Hello fellow reefers,
i am reaching out because i really could use some help, and at a lose. I am having difficulty keeping SPS (birdsnest) alive, and from what i read, it shouldn't be that hard. I have purchased several different types and they only stay around for 2-5 weeks, before succumbing to some mystery culprit. The typical stages the coral goes through, is as follows; I introduce the species into my tank, and all appears fine for a couple of days. Then after a week or two, the polyps start to seem to be following off in random places. With the rest of the polyps not exactly happy, but not all the way closed up. Then slowly but surely more and more polyps start to disappear, with no real pattern, until it looks like a dog with mange. Here are the pictures of the most recent victims, keep in mind the large birdsnest it now just a white stick.
alt="">
alt="">
Now for the specifics, my tank is a 150gallon (tall) with a 35 gallon sump. The whole system is about 10 months old. I have a refugium with the light cycle inverted with my display tank. My display lights consist of 4 xr15 radion pro's set to 60% intensity. I have 100ml of biopellets in a phosban reactor. i have a de-nitrite reactor, and running GFO and activated carbon. Dosing with Kalkwasser, and 2 part BRS solutions.
My parameters
NH3 - 0
Nitrate -20 to 40 ppm
Nitrite - 0
Phosphate - 0.03 ppm
Calcium - 410 ppm
Alkalinity - 9.5dkh
Magnesium - 1400ppm
Salinity - 1.025
To help with my troubleshooting i had a triton analysis, here are the results
alt="">
alt="">
I also have lost other corals, like monti caps, and some acros. I do have red planet acro that hasn't died on me, although is also hasn't grown much over the past 8 months. I have some acans which seem to be doing great, along with frog spawn and bicolor hammer head.
This issue has been going on for about 5 months now, and i have tried many different things (one at a time) to see if it resolves my problem. More frequent water changes, less frequent, higher light, lower light, more flow, less flow. Again i want to stress that any changes i do, i do very slowly over a long period of time to see if any positive changes take place. I have not had swings in my Ph, alkalinity, or calcium. I also haven't seen any fish nibbling on the corals (all reef safe fish). Nor have I seen pest, (I also look in the evenings).
I am at a loss of what my next move should be.
Thoughts?
i am reaching out because i really could use some help, and at a lose. I am having difficulty keeping SPS (birdsnest) alive, and from what i read, it shouldn't be that hard. I have purchased several different types and they only stay around for 2-5 weeks, before succumbing to some mystery culprit. The typical stages the coral goes through, is as follows; I introduce the species into my tank, and all appears fine for a couple of days. Then after a week or two, the polyps start to seem to be following off in random places. With the rest of the polyps not exactly happy, but not all the way closed up. Then slowly but surely more and more polyps start to disappear, with no real pattern, until it looks like a dog with mange. Here are the pictures of the most recent victims, keep in mind the large birdsnest it now just a white stick.
alt="">
alt="">Now for the specifics, my tank is a 150gallon (tall) with a 35 gallon sump. The whole system is about 10 months old. I have a refugium with the light cycle inverted with my display tank. My display lights consist of 4 xr15 radion pro's set to 60% intensity. I have 100ml of biopellets in a phosban reactor. i have a de-nitrite reactor, and running GFO and activated carbon. Dosing with Kalkwasser, and 2 part BRS solutions.
My parameters
NH3 - 0
Nitrate -20 to 40 ppm
Nitrite - 0
Phosphate - 0.03 ppm
Calcium - 410 ppm
Alkalinity - 9.5dkh
Magnesium - 1400ppm
Salinity - 1.025
To help with my troubleshooting i had a triton analysis, here are the results
alt="">
alt="">I also have lost other corals, like monti caps, and some acros. I do have red planet acro that hasn't died on me, although is also hasn't grown much over the past 8 months. I have some acans which seem to be doing great, along with frog spawn and bicolor hammer head.
This issue has been going on for about 5 months now, and i have tried many different things (one at a time) to see if it resolves my problem. More frequent water changes, less frequent, higher light, lower light, more flow, less flow. Again i want to stress that any changes i do, i do very slowly over a long period of time to see if any positive changes take place. I have not had swings in my Ph, alkalinity, or calcium. I also haven't seen any fish nibbling on the corals (all reef safe fish). Nor have I seen pest, (I also look in the evenings).
I am at a loss of what my next move should be.
Thoughts?
