SPS getting a little pale

[Nano sapiens]

Great, sounds like things are getting better!

[Kailua-Kona]

I believed I killed all of my hard corals by running biopellets while trying to follow old information on alk and cal levels. I was trying to combat GHA and added the biopellets. I was two part dosing to keep alk around 9 to 10 dKH. Most of my hard corals got STN and died. I was left with a pagoda cup that would not extend its polyps for 6 months. Zoas were fine.

[TFish77]

I believed I killed all of my hard corals by running biopellets while trying to follow old information on alk and cal levels. I was trying to combat GHA and added the biopellets. I was two part dosing to keep alk around 9 to 10 dKH. Most of my hard corals got STN and died. I was left with a pagoda cup that would not extend its polyps for 6 months. Zoas were fine.

 

Jesus sorry to hear. Was this something that happened over the last couple years>?

[Kailua-Kona]

 

Jesus sorry to hear. Was this something that happened over the last couple years>?

Yeah, it happened when I really was trying for "strong coral growth". I upped my lighting which (I now believe caused GHA to grow out of control). I tried to counter with biopellets and the belief that: I must have a nutrient problem!. Well things just spiraled from there and the tank turned ugly with corals dying while GHA was thriving. People telling me that I needed to keep my Alk, Mag, and Cal super high to combat it. People telling me to stop feeding so much. I countered by practically starving my poor fish and still the GHA was hanging around.

 

I gave up for a while and stopped dosing my tank. I was very close to quitting the hobby. After a while things started getting better. My one Pagoda Cup stopped hiding and I tried a cheap Birdsnest for testing to see if it would get the STN. To my surprize it started growing great with just 10% water changes every two weeks.

 

I think technology is changing so rapidly that nobody is sure how to deal with it. I still have GHA but I'm starting to think that I need to live with it and focus on healthy CUC and limiting lighting to the minimum for coral growth. My P and N are at 0PPM!

[TFish77]

Yeah, it happened when I really was trying for "strong coral growth". I upped my lighting which (I now believe caused GHA to grow out of control). I tried to counter with biopellets and the belief that: I must have a nutrient problem!. Well things just spiraled from there and the tank turned ugly with corals dying while GHA was thriving. People telling me that I needed to keep my Alk, Mag, and Cal super high to combat it. People telling me to stop feeding so much. I countered by practically starving my poor fish and still the GHA was hanging around.

 

I gave up for a while and stopped dosing my tank. I was very close to quitting the hobby. After a while things started getting better. My one Pagoda Cup stopped hiding and I tried a cheap Birdsnest for testing to see if it would get the STN. To my surprize it started growing great with just 10% water changes every two weeks.

 

I think technology is changing so rapidly that nobody is sure how to deal with it. I still have GHA but I'm starting to think that I need to live with it and focus on healthy CUC and limiting lighting to the minimum for coral growth. My P and N are at 0PPM!

 

 

In my humble opinion I would try and simplify everything as much as possible. Water changes are still the absolute best thing anyone can do to combat virtually any tank issue.

 

I don't think the issue is people not being able to deal with the new technology but rather people thinking they need all this new technology to be successful. Controllers, dosers, probes, advanced chemicals, blah, blah, blah. People go online and read a bunch and think they need all kinds of crazy stuff to be successful. Combine that with the fact that if you ask 10 people in this hobby the same question you will likely get 10 very different answers, the correct solution becomes difficult to find.

 

Two 60% water changes over the course of two weeks and 25% water changes every week or two depending on bio load and feeding (I keep my nitrates around 5-10ppm). Combine that with feeding both good quality fish and coral food every day and an appropriate amount of high grade carbon or chemi pure for your tank size and you will not have an issue. No dosing.

 

I hope any of this helps and wish you luck.