Hello Red Sea Owners . I need your help

[ninjatech]

I own a Red Sea 130C All Stock with the exception of a power head. I am a newbie I had my tank for about 6 months and my corals are mostly LPS and they are all thriving and healthy .

I inherited a bunch of sps colonies..i know nothing about SPS , I do know what I have are acroporas...
As you can see they are close to each other ..I don't want them to die ...please need some directions .

Here is my story. 4 Days ago. I received colonies of SPS last night and dump them in my tank. Most of them are 5 inches to 7 inches. I inherited is as in the he gave it to me. I bought a colony of Duncan, Hammer from him and other LPS which cost me a total of$200. He asked if I wanted his SPS. Off course I said YES. He just told me he is no longer interested. So i gave him another $50 on top of that. I felt bad for him ..Over all I know I came up big I was AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME ..But my problem is I know nothing in regards to taking care of it . I am overwhelmed.

Can i have them this close... they are touching .here are the names of some of them.

1. UC Strawberry Shortcake Acropora colony
2. Tabling Acro colony -
3. Green Tabling Acro colony
4. Bali aquacultured green tenuis mini colony
5. aquacultured purple bonsai acro
6. bali aquacultured green acro

Although I am new to the hobby, I learned how to care for them (LPS) , and I do have test kits. I know my tank is pretty stable when it comes to parameters .. However with that much SPS I have no clue what I'm doing .

Questions
1. Is my tank capable , lots of people from other forums says no. eventhough Red sea states it can
2. the other thing i notice when I tested after adding them my PH went down.
3. I'm really hoping to keep them but I don't want it to die either .. my thoughts are to sell them but I dont want to either...Im leaning more into keeping them.

HELP HELP HELP ..ATTACH ARE PICS..

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Some members have good luck with sps corals in a RSM C130 - the light is not as strong as many sps corals like, but with excellent husbandry skills there are several tank that have has success.

Hopefully others can advise...

If a tank full of sps corals are your goal, might look into this upgrade...
http://shop.stevesleds.com/Red-Sea-Max-130-130D-C130-SPS-Grade-Drop-In-LED-Upgrade-65168135.htm

 

[Danreef]

What are your parameters ?

Alk , Ca, Mag, Nitrates (NO3) and Phosp.

Forget about pH please.

When you say your tank is stable. Please tell us your values in the last 2 months. I am talking seriously. Stability is what Glen is refering as good husbandry. If you can not keep Alk, Ca stables forget about SPS. mainly Acropora. They are not LPS.

I saw your postings at RC. I recommended you to post at this forum.

I am having a bad feeling about those Acros. No one gives those colonies for almost nothing. They will sell in a blink of an eye.

Have you checked them for pests ?

Are you starting to see some white skeleton in the base and branches?

Best !
Daniel

 

[mike1970]

wow a impact like that has to change your parameters like crazy, those are some big colonies to add all at once to a C130. test test and test my friend. a couple of water changes with red sea coral pro salt might help get you stable.

 

[Drs2140]

You'll need to supplement the big 3 with that amount of sps, or do a 50% water change everyday lol tbh I would try and find a local reefer to take them off your hands, you'll be able to make back the money you spent and then some. Acropora are difficult especially for someone so new to the hobby. You unfortunately will most likely kill them

 

[spiraling]

Relax, remember not to change things fast.

My few Sps have been great in my 130. Keep up on your water changes, it matters for trace elements. Increase the frequency if you have doubts. Measure and keep up on CA, ALK, MG. Dose as needed. I'm surprised with the strong comments above, so take them seriously. Consider fragging off a piece of each and selling the rest before you kill them I you have concerns.

I hope they do great! Its a nice score for certain. I would have grabbed it in a second!

 

[Desmond]

You need to keep a track on your p04 n03 , ca ,mg and alk. These are most important. The lights you have will do but what lights have they come from ?
They are some big corals so they will be using ca allot.
You may need to replace this weekly. The most important thing with sps is stability.
Weekly water changes will help replace trace elements. The issue with some bigger sps is they dont like being moved and can die.Lets hope all goes well. That is some score of corals how much did you pay and did you dip them before adding to your tank ?

 

[ninjatech]

What are your parameters ?

Alk , Ca, Mag, Nitrates (NO3) and Phosp.

