Sad 140g SPS Reef Tank - Troubles and Dying SPS

The 140g acropora reef tank is a month older, and like any other SPS reef aquarium and SPS tank, there are issues to look at. This month in the 140g reef tank, which is a saltwater tank, we have a dead birdsnest coral, dying sps coral colonies, and poor tank parameters.
The aquascape for the tank was inspired by the tanks of Evan Luo and Yoshi Fujisawa that were showcased on Reefbuilders.
Reefbuilders | The Best Reef in Australia - Evan Luo's Glorious SPS Aquarium :
• The Best Reef in Austr...
Reefbuilders | A Bonsai Coral Reef Tank in Australia
• A Bonsai Coral Reef Ta...
Many ideas "borrowed" from Abe, at Coral Euphoria.
Coral Euphoria | A Weird Way To Mount Corals | In the Beginning | 120g SPS Reef Tank
• A Weird Way To Mount C...
If you like the coral and would like to see more footage of acropora, check out this video here.
The Reefer | Introduction to SPS : Acropora, Montipora, Pocilloporidae
• Introduction to SPS : ...
The Reefer | Better Acropora Coloration in the Acropora Dominant Reef Tank
• Better Acropora Colora...
Some of my favorite acropora videos on KZbin include:
Reefbuilders | Sanjay 500 Gallon Mega Reef - Extended 'Reef Nerd' Edition +10 Minutes
• Sanjay 500 Gallon Mega...
For LPS.
The Reefer | Top 5 LPS Corals 2021 Reef Aquariums (Saltwater Aquariums)
• Top 5 LPS Corals 2021 ...
One of my favorite artistic reefers is
Danny's Aquariums | Shallow Reef Tank Update and Coral and Fish Unboxing (Month One)
• Shallow Reef Tank Upda...
Enjoy this tank tour of Wincey's reef tank on Reefdudes
Reefdudes | Super Simple Reef tank - Tank tour of Wincey's packed mixed SPS 210G Saltwater Reef Aquarium
• Super Simple Reef tank...
This epic tank featured on seafriendlyreef is insane!
seafriendlyreef | GERMAN REEF TANKS - "Nature Reef" - 3000 liter / 790 gallon coral aquascape / saltwater aquarium
• GERMAN REEF TANKS - "N...
0:00 - Beginning
0:16​ - Intro
11:48 - Tank Parameters
12:19 - Topdown view
#Acropora #Reeftank #Allmymoneygoestocoral

[@shawn3666]

Just found this channel awesome work bruh, thanks for showing the good and bad that happens to all of us

[@TheReeferYT]

That means alot bro! 🙏 Your words are like a rainbow in this storm of acropora flesh i am facing. Appreciate it. 👍

[@swissfragreefer]

❤Great content! Keep up the good work. Always like to learn new things😎🪸📸

[@justinbandel5595]

I think you need more fish in that tank. That would help regulate your nitrates and phosphates more.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks for checking out the video and the suggestion Justin. 🙏 I think a number of others have suggested the same thing. There have been a few tank shut downs in a nearby town but I wasn't able to head down there to snag some fish. Will keep an eye out for some. 👍 Cheers. 😀

[@ReefStash]

Subbed. Getting interrupted by my kiddos but planning to come back to watch the rest of the vid. Thx for sharing your experience.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Reefstache. Great facial hair. 👍

[@ReefStash]

@@TheReeferYT 👊💥👊😎 🧔‍♂️

[@mikejohnson9923]

Man I am going through the same thing right now. First I had the free floating type which UV handled but phosphate went back down and having the same symptoms as you. Keep in there, we are in this hobby because its challenging. If it was easy it wouldnt be as fun

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks for sharing Mike. 🙏 it helps knowing I'm not alone. 😀 Have you managed to get it under control?

[@mikejohnson9923]

@@TheReeferYT unfortunately not. I just posted in Mack’s to identify this other type of Dino but seems to be the ones that take awhile to rid of from dosing nutrients and silicate

[@mxr52t6]

Thanks for sharing the details. Your tank still looks great. Seems you are on the path back to optimal. Within the last year I have started heading down SPS acro dominate tank and it's definitely a learning experience. Definitely keeping tab on nitrate and phosphate is important as mine tends to be low at times and I would compensate by dosing nitrate and phosphate... or lower both depending on where tank is at.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thank you mxr52. 🙏 I'll definitely keep a closer eye on those 2 in the future. 🤔 lesson learned.

