not sure what my problem is

didimcginty

didimcginty

New member
Having issues with the sps, everything looks great and grows woderfully, my corals start to encrust wonderfully and then new shoots come out of the encrusting bottom, then all of a sudden they start to turn white, it starts small and then just keeps going in toward the stalk of the coral, it is only happening to a couple, but i am getting tired of cutting them, regluing them, i then dip them in revive, they start encrusting again, doing great, they get to a certain point and start this process all over again, one is a tri colora acro, red planet, and one of my millies. all have great color and polyp extension on the coral, at night when only the moon lights are on the feeder tentacles are out amazing. I have had the problem a year ago with bleaching from the base up and i was educated to alk swings, i since then had bought a dosing pump from brs and it doses everynight bionic alk part. i hand dose the calcium for right now about 5 mins after the timer goes off for the alk. now my alk stays at 9 and calcium at 420. my po4 is .01 on a hanna checker. Mg is at 1350, no nitrate, nitrite, or amonia. i have a 90 gallon display with a 20 long that is a fuge w/ 3 bags miracle mud and full of cheato, running for 4 years now. i do seem to have ph issues, for the longest time a couldn't get my ph above 7.8 before lights turned on in the morning, before they would turn off it would be at 8.2. about two weeks ago i had taken the lids off the tank and the ph now starts at about 8.1 and ends at 8.4. so i am now leaving the lids off and putting on an ato system for evaporation. though my problem with these acros had started well before i did this. my strawberry shortcake acro had the same issue and had curred itself. i also look for pests and cannot see any nor any signs of bite marks. sorry this turned into one big long run on sentance and story, but you have always been a big help to me. any help is greatly appreciated.
 
When you cut and remount do you put them back in the same spot or do you encrust them else where then place them back in your rock work?
 
no, i move them around to see if they do better in other spots, but it is the same result. i am completly puzzled over this one.
 
Im having the same problem with one coral did the same as you it grows a bit then stn or rtn i fragged it a bunch of times polyps out and they die I heard superglue around the white to prevent it working up but no luck. there are so many variables maybe post all info on your tank test readings and what you test with. dont forget salinity thats important your ph is 02 c02 related do you have a fuge and do you opposite light it
 
i have a fuge and the lighting is on 24/7, i new it was 02 co2 but i couldn't figure out why, it seems that it has to do with the lids on the display for some odd reason. my salinity is 1.026, i am zero on api tests with amonia, nitrite and nitrate, api is also what i test my ph and calcium with, i use salifert tests for alk and mag, and i have a hanna checker for po4.
 
i you kill the fuge when main loghts are on the swing will be less. I ran the skimmer air intake outside and ph went up but not enough i then opened windows in house for the first time in three months and ph was good my house is new and tight causing high co2 I'm still trying to figure out a permanent solution
 
i keep looking for pests but i do not see any redbugs, which i had about 4 months ago, and i do not see any bite marks which is how i learned to see if i had flatworms, because identifying the bite marks was the only way i knew i had flatworms before, i can't see them. could it be i do not have enough nutients in my tank? with such low phosphates and nitrates am i just starving them? but not all my acros have problems just about 4 out 12
 
keep it simple--- keep your hands out of the tank!

More often than not the obssesion with sps makes hobbyists continually move corals around and stick their hands in their tanks 5-10x daily.

As far as your husbandry seems to be ok. A 4 year old tank should not have this many changes or problems unless they are iatrogenic.
 
the tank is 5 yrs old, i was talked into a fuge after about a year by the owner of the new lfs i was shopping from. in the last year i have learned to your point, the more my hands were out of the tank the better things where doing. the more your in there the more stress. which is why i would like not to dip, i am just unsure of wheater not i have a pest or what is going on. when i found that i had red bugs, i shinned a flash light in the tank at night and they where all over every coral, though not every coral showed the same signs in stress.
thank you all for your replys and help, i think to your point gassman, keep my hands out, and see what happens. better to loose a few than all
 
yes i run gfo, i just replaced it about a month ago and it started again. i run rowa, and more than the recomended dose. i use the whole 250ml. why? i am very interested. i would only guess it started around when i replaced it.
 
didimcginty said:
yes i run gfo, i just replaced it about a month ago and it started again. i run rowa, and more than the recomended dose. i use the whole 250ml. why? i am very interested. i would only guess it started around when i replaced it.
Click to expand...

That's your answer- GFO the amount used waas simply way too much, known cause for RTN.

Start slow and go slow.

Use only the amount necessary- Usually half or 1/3 of the indicated dosage for your size tank.
 
you say rtn,this seems more like stn, is that the same thing? i keep the flow low because i always thought that too much flow would break it down to dust. this is great info, thank you both very much, what do you use to keep your phosphates low? should i stop running what i have or just take some out? sorry i am excited on the lead. i really appreciate it.
 
It's usually about either lowering your phosphates too fast in cunjuntion with higher alk(which 9 is a little high) or fine particles causeing irritation, which if your running low flow is probably not your issue. I might try cutting down the amount of gfo and also let your alk come down a little to a stable 7.8
 
Lately I've been using less gfo but changing it more often (similar issues in the past)so as to avoid swings in po4whicch in my experiance can be almost as bad as swings in alk.
 
what type gfo do you use, how often do you change it, once a month? i normally let it go almost 3 months, which might be to long. i use to run my alk at 8, for some odd reason i decided to get it up to 9, but i will slowly drop the timer amount of alk to get back to 8. i turned my phosban down last night, i will take about 2/3rds out tonight. it dosn't seem like my phosphates swing except after i feed, they go from .01ish to .09 ish by the next day. maybe too much food. i use rods reef, what food do you guys use?
 
I run TLF phos ban or BRS brand hi capacity GFO. I have 75 gallons total capacity with 7 fish including two big eaters, predominatly sps, grown in to over grown (heavy bio load). I feed 1 regular cube of mysis daily along with 1 piece or Rods food about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch in size around 4 days a week. the other three days I mix it up with other foods such as brine shrimp or sqiud, also feed a 1/4 sheet of nori daily.My params are typically as follows:
trate: .2
po4: .01
alk: 7.8 dkh
cal: 420
mag: 1380
1.026 sg
 
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