Forget about pH please.

When you say your tank is stable. Please tell us your values in the last 2 months. I am talking seriously. Stability is what Glen is refering as good husbandry. If you can not keep Alk, Ca stables forget about SPS. mainly Acropora. They are not LPS.

I saw your postings at RC. I recommended you to post at this forum.

I am having a bad feeling about those Acros. No one gives those colonies for almost nothing. They will sell in a blink of an eye.

Have you checked them for pests ?

Are you starting to see some white skeleton in the base and branches?

Best !
Daniel

No the colonies look exactly the same the day I picked them up.
In regards to this what numbers should I be aiming for . Alk , Ca, Mag, Nitrates (NO3) and Phosp. I am taking my water to my local LFS and I will post my numbers here tonight. I checked my water parameters two days ago and below are my numbers. I ordered red sea reef foundation pro test kit . should be coming in tomorrow

Can someone pls. tell me which parameters should i be testing for and what numbers to aim for . I would really appreciate it , I would like to confirm what my LFS is telling me with you guys...

Water Temp is 78
Salinity 1.027 Refractometer
Nitrate 0ppm Api
Nitrite 0ppm. Api
Ammonia 0ppm Api
PH 7.8-8.0 - low? Api

 

[dacianb]

As a Christmas gift I get from my family an Acro and a Millepora - I have a rather new tank and no idea how to keep SPS. To not disappoint them I dropped them in the tank . Next morning I found the acro falled on a hammer coral and half white. Next thing - as I knew that sps needs lot of light- I boosted my lights to max. Then I bought tests and find out that I have NO3 at 40-50 range, Ca at 500 and Mg at 1400.

Next day I had only 2 brown sticks becoming white on half of them. great.... And start reading out as a maniac what to do....

First step I lowered the lights A LOT...
Lowered the nitrates to 0.75-0.5 range since then (still mg and ca at higher than normal range), improved the flow and whatever else I found on forums that may help...
Now, millepora is fully back - largely extended, but still a brownish color, acropora get some color back and from time to time I see the polyps out a bit, but to test myself I bought few other sps and this time I made everything in a proper way...

In this picture I have the 2 smaller frags which are few days only in my tank, and on the left the recovered from death millepora.


I was never the sps guy, but since this experience I just became addicted to them . Indeed, some may die, some may not look great, but I am doing my best to keep them happy and learn about.

My advice, dont give up and just do your best - in the end may work and will be terrible happy.

Your lights may not be enough for great colors and massive grows, indeed, but corals dies easier from excessive light than from lack of it.

 

[Desmond]

No the colonies look exactly the same the day I picked them up.
In regards to this what numbers should I be aiming for . Alk , Ca, Mag, Nitrates (NO3) and Phosp. I am taking my water to my local LFS and I will post my numbers here tonight. I checked my water parameters two days ago and below are my numbers. I ordered red sea reef foundation pro test kit . should be coming in tomorrow

Can someone pls. tell me which parameters should i be testing for and what numbers to aim for . I would really appreciate it , I would like to confirm what my LFS is telling me with you guys...

Water Temp is 78
Salinity 1.027 Refractometer
Nitrate 0ppm Api
Nitrite 0ppm. Api
Ammonia 0ppm Api
PH 7.8-8.0 - low? Api

Firstly no offence meant but throw out the API test kit they are no good.
Salinity is a little high and 1.026 would be better. Do you have an ATU unit to keep this stable ?
Alk you should be aiming between 8 and 10 but stable is better.
N03 i would aim for below 5ppm but not zero as the corals need a little for colour.
P04 I would aim for 0.01 - 0.03ppm best to have a little for coral growth but too much will retard growth
Amonia 0
N02 0
CA 400 and 450
MG 1300 to 1350 some like it higher up to 1500 or more
PH 7.8 to 8.4 but stable ph is better. PH will rise and fall when lights are on and off. Test in the morning and it is lower and in the evening it will be higher.
Temp 78 is fine but will go up and down when lights are on and off. I use a STC1000 on my tank temp controller which turns on and off the heater to keep the temp more stable.

As for the test to keep an eye on i would concentrate more on
ALK , CA, Mg , P04 , N03 are the tests i use most.

 

[Danreef]

Hi PLEASE !!!!!!

