Ok Im at a loss on what more to do. Help please

[sponger0]

Im not new to keeping SPS, but I am at a total loss. Ive asked others and they have scratched their heads too. Lets start with system specs

57 Deep Blue Rimless
85 lbs key largo rock
40 breeder sump
Reef Octopus XS160 Diablo
Sicce Syncra 3 return
Jebao RW8
Koralia EVO 750
6 bulb T5 light

Fish:
2 clowns
Lubbocks wrasse
Blue assessor

Parameters:

Alk 9.2
Mag 1500
Calc 450
pH: 7.8
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate 0
Phosphates 0 (checked with a hanna checker)


For the past few months I cant keep SPS. The tips start receding til there is nothing left. I have had months of trying to figure it out and its my assumption the pH has been too low. Its better than it was before. I was getting 7.4-7.6. I added a CO2 scrubber so it seems to be raising the pH but only a little bit.

I Just added a light to the fuge as Ive been lazy in getting one and chaeto is in there.

I really need help this time. This is killing me. Thoughts?

 

[jdm1114]

how long has the tank been up and what are the dimensions?

 

[tripdad]

Are you dosing 2 part or reactor or ? Have you checked iodine and potassium levels? Frequent water changes normally or not? Just some thoughts, I had some issues and found my iodine extremely low as I do infrequent water changes.(crazy schedule). Reactors seem to keep all levels in balance better, some two parts work great as long as you keep up with water changes. You could also lower alk and mag a little bit if you truly are running ULNS. Hope you can find it, please share the answer when you do.

 

[Grandlotus]

Do most two parts have iodine in there?
I use B-Ionic.

 

[tripdad]

You could probably ask Randy over in the chem forum but I could not find a break down quickly this afternoon on that product. I only know that corals can use it up when doing well and that I have used both B-ionic and something akin to randy's recipe and have just recently found my level low. However as I said I am lax on my water changes, I think standard weekly water changes can keep up with most trace elements except in really heavily stocked and growing tanks. JMO

 

[sponger0]

how long has the tank been up and what are the dimensions?

Since about May. 36x18x21

 

[sponger0]

My water changes have been weekly depending on how busy my week is

 

[Jeremy B.]

I'm assuming you're running some sort of chemical filtration to keep nitrate and po4 levels to where they are? Carbon and GFO?

 

[sponger0]

I'm assuming you're running some sort of chemical filtration to keep nitrate and po4 levels to where they are? Carbon and GFO?

Nope. This is maintained with basic maintainence. I dont like chemical filtration actually, unless necessary. This is routed around the pH. As much as I dont beleive in chasing pH, this is one time I have had too.

Everything Ive tried didnt work until the pH went up. Within days after connecting my CO2 scrubber, the SPS responded, stopped RTNing and the polyps came back out.

 

[Jeremy B.]

7.4 - 7.6 is extremely low, even if you were running a calcium reactor. I'd verify that reading with another test kit / tester. It definitely could play into your issues though.

On top of that, having just a little bit of detectable PO4 and NO3 is certainly not a bad thing when you're experiencing the issues that you are in an sps tank. However, that's usually running carbon 24/7, as well as gfo being the culprit there. I'd considering feeding a little heavier, or possibly dosing a small amount of aminos routinely to see if it helps as well.

Whatever direction you take just try to minimize your changes and stay patient for results, that way you can track down the real issue at hand.

 

[sponger0]

Well its been about a week and a half since the scrubber was added, and as I mentioned the SPS are responding to the higher pH.

I did go to my LFS, which does use Oceanic and Red Sea Pro test kits and they confirmed my pH was way low.

The CO2 scrubber brought it up to 8.0 which I feel more comfortable with.

I do feed heavy as I would like to see some phosphates, and my tank does seem to be 'too clean"

And then week started using Aquavitro Fuel. Im not sure if its making better but its not making anything worse

 

[jda]

I don't think that it is possible for the tank to have 7.4 to 7.6 PH unless you are just adding Kalkwasser like crazy and/or have no aragonite anywhere. Check your testing method and/or probe.

