ULNS & SPS

Johnson556

Non-member
Hi all,

Since upgrading my tank I've been having a lot of troubles with nutrients and trying to get my tank to "ideal" parameters. Alk/Calc/Mag as well as Temp, PH, & Salinity have all been rock solid (recently). Within the first 2 months of the tanks life all of my sps became pale. During one of the heat waves this summer my Ph dropped from 8.1-8.3 to 7.7-7.8. I forgot to adjust my dosing accordingly and within a weeks dKH went from 8 to 10.5. Everything began to RTN/STN. I've lost 80% of my sps since. Everything left just seems to be extremely hardy (pieces from GH).

Does any of the SPS gurus run an ULNS, if so what do you keep your parameters at and what do you dose/feed?
 
For me my old lights were underpowered. When I got new ones I have been able to keep sps.

Stability is key for sps. Salinity (ato system), doser (calcium and alkalinity). But it sounds like you have a doser.

Any other swings other than pH and alkalinity? That may have triggered something and if not trimmed sps can just die off slowly.



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Ulns run at natural seawater specs
Alk 6.5-7
No3-0.1
Po4-0.01
Be careful at these levels since a slight drop in any of them could be total crash.

The higher the alk the more nutrients you’ll need in the tank or you’ll start getting burnt tips.
Pale colors are usually lack of nutrients. Your alk swing as you can tell was bad and sps tend to hate it, as you’ve seen. Just get back to a stable point that you feel comfortable with and that won’t drive you nuts to keep stable.
 
I have had a similar issue with alk spike due to a lower pH. I had some corals pale a little and lost a couple frags. My system has always been ULNS until I started dosing acropower and feeding reef chili. I did have success with an alk of 9 dkh and Ca over 500 in the ULNS so I believe that stability is really the most important thing. I don’t know what made me try to increase my nutrients and lower my Ca to recommended levels but I’m not too sure that is always the answer. As I said it screwed me up until I stabilized everything again.

I would recommend stability for SPS. You need to figure out what works with your system and stick to that. Adjust for temp change when necessary to avoid spikes. The only real trouble I find with this hobby is trying to fix things that aren’t broken.

Come by and chat sometime soon B.
 
For me my old lights were underpowered. When I got new ones I have been able to keep sps.

Stability is key for sps. Salinity (ato system), doser (calcium and alkalinity). But it sounds like you have a doser.

Any other swings other than pH and alkalinity? That may have triggered something and if not trimmed sps can just die off slowly.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I have six 80w T5’s and 3 Kessil A360. Have had to crank down the lights significantly since initial set up. 400 par on the sand seemed a little high.....

Run a Tunze ATO and Neptune DOS. Salinity has never been an issue thankfully.

Ulns run at natural seawater specs
Alk 6.5-7
No3-0.1
Po4-0.01
Be careful at these levels since a slight drop in any of them could be total crash.

The higher the alk the more nutrients you’ll need in the tank or you’ll start getting burnt tips.
Pale colors are usually lack of nutrients. Your alk swing as you can tell was bad and sps tend to hate it, as you’ve seen. Just get back to a stable point that you feel comfortable with and that won’t drive you nuts to keep stable.

I think I’m going to drop my Alk to 7, have read that elsewhere too. As much as I dislike the dos so far, I’ll admit I haven’t seen the slightest swing in dKH since “upgrading” from my BRS dosers.

I have had a similar issue with alk spike due to a lower pH. I had some corals pale a little and lost a couple frags. My system has always been ULNS until I started dosing acropower and feeding reef chili. I did have success with an alk of 9 dkh and Ca over 500 in the ULNS so I believe that stability is really the most important thing. I don’t know what made me try to increase my nutrients and lower my Ca to recommended levels but I’m not too sure that is always the answer. As I said it screwed me up until I stabilized everything again.

I would recommend stability for SPS. You need to figure out what works with your system and stick to that. Adjust for temp change when necessary to avoid spikes. The only real trouble I find with this hobby is trying to fix things that aren’t broken.

Come by and chat sometime soon B.

Has acropower been the missing link for the tank? Have your colors darkened? I’ve been “dosing” that for a bit but in the least accurate/stable manner possible. Going to set it up on one of my BRS leftover dosers tonight. I’ll shoot you a text next week/stop by.

Thank you everyone for the input
 
Yeah I have six 80w T5’s and 3 Kessil A360. Have had to crank down the lights significantly since initial set up. 400 par on the sand seemed a little high.....

Run a Tunze ATO and Neptune DOS. Salinity has never been an issue thankfully.



I think I’m going to drop my Alk to 7, have read that elsewhere too. As much as I dislike the dos so far, I’ll admit I haven’t seen the slightest swing in dKH since “upgrading” from my BRS dosers.



Has acropower been the missing link for the tank? Have your colors darkened? I’ve been “dosing” that for a bit but in the least accurate/stable manner possible. Going to set it up on one of my BRS leftover dosers tonight. I’ll shoot you a text next week/stop by.

Thank you everyone for the input

It’s certainly not a magic drug but it does provide some nutrients so I have seen some really good polyp extension. Overall not sure if it’s doing anything lol. I do have some nitrates now though.
 
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