SPS: What am I doing wrong?

[NJTaxMan]

Ok. I am to the point I am about to give up on SPS.

Parameters on point"

1. 10 Alk
2. 420 Ca
3. Salinity 1.024
4. Nitrate: 10
5. Phosphate: .35 - a little high but at least constant.
6. Par - recently got a part meter. At the level I want to keep the SPS it ranges from 220-300 so not necessarily being blasted.

My parameters have been very stable. I have been completely fine with LPS (torches, Octos, Frogs and Hammers) but I can keep them happy for a few weeks. After two weeks the tips start 'burning' and seeing brownish then a couple of days later it goes into STN/RTN. My initial thoughts here are that I was blasting them with too much PAR but after measuring that doesnt seem to be the issue.

 

[iTzJu]

usually, tips burning is a sign of high alk with lower nitrates levels. I would try and lower your alk to around 7~8 range and see if it improves. po4 is high and I would address that as well.

 

[MadReefer]

Ok. I am to the point I am about to give up on SPS.

Parameters on point"

1. 10 Alk
2. 420 Ca
3. Salinity 1.024
4. Nitrate: 10
5. Phosphate: .35 - a little high but at least constant.
6. Par - recently got a part meter. At the level I want to keep the SPS it ranges from 220-300 so not necessarily being blasted.

My parameters have been very stable. I have been completely fine with LPS (torches, Octos, Frogs and Hammers) but I can keep them happy for a few weeks. After two weeks the tips start 'burning' and seeing brownish then a couple of days later it goes into STN/RTN. My initial thoughts here are that I was blasting them with too much PAR but after measuring that doesnt seem to be the issue.

Wish I could help you. But until recently was not bale to keep any SPS even caps. I have been in this hobby since 2005 and 5 years ago I started being able to keep some SPS.
Good luck. I have no clue what I did wrong or right.

 

[horseplay]

Keeping SPS is not that hard. Agreed need to keep alk around 7. Buy a low alk salt and gradually reduce. Also keep po4 around .05. Nutrient control is the hardest part of the game with a lot of factors in play. Get that under control before buying more SPS.

 

[Raffle King]

Drop ALK down to 8 and phos. cant be over .25 anything over .25 will take them out in time. Nitrate is good and get you salinty up a point or two.

 

[eholceker]

Your phosphates are way to high.

 

[john90009]

Also sending out an icp test the day you test will also help to see how far off your kits are. My salifert always reads higher then my hanna and the icp tests. It may also show something you aren’t testing for.

 

[NJTaxMan]

I must have done something right...i just retested my Phos. 0.14 using a hanna!! Woot Woot

 

[erics210]

My phosphates are 1.62. lord help me. Not sure how my tank isn't crashed

 

[horseplay]

My phosphates are 1.62. lord help me. Not sure how my tank isn't crashed

haha I know someone will say this. But isn't that's the point? We simple don't know. So we stick to the parameter of NSW (natural sea water).

 

[eholceker]

haha I know someone will say this. But isn't that's the point? We simple don't know. So we stick to the parameter of NSW (natural sea water).

A good read.

Phosphate bound to calcareous sediments hampers skeletal development of juvenile coral | Royal Society Open Science

To test the hypothesis that terrestrial runoff affects the functions of calcareous sediments in coral reefs and hampers the development of corals, we analysed calcareous sediments with different levels of bound phosphate, collected from reef areas of ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

 

[erics210]

A good read.

Phosphate bound to calcareous sediments hampers skeletal development of juvenile coral | Royal Society Open Science

To test the hypothesis that terrestrial runoff affects the functions of calcareous sediments in coral reefs and hampers the development of corals, we analysed calcareous sediments with different levels of bound phosphate, collected from reef areas of ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

I guarantee it is to blame for my slow growth and lack of coraline algae buildup.
BUT everytime I try and address it, I lose alot of coral. so my only plan is skim more wet, change my filter socks more quickly, feed a little less, and add a better grow light to the cheato section. IF I can get the cheato to take offI think many problems will be addressed. So in the hunt for a H80 or H160 kessil. That along with my weekly 20 gallon water changes.

