Slow Painful Crash...

[2_zoa]

Inagree with the feed more. I know your waiting on that to give a result. I jus think you've already stated yourself you need to feed more. Your using coral snow to help you get rid of it. Your out of balance IMO.

I'm finishing up a battle with cyano in my 65. How did I beat it? I fed the tank more. I didn't change any lighting or the duration. No 3 day black outs. No big water changes. I've only changed 6 gallons in the last month. Heavier feeding is all I've done.

 

[2_zoa]

Inagree with the feed more. I know your waiting on that to give a result. I jus think you've already stated yourself you need to feed more. Your using coral snow to help you get rid of it. Your out of balance IMO.

I'm finishing up a battle with cyano in my 65. How did I beat it? I fed the tank more. I didn't change any lighting or the duration. No 3 day black outs. No big water changes. I've only changed 6 gallons in the last month. Heavier feeding is all I've done.

Sorry for the above oops.its supposed to be "I agree" I just got home and realized what my phone put in the post. I was in a hurry and didn't post read.

 

[ravenmore]

Always a good thing to feed corals - food is more important than light IMO. Photosynthesis alone does not usually produce the kind of food stores required for healing and growth.

Also, might have missed it, but what kind of flow do you have going on in the tank?

 

[neuro]

I know you say you've measured your Alk, but have you measured it daily? I wonder if your timing of measurements of Alk is always when the tank is at the same level as last time.

I had STN when my Alk swung up all the way to 12. I lowered it back down slowly, but the STN started at the bottom for some, and any SPS that got stung would not heal until I fragged the dead parts off.

 

[2_zoa]

Neuro may, have a point. You first stated your Alk is always at 7. Your other post says the Alk is now at 9. Have you dosed to make it rise? Or is it the large water changes??

 

[bcunningham]

I have a 1-2 inch sand bed and haven't really messed with it because my coral prevents me from syphoning it

You wont get reading on PO4 if it's all trapped. Try crushing up some sand in a small cup of tank water and letting it leach out then test the water sample. Any black spots in sand?

"PO4 undetectable" <----- That is not a good thing for S.P.S. and may be the cause of your trouble.

What makes you say that?

 

[MHG]

Neuro may, have a point. You first stated your Alk is always at 7. Your other post says the Alk is now at 9. Have you dosed to make it rise? Or is it the large water changes??

My alk is now at 9 after several colonies died thus my demand dropped. Problem started while it was consistently at 7+ range. The increase is a symptom of the problem. I have adjusted dosing accordingly...

 

[MHG]

I know you say you've measured your Alk, but have you measured it daily? I wonder if your timing of measurements of Alk is always when the tank is at the same level as last time.

I had STN when my Alk swung up all the way to 12. I lowered it back down slowly, but the STN started at the bottom for some, and any SPS that got stung would not heal until I fragged the dead parts off.

I measure daily and at different times a day whenever I adjust.

 

[MHG]

Always a good thing to feed corals - food is more important than light IMO. Photosynthesis alone does not usually produce the kind of food stores required for healing and growth.

Also, might have missed it, but what kind of flow do you have going on in the tank?

2 MP10's. My flow pattern increased my growth dramatically. a year and a half ago when I set up my MP10's in their current configuration, I doubled my alk and calc demand.

My aragonite constantly moves and shifts so I am confident in my flow.

 

[MHG]

You wont get reading on PO4 if it's all trapped. Try crushing up some sand in a small cup of tank water and letting it leach out then test the water sample. Any black spots in sand?


What makes you say that?

Good point on trapped PO4 but DSB systems never disturb the sand. By that theory DSB systems would have STN all the time. Also, please correct me if I am wrong but has detectable PO4 levels been linked to stn?

 

[neuro]

Also, please correct me if I am wrong but has detectable PO4 levels been linked to stn?

As a sole cause, I would think not. I know the Academy of Sciences here in San Francisco have detectable amounts of PO4 in their reef systems and they still maintain healthy corals.

 

[sirreal63]

Phosphates and Nitrates are required for life. The problem with undetectable levels is you don't have a clue of the actual value. Undetectable can still have adequate levels of po4, or it can have inadequate levels. The testing methods we use are not 100% accurate. Having phosphates is not the huge deal people have been led to believe it is. Consider this tank if you believe that phosphates are always a problem.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2366953

FWIW I try and keep my no3 at around 5 and po4 around .04 and the only time my corals have issues is when those levels are "undetectable". Too many people lately have tried keeping nutrient levels too low, and their corals suffer for it. Coral nutrition is still an area we have much to learn, but as with any living creature, it needs adequate nutrition and food isn't always the answer, you may be feeding but if it isn't the right size for them to capture and consume, it is not helping and keeping the water stripped of nutrients isn't helping either.

 

[MHG]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

 

[sirreal63]

I would feed more and let the nitrates and phosphates creep up. There have been more than a couple cases where improved nutrition has stopped necrosis.

 

[ca1ore]

From the stability claims you made, i would think stray voltage could be a possible source?

Big old red herring this 'stray voltage' thing IMO/IME.

 

[MHG]

Well my poly filter has been in for two days now and no color shift... So I don't think heavy metals is the issue...

 

[B.BASH]

Could possibly be bacterial i recently had an issue with euphylia slowly melting away and rtn on some sps i did back to back treatments with chemiclean ann problem solved im not saying this is your issue but you could look into it

 

[MHG]

I am sure it could be. I have treated with Chemi Clean once in the past to get rid of Dino (works great in conjunction with Pohls Coral snow and MB7). I am working on a bigger frag system to remove some frags out of my DT (Current frag system is full). Once I get that done, I may restart this system if I haven't found out by then...

 

[MHG]

well its been a week with the poly filter. No change in color.

I changed out my RO/DI Cartridges and resin. Maybe something was going on there...


Something different today on my ORA Blue Chip Colony. This one is dying from the tips, where the others are from the base.


I managed to save about half of what starts to recede by fraging and putting it in my separate frag system. Since that shares the same water supply as my DT, I don't think the earlier mentioned RO/DI change is gonna do anything.

 

[2_zoa]

I managed to save about half of what starts to recede by fraging and putting it in my separate frag system. Since that shares the same water supply as my DT, I don't think the earlier mentioned RO/DI change is gonna do anything.

Neither is feeding more. I thought the two were separate. If you'd stated that before and I missed it, sorry.

Really, if the frags are in the same water just a different "tank" and lighting...........A lot doesn't make sense.