These are the values I recommend IF NUTRIENTS ARE LOW.

ALK 7 DKH (6.5 TO 8 DKH wil do it) DO NOT GO HIGHER.

Ca : arround 400 ppm (380- 420 ppm )

Phosp: 0.03 - 0.08 ppm (try to keep it below 0.1 ppm)

NO3 : < 5 ppm

Mg : I never measure it. It is replenish with the weekly water changes.

Salinity : 1026 as suggested


As I said at the RC thread and others wrote here too. NOW DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE LIGHTS OF YOUR RSM C 130. WORRY ABOUT WATER QUALITY.......AND KEEP IT STABLE !!!!!!!.

Please add an extra pump in a corner. Sorry, your LPS will NOT LIKE too much flow, but now you have to decide what is more important for you, LPS or SPS/Acros. LPS can be placed in areas where the flow is low.

So now RELAX !!!!.

Is good that the Acros looks OK and there is not dying tissue. First see if there is polyp extension during the day, second, after 1-2 hours that the lights are off, go a look if the polyp extension have increaseD and if there are polyps OUT in the very TIP of the Acro branches. That means GROWING and that the Acro is Happy.

Watch your acros along the day as much as you can, or at your arrival home as much as you can. They will tell you if they are unhappy. Also it will help you to find earlier any change.

Relax! !!! Measure the water parameters! !!

As soon as you know what is going with your ALKALINITY and CALCIUM you will have to start dosing.

I will suggest you order NOW B-ionic 2 parts (part 1 is Alk and part 2 is Ca). Order the 1 Gallon bottles.

In the meantime you can keep your levels whit water changes. NOT TOO MUCH IN ONE SHOOT. Do 10 % water changes let say every 3 days until you can measure ALK and how much your new SPS and the full tank is using (LPS use alk too !!!).

Let's stop here for now.

Your homework will be:

A - Relax and enjoy the tank
B- Get those measurements done.
C- Do 10% water changes for now like every 3 days (not weekly ).
C - STABILITY (do not start to change things , unless it is VERY SLOW)


LAST : What Salt brand are you using?

Best
Daniel

Temp at 78 is perfect.

 

[dacianb]

Hi PLEASE !!!!!!

Your homework will be:
A - Relax and enjoy the tank
.

Can we stick to this only?? . I loove to relax and enjoy the tank

 

[eQuatics]

Wow great feedback in this tread. You can most definitely keep SPS, however important light is for polyps to open and feed, I'd say it's 20% of keeping them alive. Water quality and flow is as important. Just try and experiment with them. Or, bring them to your lfs, most of them give credits for corals, keep one and see if it makes it lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Danreef]

Remember to top off your evaporated water with RODI water to keep salinity stable !!!

Sorry, I forgot to write it before.

Stability....stability..... and stability !!!!!

Do not allow continue fluctuations in salinity.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[ninjatech]

Hi PLEASE !!!!!!

These are the values I recommend IF NUTRIENTS ARE LOW.

ALK 7 DKH (6.5 TO 8 DKH wil do it) DO NOT GO HIGHER.

Ca : arround 400 ppm (380- 420 ppm )

Phosp: 0.03 - 0.08 ppm (try to keep it below 0.1 ppm)

NO3 : < 5 ppm

Mg : I never measure it. It is replenish with the weekly water changes.

Salinity : 1026 as suggested


As I said at the RC thread and others wrote here too. NOW DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE LIGHTS OF YOUR RSM C 130. WORRY ABOUT WATER QUALITY.......AND KEEP IT STABLE !!!!!!!.

Please add an extra pump in a corner. Sorry, your LPS will NOT LIKE too much flow, but now you have to decide what is more important for you, LPS or SPS/Acros. LPS can be placed in areas where the flow is low.

So now RELAX !!!!.

Is good that the Acros looks OK and there is not dying tissue. First see if there is polyp extension during the day, second, after 1-2 hours that the lights are off, go a look if the polyp extension have increaseD and if there are polyps OUT in the very TIP of the Acro branches. That means GROWING and that the Acro is Happy.

Watch your acros along the day as much as you can, or at your arrival home as much as you can. They will tell you if they are unhappy. Also it will help you to find earlier any change.

Relax! !!! Measure the water parameters! !!

