Cant keep a sps to save my life, what am I doing wrong?

[nadking]

Specs:
Tank: 210g , 72x24x 26

Lights: 1x72" T12 super actinic, 1x72" T12 454, 2x48" ATI Blue plus, 2x48" ATI 12000k, 3x 8000k stunner strip led, (T5's and T12's, driven on ICE CAP ballasts.

Flow: Appx. 11000 gph powerheads, appx 800 gph flow thru sump.

Skimmer: SRO XP 3000 Ext

Temp: 77.8- 78
Alk: 8-10 dkh
Calcium: 400-440 ppm
Mag: Appx. 1300
Nitrate: 0, API
Phosphate: 0, API
Salinity: 1.026
Salt: Salinity
Water Changes Bi-Weekly, 37gallons.

About 6 months ago, everything in my tank was looking great, my acros were growing, showing polyp extension, and decent color. I had 6 different kinds of monti caps all doing excellent IMO. Then things started to go downhill. I first noticed a lack of polyp extension in a few of my acros followed by some browning in my purple haze montipora. Little polyp extension in my acros turned into no polyp extension in any of them after a few months. After the polyp extension was gone, I started noticing tips start to turn white followed by the rest of their body. My montis started losing alot of their color and later many of them started getting brown diatomish algae on them.
During this time I did add a few anthias and started feeding more often. When things started to go downhill I really tried to button up my reefkeeping. I moved over to using RO water for water changes, and moved from red sea salt to seachem salinity, thinking that I was missing some trace element. My nitrates and phosphates have always been pretty much 0 using API kits, but I thought that the increased feeding may be leading to excess nutrients in the system. I had never dealt with any vodka dosing in the past, but I figured at this point, what else could go wrong so I started using warner marine ecobak.
My skimmer was upgraded to a SRO XP 3000 Ext to remove gunk. And a RIO polario was added for more flow. The ecobak removed alot of the brown diatomish algae I had been getting in the sand and some on the rock, however all sps continued to go downhill.
After improving my flow, salt, and overall cleanliness of the water the only other thing I could think of was my lights. I had been running 2x 72" T12 super actinics, and 4x48" 12000k t5's, all powered by ice cap ballasts. The spectrum has always been a little too white for my taste, but they grew things fine for quite a while. About a month ago I replaced all of my bulbs and went with 1x 72" 454, 1x72" super actinic, 2x48" blue plus, and 2x48" 12000k. I also added 3 8000k stunner strips for shimmer. I really like the way the new lights look but the sps are still not happy.
I realize that I have put the tank thru alot of changes the past 6-months, something that is generally not a good idea, however, desperate times call for desperate measures. About a week ago, I put in a blue tip acro and pink pocilopora in as a tester, and more of the same, the blue tip has already completely turned white, and it appears the pocilapora is turning brown.
Does anyone have any advice?

Here are some pics

Purple Haze

Unknown Acro

Pink Poci

Last of my caps

LPS

FTS
(looks bluer than it really is)

 

[coralreefhq]

Not sure if anyone agree's with me, but it looks like you may have a pest invasion.

 

[mthomp]

kind of hard to tell, but do you have any stinging lps near your sps frags? also what kind of flow are you doing? Are they getting blasted one way is it indirect random flow? the one pic looked like rtn. do you dip your acros? they are notorious for having redbugs.

also Im not entirely sure you have enough light for a tank your size.

 

[muttley000]

First thing I thought of was look at all of those zoas, are you running carbon or something else to deal with all of the chemical warfare going on in your tank?

 

[Dustin1300]

Have you tested with better kit on Phosphate/Nitrate? Do you run GFO? Carbon as muttley said? What is your photoperiod? What is the TDS of RO/DI water?

 

[MammothReefer]

whats with the alk of 8-10, that's a big swing. How often is it bouncing between the 2?

 

[nadking]

Not sure if anyone agree's with me, but it looks like you may have a pest invasion.

It certainly could be an invasion, but I haven't been able to see any visible pests.

 

[nadking]

kind of hard to tell, but do you have any stinging lps near your sps frags? also what kind of flow are you doing? Are they getting blasted one way is it indirect random flow? the one pic looked like rtn. do you dip your acros? they are notorious for having redbugs.

also Im not entirely sure you have enough light for a tank your size.

All of the sps were quite a bit aways from the lps. I never noticed any of them being close to being stung. I have a large rio polario in the center of the tank that does about 5500 gph it alternates flow from left to right every 2 mins. I also have a seio 2600 and the largest powerhead from high seas that are on the far right of the tank, they do about 6000 gph total. One other smaller koralia is on the bottom left side just to keep things moving. Most of the time the acros were in direct flow, as I heard you can never give them too much of it. Caps were put towards the middle of the tank, out of direct flow, with the exception of the purple haze that is on the shelf on the far right. You can see all of them in the FTS picture. Light has always been a concern so I tried to keep most of the acros on the large shelf on the right side of the tank. The shelf sits about 12" below the water level, I figured that the height of the shelf should give them enough light. Everything grew fine with the same flow for about 1 year prior to all the trouble. I did not dip my corals prior to when the problems started happening, I do dip everything now tho.

