Tank Woes

[Lockhartia]

So back in October I upgraded my 60 cube to an 80 shallow. I transferred over as much water as I could, and re used all the rock. The sand bed is new, I only put a cup or two of the original sand bed in to seed it. Everything was fantastic in the 60 cube, and up until recently, doing fine after the transfer.
So every day I come home wondering what I'm going to find dead this time. All my acropora (and acropora only) are miserable. They are slowly turning pale, then will start the STN from the bottom up, and all I can do is watch. I've had some of these colonies for YEARS. I've tried cutting and fragging, but to no avail. All the while they have had good polyp extension!

Parameters:
pH: 8.2
Calcium: 380 ( know it's low, have been dosing regularly and it is coming up)
Nitrate/Nitrite/Ammonia/Phosphate all test 0
Magnesium: @1400
Alk: 7dkh
Temp: @ 78 degrees (always been this temp)
Salinity: 1.025 (tested on a calibrated refractometer)
Lighting: 7x54 watt T5HO (Aquactinics Constellation fixture)

I know the alk is on the low side, it's ALWAYS been on the low side, even back in the old tank, and it never bothered anything then. I've been regularly dosing alk but I cannot get it to go higher. (alk has been tested on two different test kits ).

The RODI filters are only 2 months old. The light bulbs were all new in October. I have not added any new coral since November. I have added a few fish, all gobies, over the past two months, but that's it.

The tank is pest free, no bugs, no aptasia, nothing. I have no fish that would pick on the coral, and it's only happening to my acropora. I have several stylophora that are fine, my montioporas are fine as are my pocillopora and birdsnests. All species of LPS are happy and show no signs of stress, and the same goes for my clams! All fish are fine and also show zero signs of stress.

I've tried turning my skimmer off for the last week in case the tank was too "œclean" (I highly doubt that's my issue but I'm trying anything at this point). I am doing weekly 10 gallon water changes with IO salt (I've used it for years). I even made sure there was no stray voltage in the tank (there isn't). I've tried feeding heavy with rotifers/cyclopeeze in addition to mysis and mega marine, and I've tried not feeding much at all!

If anyone has ANY suggestions or thoughts, I would appreciate it. Thank you!

 

[crissie]

Is the lighting affecting them? The distance from the water and the amount of water to the acropora may be different now, plus with the new lights at the same time (I think, did I read that right?)?

Not really sure what else it could be.

 

[Lockhartia]

The change wasn't too bad, and I acclimated them over about a 4 week period. The had been under 10x24watt T5HOs before. The STNing has been going on for about 2-3 weeks now so I don't think it's light shock.

 

[Tweaked]

IMO, most common in this order:
1. Low Nutrients (must feed!!)
2. Alkalinity (must keep this stable or leads to #4)
3. Lighting (as important as alk, however most have good lighting)
4. Stress (Bugs, temp, coral warfare, etc.)

 

[Lockhartia]

The alk, while on the lower side, has been stable. Extremely stable. Frustratingly stable in that I can't get it to move in either direction!

I'm doubtful it's the lighting. It's a powerhouse of a fixture, the bulbs are new, and everything was acclimated. The light also sits right on the tank, it's not hung. (The old T5s were also sitting right on the tank).

The temp is stable. I have never seen any evidence of pests. Every SPS in that tank was from ORA (straight out of the shipping bags too, never came in contact with another tank).

Maybe warfare? I have no leathers at all, and nothing touches anything else. It's a 50/50 LPS/SPS tank. I would think though the clams would also show signs of stress of there was something foul in the water.

So very frustrating!

 

[Tweaked]

Easy test, get the light up, and run it less. Brown coral is better than stn coral.

 

[Tweaked]

Oh, and 0 on your nutrients sounds like they are starving.

 

[ctreefer]

Was the 80 a new tank? Any chance of toxins?(metals).

Maybe try heavy metal/chemical remover for a month?

Sorry, that sucks. Did you notice any signs of cycling after the transfer?

 

[Lockhartia]

It was a new tank, but I'm not sure where toxins would have come from. We scrubbed it down with baking soda first. Also if there were heavy metals, wouldn't some of the other corals show signs of distress? The clams too. There was no cycle after the tank swap that I saw. It's the second time I've upgraded the tank in 7 years (I've had a lot of the coral/clams during that time) and they all weathered it just fine until the last month.

I'm wracking my brain for anything I've done different in the last month but come up with nothing. I've added a firefish, red capped goby, pistol shrimp and pair of antennae gobies over the last two months, but that's it, not even any new coral!

 

[Blitzie]

Hello
First excellent post asking for help as you gave all the info required for educated guesses we can provide.

I would not be worried about the alk at 7 as I run mine in that area all the time.

Now you say your old tank was a 60 cube and this one is a 80 shallow. How much difference in depth is the 80? I am thinking if it is much shallower you may be subjecting them to more light.

