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sps coral help

W

waynes reef

hi, my name is wayne, im new to the club, i have had fish only tanks for a while, this is my first reef, so far all is well, i want to starts sps corals, i have tried but havent had any luck,
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

Wayne give us a little background on your tank.

Equipment (especially lighting)
Size
Filtration
Fish Stock List
Water Parameters....

Those will do for now. You came to the right place. We'll help you out.
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Welcome to NJRC.
Besides Mike's questions, what kind of SPS's were you trying to keep?
 
W

waynes reef

i am running a 175 bow front reef ready, a homemade 40 gal. refugium/sump(36x15x15),etss skimmer(not sure what model, looks like a 600 but not as big, bigger than a reef devil, 3-400 watt halides(20k middle-14k"s either side)4 hydorkora 4"s for wave movement on intermittent cycles, 250 lbs live rock, 200lbs sand, 1-phosban reactor, aquamedic 1/2 horse chiller,

live stock-
1 vlamingi tang
1 blue hippo
1 6 line
1 purple peusedo
2 spotted mandarins
3 false perculas

inverts-
2 peppermint shrimp
1 arrow crab
2 purple urchins
many crabs and snails

corals-
1 green slipper
1 open green brain
1 purple plate coral
1 frogsprawn
2 leathers
1 monti cap frag(orange)
1 christmas tree rock
1 toad stool
1 blue crocea clam(6 inches)
1 gold squamosa(3inch)
1 red lordhausen(3 pollops)
large zoo rock
large bubble tip anenome

peramiters
alk- 11
cal-390-400
amon-00
nitrate.05
nitrite 0
ph 8.3
salinity 1.023(refract)
temp 77-80
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

Wayne from the sound of it everything seems to be perfext for keeping SPS.

How long has the tank been up?
What kind of return pump are you using?

The lighting is stong. Have you been starting your SPS lower in the tank and gradually moving them up. I think if you just placed them even half way up the tank you may be buring them out.

Also, when you say you can't keep SPS.. can you explain a little more. Do they brown out? Do they STN or RTN? Do they just bleach? Maybe that can better help us figure this thing out.

Another thing is don't be afraid to raise your Salt level a little higher. I run mine at 1.026 and i'm sure alot of us are in that range of 1.025 to 1.026.

Also if you can test for Magnesium it might help us as well.
 
W

waynes reef

im using a sequence reeflow, and the frags i have tried i put right at the top, i thought they needed to be in high light, i didnt realize i needed to aclimate the light, i dont have a magnesium test, and ill start raising my salinity tomorow, i have had this setup running since november
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

OK wayne, sounds like the lighting could have been your issue. When I get new corals now I first dip them and then i go over them with a lighted magnifying glass to check for bad bugs.

After that I put them on the sandbed for a while. after that I'll move them higher, about 1/3 from the top, after a week I'll move them higher, and so on until I see them get some nice color. I also check what kind of lighting the person/store/whatever had them under before me. Not just the wattage though. I check the kelvin and the height of the lamps. It seems like alot to take in but now I kinda just do it automaticaly.

Also when raising your salinity, do it slowly. About .001 per water change. It should take you 3 to four water changes to get your salt back up to 1.026 to be on the safe side. It might be a little dramatic but better safe than sorry.

Hope this helps.
 
W

waynes reef

i guess i have to chang the settings on the camera, when i crop the images as i have them they are still 600kb and larger, unless im doing something wrong
 
W

waynes reef

IMG_0735.jpg
 
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