I Suck at SPS. Help please. :(

[Enigma]

Parameters (and yes, this is for my 40B). I dose for calcium and alkalinity manually, twice a week. I test my parameters on Sunday (and those are in my signature), but I don't dose until Monday (and Thursday). Salinity is usually at 1.026. Magnesium is dosed when it reaches around 1350. RO/DI is used.

I use Kent carbon (not a new batch: have been using it for months) and ROWAphos in fluid reactors (ROWA just changed when everything went down the toilet). Skimmer is an SWC 120 cone (which has been off since all of this started, due to insane microbubbles). I have a new biopellet reactor, but that isn't online yet.

The green bird and monti have been doing well in this system since I switched tanks three months ago. The pink bird has been in it for around 2 months. The valida and convexa were added the same time as the pink birdsnest.

[Enigma]

Oops. Missed water changes. Water changes of approximately 10% of the total system volume (55 gallons) are done once a week.

Edit: I should also add the my hammer coral is not happy. All of my other corals (LPS and softies) and doing as well as they were before, and most of them are doing very, very nicely. The last couple of weeks have just hammered my SPS. This system has never been great for them. It has been a real challenge to balance their needs and the needs of my LPS. My contest entry tank is being designed more as an SPS tank.

At this point, I don't have any concerns about either of my birdsnest corals dying. If I don't mess with them I'm sure they'll come around. I'm worried about my completely browned out monti cap (which is a lovely green with purple rim), but I hope it will pull though. I'm not optimistic about the condition of my valida (completely bleached) or convexa (bleached and STN?).

[Enigma]

Another thought about the lights . . . the T5s were placed to the back of the tank, the Sols are centered over the tank. They're the new Sols: 70 degree optics on the corners with 40 degree optics on the others. There is a lot of light that spills onto the floor around the tank.

[canadianbudz604]

i wanna follow along on this one, im a newb at sps. however i havent had one bleach out or brown out yet

[daniella3d]

I think your corals are starving. You should try zeovit amino acids and coral vitalizer, a little drop each day. That really revived the color of my coral.

Your calcium is too low.

I used Chemiclean a few times without any effect on my corals, SPS or LPS or soft or even the gorgone. The only thing that hapened was that one of my photosynthetic sponge in my nano went white and I thought it would die but it has recovered since, fortunately. I will never use Chemiclean in that aquarium again because that sponge is precious to me (unavailable for sale) and I don't want to lose it but none of my SPS were affected. Photosynthetic sponges are often in symbiose with type of cyanobacteria and thus some sponge may be affected by Chemiclean by losing their symbiotic partner.

I suspect the corals need acclimatation to the new light and they are just plain starving.

[Enigma]

You must be reading my mind, Daniella.

I realized, around 15 minutes ago, that I haven't fed my SPS in weeks! I just dosed Pohl's Coral Vitalizer, Fuel, and Microvert. In trying to choke out the cyano bloom (which has been ongoing since August) and algae, I seriously reduced my SPS feedings, and then quit altogether.

[molotov]

it kinda sounds to me like you dose a lot of things. I guess you're trying to beat your cyano problem. I've read that you shouldn't dose anything in your tank you can't test for.

I've also noticed a lot of the tank of the month people on reef central feed don't feed their corals at all. Check out the recent TOTM on RC.

I'm a total newb and I don't do much with my tank and everything is growing beyond my expectations.

Are you running GFO, to combat your algea problem? Perhaps Cheato to help reduce phosphates? Also I don't even need to ask as I'm sure you're using RO/DI.

I guess what I'm getting at is I don't put anything in my tank except food for the fish. I also beat a nasty GH algea problem with regular water changes GFO, Cheato and patience. I find that just keeping it simple goes a long way.

I'm sure I haven't said stuff you don't already know. It's just nice sometimes to be reminded.

[Enigma]

I don't dose anything that I can't test for, with the exception of the Chemiclean (the ingediants of which are a closely guarded secret). Even the food I add to the system can be tested in a way: through testing the biproducts of it (nitrate and phosphate).

In an ULNS (which this system has sucessfully now become, and this has me very pleased), it is important to feed SPS. To give you an example of how low nutrient this sytem is, I haven't had to clean the glass in nearly two weeks. There is zero algae in this tank (though there is still a little bit of cyano).

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by molotov

and patience.

And you call yourself a newb. You already know the secret.