Am I missing something?

[dangros]

I'm wondering if I am missing something or doing something wrong w/my tank. After trying to maintain good husbandry babits (5-15g weekly water changes, GFO & carbon reactor, feeding lightly, refugium, expensive hardware, etc), running for a year and 1/2 w/some SPS, anemones, and just a light load of fish, I still dont have what I would consider an algae free, coral thriving setup.  The algae is minor but it looks like a little redish cyano on a powerhead and some on the gravel.  The coraline, which has now exploded, also had some brown **** in places. It's not terrible but I've seen tanks which have none of that stuff!

Even worse, a couple corals punched me in the gut and bleached out: A Copps hoek and a red dragon.  The hoek bleached out last night but I have no idea why or how.  The dragon bleaching I THINK happened after some maint, the water level dropped and when the ATO was turned back on, ran too much through the return and into the dragon.  I am not sure of this but that's all I have to explain it.  That or a water change which may have been the wrong temp shocking it as water was poured directly onto the coral?

I thought I had all the hardware and was doing all of the right things, but outside of upgrading to a 300g monster tank, I dont know how to improve my setup.  

Can anyone with LOTS of experience suggest something?
This is what gets really frustrating about this hobby! 

 

Tank 90g w/1-2" gravel.

Sump: 40g w/fuge "growing" chaeto and some rock

Skimmer: Vertex Omega 150 

Filtration: Sock replaced once to 3x a week (usually 2x).

Lights: Two Kessil 360we.  Ramp up at 8am, ramp down quickly by 7:20.

Alk/Calcium: GEOS 620, levels kept at 9dKH, 410-420 Ca

Other: Avast Spyglass reactor filled 50% carbon, 50% GFO (expected this to solve issue but hasnt, running only 2-3 weeks)

Edited April 1, 2016 by dangros

[Tommy]

I feel your pain man , I am the same way.  After countless amount of $$$ spent I still cant even keep any SPS, not even birdnests or monti caps.  I've seen people with basic biocube set up with biocube stock lighting and not dosing anything at all , just very basic set up yet they were able to keep basic SPS and monti caps.  I pretty much give up on SPS and just stick to zoas and LPS but some of my high end zoas have melted in recent days too.            

[surf&turf]

Whats your phosphate and nitrate levels?

[Squishie89]

Ignore me, this was a stupid question

Edited April 1, 2016 by Squishie89

[20LogR]

Think that GFO has anything to do with the bleaching? Do you blow the crud off your rocks or clean the sand? How much detritus is sitting on the bottom of the fuge? Like Surf&Turf said, what's your tests day? 

 

 

Remember those FTS people post are after they spent 4 hours cleaning the tank and moving the sand around. You dont see it on a random Tuesday evening

[dangros]

My tests always come out to 0 so I stopped testing for nitrates and phosphates.  I only test for alk, mg, and ca lately. I haven't tested P04 in a while b/c the low range hanna checker always reads 0 even for short periods where I stopped using GFO and some GHA started sprouting back.   

I've taken a shop-vac to my sump/fuge but there's no sandbed in there so must things get picked up by current.  I havent blown the live rock when doing changes so that could be a way to improve some things (thanks for the suggestions!).  I'll take a powerhead to it this weekend to see what happens.  Hopefully I dont bleach out my last blue SPS! 

 

I didn't mean to suggest that GFO killed/bleached out the SPS.  I was just saying I still have some algae in the tank in spite of using it and performing the regular water changes.  I also didnt mean to suggest that my tank is doing poorly.  It's just not WOW like some other 90g tanks I've seen and I dont seem to get that great SPS growth, albeit some does grow.  It leads me to believe that something is just slightly off.

 

 

Think that GFO has anything to do with the bleaching? Do you blow the crud off your rocks or clean the sand? How much detritus is sitting on the bottom of the fuge? Like Surf&Turf said, what's your tests day? 

