SPS are dying from tips down...Help Please...

[brainchild24]

Ok fellow reefers I have a frustrating issue in my tank. I have been out of the hobby for about 4yrs and now I am back. Prior to my break I was a dedicated hobbyist for 18yrs, so I thought I have seen most issues which can go wrong in a reef tank, but this one has gotten me scratching my head.

The tank is 250 gallons and stocked with eleven fish, it is approximately seven months old. I have two ecotech marine g4 running at 50% brightness with 26% peak intensity for 8hrs (this includes two hours of ramp up and down.) , there are also three vortech mp40QD.

The water chemistry seems perfect:
Calc 480
kH: 11.5
PH: 8.12(day)
PH: 7.99 (night)
PO: 0
NO: 0.25ppm
NH: 0

I have recently turned off the calcium reactor to lower the level of my alk as that is the only thing I can think of which is killing them. I have also checked for the usual suspects (red bugs, aefw, etc.). Any insight will be greatly appreciated.

 

[reefwiser]

11.5 dkh PO of zero that is the issue.
That high of alk and that low of PO will burn the tips and allow infection to set in.


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[brainchild24]

11.5 dkh PO of zero that is the issue.
That high of alk and that low of PO will burn the tips and allow infection to set in.


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reefwiser Thanks for the insight, so I guess I am on the right track of leaving the CR off for now till I hit a lower dkh. Hopefully in a few days I will report back with good news.

 

[lynchmob3000]

You might wanna hurry up and get it lowered with waterchanges . Corals may not consume enough alk causing them to continue to get worse.


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[aquavista99]

Sounds like alk burn to me. If your parameters are stable again, just cut off the burnt/dead areas and hopefully the corals will recover for you. Maintaining stability longterm is so important for healthy SPS...It does not matter if you run low alk (7 dKH) moderate alk (9 dKH) or even high alk (over 11 dKH)...just keep it stable as possible to avoid alk swings.

If alk is not the culprit, sometimes built up detritus in your sump or reactor may be causing your SPS to bleach. Increased water changes and replacing dirty media (i.e., to remove excess detritus ) can do wonders for SPS health and recovery.

 

[jda]

Are you driving the P low with GFO or LC? If not, then you have enough, are not ULNS and the alk is not your issue. If you are, then you need to stop - even if you do get the alk down, you will always be walking a thin line of almost crashing. Alk at 12 is fine if your P is not artificially driven down to zero - your old tanks were surely like this. Alk burn has been a new phenomenon since LC, GFO and organic carbon started to get used in the hobby.

Did you start this tank with dead or dry rock? If so, it is probably still really unstable and these things can happen. It could be a year or two before it is really ready to function like it could.

 

[brainchild24]

Thanks all for the suggestion, I will be performing a water change later today.

@jda I have not run GFO in 5 months as I was battling every new tank syndrome in regards to various algae and cyno. But to answer your question the rock work in the tank was from my last tank which sat dry for three years and they were rinsed before adding it to the tank. I did seed the tank with live sand.

 

[jda]

There is an article about how dry/dead rock tanks have issues for up to two years with stuff dying and decaying. I am sorry that I don't have a link and have to run, but you might see if you have some of the same issues. My gut is that this is about 80% of your problem.

Seeding them is fine, but it takes a LONG time for the dead organics to get out and the seeds to be in place like they are with real live rock.

 

[rtparty]

My opinion is it's a combination of all the above.

Dead rock takes at least a year to mature and you have to make sure you're adding the necessary "ingredients" like pods, coraline, sponges, multiple bacteria strains. It's easiest to find some clean, mature live rock from a seasoned reefer and put it in the sump or display tank. That will introduce much of what you need.

Your alk is too high and your nutrients too low for a dry rock tank as well. Nitrate needs to read 10ppm and phosphate at .10ppm for an extended period of time. This allows the good algae and bacteria to eat as well. You will fight cyano and dinos if you keep your nutrients low. They are far better at surviving low nutrients than the good stuff we want.

The other forum has a fantastic thread all about it.

 

[Unicorn2093]

I would lower the dKH at 7-9 pretty fast.
Also your tank is not mature yet (will take some time with dead rock)

 

[brainchild24]

Quick update I have the tank dKH down to 9, and the last surviving frag has stopped regressing. In regards to micro flora and fauna I have few things growing in the tank. Small sponges, feather dusters, I added copepods which I had growing at decent clip in my refugium.