SPS problems....Need advice please!!!

[jimrawr]

Why would his lighting have anything to do with the tissue peeling off? I doubt the only thing you changed in your tank with browning corals / STN'ing corals was your bulb. Thats a minor change if you ask me. Water changes / feeding habits / flow / dosing changes?

I didnt change a thing other than the bulb. After using the 14k Ushio for a month and going back to the 20k Radium, I lost all my colors again. Its the same reason I believe lots of people are not having good luck with LEDs, the spectrum is too narrow. Some have success (mostly those that supplement the spectrums) and some dont.

 

[Enjoy]

I have used this exact same tank, with the exact same lighting previously with great results. I highly doubt it is the use of radiums. I'm not doubting your experience, but their are many more positive stories about radiums than negative.

Thanks everyone for the input, keep it coming. I want to fix this!!!

 

[OrionCC]

A radium bulb causing corals to brown out and RTN... I am sorry but that has got to be the craziest thing I have ever heard..... Been using them for years alone and have wonderful coral color. I would say my success with this bulb is about 1 out of 100000 people in this hobby... Water chemistry has a much much larger impact on SPS coral color and health than a light bulb would.

 

[piusma]

do you dose potassium supplement? They are known to cause burnt tips when their levels are too high.

Steven

 

[Chris_SG]

do you dose potassium supplement? They are known to cause burnt tips when their levels are too high.

Steven

1+

I overdose potassium in my tank and I lose all the reds and also have some tips burn ,I found in some tread that TM salt comes with high levels of potassium, since I did not about that I has dosing potassium supplements like crazy until I found this problem in my tank

 

[Dog boy Dave]

A radium bulb causing corals to brown out and RTN... I am sorry but that has got to be the craziest thing I have ever heard..... Been using them for years alone and have wonderful coral color. I would say my success with this bulb is about 1 out of 100000 people in this hobby... Water chemistry has a much much larger impact on SPS coral color and health than a light bulb would.

As much as i dislike the blue radium tanks I gotta agree with this poster. Water quality water quality water quality. I have seen corals in good water and every kind of bad, too little or too much light. As long as the water quality is high and the corals are healthy light will seldom kill a coral. Some corals do fine and look great under bad light and most will live but they all die if the water quality is subpar.

 

[pimp2daizzo]

i would start easy like allsps40 said turn the gfo for awhile. i know a few people that have ulns and they only run gfo a few days out of the week.

 

[eja99]

Have you checked your tank at night? Looks like something is eating your corals.

 

[Six2seven]

Could it be some kind of shock from your water changes? Maybe a sudden drop in ph or temp. I am definitely no expert just asking. Hope you find the solution

 

[Enjoy]

Let me start off by saying - :headwally:

SG: 1.026
Temp: 78.8
PH: 7.87
Alk: 8.4
Ca: 420
Mag: 1450
N03: 20+??
P04: .01

All LPS, fish, and Inverts are doing great. Anemone is showing minor signs of stress, and SPS is like poo.

I had a buddy bring his test kits over to test my water. All of his numbers matched mine except for nitrates. When testing with my Salifert kit I got 0ppm. When he tested with his Salifert he got 20+ ppm. When he tested with his Elos (I think), he got 30+ ppm.
I ordered all new test kits, which will be here today - So I plan to test everything I can test tonight.
I already did a large water change, and will do another today.

I took my Bio pellets offline about 3 months ago because I thought they were the cause of the problem. Obviously they were not, because nothing has positively changed since I took them offline.

I feel like I am going in circles around the problem....:spin1:

Should I put them back online?

I just disconnected the union, and set the whole reactor in my garage full of pellets, and RODI water. Can I re-use the pellets or are they trash?

Can I clean them some how?

I am currently running small amounts of GFO/GAC. Should I stop, or add more?

With P04 that low, and N03 that high - can Nitrates be removed other than with water changes? Skimming wet, etc.....

Any other advice......?


I have not dosed a single thing to this tank since it has been set-up. With the small amount of livestock, supplements are not needed. Water changes keeps params in check. Other than Nitrate obviously haha...
I have checked the tank many times at night finding nothing. I will continue to keep an eye out.
I don't think it would be anything with my water changes althought I don't monitor PH in new water. All other levels are in line, so I don't worry too much about PH.
I have been using RedSea Coral Pro, and levels are PLENTY high enough if not too high.


Thanks to everyone in advance.

 

[Asureef]

Something similar is happening to my tank, but it's only affecting acorporas. Do you keep montis or any other type of sps?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Enjoy]

RE-POST from last page.....

Let me start off by saying - :headwally:

SG: 1.026
Temp: 78.8
PH: 7.87
Alk: 8.4
Ca: 420
Mag: 1450
N03: 20+??
P04: .01

All LPS, fish, and Inverts are doing great. Anemone is showing minor signs of stress, and SPS is like poo.

