SPS STN from bottom up

[Tek]

Please look at stonecold tank: He says He never finds alk the same, but never noticed issues on his corals, that are at least impressive.

I agree. When I used to manual dose my alk swang from 8dkh to 6.5dkh weekly and did not have any STN or issues.

 

[lynchmob3000]

Stone cold uses a cal reactor and kalk stirrer..... his swings are sutle

 

[Ink]

I know many people using 2 parts and giving them once a day; they keep SPS with good colours without any issues. I'm not saying alk swing surely isn't a issue, but maybe not the only one. Nutrients level is often linked to alk causing STN.

 

[JD46]

Probably not your problem, but I had a similar issue. Turned out to be a corroding "titanium" heater. First to STN were acros, followed by montis. Birdsnests showed little impact. Check your equipment/magnets for signs of corrosion.

 

[bboudreaux]

I have been fighting the same issue on 2 tanks. One with biopellets and the other without. I removed all GFO, carbon, and the biopellets. I also increased fish feeding and coral feeding at night. The tank which had the biopellets has stopped STN on a tricolor and it is growing back. I have a few other acros which show very slow STN and PE is very little to nonexistent. Then I also have other acros which are growing as if nothing is wrong with excellent PE. Birdsnest, stylophora, and montis are normal.

The tank which never had biopellets has a number of acros with STN while some acros have great color growth and PE.

The common largest change before all this happened was that I increased lighting on both tanks. Shortly after I had remendous growth spurts in both tanks but N03 and P04 dropped to 0 about 1 month later.

I suspect the growth spurt caused the corals to use up all available nutrients and the chemical filtration compounded the problem. I have since fed the tank even more and reduced lighting. N03 is still low .01-.02 but detectable and P04 .02-.03

Both tanks seem to be bouncing back.

Tank which had biopellets had a 15k 250w mh swapped to 10K and LEDs at 80% added for supplementation. Other tank is all LED and I was running 80% blues and 20% whites.

15k mh is back in now and LEDs down to 30%. All LED tank had some LEDs removed and both channels down to 30%.

This sounds alot like my situation. About a month and a half ago i had a t-5 ballast that was going out and would only work until it heated up then would cut off until it cooled. This was going on while i was at work for awhile until i noticed one day when it blinked off. The wife said she noticed it quite a while ago, but figured i had it set that way. i have since changed to the new reefbreeders photon 48, which was roughly 3weeks ago. I wondered if the lighting issue had stressed the corals. i saw where you said the corals that are receding have very little to no PE. Well, in my case i have corals with extreme PE but they are still STN. The acros not affected seem to have normal to good growth. Just like you all monti, birdnest, stylo, poccillopora, setosa, seritoporas are perfect with normal growth levels.

 

[bboudreaux]

Are you running GFO? GFO will precipitate calcium and carbonates.

I would try dosing at night. This way you are adding buffer when the pH will naturally drop.
Also, when you dose kalk be sure to ONLY add the clear bit. Do not add the cloudy water/sediment at the bottom.

i run two full units of chemi pure elite in a reactor. i have since changed my dosing schedule for alk to midnight to noon.

 

[bboudreaux]

Just use Randy's 2-Part recipe 2 (for kalk users) and you won't have to worry about the Ph spikes.

im using Bionic 2part right now, and i have alot. thanks for the suggestion i will look into that for sure.

 

[bboudreaux]

Man sounds like your corals demanded too much alk and you may of had swing

you may be right here. This sunday i tested at 1pm and my alk was 7.2, and that was after my dosing schedule ended. i had raised my dosing of alk to 40ml on saturday b/c i took the kalk offline. i mixed up some seachem reefbuilder to get to 7.7 gonna monitor from here.

I used to have the exact same problem.
To me the alk was too low and as I got a bit higher they started to do ok.
I know that sometimes your values can be "normal" but then, every tank is a different story.

The problem i have is that when i get my alk close to 8.5 i start to get the burnt tips. (Biopellets)

I know what you mean, my tanks first year I would get stn if my alk tested 7. I run it at 8 and I have no issues. Now I think it could handle the swing

i have been trying to get my alk around 8 for awhile now and just when i got close this issue started. i know it has nothing do with it, but i had to cut my doser back since i had a feeling my alk demand would drop.

 

[bboudreaux]

bboudreaux, there are some hypothesis that limewater with increasing zooxanthellae due to increasing nutrients could be harmful because of competition between coral and zoox for HCO3 and CO2. Kalk consumes all CO2. 2 part gives much less CO2 then a ca-rx and if 2 parts is made with CO3+HCO3, there is even less CO2.

this is very interesting do you have a link i would love to read on this.

bboudreaux, have you checked your pumps and heater for precipitate?

No issues here just cleaned everything in my sump 2weeks ago. switched out return pumps, soaked my heaters skimmer, reactors, and all in vinegar. i didn't see anything out of the norm.

I run a doser and it was always adjusted to keep pace. No ALK swing. N03 and P04 went to 0 is the problem. No food to fuel growth.

i wish this was my issue but my no3 and po4 are at normal levels

Most of the serious sps keepers will say that an alk swing is the only thing that will make an acro stn.

This may very well be the culprit, but i have yet to see a significant swing of more than .7 dhk.

Please look at stonecold tank: He says He never finds alk the same, but never noticed issues on his corals, that are at least impressive.

