SPS Frags bleeching from bottom

[nanchil]

Hello all,

I would like to thank everyone upfront for your help ... I have lost more than $ 1500.00 on these SPS frags over a period of one year ... No luck... Tried all kind of "easy" SPS. Couple of mushrooms and Zoas are doing well...

Tank is up for more than 18 months ... Red Sea 525 Xl ... AI Hydro 26 lights (3 Lights , running on David Saxby settings) ... 2 MP40 for flow...

Every time, the frags starts bleaching from bottom within couple of weeks on introducing. Here is my water parameters... I read that it was due to Alk swing ... So made sure that my Alk is stable around 10.00 dKh. I am testing my Alk daily for the last two months and made sure that it is stable before I introduced couple of SPS frags two weeks back... Here I am with same story... Any help is appreciated.

Adding Nopox ( 5ml) daily basis to control No3 / Po4 ... No algae issues ... Clean my glass once in 4 days or so... Run Chemipure (Blue) Here is my water parameters :

Water TDS - 0
Temp - 78 F ( Swing is +/- 1 F) - Checking with two controllers
Sg - 35 ppt ( Testing with two refractometer and calibrate the refractometer once a week)
dKh - 9.9 ~ 10.00 ( Testing daily at 8.00 PM - Red sea / Hanna meter ) - Calculated the consumption and adding the supplement equally throughout the day using dosser
Ca - ~ 450 ( Testing weekly) - Red sea kit and Salfine
Mg ~ 1300 - Red Sea
No3 - < 1.0 PPM - Salfine
Po4 - < 1 PPM - Salfine

What am i doing wrong ? Any help is appreciated !

Stay safe and healthy !

Thanks

 

[dadnjesse]

I would stop the Nopox and Chemipure. If you don't have an Algae problem why use them.

 

[MLOPEZ]

I agree.


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[Big E]

It's probably a low nutrient issue as indicated by the above posters. I would at least back off NOPOX by half your dosage.

Get your alk lower........run in the 7.5-8.5 range

Get a Hanna 736 P04 tester----------------salifert isn't accurate enough when working with lower levels of P04. With that you can measure low levels and keep target in the .05-10ppm range. Even up to .15 is okay

 

[dubmaneh]

I had the same problem. As others have said, your Alk is too high for the level of nutrients in your tank. Either lower your alk to 7-8ish or stop dosing Nopox. Or both.



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[nanchil]

Thanks everyone... i will reduce the Alk... But I remember reading Red Sea and Randy recommends Alk around 11.5 ... Any thoughts ?

 

[dubmaneh]

Thanks everyone... i will reduce the Alk... But I remember reading Red Sea and Randy recommends Alk around 11.5 ... Any thoughts ?

It entirely depends on what your nutrients are. You can run Alk that high but you'll need to have more nutrients available for your corals or they will lose tissue.

The first balancing act is between Alk/ Ca / Mg. The next big balance act is Alk /P04 /N03.

Natural sea water is around 7dkh I believe. If your going to push it higher than that, you need more available nutrients for your corals.

Took me far longer and cost waaaay to much to figure this out than I'd like to admit. [emoji38]

Also, The ULNS programs like Red Sea that have high Alk rely heavily on additional supplements to feed the corals.


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[nanchil]

Thanks ! I am getting Hanna for Po4 and Red Sea No3 ... I want to make sure that my No3 and Po4 readings are correct. I am going to reduce my Alk very slowly. Looks like i may have to change my salt as well. I am using Red Sea coral pro which is high in Alk. Thanks again.

 

[drs2140]

Have you check for pests?

 

[corallover00]

I have similar issues and SPS never grows in my tank. LPS have no problem at all. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

The parameters as of 5/9/20. 50G SC tank with 15G sump.
dkH 11.80 (salifert)
Cal 445 (red sea)
mg 1450 (salifert)
pH 8.30 (recently: dosing Kalkwasser and adding air stone in the sump)
Nitrite / Nitrate / Ammonia 0 (API)
Temp 80F
Sal 1.028 (salt water from LFS)
Radion G3 (60% capacity - on for 9 hours)

Before dosing Kalkwasser and adding air stone, the pH is always around 7.6-7.7. Dosing red sea Color ABCD Currently running an AquaMaxx HOB nano calcium reactor, a CPR HOB skimmer and Aquaripure (nitrate remover)

 

[Smite]

I have similar issues and SPS never grows in my tank. LPS have no problem at all. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

The parameters as of 5/9/20. 50G SC tank with 15G sump.
dkH 11.80 (salifert)
Cal 445 (red sea)
mg 1450 (salifert)
pH 8.30 (recently: dosing Kalkwasser and adding air stone in the sump)
Nitrite / Nitrate / Ammonia 0 (API)
Temp 80F
Sal 1.028 (salt water from LFS)
Radion G3 (60% capacity - on for 9 hours)

Before dosing Kalkwasser and adding air stone, the pH is always around 7.6-7.7. Dosing red sea Color ABCD Currently running an AquaMaxx HOB nano calcium reactor, a CPR HOB skimmer and Aquaripure (nitrate remover)

SPS will no tolerate ph that low. Mine started to drop about that at night and I started losing pieces to RTN/STN before finding my ph probe wasn't calibrated properly. If you're up to 8.3 and maybe a low of 7.95-8.0 you're good there.

I think you need to re-read the previous posts. LPS do well in high alk levels like yours. Sps do better in the 7-9 dkh range depending on your nutrients. Your salinity is also maxed out, I'd dilute your levels to 1.026 from you LFS and slowly do the same to your tank.

You're adding nitrate remover but you already have 0 nitrates (No3), what are your phosphates (Po4)?
Low nutrient systems are fading out, sps dominant systems with alkalinity around 8-9dkh, nitrates around 5-10ppm (some much higher, I've had great coloration when surprised by a nitrate test results showing 30ppm, but my phosphate was pretty balanced at .26 at the time) and phosphates around .07-.15+ are becoming the norm. Low nutrient systems are beautiful but from what I've read are fragile, not tolerating minor swings as well as systems running slightly elevated nutrients.

I think if you get your SG in the 1.025-1.026 range, alkalinity down near 9dkh (may happen naturally as you lower SG) maintain your ph where it is currently and allow you're nutrients to rise while maintaining a natural balance between No3 and Po4 you'll start to see more success with sps.
Balanced nutrients will not cause excessive algae in your display. My algae issues usually stem from my TDS creeping up in my RO/Di water.

 

[corallover00]

Thanks Big E and Smite for giving me some precious feedback.

My latest parameters as of 5/17/20:
dkH 10.5 (changed to hanna)
Cal 450 (red sea)
Mg 1395 (salifert)
pH 8.23
Sal 1.025
Phosphate 0 (using phosphorus ULR HI736)
No3 0 (API)

I'm trying to lower my dkH to <9. My LFS's seawater have enchanced dkH between 10-11. Once my dkH dropped, will try to do water change.
Should I stop using the Aquaripure to bring up No3? Since my No3 is 0, would dosing higher volume of Red Sea AB+ help?
I read from another forum some reefers are using sodium bisulfate to drop the dkH over night (using air stone to bring up the pH since using this product will drop the pH). Any thoughts on using that product?

 

[corallover00]

I got some sodium bisulfate from my LFS and used a small dose. My dkH dropped to
9.40 (as of 5/19/20). With the help of air stone, my pH bounced back from 7.56 to 8.25. So far so good.