As soon as you know what is going with your ALKALINITY and CALCIUM you will have to start dosing.

I will suggest you order NOW B-ionic 2 parts (part 1 is Alk and part 2 is Ca). Order the 1 Gallon bottles.

In the meantime you can keep your levels whit water changes. NOT TOO MUCH IN ONE SHOOT. Do 10 % water changes let say every 3 days until you can measure ALK and how much your new SPS and the full tank is using (LPS use alk too !!!).

Let's stop here for now.

Your homework will be:

A - Relax and enjoy the tank
B- Get those measurements done.
C- Do 10% water changes for now like every 3 days (not weekly ).
C - STABILITY (do not start to change things , unless it is VERY SLOW)


LAST : What Salt brand are you using?

Best
Daniel

Temp at 78 is perfect.

I am getting rid of my API kits and waiting for my Red sea test kits, that looks like its coming tomorrow . I also purchased the following ECO Tech Marin Vortech MP10WQD powerhead that is coming in tonight.

***I do water change every Wednesday , Since I had my tank . I never missed that, If I cant do it I have specific instruction to my girlfriend...(SCARY LOL)

***I do top off with RODI

** My light timer schedule . main light turns on at 4:00 PM and the blue actinic light kicks in from 12 midnight to 4M . Do I need to change this? I also turn the lights on when I am home . I am home Wed- Friday . I don't work those days So when I get up in the morning I turn them on manually . Is this BAD?

once I get my test kits I will post the numbers here...

Thank you all , I feel the Love here

 

[Drs2140]

Sorry if I came of harsh last night, not my intention. Follow the advice above and you will be ok. Just remember stability+patience= success. A big misconception people have about small tanks is that they are easier than a large tank, in some ways true but in many other false. There is little to no room for error when you are dealing with 30 gallon water volume or less. Everything has to be spot on-every time. Water change water must always match current water. Water level must remain constant-salt does not evaporate with water. If you can get the stability part down you will have a shot keeping those corals alive and hopefully eventually thriving. Try not to stress! Any changes made need to be gradual

 

[Danreef]

I am getting rid of my API kits and waiting for my Red sea test kits, that looks like its coming tomorrow . I also purchased the following ECO Tech Marin Vortech MP10WQD powerhead that is coming in tonight.

***I do water change every Wednesday , Since I had my tank . I never missed that, If I cant do it I have specific instruction to my girlfriend...(SCARY LOL)

***I do top off with RODI

** My light timer schedule . main light turns on at 4:00 PM and the blue actinic light kicks in from 12 midnight to 4M . Do I need to change this? I also turn the lights on when I am home . I am home Wed- Friday . I don't work those days So when I get up in the morning I turn them on manually . Is this BAD?

once I get my test kits I will post the numbers here...

Thank you all , I feel the Love here

Until you do know what is going on with the Alk, do another 10% water change this weekend. Will replenish what was used by the Acros.

Half of the week your coral have light at night and the other half during the day ?

Well I DO NOT have an answer if that is good or not. BUT !!!!! I will never do it. Twice per week you are changing the tank light/night cycle. That will affect, I believe, the biology of the tank. Photosynthesis has a light dark cycle as well as the coral biology. If corals adapt to that I do not know.

I will suggest you find in Reef Sanctuary Oxylebius thread. And send her a PM or post in her thread the light question. She has a LOT of marine biology knowledge and could be she has the answer. I am a biologist also, but not a marine one.

Best Daniel

BTW: What Salt are you using ?????

 

[spiraling]

The MP10 is a great choice. Use some sort of random pattern since the return is already constant. I got the reeflink and my velocity and pattern changes through the day. Probably not necessary though. But random pattern is necessary to feed and clean the coral.

Do you have an ATO? it makes the salinity parameters much more stable. The tunze (I have the cheapest one) works great on that tank. I would highly recommend it. Much better than topping by hand.

The lighting does seem an odd schedule. Most people run 8-12 hours. If your house is light then you are giving them essentially 20 hours. Do some reading there. adding @Oxylebius for comments.

