I NEED HELP FIGURING OUT WHY I CANT KEEP SPS

[TwinsReef]

Hello everyone, I've been trying to keep spy but for some reason they don't do good in my tank.

I have a redsea reefer 300
2 radion xr15 at 40 intensity ab+
2 mp40 at 50% reef crest
Nitrate 31.7
Alk 7.6
Ph 7.8 -8.1
Phosphate 0.19
Salinity 34.8 ppt

Thanks for your input

 

[Darkxerox]

Got any photos or anything to update in your tank journal? Much easier to see what's going on! Also what are you dosing? How stable you keep your alkalinity and how high is your PAR, photo period, magnesium, etc.? Are you seeing coralline algae growth?

There's a ton of factors that tend to lead to SPS health and note that true mixed reefs can be the hardest to keep.

 

[ashburn2k]

age of your tank, temp, what other corals have you successfully kept? what's your Ca? Ca plays crucial role in grow SPS

 

[jstiltne]

My knee-jerk reaction other than the comments above (Ca, Mag, temp and temp swings) is those phosphates are about double as high as the SPS sweet spot. I also wonder what PAR you're getting. With that said, I wasn't able to keep SPS confidently until I upped my at-home water RODI unit to a 5 stage with double carbon filter, in hindsight it seemed like too many chlorine/chloramines were getting through. Lastly, stability stability stability

 

[Turkeysammich]

One of my LA friends had a thread on R2R. Why I can’t grow sps ? His name is Vincent, owns abc corals. It’s a huge thread. Basically he says your biome isn’t strong enough. You need to grow your biome. I’ll try to find the thread.

 

[derek_SR]

Your parameters look fine, I wouldn’t start trying to chase numbers. How old is the tank? Are you doing water changes?

 

[TwinsReef]

Got any photos or anything to update in your tank journal? Much easier to see what's going on! Also what are you dosing? How stable you keep your alkalinity and how high is your PAR, photo period, magnesium, etc.? Are you seeing coralline algae growth?

There's a ton of factors that tend to lead to SPS health and note that true mixed reefs can be the hardest to keep.

No algae issues, I don't have a par meter but my schedule is from 7 am to 7pm, I'm dosing all for reef with their recommended dosage for my water volume, I do see coralline algae growth all my LPS and softies are doing well. I have only checked alk, haven't checked mag and calcium

 

[TwinsReef]

Pictures of my tank

 

[TwinsReef]

Your parameters look fine, I wouldn’t start trying to chase numbers. How old is the tank? Are you doing water changes?

Will be a year by the end of the months, I do water changes every 2 weeks

 

[TwinsReef]

One of my LA friends had a thread on R2R. Why I can’t grow sps ? His name is Vincent, owns abc corals. It’s a huge thread. Basically he says your biome isn’t strong enough. You need to grow your biome. I’ll try to find the thread.

Thank you

 

[TwinsReef]

My knee-jerk reaction other than the comments above (Ca, Mag, temp and temp swings) is those phosphates are about double as high as the SPS sweet spot. I also wonder what PAR you're getting. With that said, I wasn't able to keep SPS confidently until I upped my at-home water RODI unit to a 5 stage with double carbon filter, in hindsight it seemed like too many chlorine/chloramines were getting through. Lastly, stability stability stability

age of your tank, temp, what other corals have you successfully kept? what's your Ca? Ca plays crucial role in grow SPS

age of your tank, temp, what other corals have you successfully kept? what's your Ca? Ca plays crucial role in grow SPS

age of your tank, temp, what other corals have you successfully kept? what's your Ca? Ca plays crucial role in grow SPS

1yr, temp at 78, I can keep LPS and softies, I will be checking CA and mag when I get home

 

[TwinsReef]

My knee-jerk reaction other than the comments above (Ca, Mag, temp and temp swings) is those phosphates are about double as high as the SPS sweet spot. I also wonder what PAR you're getting. With that said, I wasn't able to keep SPS confidently until I upped my at-home water RODI unit to a 5 stage with double carbon filter, in hindsight it seemed like too many chlorine/chloramines were getting through. Lastly, stability stability stability

I have also wonder about my four stage rodi system, however I bought a separate td meter and reads 0

 

[Turkeysammich]

Found it. It’s a long read. He explains if you did everything right. Why is it still dying.

Why cant u keep sps?

Well first and for most im not a scientist or marine biologist my theory base only on my experience and observation on my reef tank. I just want to help those that have problems keeping sps. In this discussion please keep it positive and dont make it to “i know better than u or led is better...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Turkeysammich]

Just a Quick Look at your system. If you’re a new to the hobby. And you started out with dead rock and dead sand. Your turn around point is a year to year and the half depending on biome additions or subtractions.

 

[iani]

Which sps have you tried? It might be a simple matter of trying difficult types of SPS.

 

[Reefinglens]

Not much more to be said here. Other than water parameters, 40% on a XR15 is pretty low I run 2 XR15s at 90% over my SPS rack and my other 3 at 60% over my LPS. What are your PAR values? The thin Zooxanthellae in SPS use light as its energy source, so low light mean starved coral.

 

[boun11]

Which sps have you tried? It might be a simple matter of trying difficult types of SPS.

This is an important question. I do have crash-proof SPS that you can have and try. PM me if you want some but I am in Berkeley.

 

[TwinsReef]

Just a Quick Look at your system. If you’re a new to the hobby. And you started out with dead rock and dead sand. Your turn around point is a year to year and the half depending on biome additions or subtractions.

Rocks are from a 3 year old system, I used live rock and even dosed beneficial bacteria. Some sps are doing okay and some aren't doing well at all ..

 

[TwinsReef]

This is an important question. I do have crash-proof SPS that you can have and try. PM me if you want some but I am in Berkeley.

I've tried digis, green slimmer, and monti none have done well. Idk if it's the par, I'm not so sure what I'm doing wrong ..

 

[TwinsReef]

Not much more to be said here. Other than water parameters, 40% on a XR15 is pretty low I run 2 XR15s at 90% over my SPS rack and my other 3 at 60% over my LPS. What are your PAR values? The thin Zooxanthellae in SPS use light as its energy source, so low light mean starved coral.

I'm still in the wait list for the groups par meter, that's why I haven't adjusted my lighting