Are you running gfo and/or carbon?

 

[ca1ore]

.... except too much light generally doesn't manifest STN from the bottom up. Very strange. Have you checked for bugs of some kind? Or nudies?

 

[BfishLpond78]

I agree with tweaked, super low nutrients. You are starving the corals. I had the same exact problem with my tank...feed feed feed. Get coral specific foods, aminos, reef chili, turn the skimmer off ever 3 days for 8-10 hours. Turn off any GFO and reduce the use of carbon as well as that can take out good stuff as well.

I watched my SPS do this for over a month before someone mentioned this to me.

Good luck

 

[triggreef]

Sorry to hear your troubles. I agree with everyone else the no3 and po4 are too low, but have you always kept them at zero?

Just wondering if you have any blenny? I only ask because I know you like the gobys and such. I have a black sailfin blenny I caught eating acros. One at a time, as I moved the acros into my frag tank, he would pick another. He now lives in the sump and the acros he almost destroyed recovered just fine. Just a thought.

 

[Lockhartia]

The tank went from 24" tall to 18" tall, so yes there was a significant decrease in height. The light is a 7 bulb fixture, I'm able to control two sets of 2x54 watt and one set of 3x54. For the first 7-10 days I only ran 4 of the seven bulbs. The first two would come on around 10, the second two at 2pm and run until 6pm. The first set would go off at 8pm.

After the 10 days or so I started running the additional 3 bulbs, and for about a week let them run from noon until 2. Gradually I increased the time the last 3 bulbs were on until they now come on at noon and go until 5pm. Everything was acclimated by mid November.

I'm really not sure if it's lighting since wouldn't if have affected everything? Plus nothing showed any signs of light stress at all, and it has been months since the lights have been running at their current configuration.

I have no blennies in the tank, just gobies, one wrasse, one scopas tang, a trio of black cardinals, one PJ cardinal (who I've had for 11 years) a yellow assessor and a percula. Everything else is a goby. I do have a green clown goby, but I've had him for probably 5 years, and he's never bothered anything. Most of the time he goes thrill seeking in my elegance anyway!

I'm going to pick up some coral food to see if that helps. It's just killing me to watch some of these colonies I've had 2-3 years waste away!

 

[triggreef]

Just a couple questions not related to each other.... I've read stn from the base can brew caused by low flow. You said only acros were the problem but you have other acros doing fine. Were the ones that stn'd in less flow than the ones still doing ok?

Also what do you use for po4 removal? Assuming gfo, did you use an extra big portion lately?

Carbon change lately? Large amount?

Water change with newly mixed water?

I know your well seasoned, but sometimes people offer look the small stuff.

 

[Lockhartia]

Actually I run no GFO/Carbon. I had carbon for a while after the tank transfer, but I've never consistently run carbon ever.

I'm afraid of GFO as I've heard it can sometimes upset clams, and I have almost a dozen, so I've never run it.

Ironically the ones I've had the most trouble with get all sorts of flow via a MP40. The left side of the tank I specifically keep very low flow as that's where my elegance is, but I also have no acros there, just a few birdsnests and montis, which are fine. I have a huge purple stylo over on that side as well that's doing great (other than the fact that it's being overgrown by an unstoppable cyphastrea).

I've been doing larger than normal water changes, which has been in response to what's going on, and it certainly doesn't seem to be HURTING anything.

I'm just so frustrated because I have done nothing different than I've ever done, the only thing different is the tank, but if there was some sort of chemical leeching, I have other sensitive animals in the tank that I would assume would also be affected!

Seriously thinking of going back to LPS at this rate :-(

 

[BfishLpond78]

I don't believe its the lighting...I ran an 8 bulb tek light over my 80 shallow.

SPS are fun right!!!

 

[triggreef]

You must change a massive amount of water to keep your po4 at 0. Your tank is very impressive to say the least. It sucks to watch things die and not know why.

I would think with all those clams and corals, that the tank must suck up a ton of Alk. It could be enough to make a good size difference between water changes. I know that IO mixes at 7 dkh, are you testing prior to doing your water changes as well as say a couple hours after? Thats the last idea I have.

 

[Lockhartia]

Hmmm I have not tried right after a water change, I will do that. Usually I test right before a water change. I ordered all new test kits just to be on the safe side, they just showed up last night (Drs Foster Smith take FOREVER fyi).

It is a very alk hungry tank, which is probably why I can't get it to move. I dose manually because I've heard so many horror stories about dosers failing and wiping out tanks.

Long shot, but I was wondering if new sand could also strip things like alk out of the water? I'm really grabbing at straws here but other than the physical tank itself, the ONLY thing different from my old system is the new sand! I never had any of these issues in the old tank, and truth be told I haven't added a lot since the swap, it was mainly to let what I already had grow and have room it did not before.

Yeah, SPS are "fun" all right!