I’ve had a successful sps dominant 25 gallon for 3 years. Been through stages of replacing as during one point I had to take almost all stories out since I was going to be away for 6 months. However, 4 months ago everything started just withering away at the skin. Not RTN STN style either. The actual skin would just go extremely thin. Sent out an ICP my zinc was 35 ppm! I had a rusty frag rack AND ato sensor that both cracked and were bright red. I’m upgrading as I’m typing this comment lol so I plan to go mostly softies with some oddball true old school sps. Mike C style. SPS curveballs seem to get weirder everytime
The tips being buried could be lighting being to strong. But man monti definitely has me in my tank to. They grow so easily and myself I don’t want a tank that I have to be on top of it 24 - 7 like some acros need. I do think a nice green slimmer would look great on the top of your tank. It would really give it that bright green color to the top. I got one and it grows really like monti it’s been just growing and growing. Took it a bit to get going but once it did is on fire!
I am very much drifting in this “not a 24 hour job” direction with my tank. I’ve adjusted my lighting to be a bit less intense and I’ll be watching the results, but I may just snag a slimer and call this tank good with that and the Montis. I can’t deal with “difficult” right now, coral-wise. Maybe someday, when my kid is all grown up. Ha ha.
@@kalamazoo_reefer I’m just like you. I love sps my 180 is all easy sps. Makes it nice you miss something little and the corals don’t care that much. But high end sps you look at it wrong and it strips that night.
reduce the light 10-15% for 1 month, and see if the stylos are doing well , it won't hurt , sps wont die bcz of that light difference but can improve if the light is too high
Montiporas are my favorite sps as well. I'm having the opposite problem in my tank as the stylos and birds nest are doing amazing, but my montis have recessed polyps, growing slowly but not thriving, no nudis....hopefully time and stability will turn things around for montiporas in my tank
@@blake6360 It’s so strange how certain tanks grow certain corals super well, and other corals just fail to thrive. I know people who have tried many different configurations and methods on the same tank, and just never really been able to get certain corals going. Funny hobby.
I’m in the same boat, have two plating montiporas that died and bleached out, and some birds nest green sps , I was advised if the Monti start bleaching on the edges to increase my magnesium, since doing that my plating montis have come back and the others looking better..I keep my magnesium around 1500.
I would say the flow is fine. Lighting was my biggest issue with growing SPS coral. I went to T5 and never looked back, but if I were to purchase LED fixtures it would be ones that a lot of people have had success with with the right color scheme. Cut off burned tips and any weird loss of tissue on SPS. Send off an ATI test kit and see where your params are, as well as having Salifert tests in Mg, Ca, Alk, Hanna PO4 in hand to test weekly or so. UV lights are only going to help a small amount with ich populations and algae, but hard to say if they actually do much in the reef tank, at least for me I don't believe I have seen its worth. Unless you know whats in your water, it's pointless to talk about though.
@@davileett1224 I test alk/cal/mag daily, and use Salifert to check those daily tests once a week. Nitrates and PO4 too. It’s none of that. Params are wicked stable. I think it’s solely a lighting intensity issue. I’ve made some adjustments and ordered some mounting gear to switch things up. Thanks for the input.
@@kalamazoo_reefer You used to be able to rent a par meter from BRS, not sure if you can anymore though. My local fish store has a par meter for rent, so maybe yours does to? Unless par is crazy in the 700+ range I don't know that its too intense, but maybe not the right color spectrum.
@@davileett1224 Got a par meter! I was up over 500. Went to a Dana Riddle talk at ReefStock, and his research has shown that even Acropora go into photosynthetic inhibition over 300 or so par. So I lowered mine down to 300. Watching it closely.
@@kalamazoo_reefer Interesting. Now I need to check my par readings since I just lowered my lights a bit. For me, the closer to the light my sps is, the better color and growth.
Yeah I found it fascinating. Flies in the face of a lot of “established” knowledge. But hey, doctors once thought smoking was good for people. I guess that can apply to many things 😂 Keep an eye on the future videos, I’ll be exploring this lighting change quite a bit.
Very possible the high flow incident is responsible for the loss of polyps on the tips of the stylo. I don’t think it’s burnt tips from the typical “high light high alk” hogwash, just my opinion.
Potentially true. I think lowering the flow slightly did help. Now I’m seeing if I can dial back par some, and just take some pressure off the coral. It was definitely pretty intense par haha
Burned tips is a clear indication of strong light, high KH and low nutrients. Don't think it has anything to do with flow. Check your par and light photoperiod.
@@ryanzamora20 Alk holding stable at 8.2, checked with two separate test kits and the matched it to the Trident’s reading. Gotta be light related. I dimmed them down some.
I’ve had a successful sps dominant 25 gallon for 3 years. Been through stages of replacing as during one point I had to take almost all stories out since I was going to be away for 6 months. However, 4 months ago everything started just withering away at the skin. Not RTN STN style either. The actual skin would just go extremely thin. Sent out an ICP my zinc was 35 ppm! I had a rusty frag rack AND ato sensor that both cracked and were bright red. I’m upgrading as I’m typing this comment lol so I plan to go mostly softies with some oddball true old school sps. Mike C style. SPS curveballs seem to get weirder everytime
The tips being buried could be lighting being to strong. But man monti definitely has me in my tank to. They grow so easily and myself I don’t want a tank that I have to be on top of it 24 - 7 like some acros need. I do think a nice green slimmer would look great on the top of your tank. It would really give it that bright green color to the top. I got one and it grows really like monti it’s been just growing and growing. Took it a bit to get going but once it did is on fire!
