SPS Coral question?

It was just confusing, My monti caps where doing great in the 120g, getting growth and everything, till I started adding a butt load of LPS then it went downhill from there.

 

Did you have any LPS near your SPS?

 

All LPS are on the sand bed, cept the duncans ( lower rock) and a few sun corals ( lower rocks)

 

Hi RedGambit

I know numbers arent the whole story
but 1400gph in a 46 gallon tank does not sound enough to me
its only just over 30X tank volume - I keep softies in more than that
and for SPS Im at 66 X at present, and since removing my LPS I am even considering supplementing that flow again

I know you should not associate human emotions with non human life forms
but I swear my Millipora is looking at me and saying " Is that it, is that all you got?"



Steve

 

Well the first problem I see with out getting into deep with detail and theory is at 5 months a tank is in no way ready to keep many if any corals let along a bunch of SPS species and then secondly I don't think your lighting is far far below levels enough to keep very many sps long term either..

Any tank I have ever set up or had any dealings with setting up at 5 months I am just starting to add a few nicer fish and corals are still a few months out , I spend 3 months just cycling a tank then I spend those 3 months or so getting coralline to grow and until I see their arrival I would never put a coral in there , Coralline is the best barometer I have ever found as a gage or judge of a systems health and readiness to accept any coral life forms let alone SPS corals .

I think you maybe should reevaluate your lighting needs and drop back and punt until you get the tank with in the tight parameters needed to house SPS corals or start with some softs and maybe hardier LPS species .

 

Hey

I was just looking at your tank stats - regarding the lighting, is that just x1 MH and x2 T5s there? I dont think that would be enough to keep high light demanding corals like acro in a 120G.

 

[quote My monti caps Just looke bleached, they randomly come back with a little color but then it away. quote]

mine does that to if i am scrubbing around in the tank it will become bleached and it takes a while for it to recover. try giving it more flow and change the height of where it is if you dont see an improvment in a few weeks from changing the flow

 

I just want to reiterate stability. How much does your alkalinity swing on regular basis? You want to keep it as stable as possible, parameter swings are nasty on SPS I've found. Less than 1 dkh is preferable, any more than that and I've had major issues in the long run. Once or twice isn't going to kill anything but if it happens all the time it can really take it's toll on some corals especially some acros.

Also, are you sure your phosphates are zero? Have you had that doublechecked by another test kit and by another person? Do you have any algae growth that might be consuming the phosphates before you get a chance to test for them?

 

Throwing another powerhead in the tank is not an issue, I got a new Hydor Evo 700 that I can throw in there to put the tank at 2100GPH. And Im going to the LFS this weekend Can always snag a higher Rated Hydor. Suggestions? I had a K4 in the tank it just made everything blow around like crazy even when positioned upward.

Those are the lights for my 46g... Not the 120g.

 

So far no swings that I can see test weekly and they have read the same each time. As for algae, I have a constant film algae, which may be sucking up any of the phosophates other then that the tanks pretty clean.

As in terms of sps adding, Im looking at a few months down the road. Added a fish today this weekend will be some snails. Then letting the tank idle for a month or two. was my idea.