Brown SPS & Melting Tips-Help!

[NZEE54]

Hi,

I'm having an issue with my SPS they are all brownish in color. I test my water regularly and keep up on water changes (10-15 gallons) every week to 1.5 weeks. This tank was set up 11/15/12, it was upgrade from a 46g that had been running for over 1 year. Here's some info on my tank:

90 gallon w/Proflex #3 set up as a refugium
(2) 18" Acan Lighting Prisim LED's
(2) VorTech MP40
Reef Octo NBW-110 Skimmer
Carbon Reactor
GFO Reactor-currently offline
I dose BRS 2 part

Water Peramiters:
SG- 1.025 refractometer
Temp- 78
Ph- 7.8 Milwaukee hand held
dkh- 9
Ca- 410
PO4- <.03 might be 0
Mg-1395
NH4- 0
NO2- 0
NO3- <.02 very close to 0
All tested with Salifert test kits

All SPS/Acro's are brown in color. I have a total of 5 in the tank right now. The Acro (purchased as a red/green acro) has burnt or melting tips. I have taken the GFO off line on 5/15 to see if this helps in any way with color or the tips but so far no improvement. I know a picture will help. I am unable to post one right now but will have one hopefully later today.

I'm looking for help/suggestions on how to get the color back and stop the melting tips. I'm sure I missed some info but will reply with any additional info needed to help solve the problems.

First pic has brown color and melting tips
Second pic is a different acro with brown clor

Thanks

Nick

 

[reefsurfing]

looks like you have elevated nutrients and your alk is a little unstable.

How are you dosing your two part?

bring the g.f.o. back online slowly and ramp up you water change regiment.

Siphon out any detritus you can find in the process.

Test you ALk often until you are sure its staying stable from one day to next.

 

[NZEE54]

looks like you have elevated nutrients and your alk is a little unstable.

How are you dosing your two part?

bring the g.f.o. back online slowly and ramp up you water change regiment.

Siphon out any detritus you can find in the process.

Test you ALk often until you are sure its staying stable from one day to next.

There isn't much detritus in the tank. I do try to stick to 15g water change
each week, but its never more then 2 weeks, I use rodi and use Aquavitro Salinity salt. I use the BRS 1.1ml doser for Cal & Alk. I dose 20 minutes from 12am-12:20 and another 10 minutes at 4am. I recently added the additional 10 minutes which has help keep the alk & cal a bit more stable then it had been.

When you say unstable alk. Do you mean too high?
I was using a little more then a half cup of BRS GFO when I took it off line which is less then BRS recommends. I started the GFO reactor on 3/24 with a little less then half cup and took it offline 5/15

 

[NeilFox]

Alk is a little high. You nutrients are quite low based on your numbers. Try to drop the alk back down to 8 or even a little less. Given your current parameters you want to get as close to NSW as possible.

Regards

Neil

 

[reefsurfing]

I say your Alk is unstable because of the rescission on the tips is typical of Alk burn or Alk swings. I use 1.5 cups of BRS H.C. Gfo and my tank is only 60 gallons. I know every tank is different but the brown corals would indicate high nutrient load and I think the gfo Will help

 

[NZEE54]

I will get the GFO back online tomorrow. I started with a lesser amount than recommended and was working my way up to the BRS recommended amount. I didn't want to shock the tank. I was at just over a half cup of the BRS standard GFO.

I did a 10g water change last night and I just now tested my water

Temp 78
SG 1.026 refracto
ph 7.9 Milwaukee hand held
dkh 8.1
ca 410
mg 1365
nh4 0
no2 0
no3 0.2 or less
po4 <0.03 could be 0, hard to tell if there is any blue color to the test
Salifert test kit used for all

 

[redcable]

get Hanna checker for PO4, better than Salifert...

 

[NZEE54]

GFO is back online using half cup of GFO.

Should I cut the bad tips off of the Acro or just leave it alone?
I plan on anouther 15g water change for tomorrow.

 

[NZEE54]

GFO is back online using half cup of GFO.

Should I cut the bad tips off of the Acro or just leave it alone?
I plan on anouther 15g water change for tomorrow.

It was recommended on another site that I keep the GFO and Carbon offline for awhile. I've got some mixed responses on how I should proceed...GFO, no GFO, No GFO & No Carbon.

Anyone care to share their opinion/experiences

Also should the tips be cut off?

 

[reefsurfing]

Cut off the tips so algae doesn't cause any damage. I hope someone else will chime in about the gfo but i still think your tank needs it.

 

[dr.big]

could be light problem. Did you acclimate to leds? Water maybe to clean, i would stop GFo for sure and see what happens.

 

[NZEE54]

I took GFO & Carbon offline yesterday

I did a 15g water change this evening, haven't tested the water after the change but I did this morning.

dkh 8.3
no3 .2 or less
po4 < .03


Does anyone else out there have Acaning Lighting Prism LED's? How long do you run your light cycle? I currently have mine at 90% and thats for 6hrs each day. Then 55% 2 hrs before and after. Should I have a longer ligh cycle? Should I run them at 100%? The tank is 24" deep and most SPS are near the middle to the top half of the tank

 

[shaggss]

I saw your pH was 7.8-7.9. Make sure you handheld meter is well calibrated and those are accurate numbers. If your pH is less than 7.8 then your corals will have a hard time calcifying.

Are you dosing anything other than Alk and Ca?

 

[NZEE54]

I saw your pH was 7.8-7.9. Make sure you handheld meter is well calibrated and those are accurate numbers. If your pH is less than 7.8 then your corals will have a hard time calcifying.

Are you dosing anything other than Alk and Ca?

I find that I almost aways have to calibrate the Milwaukee hand held. I've never been able to keep a pH over 7.9, its normally right at 7.8

Its a mixed reef and everything but my SPS are doing fine

I'm dosing Alk & Ca for 20 minutes each night and Mg when it needs it

Tested water Alk this morning and it was at dkh 8.3, ca 420

Tested last night after a 15g water change
ph 7.8
sg 1.025
dkh 8
ca 405
mg 1320
po4 < .03
no3 <= .2

 

[shaggss]

If 7.8 is an accurate number then you should be ok. You definitely do not want to go below that though. If it does, there are lots of threads on how to raise it.

1. Drip lime water
2. Open your windows
3. Surface agitation
4. CO2 scrubber

Your PO4 and NO3 are good. Keep them at those levels no higher. Strange how your Alk and Ca dropped though after a WC? Could just be the inaccuracies of the test kits though.

I am not familiar with your lights but brown corals could mean they are not getting enough. I have recently increased my light intensity and I can see the colour coming back. You need to do this SLOWLY of course.

Personally I would raise your pH and slowly, very slowly, raise your light intensity or period. Keep your parameters stable with a little PO4 and NO3 as you have now. You can run the GFO and carbon, but I would only use half of the recommended amounts with a very slow flow. I combine both GFO and carbon together so I can have a slow flow without clumping the GFO.

I go by how much algae grows in the tank for nutrients. If I am cleaning the glass every two days, then I back off the feedings a little.

HTHs!