 

[markalot]

I don't think that it is possible for the tank to have 7.4 to 7.6 PH unless you are just adding Kalkwasser like crazy and/or have no aragonite anywhere. Check your testing method and/or probe.

Just adding Kalk would drive it way up above 8, co2 issues drive it down, at least that's they way I understand it. I had the same issue but am lucky enough to have a small window in the basement we don't use, so I modified it a bit to run the skimmer intake outside, otherwise I was falling as low as 7.6 at night when the house was closed up.

A combination of timed Kalk topoff dosing, outside skimmer intake, and co2 scrubber does wonders for PH, and slows the usage of the scrubber material.

In my experience I did not see any coral health issues until I hit ~7.7 and below, with 7.6 resulting in the browning of most of my SPS corals.

I bought a handlheld probe to back up my lab grade PH probe, and I calibrated multiple times to make sure the reading was correct. It's amazing how high co2 can get in a basement of a well sealed home. A real air quality issue I hadn't been aware of before.

 

[jdm1114]

Since about May. 36x18x21

This is a young system, maybe more time needed to mature?

 

[neuro]

That PH is way too low IMO. Mines fluctuates around 8-8.12. I wonder if there is something else you're adding to the water that's not being tracked.

 

[sponger0]

That PH is way too low IMO. Mines fluctuates around 8-8.12. I wonder if there is something else you're adding to the water that's not being tracked.

Nothing else Im adding currently except for calcium and mag.

Also another thing is when I got the pH up, cyano decided to break out :/

 

[dg3147]

I had similar issue with tank less than one year old. It was established using NH4 and dry rock with a hand full of old sand. I think the tank was "too clean".

I resolved in by adding NO3 to my tank. Might be worth trying.

 

[Dapg8gt]

I've never dealt with low pH so I'm no help on that front but Have you tried to get measurable nutrients in the system? When my kits show 0 on n04 or p04 my tank does horrible. I feed really heavy but still have issues @ 0..

I recently was having some loss of color/tissue on random colonies and I believe it was due to faulty Hanna ulr reagents showing higher levels and me running increased media when I shouldn't have.. Corals slowly lost color and started losing flesh running p04 so low @0.. With no gfo for the last few weeks and feeding heavy as usual colors are improving along with overall tissue health,receeding has seemed to stop and the tank is back to my normal consumption of cal/alk.

This turns into an argument almost every time I mention it but I think the whole theory of needing to have no measurable nitrates and phosphates was one of the worst trends to hit the reef scene.. Unless your running a system designed for ulns and supplementing with little blue bottles it does more harm than good Ime.I'm not sure if your intention in the tank is that but your tests are a prime example of a ulns system.

Are the corals holding the color and losing flesh or bleaching and losing flesh?

 

[markalot]

This turns into an argument almost every time I mention it but I think the whole theory of needing to have no measurable nitrates and phosphates was one of the worst trends to hit the reef scene.. Unless your running a system designed for ulns and supplementing with little blue bottles it does more harm than good Ime.I'm not sure if your intention in the tank is that but your tests are a prime example of a ulns system.

I won't argue. I'm still relatively new at this but in my own experience and from what I've read more coral deaths are caused by stripping water too clean than by dirty water.

Unfortunately my dirtier water did not help my PH issues.

 

[Jeremy B.]

This turns into an argument almost every time I mention it but I think the whole theory of needing to have no measurable nitrates and phosphates was one of the worst trends to hit the reef scene.. Unless your running a system designed for ulns and supplementing with little blue bottles it does more harm than good Ime.I'm not sure if your intention in the tank is that but your tests are a prime example of a ulns system.

I could not agree more. I think a lot of it starts with so many hobbyists using dry rock now instead of liverock to start a tank, so that small initial hit of dissolved organics from the liverock being in the tank is not there. In addition to that, carbon and gfo, or other means of stripping the water is utilized right away, and you end up with a tank that is way too clean (sterile) to start off with. Just my opinion of course, and every tank is different with multiple variables. I think in this specific situation a lot of it has to do with pH if the levels were actually indeed that low.