color with high P04, but .3 is higher than I would run and I live on the dirty side. I try to stay under .12 on P04 and under 25 nitrate. Corals browning sound like not enough light not too much, but you adding T5 will help as I think LED can lack some of the spectrum that made this hobby much easier.

mannyhernz · Jun 23, 2015

Emac909 said:

What is that monti down there..looks awesome

mr_bigl · Jun 23, 2015

so you took out all sand in a matter of days? Hours? how much sand are we talking?

LAreefguy · Jun 23, 2015

Emac909 said:

lol your a bada$$ I dont think phosphates really affect fish unless its extreamly high no diff than nitrates. But surprised your coral is doing great. Thats awseome though lol

Emac909 · Jun 23, 2015

mannyhernz said:

On the bottom left is sour apple monti, then plan old green cap above that and reverse superman on the right above the the garf

Emac909 · Jun 23, 2015

Here's a look at my rocks.

See that red fuzz. That s*** is everywhere in my tank. It's not cyano it's a type of turf algae.

arashsheikhpoor · Jun 23, 2015

I definitely may have lowered the phosphates too quickly but I was under the impression that they would bleach if anything?
the sand I removed was about a 1 or 2 lbs from the sump when I cleaned it out. I will do some dipping with revive to see if there are any aefw on them once I'm at home.. I'm also planning on picking up a test acro to use as a control. Something cheap.. what do you guys think?

BeanMachine · Jun 23, 2015

if you have a buddy or two in your area, maybe bank a couple pieces of your acros in case yours continue to go downhill.

arashsheikhpoor · Jun 23, 2015

Yea I'm gonna send a couple frags to my buddy for the next month or two.

arashsheikhpoor · Jun 23, 2015

So today I did another 15 gal WC, removed the dryside magnet from the overflow and changed the location of one rw8.

I also Dipped a few of my sps with revive to see if there were any bugs. I did not find anything.

Finally I switched out the media for the phosphate reactor.

Additionally I found a very small bit of red algae and what looks to be a small bit of green algae with clear bubble on them .

sps Problems

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