bleaching sps!

[Authentic]

I had a successful SPS tank for approximately a year and a half. About six months ago I had a SPS crash and my tank has yet to recover. All of my parameters seem fine
salinity .25
alk 9.0
mag..800..dont know why
phosphates..reduced from .07 to .02-.00

ati t5 six bulb 8-10 inches off water
65gal tank

I have been buying frags and within two days they turned completely white. I have plenty of flow with two MP 40s and another pump on the back.

I have noticed that my rocks are fairly dirty but I have no green algae to speak of as I use an up flow algae scraper. I believe the rocks have red slime but the last time I used a remover approximately 6 months ago I believe that it was one of the reasons my tank crashed.

Additionally I've purchased a few frag's of zoas which do not open although I have other colonies doing very well.

Any advice appreciated

 

[Reef Bass]

That the frags die so quickly suggests a fundamental water quality issue to me.

Mag is super low, not fine. I've had coral get grumpy with mag at 1100. Should be around 1300.

I don't see any mention of your calcium level, pH, nitrates or temp.

What do you use for top off water?

How often do you do water changes?

Do you run carbon or gfo?

Any carbon dosing?

Has the tank ever been treated with copper based medication?

Have a sandbed? How old is it? Do you ever vacuum it?

 

[Arc Drafter]

What type of lights are the suppliers using? I have had the same issue with getting sps from guys with cheap LEDs.

 

[Authentic]

sorry mag is 1800
RO top off
I do run GFO and Carbon in a Two little Fishies reactor
I have a automatic Water Change system changing approx 1 gal per day/stenner
i have treated with chem clean red slime remover....copper?
havent checked cal in the past two weeks but it was also very high! off the red sea test kit chart
i have been dosing randys two part equally at night by apex alk at the top of the hour
cal at the 45 min mark

ati coral plus and blues along with a reefbrite strip for dawn and dusk

 

[markalot]

RO/DI or just RO?

I would suspect water source, since you do daily topoffs.

If Calcium is high then I suspect Alk is high as well and your test might be false. Expired kit? When corals start to suffer Alk and Calcium usage drop and if you don't correct your auto dosing can drive it way up. I am so paranoid about this I actually own 2 Salifert Alk test kits, always, and if I get an odd reading I break open the backup kit and test. I base all my dosing on Alkalinity only and only test for calcium to make sure it's staying in balance with Alk.

Just ideas.

 

[ycnibrc]

you need to check your water for other contamination like copper or metals when sps die quickly like that. Out of the basic 3 cal,alk and mg only alk can kill your sps still not as quick as 2 days.

 

[PaleHorse]

What type of lights are the suppliers using? I have had the same issue with getting sps from guys with cheap LEDs.

Lol

 

[Arc Drafter]

Something funny? I'm not the only person this has happened to. Interestingly enough I got 2 different sps from 2 different people the same weekend 1 from mh and one from cheap led. The cheap led was washed out in a couple days. The other from the mh lights is still in my tank after 2 years. But I guess since you have never experienced this it is laughable.

 

[calistyle]

any magnets in tank that might be exposed, rust?

Had this issue, not good, ****es off SPS rather quickly. The amount for me was very small, so the affect it had on SPS was a slow one.

 

[Peter Eichler]

There's something really wrong from what you're describing. I'd suggest a very large water change with some salt different from what you've been using and getting your parameters in line and confirming that your test kits are accurate. A cheap API alkalinity and calcium kit will help confirm and cost very little.

Also, make sure your salinity levels are correct and that you're using a properly calibrated refractometer.