Next troubleshooting step?

[hobbby3]

I've killed 3 acro frags and 1 monticap over the last couple months. The acro's flesh all melted off and turned white after about 3 days. The monti took about a month to die slowly faded to white with little to no extension.

I've been able to keep a monti digitata and birdsnest alive over the last few weeks. Polyp extension and color has been good. My Various LPS and the fish have been doing great growing and thriving.

• 90 gallon tank 6mths old
• 2 175 watt MH bulbs 2 months old (replaced after the first frags died)
• 2 VHO 2 months old (replaced after the first frags died)
• 4100 gph flow
• Carbon reactor (added after the first frags died)
• ATO W/Kalk keeping alk steady between 8.4-8.7 (started kalk this weekend to keep up with alk usage)
• 0 TDS RO/DI water

• Water parameters
• IO reef salt 1.026 sg
• PH 8.2-8.3
• Alk 8.4-8.7
• Calc 495
• Mag 1460
• ammonia 0
• nitrite 0
• nitrate 0
• phosphate .14
• Temp 78-81

What should I do next? SPS is my main interest I'd love to get this figured out!

Here's a few pictures of the sad SPS in my tank now still holding on barely.






Here's a few pictures of the birdsnest and digitata still doing good. Nice polyp extension.

 

[mike_cmu04]

I think your lighting is not strong enough for sps 175 is not that much they would have to be placed near the top pf the tank

 

[kissman]

Phosphates at .14 are very high and could be the problem should be around .02-.03 range

 

[hobbby3]

would either of those issues cause the flesh to melt off two days after puting it in the tank though?

If so thats great news my phosphates are on the decline and I have switchable ballasts so all I need are two 250 watt bulbs.

 

[naterealbig]

Neither of these things will cause a frag to lighten or STN. Typically too little light equals brown corals, not very light ones. Additionally .14 is definitely not enough to kill a coral. Look bad? Maybe, but I've seen beautiful tanks with .5 ppm phosphates and 150 watt halides.

Few things I'd look closer at:

1) What brand of bulbs are you running?
2) Have you gotten a second independent check of you specific gravity and Alkalinity?
3) Are you absolutely sure that the aquarium is not having a high temperature spike while away?
4) How long have you had the tank set up for?

 

[hobbby3]

Neither of these things will cause a frag to lighten or STN. Typically too little light equals brown corals, not very light ones. Additionally .14 is definitely not enough to kill a coral. Look bad? Maybe, but I've seen beautiful tanks with .5 ppm phosphates and 150 watt halides.

Few things I'd look closer at:

1) What brand of bulbs are you running?
2) Have you gotten a second independent check of you specific gravity and Alkalinity?
3) Are you absolutely sure that the aquarium is not having a high temperature spike while away?
4) How long have you had the tank set up for?

Thanks for the reply.

1. Ushio 20k bulbs
2. 2 lfs have checked my calc alk mag and they used a refractometer they were equally puzzled and said to run some carbon. So I bought a reactor and pellet carbon. Ran it for a few days then bought another acro frag the one below in the pictures.
3. I've had my son take readings for me while I'm at work both ALK and temp nothing unusal to note.
4. Been up for about 6 months

 

[naterealbig]

1) Checked the tank for stray voltage?

2) Any insecticides, paint, or other harsh chemicals recently been in the vicinity of the aquarium?

 

[hobbby3]

1) Checked the tank for stray voltage?

2) Any insecticides, paint, or other harsh chemicals recently been in the vicinity of the aquarium?

I have a grounding rod installed and my hands have been in it rescently with no shocks.

no contamination I can think of.

 

[hobbby3]

The LFS suggested I might have something in my well water my RO/DI system isnt removing so I'm trying a different RO/DI source.

Starting Wednesday I'll perform 20% water changes every day for 7 days to get the old water out. Then try again.

I was excited about my well water initially since it shows only 28 tds at the tap before the filter setup strips the rest out. Now I'm not so excited but time will tell...

 

[kissman]

I just looked at the top picture again, I see there is a leather coral in the back ground. That could be the problem, I have seen several therads talking about leathers and releasing a toxin that will kill other corals

 

[hobbby3]

Good find I'll read up on that. The toadstool is about 10 inches away from that acro in the photo. So the toxin is in the water column and not a physical contact thing right?

 

[reeffreak75]

It's prolly ur alkalinity...lf store suck at reading sometimes...oh and ur water is a huge issue...alkalinity is huge too...6 months is not enough time to keep sps anyway IMHO...it really depends on how much experience u have had previously...IMO..check ur water n buy a good ro unit..skimming is huge too...make sure ur skimmer is up to par...

 

[hobbby3]

It's prolly ur alkalinity...lf store suck at reading sometimes...oh and ur water is a huge issue...alkalinity is huge too...6 months is not enough time to keep sps anyway IMHO...it really depends on how much experience u have had previously...IMO..check ur water n buy a good ro unit..skimming is huge too...make sure ur skimmer is up to par...

Thanks for the reply.

What's bad about my alk readings? 8.4-8.7?? My tests and the LFS tests both agree with those figures. Alk is rock solid all through the day and night.

I Have a ASM G3 skimmer producing some nasty dark green skim. Empty it every 3rd day or so.

My Phosphate is a bit high as others have said but are on the fall.

New RO/DI water source will be ready tomorrow then the water changes will begin. I'm 99% convinced my well water is at fault. I'll post my findings here.

 

[BrianN]

6 mos consider a little to new for SPSs. Did you accliminate your frags before add them to your tank?

 

[SneekaPeek]

stress water changes, when in doubt change it out!

 

[hobbby3]

6 mos consider a little to new for SPSs. Did you accliminate your frags before add them to your tank?

Yes two hour drip, then dip and dump.

even tested the LFS SG and ALK they were very close to mine anyway. Don't recall the exact figures.

Have the new water supply installed. starting the water changes this evening.

 

[hobbby3]

Finished up 5 rounds of 20% water changes with the new RO/DI source. My coral look VERY happy so I picked up a couple SPS frags. On the second day when I USED to see skin melting I see extended polyp extension. Check out the video...

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gPRHISWBwpU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[hobbby3]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. The new RO/DI source and the water changes have keept the SPS very happy. Here's an updated photo from yesterday.