[@jamesmolnar7780]

I can see Dinos on your back wall, like all algae it doesn't have to be a full blown bloom to be there. I've run into this same nutrient problem recently, my nitrates were stuck at 0. The first time I saw this freaked out and single dosed to 5ppm, the swing make things worse and lots of my pieces lost tons of color and looks super unhappy. So I stopped dosing nitrates and they bottomed out again. Euphyllia and some sps looked very unhappy. So I decided to start dosing 0.5 nitrates per day and everything has colored up a ton and euphyllia looking happy. Slow and steady

[@tomlouielongabela5423]

I like your content im always watching your video I learned alot from you. Iam also keeping sps corals

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Tom. I appreciate it. 🙏

[@jestronixhanderson9898]

Ive had rock solid alk for six months thanks to my Kh guardian, now my issues are 0 nitrates and 0.01 phosphate, Hanna checkers double checked. Things looked great, like really good! Then everything started going pale, nitrate and phosphate dosing and constant outdo water changer is helping. I truely believe that auto nitrate and phosphate control will be the best invention to hit the hobby. I’m keeping an eye on GHL ion Director, there’s hints they will soon do phosphate!

[@TheReeferYT]

Thank you Jest. 🙏 I believe you are right, I'm monitoring these 2 more than I'm watching my dkh now 😬. That is super exciting! I just recently put phosphates on my auto doser. Nitrates will be next.

[@adambahe9309]

I think what our community still has yet to learn is that nitrate and phosphate are probably just as important as alkalinity. I am hoping BRS pushes Neptune to release a nitrate/phosphate Trident. It was the first thing they discussed in their merger video. 25PPM nitrates are too high.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Adam. 🙏 Yes, prior to dosing nitrates I wasn't overly concerned with phosphates or nitrates. Now that I've experienced 0 of each of them, it has made me more aware.

[@Baiduist]

I think you really should try run your tank as a zeovit tank or some thing like that. Instead of dosing no3 and phosphate. You should feed it with various products (redsea reef energy, kz phols extra or special, kz coral visalizer.) Just an idea.Of course, all this thing is after you. Deal with that dino issue. . Hope everything goes well with your tank.

[@avishvohra3057]

I had pale tips and receding base on a few acros one point a few weeks ago too. My nitrate bottoms out bc my chaeto fuge if I don't dose. And since dosing nitrate I've not experienced anything bad, though recovery seems slow ...as usual. It is possible po4 needs to be dosed for you as well now. Or you can feed flakes on auto feeder. Most flakes are high phos

[@avishvohra3057]

I also did a read on bleaching acros recovering.. nitrate helps that process go faster in our tanks. And if you think if corals as plants. Plants require npk or fertilizer to do well, some more than others. Npk nitrate, phos, potassium. Neither of these should be 0

[@avishvohra3057]

Kalk is also a miracle for stability, and it's ionically balanced...good if you do less than regular water changes. I prep mine in a bucket now and pour the good stuff into a sep tank to be dosed from. So far so good, no lines clogged this way

[@TheReeferYT]

Thank you Avish. 🙏 I agree with everything you said, and that is a great comparison with what a normal plant needs. I think this week will be crucial. I got readings of 0.024 phosphate on Friday, and kept dosing but lower, and to my dismay it fell to 0 again when I tested yesterday. At this point I'll be testing everyday this week hopefully things will turn around. Had to order more testing reagents. Thanks again! 😀

[@ballejoreef4599]

Good info. Where is your normal NO3 range? 25 ppm seems a bit high?

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Ballejo. 🙏 After I started to dose nitrates it was between 2 ppm and 5 ppm. I'm not sure how it got up to 25 ppm, I'm using a salifert test kit. Not sure what the margin of error is there. I would say the test came back between 10 ppm to 25 ppm, closer to 25 ppm. My last test 2 days later came back at 10 ppm.. so at this point I'm dosing both phosphates and nitrates and testing every 2 days to figure out what is going on. 🤔

[@golbs7542]

@@TheReeferYT 25 is a good number. you want phos to be 0.05 min. ive seen awesome sps with vibrant colours at 0.1phos and 100 nitrates. i guess the ration of phosphate and nitrates help alot. u may need to get yours more balanced.

[@SaltFishTV]

First off man, I’m sorry you’re going through this. I personally like to regulate my nutrients by either feeding more frozen food for nitrate or a lot more of pellets & coral food for phosphate. I’ve tried the dosing route before and it ended up like your situation. Idk maybe it’s linked with dosing? Or you could try adding a couple tangs for more poop (nitrates). Also, try dosing some trace elements if you don’t do so already. I’m just spit balling some ideas to play with to try and help turn around this awesome tank! My parameters have been high nitrate and fighting for phosphate BUT the tank looks happy so I just been going off of looks of the coral than chasing numbers too much. Do you think you may be using too much export method (skimmer, fuge, scrubber, etc) VS import method (feeding)?

[@TheReeferYT]

Thank you SaltFishTV. 🙏 I think it is a culmination of issues. I added a protein skimmer in January which must have contributed to reduced nitrates and phosphates. I started dosing nitrates 2 to 3 months ago after realizing nitrates were 0. Back then phosphates were typically 0.03 or a little higher. I then dosed fluconazole to take care of what I thought was bryopsis, but didn't remove my macro algae. As I am typing this I am 🤦‍♂️. I wonder if the fluconazole inhibited normal algae that would have grown to consume the excess nutrients, and that allowed some dinos to flourish. 🤨 I can't think of any other way phosphates would have crashed like that. Anyways thank you. I'm currently dosing phosphates and monitoring both phosphates and nitrates. Some of the tips still don't look good and the base of the purple haze receded a little more but it seems to have stopped now. Hopefully things will turn around. 👍

[@SaltFishTV]

@@TheReeferYT Oh yeah, definitely sounds like a mixture of events that has lead to this. I hope things get back on top for you! Very nice tank.

