No luck with SPS

[ThatGuy]

Have no luck with SPS what so ever. I've tried pink birdsnest, green slimer, a monti, and porcillopora. Slimers gone, birdsnest is on its way out, and the monti and porcill are fine but have 0 growth.
I run 6 bulb t5ho with 3 atinic, 2 10k, and a purple. Skimmer is a ramora rated for 75gal tank.

Temp 80-82 F
Alk 19
Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Cal 500
pH 8.8-9.0

Everything else is doing better than fine. LPS are fully expanding/puffed out(except my gonopora). Mushrooms are fully open. Polyps are spreading like wildfire. I figured the hard corals would thrive in these conditions rather than nothing.

I know most of you will say what type of test kit as my results seem off but they have been checked and rechecked with 3 different test kits. I've tried lowering my alk by changing salts, uping water changes, and dosing cal to see if it levels it out, but nothing works.

 

[downbeach]

@ 19dKH your alk is off the charts. pH is high. What is your salinity?

 

[kevin]

Have no luck with SPS what so ever. I've tried pink birdsnest, green slimer, a monti, and porcillopora. Slimers gone, birdsnest is on its way out, and the monti and porcill are fine but have 0 growth.
I run 6 bulb t5ho with 3 atinic, 2 10k, and a purple. Skimmer is a ramora rated for 75gal tank.

Temp 80-82 F
Alk 19
Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Cal 500
pH 8.8-9.0

Everything else is doing better than fine. LPS are fully expanding/puffed out(except my gonopora). Mushrooms are fully open. Polyps are spreading like wildfire. I figured the hard corals would thrive in these conditions rather than nothing.

I know most of you will say what type of test kit as my results seem off but they have been checked and rechecked with 3 different test kits. I've tried lowering my alk by changing salts, uping water changes, and dosing cal to see if it levels it out, but nothing works.

Is your pH really 8.8-9.0?

 

[ThatGuy]

Sal is 1.026 and yes my pH is that high most likely because my alk is so high.

 

[mnat]

Looks like you found your problem. What are you dosing?

 

[ThatGuy]

Looks like you found your problem. What are you dosing?

Calcium and thats it. I believe when I first noticed the problem and posted it you suggested it with the thought it would lower the alk. Kind of a balancing act.

Why would only SPS be affected and not the LPS, Softies, and Polyps?

 

[downbeach]

How often are you doing WC's? Have you checked the Ca, Mg and Alk reading in your make up water?

 

[ThatGuy]

How often are you doing WC's? Have you checked the Ca, Mg and Alk reading in your make up water?

Byweekly. Use to be weekly but I don't have that type of time now that I use RODI and it takes FOREVER. I haven't tested it since I switched to I/O reefcrystals.

 

[ThatGuy]

I guess I'm not ment to have SPS.

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

Temp 80-82 F
Alk 19
Amonia 0
Nitrate 0
Cal 500
pH 8.8-9.0

The reason we're questioning the test kits is that it's highly unlikely that you could have Ca @ 500 and Alk @ 19. Usually when Ca rises the Alk falls and vice a versa. It's very unusual to have both Ca & Alk at the upper end of the scale. Is the Alk 19 dKH or 1.9 meq/L make sure you have the units of measurement correct.

Also when was the last time you cleaned your pH probe? Also make sure the probe wires are not next to any other electrical wires like for your lights. It can cause the probe to give a false reading. Also what are using for Ca dosing, kalk aka calcium hydroxide?

The other issue is that LPS and soft coral like different water conditions than SPS which adds to the difficulty when trying to keep them in the same tank. LPS and soft coral can deal with higher nitrate and to a lesser extent higher PO4 levels than SPS coral.

 

[ThatGuy]

The reason we're questioning the test kits is that it's highly unlikely that you could have Ca @ 500 and Alk @ 19. Usually when Ca rises the Alk falls and vice a versa. It's very unusual to have both Ca & Alk at the upper end of the scale. Is the Alk 19 dKH or 1.9 meq/L make sure you have the units of measurement correct.

I use api test, the pet store used the red sea test kit(maxed out at 16dkh), and a fellow reefer used a hanna and we all came up with the same results. I've had this problem for a while now and have there are many fellow reefers that say pretty much the same thing(doubters). The fish store tested it 3 times because they couldn't believe it either as well as the other guy thats local to me.

As far as dosing I use kent liquid calcium.

 

[hcker99]

Since your CAL is 500 I would hold off for the time being on dosing any more. Also what salt are you using and how old is it? I've heard stories about bad batches of Coral Pro salt that had ALK out the yin yang.

 

[ThatGuy]

Since your CAL is 500 I would hold off for the time being on dosing any more. Also what salt are you using and how old is it? I've heard stories about bad batches of Coral Pro salt that had ALK out the yin yang.

The past 200 gal of water changes has been instant ocean reef crystals and I haven't dosed in about a week or so now.



So at the end of the day I should steer clear of SPS. I guess I'll just stick to LPS.

 

[redfishbluefish]

These numbers are hard to believe.

At those levels, you’d be precipitating carbonate.


Something is not right.


How can the alkalinity be so high if you’re not dosing (either sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate)….just doesn’t make chemical sense.

And high alkalinity doesn’t necessarily translate to high pH.


My brain hurts thinking about this.

Have another local reefer test your water.

 

[ThatGuy]

These numbers are hard to believe.

At those levels, you’d be precipitating carbonate.


Something is not right.


How can the alkalinity be so high if you’re not dosing (either sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate)….just doesn’t make chemical sense.

And high alkalinity doesn’t necessarily translate to high pH.


My brain hurts thinking about this.

Have another local reefer test your water.

I have no idea what either of these are. sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate

I don't really know to many local reefers around me.

 

[downbeach]

I live in Mt. Laurel, if you want to bring a couple of quarts of both your DT and make up water we can test it here.

 

[ThatGuy]

I live in Mt. Laurel, if you want to bring a couple of quarts of both your DT and make up water we can test it here.

Quarts?LOL. I could do a couple of bottles. Or just do extra at the next water change. I guess I could swing out that way. Just PM me with when you are available. Thanks.

 

[Hawkeye]

The other issue is that LPS and soft coral like different water conditions than SPS which adds to the difficulty when trying to keep them in the same tank. LPS and soft coral can deal with higher nitrate and to a lesser extent higher PO4 levels than SPS coral.

+1. Anyways non-reefers always love the wavy stuff and comment on how beautiful it is. Sps sticks? meh...

Anyways sps that are a bit less sensitive such as orange cap monitpora or idaho grape cap etc might work better in your tank. People have mentioned how their sunset monti is unstoppable...so that would be worth a try too.

 

[MadReefer]

I feel your pain. I cannot keep SPS either and have accepted the fact they are not in the cards for me. I stick to softies and LPS now.
I am glad that my hair algae has subsided quite a bit.

 

[spotter]

What kind of rocks and substrate did you set the tank up with? Ive heard of guys making rock out of Portland cement and running into all kinds of problems with not being able to control the water parameters.

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