Acro's keep dying HELP!!!!!

D

dndmicks

New member
Hello everyone my tank has been up for a few years 350 reef tank I have quite a few LPS corals in there and have been somewhat successful over the years of keeping SPS under T5 lighting within the past year I have had some bad luck with SPS in particular acros keep turning white after about 1-3 weeks
Parameters are as follows
Ca 420
Kh 11
Mg 1400
Po4 0
Nit 0
Ph 8.2
Sal 1.025
I do run a 8 bulb ATI fixture and also Calcium Reactor Guy I just don't know where to go from here Pulling my hair out over the past year and I'm just trying to figure out why they keep dying
Thanks for everyone's help
 
Should I shut off skimmer for a few days? I shut down bio pellet reactor and carbon next will be gfo
Any thoughts on strontium maybe being low One of my coral guys in the area said if my strontium his low acros won't be able to absorb calcium any thoughts on that
 
dndmicks said:
Should I shut off skimmer for a few days? I shut down bio pellet reactor and carbon next will be gfo
Any thoughts on strontium maybe being low One of my coral guys in the area said if my strontium his low acros won't be able to absorb calcium any thoughts on that
Click to expand...

CaCO3 uptake would only affect growth, not cause them to die.

Have you done any changes to anything recently?

All your other corals are doing good right? If so it's got to either be a parasite or stability issue.

Personally I don't like my alk to be that high, I keep mine around 8.5-9 dKH. What's your temperature at?
 
GhostCon1 said:
CaCO3 uptake would only affect growth, not cause them to die.

Have you done any changes to anything recently?

All your other corals are doing good right? If so it's got to either be a parasite or stability issue.

Personally I don't like my alk to be that high, I keep mine around 8.5-9 dKH. What's your temperature at?
Click to expand...

Temp stays around 77 and all my parameters are very stable which is very strange to me as well I check him and I always take him to the OFS to check them as well just to back me up on my SPS is doing very well clams shrimp etc.
Do you think al and all my parameters are very stable which is very strange to me as well I check him and I always take him to the OFS to check them as well just to back me up on my SPS is doing very well clams shrimp etc.
Do you think all could be the issue? I run a ca reactor but will try to bring the alk down see what happens
 
Ok. I'd be a bit concerned about the low nutrients and high alkalinity.

Are you introducing new frags by putting them on the sandbed and slowly raising them up? New frags can have a really hard time if they go from higher nutrients to really low, add lots of light and high alkalinity and it's not a good recipe for success. I'm surprised you haven't managed to keep any at all alive.
 
myka said:
ok. I'd be a bit concerned about the low nutrients and high alkalinity.

Are you introducing new frags by putting them on the sandbed and slowly raising them up? New frags can have a really hard time if they go from higher nutrients to really low, add lots of light and high alkalinity and it's not a good recipe for success. I'm surprised you haven't managed to keep any at all alive.
Click to expand...

+10
 
Myka said:
Ok. I'd be a bit concerned about the low nutrients and high alkalinity.

Are you introducing new frags by putting them on the sandbed and slowly raising them up? New frags can have a really hard time if they go from higher nutrients to really low, add lots of light and high alkalinity and it's not a good recipe for success. I'm surprised you haven't managed to keep any at all alive.
Click to expand...

Yes putting them on the sand then raising them up just a year ago I was grow them like crazy and now I'm at a loss I do over feed to help with nutrient but also have a big skimmer for my system should I turn that off. I do however have leathers and torches and fish and all do great
Lighting t-5 run about 7 hours a day
 
dndmicks said:
Yes putting them on the sand then raising them up just a year ago I was grow them like crazy and now I'm at a loss I do over feed to help with nutrient but also have a big skimmer for my system should I turn that off. I do however have leathers and torches and fish and all do great
Lighting t-5 run about 7 hours a day
Click to expand...

Don't turn your skimmer off, you'll get pH swings.

The white T5 run for 7 hours or the whole fixture for 7 hours? Most people with T5 will run the blues for 12 hours and whites for 6-8 hours. I doubt that's your issue with the new frags though.

So what happened to the SPS they used to grow like crazy a year ago? Where are they now? In that time, have those leathers grown a lot? Have you added a lot of leathers? Are they really big? Leathers and SPS don't get a long well - leathers are chemically aggressive. Do you use carbon? Carbon may help, but might not be enough.

Here's a thread I found discussing leathers and SPS. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1805356
 
Last edited:
Myka said:
Don't turn your skimmer off, you'll get pH swings.

The white T5 run for 7 hours or the whole fixture for 7 hours? Most people with T5 will run the blues for 12 hours and whites for 6-8 hours. I doubt that's your issue with the new frags though.

So what happened to the SPS they used to grow like crazy a year ago? Where are they now? In that time, have those leathers grown a lot? Have you added a lot of leathers? Are they really big? Leathers and SPS don't get a long well - leathers are chemically aggressive. Do you use carbon? Carbon may help, but might not be enough.

Here's a thread I found discussing leathers and SPS. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1805356
Click to expand...
lighting the whites are the only part on for 7 hours the rest for say 12 hrs yes i have 2 leathers on each side of the tank not near the frags
and as for carbon i just currenty shut the reactor down seeing if that was the cause. the arco i had a year ago did the same but were growing grat for 2 years nothing really had changed because they were under t-5 as well
and yes my leathers are really big now like the size of a softball maybe bigger
 
Myka said:
Don't turn your skimmer off, you'll get pH swings.

The white T5 run for 7 hours or the whole fixture for 7 hours? Most people with T5 will run the blues for 12 hours and whites for 6-8 hours. I doubt that's your issue with the new frags though.

So what happened to the SPS they used to grow like crazy a year ago? Where are they now? In that time, have those leathers grown a lot? Have you added a lot of leathers? Are they really big? Leathers and SPS don't get a long well - leathers are chemically aggressive. Do you use carbon? Carbon may help, but might not be enough.

Here's a thread I found discussing leathers and SPS. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1805356
Click to expand...
wow just read that thread you think i should remove the leathers. sure hate to i have had them for many years but they have gotten bigger in the last year i guess when they were small they did cause a issue. thats reall the only thing that has changed is the size of them.also just remembered I have a Green Nepthea in a few places as well damn
 
Last edited:
Sounds like your alkalinity is too high for the ULNS.
To my knowledge - for ULNS, Alkalinity should be keep around 7 dkh to 8 dkh.
Anyway, I wouldn't keep your Nitrate at 0 and phosphate at 0.
Aim Nitrate at 2ppm and phosphate at 0.06ppm. You will have great success with sps corals especially with acroporas. :wavehand:
 
I agree if you are running a ULNS your alk shouldn't be any higher than about 7. I personally had issues with phosphates at 0 and once I raised them all my acros came back and things are better than ever. I shut off my protein skimmer and fed like crazy for 2 weeks. Now I run phosphates at about 0.1. I also stopped GFO all together. Just my 2 cents
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Help: SPS peeling strangely.
Replies
5
Views
700
griss
griss
C
High Zinc in ICP Test & Switching to ATI Essentials – Need Advice
Replies
17
Views
2K
Reefing102
Reefing102
K
Carbon Dosing causes STN/RTN?
Replies
13
Views
2K
Timfish
Timfish
five.five-six
Need help! How do I cut up thick SPS colonies in the tank?
2
Replies
33
Views
2K
five.five-six
five.five-six
JustSalty
Dying Fish sick & stressed fish from pet stores or something else?
Replies
3
Views
731
JustSalty
JustSalty
Back
Top