SPS grows like MAD and than RTN's
by
, 08-29-2010 at 03:14 PM (2491 Views)
This has been going on now for like a month. My tank is a 140 shallow reef tank with T5's. I have two 6100 tunzes for water movement. Run the lights from 4:30 to 11:30. I have a total water volume of 260. I have two 30 gallon breeder tanks plumbed into for sps frag tanks. These are full of water but no corals in them at this moment.
Water parameters are as follows
ph 8.4
Ca 380
Alk 8
NO3 15
NO2 0
NH3 0
temps. swing .3 degrees of 77
Tank has been running for now about 8 months. Chalices are growing fine and the same with zoa's. The funny thing is that my sps when introduced in my tank will start growing like a weed for about two weeks than start RTNing from the tip down. I started dosing vitamin C(one tablespoon twice a day) after this started with the sps. So I don't think thats the problem. I feed the tank(new life spectrum marine formula) and cyclopeze)
I have a CA reactor that I think is running stable. I have it on a slow drip. The ph monitor varies from 6.30 to 6.60. IS that too much of a swing? I really don't understand why it would vary that much. MAybe CO2 gets tripped and is released causing the sudden drop. But I have checked the lk in the tank when this happens and the alk stays the same. I run a carbon reactor with about 1 lb of carbon. Flow is moderate. It is time to change out the carbon but I don't think old carbon would cause the sps to RTN. I do have some sps that have not been affect. Green slimer, milli's, red monti cap, and idaho cap. I have a purple rimmed cap that has grown like crazy but now the purple is gone and turning white. Seems like my biggest problems are with smooth skinned acro's.
I plan on starting the bio-pellets when they become available.
Any thoughts?? Suggestions, Ideas????