STN...could it be from my condo being cleaned?

[dg3147]

Raising alk to 9-10 over the weekend along with 20% water change. Will add 2 test acros on tuesday.

 

[Stolireef]

dg:

I know your pain and I'm suffering from pretty much the same issues. I doubt it's your kH unless your test kit is faulty. I'm still scratching my head on my tank.

I do agree that too many changes can be a problem. I've really been trying the KISS method lately. I hope it helps.

 

[Stolireef]

Also, how are your fish doing. That's one of the things I can't understand in my tank. Fish are happy and fat. In past tanks, I had way more issues with fish than corals.

 

[Moser]

I had very similar problems periodically in a large SPS tank.
I know many don't believe in this, but many do, religiously.

I put the recommended dose of Salifert Iodine into my tank and it reversed the changes in just a few days. I have since dosed 1/3 recommended dose spread out and have not yet had a recurrence.

Iodine dosing can work wonders in many SPS tanks. I know Randy thinks its a waste of time though....

No harm in trying it?.... I did get some cyano crop up when I put a heavy dose in, so be watchful. It may have been coincidence, but reducing the dose seemed to clear it up again!.

Mo

 

[Acronic]

That seems like alk burn from swings to me... Also concerned by the lack of coraline algae (none i can see?)

Has the temp in your area fluctuated much? I dont like kalk because the evaporation rate is always changing

 

[jackson6745]

Have you used any bacterial products or other products that may have slipped your mind?

Last month my buddy's 140 was suffering badly from tip and base recession like your tank. In his case, he was dosing a few probido products and he had lots of detritus in his sump. We did an 80 gallon water change switching his salt to plain old Instant Ocean. Vacuumed all detritus from sump, and no more "supplements" except for cal, alk, and mg.
In a week most of the corals were growing back over the tip recession.

I would also buy 1.026 refractometer calibration fluid.

 

[dg3147]

I put the recommended dose of Salifert Iodine into my tank and it reversed the changes in just a few days. I have since dosed 1/3 recommended dose spread out and have not yet had a recurrence.

Iodine dosing can work wonders in many SPS tanks. I know Randy thinks its a waste of time though....

No harm in trying it?....
Mo

I may try this if this next trial of large water change and raising alk to 9 does not work. If Iodine is the trick, I want it isolated as factor.

That seems like alk burn from swings to me... Also concerned by the lack of coraline algae (none i can see?)

Has the temp in your area fluctuated much? I dont like kalk because the evaporation rate is always changing

It looks like Alk burn but does not act like it. No huge alk swings other than dropping a bit low after a week of no water changes. It got as low as 6.6 once and I took 4 days to raise it back to 8.

In analyzing the problem. I think it must be some trace element missing. Otherwise why would a 5% water change help so much? And then stop helping after a couple days? I have been dealing with this for many months now and it is clear that the water change stops and even reverses recession for a few days. When I leave town for a week and do not do the water change I get massive recession. Iodine (or another element may be the key after all...will test this in 4 weeks after alk raising test).

There is coraline growth, just slower than on previous tanks. After a few days of water changes, the coraline growth explodes, then slows if I stop them.

Salinity checked and is the same as DFS shipments.

 

[dg3147]

Have you used any bacterial products or other products that may have slipped your mind?

I would also buy 1.026 refractometer calibration fluid.

No, no additional additives. Sump is kept clean, no sand etc in sump.

 

[led stony]

type of water?

type of water?

do you have chlorimines in your city water? if so are you using the proper ro system for it? just a thought.

 

[AriMiko43]

I have had the same problem. My fix was dropping half my gfo out and feeding the fish a lot more along with dosing aquavitro reef fuel. My tank did a complete 180 and sps is coming back in full swing. Be careful of the amount of gfo added into your tank. My water was basically stripped of nutrients.

 

[dg3147]

I stopped GFO and charcoal (not sure if this was related to my problem or not, but Pho4 tests at zero so i guess it's safe to stop it) and did a 150 gallon water change over a couple weeks, with 30-40% in the first couple days.

All STN has reversed and the corals are 90% healed. It is clearly too soon to tell if this success will be long lasting. If it is due to some nutrient sink, the system should crash again in next couple weeks. Gonna see what happens and cross my fingers.

Added a couple new corals to help test things out.

 

[worm5406]

Try taking daily pictures at the same angle and all.

This will help track what it is doing.

 

[Patrick Cox]

I have had the same problem. My fix was dropping half my gfo out and feeding the fish a lot more along with dosing aquavitro reef fuel. My tank did a complete 180 and sps is coming back in full swing. Be careful of the amount of gfo added into your tank. My water was basically stripped of nutrients.

How long did it take to turn around? I have several corals where the encrustation at the base is slowly turning white. I believe this is due to low nutrients in the water (PO4 = 0 and NO3 = 0.1 or so.) So I turned off my GFO reactor and have started feeding my corals. I never fed before. Also feeding fish more. So just wondering how long it take for this to show results. (Also doing more water changes.)

Thanks.

 

[dg3147]

How long did it take to turn around? I have several corals where the encrustation at the base is slowly turning white. I believe this is due to low nutrients in the water (PO4 = 0 and NO3 = 0.1 or so.) So I turned off my GFO reactor and have started feeding my corals. I never fed before. Also feeding fish more. So just wondering how long it take for this to show results. (Also doing more water changes.)

Thanks.

There are many things that can cause STN --really any sort of stressor can do it. I noticed that when I did a 10% water change the STN slowed for a couple days. This led me to the theaory that there was a trace element missing (unknown etiology --maybe dry macrorocks are sucking something up or new tank is not generating some element that is vital). Thus the experimnet with the >100% water change. i noticed improvement almost the next day with clear growth/repair within 3-4 days post completion of the 3 day long water change.

Every tank is unique and my treatment may not work on others. If u see improvement with 20% change maybe give it a try.