Juan Perez December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 Ok so, I have a 6 gallon nano with mixed corals. I have had ZERO luck with any SPS. Currently I have 3 monti's and they're all bleached and receding. I think they were doing fine until I filled my media reactors with both bio pellets and GFO. I did not know that too little phosphate was a problem! So here are my tank stats: 2x 18 watt t5 HO 500 gph aqueon circulation pump Prizm skimmer 5 gallon sump Dual stage BRS reactor 1.025 specific gravity 74.5 degrees 8.3 pH 0 nitrates 0 phosphates I don't have any other test kits so I don't know any other parameters. I change 2 gallons biweekly. If there's anything else you need to know just let me know.
amay121 December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 Nothing too glaring, but with that capacity, small changes could affect things quickly. One suggestion is maybe up the temp a little to 77-78.
surf&turf December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 Alk is one of the most important test kits to have when keeping SPS. Keeping Alk steady will keep your SPS pieces happy. Also invest in a Calcium and Mag kit. These are the major 3 when keeping SPS You really shouldn't need to run both biopellets and GFO. Changing 4 gallons a week, you probably don't need either. What livestock other than corals do you have in the tank?
jamal December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 well i know first hand how difficult sps can be. one thing i would say you may want to look at is getting Calcium, Alkilinity, and Magnesium test kits as these are essential for SPS growth and health. Also you have a low temperature in your reef which is probably not very comfortable for your corals.
flooddc December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 try raising you temperature. Most reef keepers keep their @ 78 or more.
Origami December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 Stability is key. You're at a disadvantage with such a small tank. Any time you introduce something new, like GFO and biopellets, you risk upsetting the balance of things. I suspect that introducing a radical change is at the heart of this most recent event. Your temperature is low, but it's also wintertime and I suspect that it rises when the lights are on?
Coral Hind December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 Definately raise the temp. What are you using to check your SG. If it is a swing arm I would compare it to a calibrated refractometer to make sure it is reading right. Swing ares can read lower than actually what is in the tank. Like it was stated above stability is the key and with a 6g tank it is hard to maintain that stability. If you ran a larger tank you would find it much easier to keep SPS. Nanos are easier to run with with softies in them.
scott711 December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 what were you tank stats before you introduced the media reactor? dropping po4 too quickly will lead to unhappy SPS. What other corals do you have in your tank? You also could have some chemical warfare between corals.
Juan Perez December 12, 2012 Author December 12, 2012 Merging duplicate topics. Thanks! I didn't mean to post twice. I use a refractometer that I check the calibration before I use it. Also, I keep the temp low because it's such a small tank. All the research I've been doing points to the fact that problems occur much faster at higher temperatures. And with such a small tank I wanted to make sure that I have as much buffering room as possible. And if you look at tanks like copps has with his cool water angels and anthias, he grows SPS as well, albeit at a slower rate. I'm going to invest in alk/calcium and mag test kits to see if I'm missing something there. Other animals include: Baby bangaii cardinal Fire fish Pom Pom crab 2 sexy shrimp 2 pink feather dusters And some azoox corals (which is why I added the reactors)
Juan Perez December 12, 2012 Author December 12, 2012 My PO4 levels had reached nearly 2.0 ppm. Which is why I added the media. I was only changing 2 gallons every other week, not twice weekly. And my corals: Pulsating Xenia Blassto wellsi Duncansopammia Dendrophyllia
Origami December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 Thanks! I didn't mean to post twice. No problem. It's just that you had replies in both threads, so I thought that I'd consolidate them. I assumed that this tank has been set up and been running a little while. Based on your original post, this part stood out for me: "I think they were doing fine until I filled my media reactors with both bio pellets and GFO." That's why my first inclination is to suggest a stability problem. It's not low phosphate per se, it's the rapid drop in phosphate which may have precipitated the bleaching event.
tpallas December 12, 2012 December 12, 2012 Alk is the most important....if you're experiencing RTN/STN then alk is the first thing I would check. You can also cut back on the amount of biopellets.....most people recommend a 1/4 of the recommended dose to start. If phos is zeroed out, consider feeding more heavily.
Juan Perez December 12, 2012 Author December 12, 2012 I cut down the GFO down to about 1 teaspoon. Should I remove it all together?
Juan Perez December 25, 2012 Author December 25, 2012 Thanks for all the replies btw! I'm pulling the trigger on more test kits. I ordered an alkalinity, calcium, and nitrate from API. I have a phosphate kit from API but I was thinking about getting a Hanna checker. Does anyone have any experience with one of these?
Amuze December 25, 2012 December 25, 2012 What are your mag levels? Tank seems small to run that equipment. It would be much simpler and cheaper to just do weekly water changes with good water to keep everything consistent. That temp is also too low. What temp is the tank dropping down to at night with the lights out? What is your ph level and what are you doing to keep it from dropping at night? With such low water volume, your ph may be swinging all over the place.
smallreef December 25, 2012 December 25, 2012 Another question that needs answering is how much and how often are you feeding?
zygote2k December 25, 2012 December 25, 2012 Buy a good test kit like Salifert. They're way more reliable than any other kit on the market. As with all the others, Alk is the single most important parameter to deal with. Record your test results weekly, then dose accordingly. You should be able to find the consumption rate of Alk and Cal and find out what levels your tank runs at. Alk at the low end of the scale is fine as long as it is stable.
Incredible Corals December 25, 2012 December 25, 2012 Buy a good test kit like Salifert. They're way more reliable than any other kit on the market. As with all the others, Alk is the single most important parameter to deal with. Record your test results weekly, then dose accordingly. You should be able to find the consumption rate of Alk and Cal and find out what levels your tank runs at. Alk at the low end of the scale is fine as long as it is stable. +1, Perfectly stated.
Juan Perez December 26, 2012 Author December 26, 2012 Thanks a bunch! I didn't realize one kit was more accurate than the other for alkalinity. As far as feeding goes the tank is dosed with 12 ml isochrysis twice daily. It gets fed cyclops once or twice daily depending on when I'm home. And finally microvert once in the evening for the feather dusters. All this heavy feeding is why I added the biopellets and GFO.
trockafella December 26, 2012 December 26, 2012 thats a lot of food for a small tank with minimal filtration. Why do you feed so much.?
Juan Perez December 27, 2012 Author December 27, 2012 I feed the dendrophyllia and also there are numerous small bivalves and a pygmy cucumber on the one piece of Florida live rock I have. It's very interesting to watch how they all react to feeding time!
smallreef December 27, 2012 December 27, 2012 That's part of your problem....you really only need to feed 1 or2 times a day as small as your tank is...I have a 50g tank and only feed 2 times a day about as much as you do... and I have 7 fish and a few corals that like it...
miggs76 December 27, 2012 December 27, 2012 yup...that is a ton of food. I had a 5 gallon with one fish that I only fed every other day. I started off feeding him every day but in such a small tank I could tell that it was fouling up the water even with a 30% water change weekly.
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