Help with dying tree

[bmackcw]

My tree colony, the oldest in my 3-year old tank, suddenly went brown and limp about 4 days ago. Also, my mature duncan colony is closed up.

As of just now, all tests are solid (except 1).

Here's what I've done differently in the last month:

I've started adding a lot of SPS, so I started using kalkwasser in the topoff bucket.

I never test for Ph, so I did when the tree went brown. Ph was so low it was off the test chart. Over the last 3 days I've been adding a Kent Ph buffer, and have gotten it back up to about 8.0.

Also, the more I've read about SPS, the more I thought I was actually using too much light (4-foot razor on a 55g tank running at 100% at peak hours), so I changed the light to the factory preset. The tree went limp right after.

So - hoping the drop in Ph or change in light might have caused this. It's not getting worse, but doesn't seem to be getting better. I'm assuming if it was totally dead, I'd have some ammonia in the tank? Reading is 0.0

I don't really care about the trees, but don't want the duncans to die.

Thoughts appreciated.

 

[anthonys51]

dont use ph buffer they do more harm then good. plus if your dosing with kalkwasser and your ph is low, probably means there is something wrong with your tank.
you have have too much co2 in your tank, its either from too little flow or too much organic waste in your tank so forth.
do you have a protein skimmer

 

[bmackcw]

Thanks for the reply. I am a heavy feeder. I do have a skimmer plus GFO and carbon reactors. I recently put in two synced jebao power heads on wave maker mode. They do a nice job of rocking softies back and forth, but I suspect the flow is weak. I just switched them to alternate flow.

Good news - the Duncans have opened up after three days.

 

[frey]

less lighting may have caused a die off of some algae? or caused some corals to photosynthesize less than normal thus causing more co2 and therefor a drop in PH.

 

[bmackcw]

I rented a par meter for five bucks (!). Original rating for trees was about 400. Cut down to 250ish last few days. Still seems like more light than necessary?