 

[horseplay]

I would love to see some phosphate for my current tank. Everyone's tank really is different. I can't get phosphate up no matter what I do. So I have been dosing 0.03 ppm/day for the last few months.

Erics - you can do some dosing of NoPox. it will reduce phosphate at the same time providing food for your corals. Just do it super slow.

 

[eholceker]

I guarantee it is to blame for my slow growth and lack of coraline algae buildup.
BUT everytime I try and address it, I lose alot of coral. so my only plan is skim more wet, change my filter socks more quickly, feed a little less, and add a better grow light to the cheato section. IF I can get the cheato to take offI think many problems will be addressed. So in the hunt for a H80 or H160 kessil. That along with my weekly 20 gallon water changes.

Just dose lanthanum, like brightwell phos e right into your skimmer.

 

[erics210]

I would love to see some phosphate for my current tank. Everyone's tank really is different. I can't get phosphate up no matter what I do. So I have been dosing 0.03 ppm/day for the last few months.

Erics - you can do some dosing of NoPox. it will reduce phosphate at the same time providing food for your corals. Just do it super slow.

I tried very slight amounts of NOPOX, and $1200 worth of jawbreaker deaths later, decided....I will try the cheato method or just let it go as is.
Corals are looking good. Just slow growth.

 

[eholceker]

I tried very slight amounts of NOPOX, and $1200 worth of jawbreaker deaths later, decided....I will try the cheato method or just let it go as is.
Corals are looking good. Just slow growth.

Nopox won't do much really for phosphates to the degree you need them. It's more of a nitrate reduction chemical. Chaeto won't do it either. At your level your going to need lanthanum or a ton of gfo.

 

[john90009]

How big of a system do you have? Happen to have a picture of it? How often do you do waterchanges? Just trying to see why it got high.

 

[erics210]

How big of a system do you have? Happen to have a picture of it? How often do you do waterchanges? Just trying to see why it got high.

Have a red sea s500 max tied in with a 35 gallon frag tank.
They both go into the stock sump under the red sea.
I have BRS 5 stage RODI and maintain the filters religiously. March 1st is my next scheduled change of all filters but membrane. I do 20-30 gallon water changes just about every week. Sometimes stuff happens and gets pushed back a few days.
I have a reef octopus skimmer skimming constantly. May wanna start running more wet as takes week and a half to fill most of the way.
Small amount of cheato added recently.

Haven't been able to grow cheato on a few recent tries. Zero algae in the tank!
I am pretty good about the filter socks, usually 4-5 days, worst case when I do the water change.
No sand...so not a ton of place for detritus in the main display.
The frag tank does have a much lesser flow so get some in there. Suck in out during water changes.

Feed mixed pellets 2x a day, nori once, frozen maybe 2-3 to eat a week.

Do not currently run GFO/Carbon.

Run
1.025
8dkh
450
1350
And was using instant ocean r/c for like 4 years, switched to tropic Marin Pro, then couldn't find it, so went with fritz blue and instant ocean combination till I use the last of IO. Then will stay with fritz blue.

 

[john90009]

With those big waterchanges it should help drop the phosphates. The cheato won’t like to grow of thier is little nitrates, so it does not suck up the phopahates of thier isn’t much nitrates as well. Some gfo wouldn’t hurt with how many softies there is in there. Some people believe that heavily filled softy tanks like big toadstools and mushrooms out toxins on the water that sps can be sensitive to. What kind of food do you use?

 

[NJTaxMan]

OK. Update time. I have been testing at ~10 nitrates using API. On a hunch, i bought a hanna HR nitrate checker. Nitrates were off the chart / unmeasurable. OUCH. THANKS API. Two weekends ago I did 15, 10 and 10 gallon water changes over the course of two days. Nitrates still unmeasurable. I honestly think i have a bad hanna checker but nothing is dying so I am not going to go over the edge.

Good news.

Got my phosphates down to 0.16. Running a small amount of phosguard and doing just a little carbon dosing. Probably not enough vodka to actually do anything...but my phosphates are down to what is considered a good level. Also, got my Alk down to 9.6. I dropped my kalk dosing a few ML less per day and it came down over the course of a couple weeks. Besides nitrates, parameters seem to be looking good. Now I have to zero in the kalk dosing to keep my levels.