[@atfinthehouse8631]

Do you think the aquascape has anything to do with it? The locations of the corals, the lack of adequate live rock?

[@TheReeferYT]

I'm not sure ATF. Golbs just made a comment that made me think that maybe dosing the nitrates and nitrates from when my macro algae died enabled the coral to consume more phosphates + nitrates. Maybe that caused phosphates to bottom out? I had been watching phosphates at first, however life got in the way and I trusted that things were fine. 😔

[@jackal3044]

“Don’t copy that”. Lol like parameters are secrets to success lol

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks for checking out the video Jackal. 🙏🏼 Appreciate it.

[@KennysReef]

I had dino and it wiped my tank OUT!! Bring up your phosphates and nitrates slowly, my tank was too clean

[@golbs7542]

its so heavily stocked with acro, your nutrient bottom out quikly.. ive seen people get a school of anthias to keep up nutrients

[@TheReeferYT]

I think you just gave me an epiphany. 🤯 Before I started dosing nitrates, my nitrates were 0 and my phosphates were around 0.03. Do you think once I started dosing nitrates, the acros consumed both and that caused the phosphates to bottom out? Because I feed roughly the same amount of food.

[@golbs7542]

@@TheReeferYT phosphates anitrates are both consumed by your corals. I would have preferred to dose phosphates over nitrates. I think u are right by giving the corals more nitrates the phosphates would have been consumed as well and that's why urs is zero. Do you dose aminos?

[@leeverink32]

are youre measurements the same as when this was triving? is the temperature correct? could be your T lights

[@TheReeferYT]

Thank you Otto! No, unfortunately the phosphate and nitrate numbers changed as well as alk. Things have stabilized over the last few days, fortunately not all the acros were affected. Mainly the deepwater acros. All the other acros actually look pretty good and are visibly growing well. Now that I've had time to calm things down, I believe this will prove to be an essential learning experience that I can hopefully build on. Thanks again for checking out the video. =)

[@richardportelli1983]

Dude, mix your phos and nitrate in one bottle and dose consistently every day on your doser at minimum of 1ppm nitrate and 0.01 phosphate. Set and forget mate.

[@nealenns7869]

Yeah I saw the Dinos right away. That would be a stressing factor for your coral.

[@atfinthehouse8631]

Temperature swings. How warm is your tank?

[@TheReeferYT]

My tank is consistently around 77 to 78. I figured out my temp issues 😃, just using a big fan to blow cool air into the fish room.

[@MS-lv1pw]

Can't you just feed more or add more fish instead of doesing nutrients?

[@MS-lv1pw]

I should have waited until the end of your video to post. By the way, nice tank!! I don't think it's the nutrients. I think its you stopping Kalkwasser and the drop in ph. Get a wifi doser and and dose Kalk separate from your auto top off. Get as close to what you were doing before your tank turned. It takes several weeks to show. I hope you clear this up soon. It sucks to see your corals die off or wither away.

[@mohamadosman9236]

PH. 8.6?

[@TheReeferYT]

I'm actually not sure what the pH is Osman.. 😔

[@dreamnight-mq1zg]

Everybody always seem to mention birds nest coral as being a beginner sps coral. I have to disagree with this statement. Birds nest coral is very sensitive to tank parameters and will bleach overnight if it doesn’t like the tank parameters. Not a good beginner coral in my experience. Montipora is much more forgiving than birds nest and is a better beginner sps coral.

[@Mikeymikemike]

My last video on nutrients and colour explains a bit on this. Dosing nitrates will cause your algae, bacter and corals to grow faster as well as your corals grow, your phosphates will drop. That’s why I dose phosphate daily to ensure they don’t bottom out. 0.00ppb is dangerous. I told people to be careful of that. Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope they will all come back. I dosed plenty of amino and mono potassium phosphate to bring it back. Best wishes to you. On a side note have you done another icp? Since rust will cause this too, especially if you see grey instead of bleaching

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Mike. 🙏 Didnt realize you are Michael Nguyen on Facebook. 👍 Think you warned me about this when I started dosing nitrates. I haven't submitted an icp test yet. Things appear to be stabilizing. 🤞

[@richardportelli1983]

Your phosphate should be always between 0.03 and 0.1. No exceptions. I would say these numbers are as important as stable alk.

[@SuperKleinti]

try to feed more fishfood and dont skim for couple of days.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Mr. X. 🙏 I took the skimmer offline several days ago and started feeding more food. 👍 Still dosing phosphates and nitrates as they are disappearing fast but hopefully things will stabilize soon.