SPS frequently STN

[Reefaddict123]

Wondering if anyone can shed some light on my issue. I have been in reef keeping for around 10 years, but every time i dip into SPS it ends up in failure. My current setup is a 12 gallon reef casa aio, dosing ca, alk, and manual mg that i check every other month or so and adjust. Alk runs around 9, ca 500 ( in process of lowering) and mg 1250. I use reef ab+ every other week once per week and use reef roids the other week. Sps like pocillopora stay alive and grow albeit slowly, red cap grows bo problem. But, i can’t even keep a green slimmer alive without it stn’ing within a few weeks. Lights are an ai prime. Have no problem growing zoanthids; lps stays alive but seems to grow slowly. Any thoughts?

 

[rongy]

What’s your PO4 and Nitrate level? its extremely hard to keep acro in such small tank

 

[Reefaddict123]

Phosphate is .05 on a hanna lr checker, nitrate is 2.3 on hanna checker

 

[yourselfpipelayer]

@geometry dash Wondering if anyone can shed some light on my issue. I have been in reef keeping for around 10 years, but every time i dip into SPS it ends up in failure. My current setup is a 12 gallon reef casa aio, dosing ca, alk, and manual mg that i check every other month or so and adjust. Alk runs around 9, ca 500 ( in process of lowering) and mg 1250. I use reef ab+ every other week once per week and use reef roids the other week. Sps like pocillopora stay alive and grow albeit slowly, red cap grows bo problem. But, i can’t even keep a green slimmer alive without it stn’ing within a few weeks. Lights are an ai prime. Have no problem growing zoanthids; lps stays alive but seems to grow slowly. Any thoughts?

There could be a number of factors contributing to your difficulties with SPS, especially if you have had success with other corals like pocillopora and LPS. I think you should first check your nutrients regularly to make sure they are in the right range (nitrate and phosphate) or optimize flow to make sure the corals have enough movement without being too harsh.
Watch for stability—avoid frequent changes to your water parameters or tank environment.

 

[Reefaddict123]

All other corals are successful. Acros i can’t keep for the life of me. They stay alive for a while but eventually dont grow and stn. I feed weekly, phyto daily, feed the fish daily, parameters as above.flow is a hygger mini and an aquamai kps

 

[rongy]

Have you tried other easy acros? Like Cali tort or bonsai? I have a green slimmer frag that doesn’t grow for over a year, and still not growing as of today, but I have more than 30 acros in my tank and they all thriving.

I may have to try another green slimmer from different source

 

[Reefaddict123]

Have a bonsai. Alive and well although not growing much.

 

[Nova23]

It could be flow, try multiple wavemakers and not too strong just so you don’t blast them. If other corals like lps are alive sps should have a good chance too.

 

[Reefaddict123]

I have one aquamai kps, and one hygger mini. Maybe i can switch back to 2 aquamai kps. The tank is only 16x15x11.

 

[dendrodr]

small tanks and sps are really hard to maintain at baseline.

I’d evaluate how often you do water changes and assess are you keeping parameters stable enough. I’m not a stability nut but decent swings from long periods of no supplementation are a big issue In small tanks. Things just never get into a groove. it’s one pattern I notice with long periods between testing.
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one thing I noticed in your question was you supplement by hand every month or so...I have a feeling that’s not enough and you are having slow declines in parameters that you then correct and maybe that throws things off. Especially if you are successful with easy sps and other corals. It’s got to be something that pisses off the more delicate species and that’s often those swings and nutrient spikes and drops.

my recs as you seem to be pretty successful otherwise are to work on testing more frequently and adjusting more frequently.

on a tank that size I’d personally use all-for-reef on a manual doser like Komer and start low. (all for reef is an all in one supplement that I have found is fantastic for small tanks, you could also do kalk)
Test a few times a week or at minimum weekly until you get the hang of things. Adjusting by hand sucks for long term success. Yes, for sure it can be done but most of us just ain’t that consistent As humans.

hope that helps! guarantee once you lock into the schedule you’ll have sps growing like weeds.

 

[Reefaddict123]

Alk and ca are on dosers. They are on kamoer dosers. I trued all for reef but didnt feel it was going well. Mag is hand supplemented. I started dosing aminos twice weekly by hand. I probably waterchange 1.5-2 gallons every other week. I am going to start testing weekly. Calcium does fluctuate some.

 

[dendrodr]

Alk and ca are on dosers. They are on kamoer dosers. I trued all for reef but didnt feel it was going well. Mag is hand supplemented. I started dosing aminos twice weekly by hand. I probably waterchange 1.5-2 gallons every other week. I am going to start testing weekly. Calcium does fluctuate some.

Ah ok, My apologies, I didn’t realize/ missed you were dosing already. (it’s literally spelled out my b ) try more frequent testing and see how that goes.

what did you experience while using all for reef?

 

[Reefaddict123]

No worries! I appreciate the input. I just felt like things were stagnant so it was suggested I do 2 part instead by another reefer because supposedly something builds up over time which may have caused it to be stagnant. Did not have sps at that time though.