 

 

Remember those FTS people post are after they spent 4 hours cleaning the tank and moving the sand around. You dont see it on a random Tuesday evening

[Jason Rhoads]

Time and consistency.

 

Algae is there in some form with every tank -don't sweat it.

 

I too lost my first piece of red dragon and have no idea why. now it grows like a weed in the exact same tank! In my experience, a truly settled tank is the key to success with SPS. Established LR, a refugium that is as large as possible, and stability in husbandry are the keys to success; not high-priced hardware.

 

Don't give up! In a few months hit me up and i will give you some more red dragon to grow out

[surf&turf]

If your Nitrates and phosphates are at 0, then your SPS are starving. Any LPS you have in the tank are taking in what little nutrients there are.

[20LogR]

Add more fish! easy solution

 

 

If your Nitrates and phosphates are at 0, then your SPS are starving. Any LPS you have in the tank are taking in what little nutrients there are.

[surf&turf]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^+1^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Squishie89]

My coral quarantine tank/frag tank also has low nutrients. I dose the zeovit coral supplements (under coral foods on BRS and then under kuchlan something, I use the same products that are in the nano/sampler pack) which seems to help, I also add acropower, phyto and sometimes other stuff like AlgaGens reef blend.

[Steve175]

Not sure about adding more food/fish if the algae is bothering you. Cyano is typically a flow issue IME: I'd add a powerhead. You lost 2 of the most sensitive SPS: not a particularly good barometer of tank health/succes. I have killed a lot of SPS over the years with cold or mismatched water: would match temp and salinity carefully, add to sump, and avoid single large exchanges. I have my mixup tank rigged into my system and fed off a manifold with the return pump (then drains back into my sump). I can take this offline, dump to drain, refill and mix, and then open the manifold only partway so the new SW mixes into the system relatively slowly. Also have exactly match emergency water always available for the inevitable F up when I need to add water urgently into the system. $0.02

[dangros]

Not sure about adding more food/fish if the algae is bothering you. Cyano is typically a flow issue IME: I'd add a powerhead. You lost 2 of the most sensitive SPS: not a particularly good barometer of tank health/succes. I have killed a lot of SPS over the years with cold or mismatched water: would match temp and salinity carefully, add to sump, and avoid single large exchanges. I have my mixup tank rigged into my system and fed off a manifold with the return pump (then drains back into my sump). I can take this offline, dump to drain, refill and mix, and then open the manifold only partway so the new SW mixes into the system relatively slowly. Also have exactly match emergency water always available for the inevitable F up when I need to add water urgently into the system. $0.02

I would love to implement this but that means redoing the plumbing.  Something I would be up to but not without help. I know I've at least damaged a coral by dumping water on top of it.  I do my best to equalize temps and salinity but you never do get it just right.  Having said that, I did see a new product on BRS that allows you to calibrate temp probes. I think I'll get it.

 

To answer the food question: I feed hikari mysis, rods herbivore, rods, or reef frenzy. 

 

I know a couple of the main guys that have insane tanks (copps, and slief from reefcentral) utilize uv sterilizers.  Something I would be more open to if I didnt have to replace a bulb every 9 months.  I have a feeling that helps.

[surf&turf]

YOUR TANK IS TO CLEAN, even the ocean has algae in it. There's just thousands of creatures competing for it, unlike our tanks. Algae will grow in a bottle of RO water if it gets light. Get your Nitrates up to around 3-5 and phosphates around .03-.05 and your SPS will be fine. 

[bbyatv]

I have found the best way to beat algae is by using macro algae to starve it out.  I run two power compact florescent bulbs (23 watts each) over the refugium and it grows my macro like crazy.  I farm it out every weekend.  By that I mean I take out a huge wad and make room for the next weeks growth.  Making room is key to keeping this stuff growing.  Along with this, I run a skimmer, and a little GFO and GAC 24 hours a day.  I do 10% water changes once a week and use RO/DI water for top off and water changes.  A good clean up crew does not hurt.  And don't let the bulbs go over a year old.