I am very much drifting in this “not a 24 hour job” direction with my tank. I’ve adjusted my lighting to be a bit less intense and I’ll be watching the results, but I may just snag a slimer and call this tank good with that and the Montis. I can’t deal with “difficult” right now, coral-wise. Maybe someday, when my kid is all grown up. Ha ha.
@@kalamazoo_reefer I’m just like you. I love sps my 180 is all easy sps. Makes it nice you miss something little and the corals don’t care that much. But high end sps you look at it wrong and it strips that night.
When I shut off my UV about 9 months ago, I noticed all my corals looked waaayyy more fluffy and better polyp extensions especially on my Sticks .
My LPS have definitely benefitted. Sadly, not all of my SPS.
reduce the light 10-15% for 1 month, and see if the stylos are doing well , it won't hurt , sps wont die bcz of that light difference but can improve if the light is too high
Good advice, others have echoed this. Already reduced by 10%.
Montiporas are my favorite sps as well. I'm having the opposite problem in my tank as the stylos and birds nest are doing amazing, but my montis have recessed polyps, growing slowly but not thriving, no nudis....hopefully time and stability will turn things around for montiporas in my tank
@@blake6360 It’s so strange how certain tanks grow certain corals super well, and other corals just fail to thrive. I know people who have tried many different configurations and methods on the same tank, and just never really been able to get certain corals going. Funny hobby.
I’m in the same boat, have two plating montiporas that died and bleached out, and some birds nest green sps , I was advised if the Monti start bleaching on the edges to increase my magnesium, since doing that my plating montis have come back and the others looking better..I keep my magnesium around 1500.
That’s very interesting. I’ve heard elevated mag is also good for gonis!
I would say the flow is fine. Lighting was my biggest issue with growing SPS coral. I went to T5 and never looked back, but if I were to purchase LED fixtures it would be ones that a lot of people have had success with with the right color scheme. Cut off burned tips and any weird loss of tissue on SPS. Send off an ATI test kit and see where your params are, as well as having Salifert tests in Mg, Ca, Alk, Hanna PO4 in hand to test weekly or so. UV lights are only going to help a small amount with ich populations and algae, but hard to say if they actually do much in the reef tank, at least for me I don't believe I have seen its worth. Unless you know whats in your water, it's pointless to talk about though.
@@davileett1224 I test alk/cal/mag daily, and use Salifert to check those daily tests once a week. Nitrates and PO4 too. It’s none of that. Params are wicked stable. I think it’s solely a lighting intensity issue. I’ve made some adjustments and ordered some mounting gear to switch things up. Thanks for the input.
@@kalamazoo_reefer You used to be able to rent a par meter from BRS, not sure if you can anymore though. My local fish store has a par meter for rent, so maybe yours does to? Unless par is crazy in the 700+ range I don't know that its too intense, but maybe not the right color spectrum.
@@davileett1224 Got a par meter! I was up over 500. Went to a Dana Riddle talk at ReefStock, and his research has shown that even Acropora go into photosynthetic inhibition over 300 or so par. So I lowered mine down to 300. Watching it closely.
@@kalamazoo_reefer Interesting. Now I need to check my par readings since I just lowered my lights a bit. For me, the closer to the light my sps is, the better color and growth.
Yeah I found it fascinating. Flies in the face of a lot of “established” knowledge. But hey, doctors once thought smoking was good for people. I guess that can apply to many things 😂 Keep an eye on the future videos, I’ll be exploring this lighting change quite a bit.
Man that candy cane is very cool I was at Reef Stock and got some good deals on rainbow acans
There were some stunning pieces.
Your jewel in your tank is Zebrasoma flavescens, amazing exemplar ❤.
Very possible the high flow incident is responsible for the loss of polyps on the tips of the stylo. I don’t think it’s burnt tips from the typical “high light high alk” hogwash, just my opinion.
Potentially true. I think lowering the flow slightly did help. Now I’m seeing if I can dial back par some, and just take some pressure off the coral. It was definitely pretty intense par haha
Burned tips is a clear indication of strong light, high KH and low nutrients. Don't think it has anything to do with flow. Check your par and light photoperiod.
I did lower my light intensity when I noticed this, and the problem has not been progressing, so maybe you’re on to something!
Came here to say the same thing. Check your alk for sure. Sps is for sure hurting pretty badly. Everything looks healthy otherwise.
@@ryanzamora20 Alk holding stable at 8.2, checked with two separate test kits and the matched it to the Trident’s reading. Gotta be light related. I dimmed them down some.
I totally agree. It’s not the flow plus monti beginner coral can grow in high and low flow
@@moereefer Yep, I’m making some adjustments. Got some stuff ordered. You’ll see the changes soon!