FarmerTy Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 My 2 cents, salinity just a tad bit low and your Ca just a tad bit high. All others parameters look good. The key to keeping SPS is stability. I know you had a temperature fluctuation I believe in the last couple of weeks. If you remove all fluctuations of parameters and keep it as stable as you can, the SPS will respond. They won't respond right away either... it could be going good for weeks and nothing. But over the long haul, the fruits of your labors will pay off. To me, the other key is knowing your PO4 level accurately. Less than 5ppm is just the start with PO4. If you can get it down below 0.1 ppm, you're doing pretty good already. The trick is to know it more accurately (I recommend a Hanna meter) and to maintain it at that low level without a lot of fluctuations is the key. No polyp extension is usually not ideal. It's alive, but that's it. When it's happy is when you start seeing all the polyp extension, at least that's what I have observed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark Posted March 3, 2014 Author Share Posted March 3, 2014 Correction PO4 much less than 0.25ppm (lowest non-zero bar on chart) Nitrate much less than 5ppm (lowest non-zero bar on chart) The last temp crash was in November and the SPS I had back then are gone. I'll keep the tank stable and see what happens I guess. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 I wish I could help more on the chemical side. My pH is 8.5 and I keep my salinity at 1.026. Here's an article I have bookmarked as a reference guide for certain stuff on Reef Chemistry. There are four parts, just click on the part you want in the first section. You don't happen to have any cyano do you? The two sps I've lost so far were due to a high level of PO4. I had cyano and that cause my readings to be super low as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 No cyano and hardly any diatoms. The rock work has always been really clean. The only signs of any nitrates/PO4/silicates would be very slight glass rash and sand rash. I'm actually very happy with how the softies are growing and the lack of diatoms. Thank you all again for your help! The only other idea I have at the moment is to eliminate almost all current flow over the SPS and see if that encourages the polyps to come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Clark, mine get blasted with flow and the polyps are out... usually even more so because of it. Not exactly sure why the SPS aren't happy but I can help you at least eliminate some things that might NOT be the issue. Keep experimenting and observing, I'm sure the reason will turn up eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Ok. Then I'm going to raise the salinity to 1.025 over the next week by topping off with sw. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I run 35x flow through my display and all my polyps are out. One frag of Cali Tort is about 6" from a WP40 and it doesn't seem to bother it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+etannert Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 The polyps are how the coral trap food in the form of small organisms in the current. If there's no (or minimal) flow, there's no reason for the coral to expend the energy to extend its polyps to hunt, since there is no food coming to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 The polyps are how the coral trap food in the form of small organisms in the current. If there's no (or minimal) flow, there's no reason for the coral to expend the energy to extend its polyps to hunt, since there is no food coming to it. I have never experienced a lack of extension due to low flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Thanks all. I restored flow after a day. Doesn't matter though, these corals continue to degrade. I'm going to install a good acclimation system before getting any more SPS and give the next one a week to acclimate to my water. It's all I can think of that's left to do. Lighting, flow, params are all well within ranges of tanks that have done well. The most unusual param I have is salinity which I will center up more, but still lots of forum posts abound with the same salinity (or lower) that do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 The setosa and the blue are the only sps frags I still have and they haven't shown polyps in my tank ever. I've lost 5 sps frags since I've started my tank; some due to crashes in November, others for no reason I can tell. I've only had the blue since December so I don't have much experience with it. They all still have flesh over them and very distinct pores. I have them under moderate-high current because that's what I read to do, to keep them blown clean of detritus. Even lowering the current to low for a few weeks on the blue made no difference. Chemically, the tank has been very stable for months with these params: Ph 8.2 KH 9 Mg 1350 Ca 500 PO4 much less than 0.25ppm Salinity 1.0228-238 Temp 78.8-79.0 Maybe the darn things are just stubborn, but it's probably me. The most important thing not to get too clumsey with is your Alk levels. Best practice to kepp within a single dKH point per day. Be sure you test carefully on this especially in a newer tank. Some confuse bleaching w/ RTS. If your coral is bleaching when first introduced it is not really RTS. Many corals will explell their current zooxanthellae algae in favour of one more suited to the light spectrum and intensity. Very common when changing from one type lighting to another IE from VHO to LED. If polyps are still visable on the white areas most likely bleaching. if no visable polyps then may be RTS. Don't give up on a coral too fast, and don't go about making a lot of uneeded changes. IMHO it is better to wait under stable conditions for the coral to come around. When you make too many changes un needed then you simply put more stress on the coral. If your params are within tolerate levels and your flow is moderate with good lighting not much else to do unless you notice pests on corals. Water quality, flow, food and lighting. There is really not much else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 How do you plan on acclimating to your water for a week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 "if no visable polyps then may be RTS. Don't give up on a coral too fast, and don't go about making a lot of uneeded changes. IMHO it is better to wait under stable conditions for the coral to come around." RTS, then. I'm happy with my tank's stability since I fixed my controller in late November. I'll do my best to leave them alone now. I'll give them time, but previous specimens have slowly faded away in the same manner and I let those sit white with no polyps for a month before declaring them dead. Thank you for the advice and I'll follow it best I can. "How do you plan on acclimating to your water for a week? " Maybe something like a secure and shaded floating acclimation container that I can add small amounts of my tank water to each day. I've never floated an acclimation bag/container that long so I'll have to figure out the anchor method and the shading method. It will probably be awhile before I try SPS again though unless some incredible deal comes along. (Who am I kidding, right?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I'd hate to leave a coral in such a small volume of water with low light and no flow for so long. I'd ask around here for how SPS enthusiasts acclimate their corals to the water. I've only heard of light acclimation taking time on the order of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 Yeah, I guess you are right. FloridaBoy was specifically talking about lighting when he mentioned "weeks". Well, at least his method is easier than mine was going to be. I'll still take an hour or two dripping them to get used to my water I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I don't know if this will help you or not, but I tried one sps frag on month 2 and month 4 and both died. Around month 6 the tank was able to sustain sps frags. As far as I know, no conditions changed during that time except PO4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clark Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 I did my best to be patient while the tank cycled. Only three fish and pre-seeded live rock and sand for the first 10 months. Softies are doing as well as can be expected during some wobbles I had in November and they're coming back pretty well. Haven't had luck with the SPS's though. I'm telling ya, if ya'll can teach me to grow SPS successfully this club deserves a Nobel prize in biology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 My tank is as basic as it gets around here. The only filtration that I use is a protein skimmer. I don't dose, don't have any reactors, and don't use a heater. I would like to help pinpoint your problem, but we may need to make a big list and start checking stuff off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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