This kind of thing kills me. He is probably like those people who say they can go without water changes, and still have great results. I have a local reefer who never does water changes and you should see his tank. Huge colonies of sps beautiful color with great growth. Makes me sick.

 

[bboudreaux]

Did you buy the ReefBreeder lights if so how are they working out for you ?

I love it really great light. My electrician/reefer buddy said they are very well made. He just had to dismantle his to take a look.

Call your city water company and ask if they use chloramine. If they do, that can have an underlying effect... When was the last time you replaced your Ro di filters?

About 3weeks ago all 5 stages. 2tds out of RO/membrane and 0 after DI

I've had a base up STN occur just once on me, and it was as simple as high salinity. I had tested everything, removed the two colonies for dipping and found nothing. Recalibrate my hydrometer and sure enough I was at 1.028. Corrected back down to 1.0255 and the STN stopped. I did lose one of the colonies though

i recalibrate my refractometer everytime i use it 1.025

I agree. When I used to manual dose my alk swang from 8dkh to 6.5dkh weekly and did not have any STN or issues.

You see and i have never had a swing like that before or atleast not one i knew about lol.

 

[bboudreaux]

I know many people using 2 parts and giving them once a day; they keep SPS with good colours without any issues. I'm not saying alk swing surely isn't a issue, but maybe not the only one. Nutrients level is often linked to alk causing STN.

Thats what i thought too but my nutirents are right where they normally stay.

Probably not your problem, but I had a similar issue. Turned out to be a corroding "titanium" heater. First to STN were acros, followed by montis. Birdsnests showed little impact. Check your equipment/magnets for signs of corrosion.

i had my heaters out not too long ago and didn't notice anything but will check again. i do have plenty magrocks in my tank so i will check those magnets. also, i have one of those eschopps frag racks that people have complained about the magnet comparments leaking and magnets rusting with corrosion leaching into the water column.

 

[lynchmob3000]

are you dosing equal parts of the bionic?

 

[lynchmob3000]

i know many people using 2 parts and giving them once a day; they keep sps with good colours without any issues. I'm not saying alk swing surely isn't a issue, but maybe not the only one. Nutrients level is often linked to alk causing stn.

+1

 

[bboudreaux]

no i'm at 25ml for ca and 40ml of alk. when i was using kalk i was dosing only 5ml of ca and that was keeping up. Anymore and my ca would climb to around 500. My plan is to raise ca dose until it is equal to alk. Right now my ca is holding steady at 440, but i know i still have some kalk water in my topoff reservoir so i'm going slow. I figure it will dilute over time allowing me to raise my ca dose slowly. Is this a problem?

 

[Ink]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/2/myths

bboudreaux, there you can find some points to start.

 

[lynchmob3000]

ive heard that with bionic the way its made you have to use equal parts to keep your chemistry right. i would do a big water change and then wait and test/ buffer over night and start using equal parts of the bionic. cut out the kalk all together for now

 

[greenhead]

Starting to really see a correlation in leaking magnets and Stn. I did notice I was getting odd readouts of Mag and didn't know why. When looking at things this week I found some maricultured colonies with what appeared to be rust on the bottom of rock. I switched out alk of my pumps as this has been driving me crazy and I was willing to do anything to stop it. I am now starting to see improvement on some things. I did notice an increase in stray voltage in the tank also. But u have always had a small amount. It seems each device I plug in increases voltage by about 2. After everything is on I get about 15 to 19 volts. This never caused in issue before but right before I took everything out I was reading 30 volts. Which still wasn't enough to bite me.

We will see. But I believe the corroding magnets were also creating like there own Gfo since Gfo is pretty much rust and cleaning my water as I could not build phosphate no matter what with running 0 phosphate remover.

 

[lynchmob3000]

A friend of mine just lost all his acros exept one pearlberry and he said its bc his mag drive return pump started leaking oil... Weird stuff.

 

[bboudreaux]

Starting to really see a correlation in leaking magnets and Stn. I did notice I was getting odd readouts of Mag and didn't know why. When looking at things this week I found some maricultured colonies with what appeared to be rust on the bottom of rock. I switched out alk of my pumps as this has been driving me crazy and I was willing to do anything to stop it. I am now starting to see improvement on some things. I did notice an increase in stray voltage in the tank also. But u have always had a small amount. It seems each device I plug in increases voltage by about 2. After everything is on I get about 15 to 19 volts. This never caused in issue before but right before I took everything out I was reading 30 volts. Which still wasn't enough to bite me.

We will see. But I believe the corroding magnets were also creating like there own Gfo since Gfo is pretty much rust and cleaning my water as I could not build phosphate no matter what with running 0 phosphate remover.

i double checked all magnets last night and nothing.

A friend of mine just lost all his acros exept one pearlberry and he said its bc his mag drive return pump started leaking oil... Weird stuff.

wouldn't you see some type of residue on the surface of the water is this was the case. also, i don't think the pump would last long after this happened right?
i remove my pump, skimmer and clean them every 6mos. I have an extra mag12 so i just swap it out for the clean spare on hand. Right now the one i have online is fairly new about 1yr old, but only has about 5mos run time.

 

[lynchmob3000]

He did say there was a little bit of oil on the surface of the water....

Hows everything looking as of today with all your corals?