LPS coral issues - help needed

[tassod]

Ok, within about a week or so some of my LPS corals are having issues. Basically its 1 zoa frag, 2 plate corals, 1 large buble coral 1 open brain and 1 flower pot. The first coral i started noticing with issues was the zoas. I know the zoas are not LPS but i thought i would just include them.

Here are my parameters which were taken by my LFS yesterday:

Calcium: 490
Alk: 11.5
Mag: 1500
Phosphate .02
Nitrate: < 2
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
SG: 1.026
PH: 8.1

I'm getting conflicting readings on my own tests that is why i went to my LFS. My red sea CA test kit tonight tells me I am at 410. I also tried my hannah CA tester but that came in at 530. I ran out of regent for alk so I cannot test it so I'm guessing my LFS is accurate on these. Now here are pics:

Bubble


Plate


Plate


Flower pot


Dont have a pic right now on the 1 open brain or zoas but they look stressed like these other ones. I have another smaller bubble which is doing fine along with several other corals and 2 carpet annemones and 10 fish all doing great.

I use Reef Crystals salt and the only thing i've changed is my water change regimen which i used to do about 10-15% weekly now I do a daily 3 gallon water change. I have a 125 gallon tank with a 45 gallon sump.

I use BRS dosers for CA, Alk and MAG and i continued to dose the same as I did before when i was doing the weekly water changes, perhaps this is why my levels have gone up. I used to keep my CA at about 440, alk at 8.5 and Mag at 1400. Now, i've turned off the dosers all together but still doing my daily water changes.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Ian]

Your water may be too clean, start doing a 10% water change every other week. There's no reason to change out 3 gallons daily.

A po4 level of .02 is way too low for an LPS/zoanthid tank...

Another thing, those are heliofungias and they're known to do poorly in captivity. Steer clear of those guys...

 

[BlindZide]

Would a rapid spike in Alk stress them out? If you normally keep it at 8.5 and now its 11+, how rapidly did that change happen? Also, I agree with the water changes. Remember when you do that you are removing things the corals need but at the same time replenishing what they need.

Finding that balance of how large and how often we do water changes can be critical. Other than that you know the other obvious question would be pests. But if you haven't added anything to the tank and have only changed the WC regimen then I would go back to my old ways and see what happens.

This link will provide you with information on levels. I have a feeling you already know what should be where but just in case. Clicky

 

[wildman926]

Your water may be too clean, start doing a 10% water change every other week. There's no reason to change out 3 gallons daily.

X2. I just did my second water change for the year Friday. It was a 20%, and too much. Corals stressed out for a day, but settled back down. I did not have to do it, just did it cause it had been so long. This is on my 150g LPS tank.

 

[tassod]

I'm going to be getting some new test kits today (salifert) and update my parameters. As for the water changes, there seems to be different opinions on this on how often to perform. I figured by doing daily smaller changes would be less stressful on the tank and I would be basically replacing the same amount of water as I would weekly. The way I have it setup it literally takes me less than 3 minutes to do my water change

 

[Ian]

Your parameters aren't very important in the case of the types of corals that you're having trouble with, why buy new test kits anyways?

How quick you can do a water change isn't important, the fact is, you shouldn't be doing them so often.

If you're going to continue to do it your way and not listen to those trying to guide you in the right direction there's not much use in asking us for help...

 

[Dapg8gt]

I would say your alk is too high and your nutrients are too low.. There is a great article focusing on this on Rc.. I personally would start by changing your alk/salt to something with a lower alk/cal #.. With low nutrients it's said to be best with lower alk.. More like what you used to run 8 to 8.5 or even lower..

There's no reason for cal to be that high also.. IMO reef crystals is meant for guys who don't want to dose and do weekly/by weekly water changes to maintain levels.. You are literally raising your levels with your method.. I don't think it's a case of its bad to do water changes its just not good to have your levels that of what RC has in a fresh mix.. Maybe if your nitrates were high and phosphates were also. That's just my opinion but I would either change salt mix to something closer to sea levels or back off on the water changes..

 

[tassod]

I have no problem taking advice, if i need to back off the water changes, I will. I'll try 3 gallons a week instead of daily and see how it goes. I do also have some SPS in the tank, they are doing great. I also do not use filter socks. Going to retest now and report back. I needed to get new regents anyways for testing and figure its not a bad thing to have 2 different kits to compare.

 

[tassod]

i got 2 boxes and half of a 5 gallon bucket of Reef crystals left so wont be changing salt anytime soon.

 

[tassod]

Ok just did my tests:

Alk (Red Sea): 9.4dkh
Cal: (Salifert & Hannah) 450
Mag: (Red Sea): 1400

Now I also took tests of my fresh batch of saltwater (reef crystals) and the Alk and Calcium are the same as my tank.

My previous tests were taken Friday afternoon at my LFS so exactly 2 days ago. Since those tests, I have not dosed anything but I did do my 3 gallon water change yesterday. It seems to me given these results right now, that my levels have come down quite a bit since Friday and the only change I did was to stop dosing. Would it be logical to assume that my levels would stay at what they are right now if I continued to only do water changes and not dose anymore? Looking for good logical advice how to handle next steps to keep my current levels.

Plate corals are looking better today, but bubble is the same and flower pot also the same. I'm thinking perhaps the bubble may have some type of bacterial infection on the one half side of it. Would it be ok to dip it in Coral RX? If so, the bottle I have (not used) has an exp date of 4/13 on it, would it still be safe to use?

 

[chrisfont23]

See... the problem on these boards is that a lot of the information you get about exaggerated flow rates, ultra low nutrient tanks and luminosity of light that make the sun look dim is by SPS enthusiasts and not folks with a full LPS tank. With the exception of a few corals, most LPS can thrive under moderate lighting and gentle water flow and in water that has detectable NO3 levels.