New sps dying

[Shanetweedz]

The montipora I got was jammed between two of his rocks so the outside is brown but is it starting to bleach?
And is that algea that I should get off on my birds nest


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[Sniperhank]

You don't want anything growing on SPS. It will overwhelm and kill it. Sometimes damage like such won't let them recover. The browning of the montipora is tissue recession and is not good.

 

[Mebbid]

What are the parameters of your tank?

 

[Shanetweedz]

Ammonia0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate5
Calcium 450
Alk 12



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[Sniperhank]

I'd like to see a phosphate test from a quality kit. The algae I see reminds me of my tank and its phosphate issues.

 

[Shanetweedz]

Im running gfo
What test kit would you recommend I heard most are junk


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[Sniperhank]

I like my hanna checkers, but Red Sea is quality stuff.

 

[Shanetweedz]

The birds nest is bleaching at the bottom of the base anything I can do to save it?


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[Sniperhank]

If there is still algae on it, remove it. You can try fragging it above the tissue recession.

 

[Reefer James]

The birds nest is bleaching at the bottom of the base anything I can do to save it?


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This is pretty common of under lit tanks. Try to make sure the birds nest tips are pointed and growing towards your tip. This will place it more similar to how it was in it's old location.

I like the idea of fragging it. High flow really helps, but not the point of blowing the polyps off. They should be extended and moving constantly though.

 

[Istrom]

Sniperhank is right, the only time I've ever seen a SPS come back from recession and algae growing over it was with my montipora setosa, and I really think I just got extremely lucky.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

My tank is only 3 months old and I went through (still a little actually) a cyano problem. I did the lights off thing and at times only kept the blues on for a few hours. My SPS started turning brown. Once I kept the lights on the regular schedule, they started coming back. That being said, what REALLY helped was I started doing daily dosing of Red Sea Reef Energy and Reef Colors. ALL my coral, within 10 days, started showing the most incredible colors. The greens and blues in particular are very crisp.

 

[Chefjpaul]

My tank is only 3 months old and I went through (still a little actually) a cyano problem. I did the lights off thing and at times only kept the blues on for a few hours. My SPS started turning brown. Once I kept the lights on the regular schedule, they started coming back. That being said, what REALLY helped was I started doing daily dosing of Red Sea Reef Energy and Reef Colors. ALL my coral, within 10 days, started showing the most incredible colors. The greens and blues in particular are very crisp.

While these supplements may be good for and established tank, that has nutrients and stability under control, they can add to excess pollution and certain elements being thrown out of whack.

Reef colors and energy should be used and dosed according to the elements tested for those each individual items.
(Example: if your dosing "A" and not testing for iodine, you could be adding iodine too excess).

3 months is not going to be too terribly stable.

Cyano being present means excessive PO4 & or NO3, reef energy is adding to that.

 

[Reefer James]

Biggest thing with SPS and tissue recession is around flow or light. anything else will usually just change it's color.

With SPS flow can start to be a factor the next day. If you buy a colony used to rapid water flow (which is where we keep SPS in stores) and you put it in a tank with one no flow it's going to recede.

SPS requires owners to realize these animals come from a coral reef. I believe acropora can withstand up to 20lbs of water pressure with correct calcium skeleton. If you can't see the polyps constantly moving it's not enough flow haha

 

[Chefjpaul]

Alk swings is a major contributor as well I find.

Temperature, alk, ph swinging drastically can all be factored into stn / rtn.

Sometimes they just do because they're sensitive little.....


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[Reefer James]

I mean for all sake and purposes alkalinity is just a buffer. It's a matter of how easily the pH can swing.

Typically there's not enough waste for low alkalinity to be an issue in aquaria. What would be more likely is if kh was low, calcification has drawn magnesium down and now calcification can not even occur and then death is seen.

Temp will hurt you quickly that is true but we're talking 82+ for a long period of time. Salinity as well.

Gosh the more we explain sps the harder it sounds haha..

 

[Chefjpaul]

True...true!

Just alkalinity is easiest to test for stability purposes.

Blastem with flow, keep parameters stable and sufficient light. It's really easy.



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[Reefer James]

True...true!

Just alkalinity is easiest to test for stability purposes.

Blastem with flow, keep parameters stable and sufficient light. It's really easy.



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haha true that. I will test alkalinity because it's the easiest test.. just 10ml tank water and a simple tritation. If that's weird you test the other stuff.