I had a buddy bring his test kits over to test my water. All of his numbers matched mine except for nitrates. When testing with my Salifert kit I got 0ppm. When he tested with his Salifert he got 20+ ppm. When he tested with his Elos (I think), he got 30+ ppm.
I ordered all new test kits, which will be here today - So I plan to test everything I can test tonight.
I already did a large water change, and will do another today.

I took my Bio pellets offline about 3 months ago because I thought they were the cause of the problem. Obviously they were not, because nothing has positively changed since I took them offline.

I feel like I am going in circles around the problem....:spin1:

Should I put them back online?

I just disconnected the union, and set the whole reactor in my garage full of pellets, and RODI water. Can I re-use the pellets or are they trash?

Can I clean them some how?

I am currently running small amounts of GFO/GAC. Should I stop, or add more?

With P04 that low, and N03 that high - can Nitrates be removed other than with water changes? Skimming wet, etc.....

Any other advice......?


I have not dosed a single thing to this tank since it has been set-up. With the small amount of livestock, supplements are not needed. Water changes keeps params in check. Other than Nitrate obviously haha...
I have checked the tank many times at night finding nothing. I will continue to keep an eye out.
I don't think it would be anything with my water changes althought I don't monitor PH in new water. All other levels are in line, so I don't worry too much about PH.
I have been using RedSea Coral Pro, and levels are PLENTY high enough if not too high.


Thanks to everyone in advance

 

[Enjoy]

Something similar is happening to my tank, but it's only affecting acorporas. Do you keep montis or any other type of sps?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It happened across the board, not only acros were affected.
Thanks though.

 

[DBarsotti]

+1 on the rox

 

[MammothReefer]

Do bigger water changes to reduce the nitrates, better yet find out where the nitrates are coming from and make sure you aren't adding anymore. You can put the pellets back on, but I would get things back to a n "tolerable" level first and you biopellets to maintain. I also would really re-consider the usage of RSCP. I had some very bad experiences with it recently (and my sps), and have seen my tank really turn around since a switch back to IO.

 

[Enjoy]

Do bigger water changes to reduce the nitrates, better yet find out where the nitrates are coming from and make sure you aren't adding anymore. You can put the pellets back on, but I would get things back to a n "tolerable" level first and you biopellets to maintain. I also would really re-consider the usage of RSCP. I had some very bad experiences with it recently (and my sps), and have seen my tank really turn around since a switch back to IO.

After hearing so much great feedback (on a few different threads) I decided to put the BioPellets back online. I will take it slow, and keep a close eye on them. They have been off long enough to see that the problem I am having is not caused by them. I cleaned the reactor with RO, and dumped all the pellets into a 5g bucket. I swashed, and swished them around dumping out the water and refilling it every couple minutes.
Im sure it will take some time to get these colonized again, but thats fine. When I have some time I plan to pick up some ZEObak and start dosing this again. My only fear is that Cyano will come back...but we'll see.

Also, I have been running RSCP salt and really haven't seen any positive results from it. The alk being at 12.2 really makes me nervous. If the alk in my tank is 8.4 and the alk straight from the bucket is 12+ everytime I do a water change it is shocking the corals.
So now I grabbed a bucket of AquaVitro Salinity and I will give it a try. I already have 50g mixing in the garage for my next water change. Hopefully my tank will adapt well to the new salt, seeing as these levels are much closer to where I want to keep them.

Thanks everyone. I'll keep this thread updated as this plays out.

 

[Psyops]

Interesting comments with the Rox carbon. As soon as I switched to the Rox brand, I am having the same exact issue. Doublecheck the nitrate issue. I have heard some Salifert test kits show a false high result. I am using a Hanna nitrate tester with accurate results. I am also going to take the Rox offline and see what happens. My problem is only Acros though just like you.
I wonder if the Acros don't like the Rox. Can some people chime in if they are using Rox carbon successfully and let us know how much and how long they are running the reactors?

I will let you know what happens to my system for feedback reasons. I am curious if it is the Rox also.

 

[steevareno2002]

subscribed

 

[asonitez]

This is the 3rd/4th time I have heard someone switching and or using ROX and having problems with Acros... ROX is very potent stuff. Its almost why I ONLY buy it when were doing a group buy and only use a small amount in my reactor. About 1/2 the recommended dosage. In between that I use regular activated carbon pellets by Marineland or API.

I have also switched to the Red Sea Reef Program. My tank's seen some drastic changes since doing so. For the first time I'm starting to feel like "I can grow anything because my lighting and water are perfect."

 

[Alex T.]

I posted about ROX about a year ago. With no other changes in the tank and running less than the recommended amount through a fluidized reactor I started to get no polyp extension and recession at the base. Everything points to phosphate, but wihin a month of taking the ROX offline things returned to normal. A couple of acros were lost.

I think the people that report the most problems either carbon dose, use a biopellet reactor or run some other ULNS system like Zeovit. I'm starting to believe that this is why Zeovit wants you to use their brand of carbon. It's proabably not that potent at all.