recession on the base of some of my sps

cwegescheide

cwegescheide

YOU have been ignored!
I've got a 90 gallon primarily sps tank. All in all about 35 different sps including some different Montipora. I've got some recession around the base of a few of my corals. Ones affected are Miyagi tort, Robusta and a green table. I have 2 Tunze streams for flow and most of my corals are not that big yet to start to impede flow. I've got about 80 lbs of marshall Island rock. The tank has been running about 10 mos I'd say. Color and PE is great.

My alk is ~ 3.5meq/L
Ca ~ 400
Temp 80-80.5 (I've got an Aquacontroller III)
MG ~1300
Nitrate 3
Nitrite 0
SG 1.025
Amonia 0
Po4 Undetectable Sailfert
Lighting 250HQI 14K DE w/t5 actinic supplementation (lights about 4mos old)
I feed flake mostly, 3x/day fairly small amounts
I know my TDS is >0 My filters need to be changed. I think

The only thing I think it might be is that I put in a little more carbon than usual about a week or so ago but not a LOT more. I change about 15% water every 2 weeks.

What the heck is happening? The recession is not too bad but its slowly crawling up the coral and I would like to stop it before it becomes a big problem if I could.

Thanks in advance,
Chris
 
i had a 1 inch tall frag mounted in my tank in the same spot for about a month, one day i noticed some resession on the lower part of it (the bottom of the coral looked as though it was bleaching but that part of the coral wasn't in the light)

within the next few weeks it healed and started to grow more polyps in the more lighted areas of itself, i would continue to watch yours over the next few weeks and see if they remove the old polyps not in the light and start growing new ones, thats what mine seemed to do.
 
Have you always had the tank running at 80-80.5? I have noticed that a few different species of SPS seem to like lower temps around 78. If they are frags they might have come from a lower temp tank and just need some time to adjust. Temp is just the first thing that comes to mind. I would also say flow but it sounds like you got that covered :) .
 
How are you checking your salinity? I was useing one of the swing arm types...reading at 1.025 and when I started getting ressesion at the base of a lot of my SPS I checked it with a friends refracometer...1.032.....there was my problem...I've slowly droped it and got everything in line...and I think all the recession has stoped and I've gotten some new growth on a few of the frags..
 
Hmmm.. I calibrated my refractometer a few months ago and even took it to the Florida Aquarium to verify its accuracy. I hope its not off. I'll have to check it again. ;)
 
Recession at the base, slowly moving up is more than likely a Po4 issue. I realize that your test kit is showing zero, or close to it, but most hobby kits are not able to read accurately.

I battled this problem similar to yours for a year, then someone brought over a Po4 colorimeter tester and sure enough I had a problem. Even though I had next to no algae, I still had a problem. Once this was dealt with, my SPS's that were affected started to encrust again, and rapidly started to grow again.
 
So where does somebody get one of these PO4 meters and how much are they? I DO use a generous amount of Phosban that I change every month or so :confused: (I will say that I have been feeding my tank a lot more than what I normally did recently)

I have not had any issues with AEFW thank goodness
 
Seeing you are in Tampa, I can almost guarantee you have many reefers in the area, and a few will have this.

Here is a link to an example :

Po4 Colorimeter

I do not own one, just borrowed it to test for a few months until I got it under control. But if you are already using a Po4 remover, then you might need to look for other issues.

One sure way to tell if it is a Po4 issue is to take a dead SPS, or cut off the already recessed base and see if the inside is green. If green, then almost all the cases it is a Po4 issue.
 
Hey Thanks Sullivmw. You know I used to live in Indy. I miss it.. Not in the middle of the winter, but I miss it.. Have you ever had King Ribs in Indy? I think the closest one to you is Pendleton Pike. Best ribs you've ever had!! ;)
 
Funny, I just moved here, used to live in the south, although Indy is a good place, I still miss the south.
 
For the Milwaukee one, there is a place to fill 10ml of sample (it is right under the back cap). You also have to use the packet of agent, I think they come with 100 packets.

There is a good online manual on their website, once there, you will need to go to the manual section :



Milwaukee Instruments
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7745676#post7745676 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chadfarmer
phosphates being wicked up into the coral
Click to expand...

The first [and only] person who claimed this was a possibility was Bomber and now I see it mentioned all the time as fact. It very well may be possible but I've never come across any other expert who would corroborate. Is this a myth and just another one of Bombers ramblings or is it true? I'd like to nail it down... one way or the other ;)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7745794#post7745794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PUGroyale
The first [and only] person who claimed this was a possibility was Bomber and now I see it mentioned all the time as fact. It very well may be possible but I've never come across any other expert who would corroborate. Is this a myth and just another one of Bombers ramblings or is it true? I'd like to nail it down... one way or the other ;)
Click to expand...

i have seen it first hand in my friend tank

he was having problems with his sps after buying a lot of wrasses he was feeding frozen food and not running any p04 removers

90% of his old colony over a year old started to receed from the bottom of the coral -- we broke the dead part of to frag the coral and the inside was a nasty green color

we fraged until the greeen color was gone ran phosphate media and his colonys are doing good

also didn't help he had a 10 year old sand bed that has never been changed

this never was a problem till he started to feed the tank heavy
 
Well I definatley have been feeding my tank a lot more lately. I did get new RO cartridges and am preparing to do several 15% water changes to help turn around my acro's. I'll let you know if I notice any changes in a week or two.
 
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