lewisriverfisherman Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 That clap is not good at all glad you got that out of there. I believe that a nitrate of 5-10 is fine besides you dont just want to drop them all the way to 0. One of The keys to SPS is being consistant with your parameters, of course this would be within reason of parameter guidelines. You know the ones alk 7.5-10 depending on your nitrate lvls, cal 425-450, mag 1350- 1400 I will be honest with you that you may not have enough micro fauna in your system to support them. Be patient it may be around the year mark that your tank matures enough to support SPS life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 Sounds good. I have the nitrates down to 10 now. And the clamp out so that's a start. They seem to start dying where the light is hitting them hardest of course but very slowly. Just wierd because I k ow my intensity isnt too high. I wonder if maybe due to the tank being newer if I should still turn the lights down due to the nutrient intake of the corals being lower. Just a thought maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmas_one Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 1 minute ago, Elmorenicholas said: Sounds good. I have the nitrates down to 10 now. And the clamp out so that's a start. They seem to start dying where the light is hitting them hardest of course but very slowly. Just wierd because I k ow my intensity isnt too high. I wonder if maybe due to the tank being newer if I should still turn the lights down due to the nutrient intake of the corals being lower. Just a thought maybe If you’re buying sps frags from a shop that has them in a frag tank with t5s three feet off the water and you’re throwing them in your tank right under leds that are pinging 350 at the coral, that’s gonna be a problem. I think that might be more of your problem than a rusty clamp. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 15, 2019 Author Share Posted April 15, 2019 I was wondering myself. Because I was looking and the ones on my frag rack on the side definitely look better than the others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 15, 2019 Author Share Posted April 15, 2019 Not the best pic but here is an example. The under side is still looking great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 15, 2019 Author Share Posted April 15, 2019 Pink boobie chalice. This is close to actual color Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesmiles902 Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 Scrub that cyano/bubble algae off too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 15, 2019 Author Share Posted April 15, 2019 (edited) 54 minutes ago, milesmiles902 said: Scrub that cyano/bubble algae off too 👍👍 I didnt even see the bubble until you mentioned it. Edited April 15, 2019 by Elmorenicholas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vance164 Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 sorry to hear this nick I do not have any insight but I do have some more tester frags for you if need be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 15, 2019 Author Share Posted April 15, 2019 14 minutes ago, Vance164 said: sorry to hear this nick I do not have any insight but I do have some more tester frags for you if need be. Thank you for the offer. Hopefully I can keep these going. Moving everything in the right direction I think. Nothing is completely gone yet so hopefully things will turn around over the next week or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 16, 2019 Author Share Posted April 16, 2019 So just an update. I'm starting to think it's my salt mix. (Red sea coral pro) did a 5 gallon change last night. The mix was only .2 alk off of the tank. After the change it moved the alk. 1 total. Not a big change. All other parameters are spot on. But 2 hours after the change had 2 sps go from looking pretty decent to losing all tissue and dead. What a mystery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 28 minutes ago, Elmorenicholas said: So just an update. I'm starting to think it's my salt mix. (Red sea coral pro) did a 5 gallon change last night. The mix was only .2 alk off of the tank. After the change it moved the alk. 1 total. Not a big change. All other parameters are spot on. But 2 hours after the change had 2 sps go from looking pretty decent to losing all tissue and dead. What a mystery. That is odd and worrisome. What percent water change is that (forgot what size tank you have)? Sounds like something more significant going on with the water chemistry to cause such a substantial shift in Alk given they tested so close separately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 Oh so mistyped that. Alk only shifted .1. It was a 5 gallon change on A red sea 250. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 15 minutes ago, Elmorenicholas said: Oh so mistyped that. Alk only shifted .1. It was a 5 gallon change on A red sea 250. Ah... never mind 🙂 That being so, it still seems like a strange coincidence that your SPS would RTN so closely following the water change. Hmmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 4 minutes ago, albertareef said: Ah... never mind 🙂 That being so, it still seems like a strange coincidence that your SPS would RTN so closely following the water change. Hmmm. My thoughts exactly. It happening directly after the water change makes me think it has to do with that since all test are showing really well. I think I may change salts and see if it makes a difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Elmorenicholas said: My thoughts exactly. It happening directly after the water change makes me think it has to do with that since all test are showing really well. I think I may change salts and see if it makes a difference Yeah - if not brand a different lot at least. Did you use the same RODI water as you do for ATO? Just trying to rule out variables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 (edited) Yes same rodi water for both. I was thinking about changing to the tropic Marin. The levels seem easier to handle on that salt to begin with and I've heard nothing but good things. Alson as long as my nitrates and stuff stay down I think I'm going to bot do changes until I get new salt. I can dose to keep my alk stable Edited April 17, 2019 by Elmorenicholas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesmiles902 Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 How about this? Take a picture of your corals that are living now, then if you do something, such as a water change....take another picture. Later on, you can post them both here. 0.1-1 alkalinity change shouldn't do too much. I thought Red Sea had high concentrations and might be causing parameter swings. Bulkreefsupply is saying similar things, https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-coral-pro-salt.html It doesn't matter if you use it, but keep the percent water changes relatively low at ~5-15%. I made a little table for you on how to gauge the parameters: Original Tank Alk 8 Red Sea Alk 12 Water Change(%) 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 New Alk 11.6 11.2 10.8 10.4 10 9.6 9.2 8.8 8.4 It's a learning experience and will get easier with time. Just don't throw money at something you continue fail at. Try one SPS for a month, then two, then thousands of SPS. You'll get it. Also, the doser is coming soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 I didn't read everyone's reply but if you are doing water changes with water that is a different dkh that will certainly cause problems.Try adding ugly sps. Sometimes only the ones you really love die. [emoji3]Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elmorenicholas Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 Lol that's what I'm doing so far. Just little cheap tester pieces. Nothing I'm in love with in the tank yet. One thing I've noticed about the coral pro salt is that after 48 hours of mixing the alk drops to between 9 and 9.5. Also quite a bit of precipitation. In the mixing container. I've been keeping mine around 9 but am contemplating dropping it slowly more towards 8. Just trying to get this tank dialed in . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmas_one Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Elmorenicholas said: Lol that's what I'm doing so far. Just little cheap tester pieces. Nothing I'm in love with in the tank yet. One thing I've noticed about the coral pro salt is that after 48 hours of mixing the alk drops to between 9 and 9.5. Also quite a bit of precipitation. In the mixing container. I've been keeping mine around 9 but am contemplating dropping it slowly more towards 8. Just trying to get this tank dialed in . Not supposed to mix RSCP for more than an hour or two. Check out their online manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorW Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 I didn't read everyone's reply but if you are doing water changes with water that is a different dkh that will certainly cause problems.Try adding ugly sps. Sometimes only the ones you really love die. [emoji3]Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk[emoji23]Sent from my BLU R1 HD using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 What is your salinity at? How are you testing it? Retest with at least a 2nd source...if you are nearby i have three hydrometers i use. I’m not a fan of sps under 78deg. 78-80 is my sweetspot. Prob not your issue though. Are you using carbon? You should be. Gfo? This will help with po4...just dint overdue this. What chemicals are you dosing for Alk, Ca, Mg? And what test kits are you using? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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