The test kits come with recommended ranges so you can just follow them with whatever additive you choose. Just follow the directions on the bottles until you get to and stay in the range. The test kits take a couple of tries to get right but are easy eough. I've been using seachem fusion two part for my ca / alk and it works fine and is easy. I will be switching to red sea just because I like some of their other products. NoPox works great for nitrogen and phosphate reduction. Adding everyday is better than once a week. Adding with a dosing pump if you use a lot is better. stability stability stability. Red sea has some nice promotional videos that go through the additives and what different corals need. Worth a watch if you haven't already seen it.

Salt - I switched to a reef salt (red seal coral pro) because the starting salt values were closer to the CA numbers I needed so you don't have to add so much ca later.

How are they looking? Are you starting to get some polyp extension? They look really beautiful. I think if you stare at them a lot they grow better.


Have any of the posts mentioned stability yet? haha. Water changes, top offs, and chemical additions keep the water parameters stable. Check you heat. Most tanks fluctuate during the day but try to minimize if you can. I assume you have a heater and that might be the best you can do. You light period don't seem to be stable. The sun rises and sets at the same time each day over most of the worlds coral reefs. stability.

 

[Oxylebius]

First of all breath. No need to freak out. You can do this.

Lots of good advice here on water parameters. Getting those stable first is good advise. Once you have water quality in hand, then you can look into other parameters that the acros will need.

What is key is keeping all parameters as stable as you can. If you make any change, make it slowly. Don't drastically change any parameter. The major parameters that you want to keep stable include temperature, salinity, Alk, Ca, Mg, and lighting. If you are going to make changes, then this needs to be done slowly over days & weeks.

As for your lighting, you will want to get the lights on a cycle that is consistent everyday, with a day and night cycle (dim moonlights on at night should be fine). Coral polyps have a symbolic photosynthetic algae in them called Zooxanthellae. This algae uses sunlight to photosynthesize, similar to what plants do, which feeds itself and feeds the coral polyp. For this algae to function properly it will need a consistent night and light cycle. This will help keep your corals healthy and alive.

Most reefers run their lights from 8-12 hrs a day. The longer you run your lights the more unwanted algae (cyanobacteria, hair algae, etc.) you may get growing in your tank. Running them 8 hrs a day is what I recommend to start with. If you are still in touch with the person you got the acroporas from, I'd recommend reaching out and asking him how many hours he ran his lights and what type of lights he used. BTW, when was the last time you changed your bulbs?

Tagging @Wrangy for additional advice.

How is it going so far?

 

[Wrangy]

Well I have to say that I absolutely love seeing so much input from everyone and that they've all made really great points to help you out!! For the moment I want your aim to be keeping them alive and not worry about growth or colour. They can both be adjusted later but not if the coral is dead Brown and healthy is still far better than bleached and dead!

As mentioned with acropora sp. it's less about the actual number and more about the stability of it. For the minute you want to aim to get it stable before you worry about everything else!
Personally, regardless of nutrient levels, I like and recommend aiming for parameters as close to natural levels as possible! As you're brand new to SPS and still fairly new in the hobby have a read through this article as it's not only a great refresher on your parameters but it also explains a lot too Pay particular attention to the actual ocean values though.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

Given the size and volume of acropora sp. you've received and also the portion of tank inhabitants they now take up you're definitely going to have to invest in and look at dosing as once those corals settle they're going to consume a fair amount of Ca, Alk and Mg! Whether it's 2 or 3-part you're going to need it Your levels aren't going to change much over the next week or two as they're brand new in the system, you're brand new to them and they've gone through some major changes since you got them. What all this means is that they'll be a litte stressed and won't really be doing much

The next thing is as Oxy has mentioned you're definitely going to need to keep a set and repetitive lighting schedule. This is key as you're going to effect not only photosynthesis rates and the abilities of the zooxanthellae to produce food for the coral but you're also going to throw the corals out themselves in terms of their physical feeding habits. They won't know when it's night and when to feed to the full extent!!

Your number one and two (on the same level) indicators of health with acropora are their polyp extension and whether or not there's a healthy full covering of tissue on the skeleton. Polyp extension is easy to see and look out for as you'll either have polyps or you won't. The main thing you want to be seeing is general polyp extension around the entire coral, whether it's lots or a little polyp extension is always a good sign of health. You also want to make sure you have coloured tissue covering the whole coral too with no tissue necrosis anywhere!

I think I've reiterated everything that's been said and covered it all. Now it's up to you to do your best to care for them