just tested my salt! could this be the reason why my sps are not happy??

Those pics to me look just like low Alkalinity "burn" :( IME certain corals are more susceptible to low Alk than others which would explain why some are still ok. To add another piece to your puzzle, my Monti's were some of the hardest hit during my problems too...
 
I think switching salts is a good decision. It's one big element in your equation that you'll eliminate. I would consider a more agressive WC schedule.

Best of luck!
 
PUGroyale....

i check my alk all the time and its currently at 8.3 dkh.... so i dont see how it can be low alk what do u think??

it stays around 8-9 the lowest its ever gotten was 7 but that was a while ago before these new corals were added.....

whats low alk burn??

Mach5.....

yeah im using TM im doin a water change tomorrow after work im guna do a 40g water change then anotehr one in a week to try and get some fresh saltwater in there with the new salt....

what do u think??
 
well I dont think is the lighting, so it must be your salt. I know some people will say the've had good succes with OPP but I have never liked that salt so I never tried it. I just always had good succes with TM and when I switch salts I was having issues so I went back to TM again and never looked back. Wish my camera was better so that I can shoot some pictures of what my tank looks like afther 9.5months. Of using TM salt
 
bulbs are 2 months old and its happend through new old and changed bulbs its always happening no matter what....

leads me to believe its the salt....

i have a batch of TM setting now and mixin for 24 hours then change tomorrow....

i have my fingers crossed this salt is doing something to the corals

thanks mchava id like to see how ur tank looks now.....

so u notice wierds things with ur sps if u change salts??

if its the salt im guna be so mad!
 
Were all the bulbs you used during the burnt tips episode from the same batch?

Would you consider changing to a different brand of bulbs just to see if the bulbs could have caused the burnt tip?

From your photos, it looked a bit like UV burnt.
 
ive ran helios 20K bulbs with same results tips fried and corals slowly died off even though they had great color and PE

then i switched to phoenix 14ks same issue as u can see....

so its been all bulbs new and old....

im thinking that maybe the UV glass shields on the pendants are not blocking all the UV is that possible for some to still penetrate the glass and harm some of the more UV sensative sps corals??

well its either salt or lights and im switchin both
 
Murphreef: I personally would recommend shorter periods between your WCs. When I had my problem with my salt JBNY (Joe Burger) recommended 20% daily! Initially I thought that this was rather aggressive but I have to say that it did wonders for my acros! Not to say that you should necessarily do this but this is more of an FYI. Once again I highly doubt it's the bulbs or pendants IMO.
 
so i should do more often water changes??

i mean salt is kinda pricey lol especially doin water changes on a 180g tank too hahaha

anyways yeah i doubt its the pendants or anything like that too.... cuz the LFS out here switched out my pendants once before due to a flaw in the MH bulb holder and even after getting new pendants this till has happened so i doubt that PFO has made 2 completely seperate bad batches of mh pendants at all....

so im narrowed down to something with the salt and alkalinity which is causing the tips to fry....

i checked my alk today it was at 8.3 and still holding steady with my CA reactor and thats using 2 different salifer kits so i know its the correct #.....

so my alk is not high nor low .... only thought left is the salt has something chemically imbalanced or im not mixing it long enough so im switchin and mixn longer i hope results come at a faster pace though lol

heres a shot i added another 250w mh today im guna slowly acclimate the corals to it over the next week

hopin for a lil faster growth when i get this all figured out....

newlight.jpg
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8147181#post8147181 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by murphreef
PUGroyale....

i check my alk all the time and its currently at 8.3 dkh.... so i dont see how it can be low alk what do u think??

I dunno :confused: Mine tested out perfect too... My best guess is my salt was produced by ASI and just like the SeaChem salt, I think the Coralife salt had elevated borate levels. This skews your test by 1-2 points. So while I thought everything was perfect at 8 dkH... in reality my alk was probably 6-6.5 dkH.
 
really??!! how does borate do that??

so i should try and raise my alk levels then to compensate for that or what??

thats really wierd>?
 
