SPS struggles

[mseepman]

I was wondering if any of you SPS specialists had a tip for me on ways to better keep Acros.

I have a 70G mixed reef...and there are a variety of softies, LPS and SPS in the tank. My SPS usually does quite well, but I understand that mixing them with softies can make the job tougher.

Here is my issue and this only happens to my Acros. They will grow well for a while and then out of the blue, I will come down to my tank and see that the tips are growing algae. Eventually it will take over to the point where I need to trim back the coral and then things will be okay for maybe 3 weeks and it will start over.

When I get a new Acro, they might be fine for months, but then the algae on the tips happens.

I have a variety of other SPS and all of them are growing well and have been for over a year.

Here are my numbers:
water quality
SG 1.025
PH=8.2
Po4=0.01-0.05
No3=1
KH=8.5
MG=1200-1300
Ca=400

Any suggestions would be graat Thanks.

[fkshiu]

What's your flow?

[mseepman]

In the 70G (26" x 18" x 24"H) I am running a Quietone 4000 Return, 1 x 6025 Tunze nano, 1 x Vortec MP40W, 1 x Koralia3.

So I would figure lots of flow...in fact my softies aren't as thrilled with it as they could be.

The Vortech runs on random lagoon mode.

My lighting is 1 x 150W MH and 4 x 39W T5HO.

Growth is good, just suddenly the tips get algae

[fencer]

Something is burning the tips....too much nitrates / light ....try increasing your water changes and add some carbon

[mseepman]

hmm...I currently run my lighting like this:

T5HO - 8:00AM - 9:00PM
MH - 12:30PM - 7:00PM
Lunar LED 9:00PM - 7:30AM

As for nitrates...The tank is a 70G with 90lbs of rock plus(so about 50-55G) about 10G in the sump (after equipment). I change about 10G of water every 10 days in the form of two 5G water changes over that period.

I run two reactors, 1 with Carbon and 1 with GFO. Carbon is changed every 45 days and GFO is changed ever 60.

[Myka]

I don't think this will solve your troubles, but you could try using smaller amounts of carbon, and changing it out more often, like every 2-3 weeks. Your magnesium is a tad low too - should be 1350-1400 ppm.

Are there any maintenance things you do every 3 weeks or so since you're noticing the algae issues at that interval? Not necessarily immediately before the algae issue since it could take time for the corals to react.

[plutoniumJoe]

I had a similar problem. All parameters seemed OK but I was using a float style salintiy test. When I measured with a refractometer I found that I was up around 1028-1029. Once I brought it down everthing came back and the corals overgrew the algae tips.

Joe

[mseepman]

Hmm...interesting suggestions, thank you for the advice.

Myka, I will try to do the Carbon changes more often. I don't actually use that much in the reactor, maybe 3/4 cup of HC Carbon. As for things that co-incide with the issues...not really...the timing is just an approximation of how long it takes to go sour.

As for my salinity...I do have a hydrometer but I use a refractometer and have done so for about a year now. I will look into re-calibrating it just in case but I have a second tank (a nano) that doesn't have this problem with acros that I measure with the same refractometer.

Could my problems be somewhat related to having softies in the tank? Maybe more carbon, more often will take any possible toxins out better. I would think that if this was the issue, the other SPS would show the problem, but they don't.

I will try to up the Mag some and also do more water changes in case my Nitrates are the issue. Has anyone had good luck with the nitrate destroyer from Tailor aquatics?

[christyf5]

I found that whatever you have the least of (softies/LPS/SPS) will be most affected by the major population. I had a couple of softies in my tank when I was starting to really get into SPS. Both were doing poorly and were relocated to another tank. After that, the softies did fine and the SPS did much better. I found even running carbon that I had problems. However, this was before I discovered the brilliance of running carbon in a reactor.

I would try Myka's suggestion of smaller amounts of carbon changed more often. Overuse of carbon in large amounts can cause problems for SPS as well.

[mseepman]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Overuse of carbon in large amounts can cause problems for SPS as well.

Is this because too many of the nutrients that they feed upon are taken out of the water?