 

The big one in my opinion is farming the macro.

 

I do not test for anything but Mg and KH once a week.  If your using 2 part you might need to test Ca as well.

 

Good luck,

Bruce

[dangros]

I pretty much do the same!  I have the eqiv of a 100w CF bulb over the fuge  ( this one: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Twister-4-Pack/dp/B00M6SR1JM?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage )

My macro doesnt seem to grow to the point of harvest for some reason. It just stalls out and gets a light green slime on it.  I will harvest the slime today during my water chg.

I have a CaRx so I dont need to do 2-part. It also seems to dose the Mg in good proportion (love the calc reactor!)

[bbyatv]

Come grab some of mine.  It grows super fast.

 

Bruce

I pretty much do the same!  I have the eqiv of a 100w CF bulb over the fuge  ( this one: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-433557-100-watt-Twister-4-Pack/dp/B00M6SR1JM?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage )

My macro doesnt seem to grow to the point of harvest for some reason. It just stalls out and gets a light green slime on it.  I will harvest the slime today during my water chg.

I have a CaRx so I dont need to do 2-part. It also seems to dose the Mg in good proportion (love the calc reactor!)

[dangros]

Thanks Bruce, but I have plenty of chaeto and a couple other red/purple macros in the fuge. They just dont see to take off.  

BTW, Just saw your tank on AA. WOW!! Nice.  Maybe I'll pick some chaeto up just to see the tank

[bbyatv]

Thanks for the feedback on the AA article.  Such an honor.

 

Here is the bulb I use:

https://www.lowes.ca/fluorescent-light-bulbs/utilitech-2-pack-23-watt-120w-par38-medium-base-soft-white-2700k-indoor-cfl-bulbs_g1357640.html

 

The differences I see are that the ones I use have built in reflectors and are 2,700k instead of 6,500k. At 2,700k they are a bit warmer.  This migh be what the macro likes?

 

Bruce

 

Thanks Bruce, but I have plenty of chaeto and a couple other red/purple macros in the fuge. They just dont see to take off.  

BTW, Just saw your tank on AA. WOW!! Nice.  Maybe I'll pick some chaeto up just to see the tank

[bbyatv]

Oh ya,  and you are welcome to stop by and talk reef any time.  I would look forward to it.

 

Bruce

[dangros]

My understanding was that the ideal temp for chaeto is 5-6k but the more you look, the more conflicting stories you read. Everyone who succeeds in growing seems to find a different reason.  CF to LED, LED to CF, bulb temp increase, bulb temp decrease. It's difficult to know other than to keep trying something till it works. Having said that, I've tried chinese grow bulbs, Home Depot LED, CF and they all seem to have similar results.  The best so far is the CF I have now.  When I first bought the Chaeto, it grew but then came to stop.  

[bbyatv]

Hmmmm?  Does it have room to grow?  Other than that, I am out of ideas.

 

Bruce

[bbyatv]

Oh ya,  One other thing I do is I have 6 air stones pumping outside air into the sump right into the middle of the macro wad.  This is meant to try and blow off CO2 and keep my pH at 8.2, but maybe it helps the macro as well?

 

Bruce

[dangros]

Plenty of room but I like the air adjustment.

[Anemone]

My understanding was that the ideal temp for chaeto is 5-6k but the more you look, the more conflicting stories you read. Everyone who succeeds in growing seems to find a different reason. CF to LED, LED to CF, bulb temp increase, bulb temp decrease. It's difficult to know other than to keep trying something till it works. Having said that, I've tried chinese grow bulbs, Home Depot LED, CF and they all seem to have similar results. The best so far is the CF I have now. When I first bought the Chaeto, it grew but then came to stop.

N and P are zero you said. Light alone isn't enough, chaeto needs N and P to grow, right?