Yes do more water changes but be sure your water is aged properly before you add it to your tank. I also don't think it's your Alk either.
 
murphreef,you stated that you just mixed the salt & then proceeded to change out .try this, mix the salt you normally used & just when you would normally pour it in your tank check the
ammonia levels. just curious to see the results.
 
hmmmm this tanks never shown ammonia before.... interesting ill take a look

PUGroyale showed me a good link about seachem salt made by ASI which makes lots of salts in china .... i duno if mines made by them or not but theres been an issue with there alk being lower than the test kit reads due to the excess use of Borate in there formula to keep the alk and calcium in solution so a percipitate event doesnt occur during mixing....

anyways this Borate can fool your alk test kit readings by 1-2 points .... since borate adds to your total Alk reading but in reality isnt used by corals as carbonate hardness....

example.... if u have an alk reading of 8.0 which i currently have as of today minus 2 points would leave u an alk reading of 6dkh which is below NSW and would give corals issue and they would start to die off....

thanks for the info PUGroyale now i just have to find out if ocean pure pro is made by ASI and if they use Borate to what extent in there formula ....

im guna buy a Borate test kit and test that salt out and see what the Borate reduction from the Alk reading is... it could be interesting.....

all fingers are pointing to salt....

i will know shortly i have 2 water changes planned out this week using TM salt.....

the salt is the only key ingredient left in my sps failure to deal with.... everything else in my tank has been adressed.... that i can think of
 
Once again... let the salt sit for 24 hours before putting it in. I myself had a problem when I put in salt that was too "fresh".

I use oceanpure pro, but the seachem was the one that caused me problems. Very chalky
 
thanks franky i have a fresh batch of new salt witrh TM in it and its ready to go its been siting with a power head in it for 24 hours now so im guna do a water change then do another larger one in a few more days
 
I hate to change gears on you like this when you're focused on the salt, but what type of UV shield are you using on those lights? Your pictures sure look like corals with UV damage. Are you seeing any kind of bleaching or whitening on the undersides of the coral branches? or is it only on the tips and tops (facing the lights)? You also mentioned that you had a specimen that was damaged but stopped when you moved it deeper. Again, that sounds like a UVR issue. Take a few minutes and check out this sight--

http://www.masla.com/reef/uvlighting.html

It discusses the characteristics of UVR and the shielding properties of various materials. You'll see how little UVR that green glass filters out. I've had UVR issues in the past with that same bulb (Phoenix 14,000K), but it was with a different fixture (Coralife clip on tank fixture, which is notorious for leaking UVR). I mounted some 3/16" lexan as a UV shield and that quickly solved the problem. You must be very careful in mounting Lexan as a UV shield because it can not hold-up to the extreme heat produced my a MH lamp the way glass can. But, after checking out the link above, you will see how well it filters UVR. Good Luck.
 
I'm also leaning towards IndyReefMan's view, the corals do look like suffering from UV burn.

Why I say so is because I used to have (or still am having albeit at a lesser degree), very similar problems with my corals. Monti can't stay alive, they look ok for a week, then bleach, the tips lose tissue, algae grow on them and eventually the whole piece is gone. Some of my acros have the tips burn issue but some are doing extremely well even though they are next to each other.

I started to have this problem after I change my ballasts and a new set of bulbs (reputable brand). My corals when into hibernation, no growth or very little growth. My Ca and kh climbed to 500+ and 16 respectively. I have to tune down my CR tremendously to bring the parameters in check. Initially I thought the corals were affected by alk burn due to the spike in alk but after returning and maintaining the parameter for almost 2 months, my montis are still dying.

Then I began to notice my hardiest and fastest growing coral, a blue stag starting to get tip burns after it grew above a certain height. The lower tips are ok, only those that grew above a certain height.

That's when I decided it is the lights that is causing the problem. I've now changed my bulbs to a different brand for 2 weeks and the corals seem a lot happier. I still have one or 2 pieces who are still suffering from the residual effect but overall, things look a lot better than previously.

I took me almost 4 months to realise this as I never thought the lights was the root of the problem. I've used the same bulbs before with no ill effect and being of a reputable brand, I thought nothing of it. It could just be a batch problem or something else.

However this goes to show, we cannot take anything for granted. Now I'll be breaking out in cold sweat when my bulbs are due for change.......
 
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