 

[nadking]

First thing I thought of was look at all of those zoas, are you running carbon or something else to deal with all of the chemical warfare going on in your tank?

I run about 3-4 cups of kent marine reef carbon replaced once a month

 

[Gyr]

What is the TDS of RO/DI water?

I agree with Dustin that RODI is critical. When I first started reefing, I assumed my well water with TDS or 20-25 was good enough. When my SPS kept dying (looking alot like your photos) I ponied up for a RODI unit and after several big water changes I've had good success with the SPS. My RODI water SPS has TDS <3.
Good luck.

 

[nadking]

Have you tested with better kit on Phosphate/Nitrate? Do you run GFO? Carbon as muttley said? What is your photoperiod? What is the TDS of RO/DI water?

I have never tested nitrates and phosphates with a better kit, Im hoping a friend picks up a hanna phosphate meter for xmas that I could borrow. I did run gfo prior to running ecobak, now I am gfo free. Photoperiod is 2pm-12am 454, super actinic, and stunner strips. 3pm-11pm blue pluses, and 12000k. TDS of the RO/DI water is about 40-50 in and 0 out.

 

[nadking]

I agree with Dustin that RODI is critical. When I first started reefing, I assumed my well water with TDS or 20-25 was good enough. When my SPS kept dying (looking alot like your photos) I ponied up for a RODI unit and after several big water changes I've had good success with the SPS. My RODI water SPS has TDS <3.
Good luck.

Ya, I am really happy with the RO/DI system, it even tastes good.

 

[nadking]

whats with the alk of 8-10, that's a big swing. How often is it bouncing between the 2?

I dose 2 tablespoons of reef builder every other day, and 4 teaspoons of calcium on the days I do not do reef builder. Usually the alk is about 8.5 on the day I dose reef builder prior to dosing, then the 2 tablespoons brings it up to around 10. Should I start dosing reef builder every day, to make it more stable? I have a friend that doses his calcium and alkalinity once a week, and his tank is growing like crazy, about the same size tank, with less light.

 

[Top Water]

Tank looks good. Acans are ok so water is most likely very good.
Monti looks like not enough light or too much flow. Check close for red bugs.
Brown Acros can use more light. If an acro ever fell on another coral or in sand it can sometimes react bad or die. DKH is great no issue there. Chalice and Acans would show the first signs of low DKH.

 

[nadking]

Tank looks good. Acans are ok so water is most likely very good.
Monti looks like not enough light or too much flow. Check close for red bugs.
Brown Acros can use more light. If an acro ever fell on another coral or in sand it can sometimes react bad or die. DKH is great no issue there. Chalice and Acans would show the first signs of low DKH.

What is the best way to see these red bugs? Do they affect both montis and acros? Do you think the "acro shelf" on the right is high enough to give the acros enough light? I would upgrade to a halide fixture but I worry that my chiller would not be able to keep up. I have a couple of chalices and they are doing well. The acans are getting much puffier since I have been feeding them more.

 

[nadking]

If my tank is going through some sort of RTN is it advised that I take all of the sps out, and just start from scratch?

 

[gh0st]

I lnow we've talked about this, but after a quick scroll through this forum and reading the several other posts very similar to yours...

Every single one is running Vodka or Bio Pellets. Coincidence?

Running a little lower on Alk in conjunction with Vodka or Pellets may help, burnt tips is a common side effect for Carbon dosing with higher Alk.

Or just ditch the pellets.

 

[Whisperer]

That brown unknown acro looks like it has AEFW. Inspect closely if you see alucter of brown eggs somewhere on the bare spots.

 

[REEF SMAC]

If my tank is going through some sort of RTN is it advised that I take all of the sps out, and just start from scratch?

I don't know if I would go this drastic of an approach.^^

My first guess is lack of light. For the montis and acros both having issues at the same time I would say two different pests at the same time unlikely.
Your tank is 26" deep? Are your lights right down close to the water? Do you have good (and clean) reflectors?

My second guess is phosphate. Test kits can be iffy at best to really know for sure. Do you have algea issues?

Third guess faulty Alk or salinity reading?

Hang in there you'll figure it out-

 

[nadking]

I lnow we've talked about this, but after a quick scroll through this forum and reading the several other posts very similar to yours...

Every single one is running Vodka or Bio Pellets. Coincidence?

Running a little lower on Alk in conjunction with Vodka or Pellets may help, burnt tips is a common side effect for Carbon dosing with higher Alk.

Or just ditch the pellets.

I do not think it is the pellets. I started doing the pellets because I was having these problems. Since starting the pellets I have not noticed the problem get better or worse. I did notice my cyano disappear, and I get less algae in the sand. I am going to try and keep the alk closer to 9.