Yap. I might be getting something this christmas. No halide (I am afraid it might cause heat issue on such a shallow tank) but I am on for a quad t5ho fixture :D But I might reconsider it since I am giving up on SPS :neutral:

I have a 75 gallons full of SPS. My tric...no sump and lots of softies.

I have a 15 gallons full of SPS. I do have a sump but lots of softies still.

What's with the softies and SPS? I never had any problem mixing both.

High alkalinity with low nutrient and fluctuation in parameters are probable the problem here, not the softies.

really?? wow..I have tons of them in my tank with my SPS.

Is there any scientific study about SPS not being compatible with xenia, keny tree, zoanthids, mushrooms etc?? I have all these with my tons of SPS and none seem to bother. I don't even use carbon.

Isin't 9-10 dkH like sweet spot? None of the params fluctuate other than dKh falling from 10 to 9 in 2 weeks. Not sure about other traces like iodide and stuffs.

And I thought low nutrient is preferred by SPS :|

Its so confusing!!!! :twised:

I am expecting Denny is start "carbon dosing" over here LOL

10 is too high if your level of nutrient is low. That will cause all sort of problem like RTN, STN etc..

Sweet spot is natural sea water, 7.5 to 8 is ideal.

Low nutrient is good for SPS but they do need food then. Especially if you have a weak light, no wonder they are dying in your tank.

with low nutrien you need a good light, good food on regular basis and around 8 kh, no higher.

People think that SPS only live from light alone but in nature there is tons of zooplankton. This is also why SPS grow much better and faster in a mature tank of at least a year old, because by that time zooplankton and all sort of larveas have started to colonize the aquarium.

I feed my SPS every other day with zooplankton food like Fauna marin, reefroid, coral frenzy and I feed Zeovit amino acid and coral vitalizer each day. This makes all the difference in growth and color.

I read from a reliable source that on avg, dkH in NSW remains around 3.5meg/L (aprox. 10dKh) :neutral:

Alongside, I do feed coral snow about twice a week.

Maybe the light and the nutrient is the issue. Whatever that is, SPS are just not worth it to me :razz:

It will be very hard with a small mixed tank.My tank is at least 90% acropora with softies and leathers but it's a 100 gallons,no carbon.Don't feed them anything but tons of light.Yeah..their boring and brown..i really hate this ugly one.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a79...1/DSCF1132.jpg

That's a nice colony :D

Well its boring to me since I can't keep it :P

Not terrible for reef. Just terrible in my eyes lol

10 is fine, mine sits there often and I don't have any problems. I've run it regularly as high as 14. Again, no issues.

Even with low nutrient system?

Yes. I lost track for a few months and tested it at 12. Someone told me zeo systems do best at 7, but that's too low for my liking. 10 is low compared to what I've run in the past. I find colors are crisper at higher alk..

I have to admit, I run my tank at Alk 7 because the zeo guide says to run it there (I run a zeo tank as well) and my SPS growth is still nowhere near as good as it was when I ran a tank with Alk 10. I'm very tempted to try running it back at 10.

I did notice that too. When I wasn't dosing my alk would sit near 7 and growth was kinda slow. Then I started dosing and held alk at 9/10ish and growth was insane. Although I personally prefer to keep my alk at around 8/9. To me that's kinda the middle of the road.

I targeted 8 as well. my theory was that middle of the road is best since it would take a larger overdose to reach levels where you're burning tips etc.

So my alk is not an issue for my tank since it remains between 9 and 10. :mrgreen:

although a lot of people have RTN and STN when keeping their alkalinity at 10. Zeovit recommand this for a good reason.

But hey, it's your tank and your corals :)

That's my logic too.

Kept mind at 10-11 for the past year, only had one coral rtn, then again I don't use zeo. Can't really see how 10 is a problem since not that long ago allot of people kept it close to 14.

did these people keeping their tank at 14 kh had a lot of SPS and kept them healthy?

Yeah most of them did, very fast growing, mind you they were also using 10000k halides, so everything was kinda dull.

Atleast Brad do :)

Absolutely. It was the norm, 12 - 14dKh, at 9 or 10 we would panick :). Full SPS tanks that ran for years with no unexplained losses.
My tank now is around 10 or 11, I'm not losing any corals..

As an example, check my pic in this thread

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=37397

That tank ran 12 - 14 for years, no issues and the corals did ok growing.

Then if corals grow better and healthier at kh 12, why don't you all maintain your KH at 12 then? 14 is even better :)

Mine now sits around 10 or 11 on it's own, and I am no longer inclined to fight with it. My corals grow fine now with me doing nothing, so why mess with it?

I'm not sure why you're so opposed to it. If your alk is 7 and it works for you, great. If your alk is 1 and it works for you, still great. :)

10 - 11 dKh only works on tanks 6 feet or longer I thought?

Well, ya, mine is 6 foot.

Wait, I thought this was only true if you were running Radions?

This makes me afraid to check the dkh of the oceans :razz:

i call carbon!!:mrgreen:

See carbon is a very integral part of everything!

1.Back home, people who cannot afford toothpaste used carbon to clean their teeth and it ACTUALLY makes teeth shiny. :razz:
2. Nothing beats the taste of bbq done done with charcoal cooker
3. We get electricity from coal
5. Activated carbon sounds SO COOOOL :mrgreen:

(Ops, looks like carbon washed away number 4 :P)


I guess carbon do like making stuffs shine and taste good (yah I did taste tank water some times to see whether its TOO SALTY) :mrgreen:

I am not opposed to keeping high alkalinity. If my tank was naturally on the high side I would not care if I did not have any RTN.

I have to dose to keep mine even at 7.5, so I try to keep it at 8. It's not has hard to keep the alkalinity stable at 8 than it is at 10 or 12.

I was always told by the pros around here to keep it lower and no need to keep it high as it is not natural and can cause more problem than good.

I also know a few people having problem with RTN when their alkalinity peak too high. Strange coincidence maybe.

More and more people keep their SPS tank at low nutrient level and high alkalinity and run into trouble. Zeovit recommand natural sea water level...their must be a good reason.