Tips burnt

phljess

phljess

New member
I am still rather new to SPS so I have a question. What will cause SPS tips to die back. I have a Chip's Acro I bought about a month ago and a couple of its tips have receeded back. I moved it up week by week to acclimate it to my lighting. I run 400 watt Iwasaki low k bulbs. So my guess would be that the light was too intense. I clipped the tips back and moved the coral down a little in the tank. My other guess would maybe be alk/cal issue but I have been running steady at 420 ppm Cal and 3.0 meq/l Alk so I do not think this is my problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
I'm not sure what cured my problem, but I did 3 things to correct the "tip recession".
1) Nitates to zero using AZ-NO3 (Salifert test) & phosphate to below .008 (Merk test)
2) changed flow around
3) I boght a doser for my 2 part to keep Alk at a very steady 9.6 reading. The doser doses my 2 part, 4 times a day

Ralph
 
what kind of salt are u using?

i struggled with the same problem for a year until i found out it was my salt causing the issues having high borate and low alk but the borate falsifies the test results registering a higher alk that what is truly present....

i tried everything from swithching lights to flow to phosphate removers to more and less water changes....

finally changed the salt and stumbled across a site talking about the high borate issue and that was my deal....

once i changed to a good salt my corals all bounced back and recovered 100% within a month all tips grew back but it sucks cuz i lost lots of sps during the last year figuring this out!

good luck
 
I am a little low on the flow side, But I have most of my flow directed in the area I keep my acros. I have about 4200 GPH in a 210 set up. Again most of my flow is directed close to my acros. I have not thought about my salt, I use IO, with a kalk reactor and bump up my alk and cal a little with a homemade two part. My nitrates are always under 5 ppm and my phosphates are usually undetectable with my Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kit. I grow macros in my refugium and do partial water changes twice a month. I guess it could be flow but I would think that it would be affecting larger colonies if that were the case instead of frags.
 
i was using Ocean Pure Pro by via aqua....

totally CRAP salt IMO!

ever since switching to Tropic Marin all my acros bounced back within a few weeks and fully recovered now im having great growth rates and no death....

i battled the tips being burnt on new acros for a whole year until i figured out the issue and now everything is doing great i wish i woulda known a long time ago
 
IMO, it's your test kit! That's the same company that said my nitrates were zero when they were at the 30-50 range! It's the same kit that gave me false positive Ammonia readings. Those tests cost me well over a thousand in lost SPS & hundreds of hours of lost time. IMO.
Try Salifert for trates & Merk for phosphate.
 
i use salifer test kits only and im using the same salifer test kit that i was using when i used OPP salt so it deffinately is not the test kit.... its the crappy salt

with using TM salt my Alk has leveled out at 9 dkh and a CA of 400-420...

i have a 2 chambered ca reactor which keeps everything stable...
 
Change of flow or not enough will easily cause your tips to die.

Most sps tanks REQUIRE 50x turnover...

Put in some cheap seios for the time being.

I run a 3600 ampmaster on a semiclosed loop + 2 seio 1100s + 2 more seio 1500's... I dont even think that is enough sometimes.

F
 
i beg to differ on flow 50x's is nice but u can get away with 25-30x's as long as its random and throughout....

i run about 35-40x's in my 180 but a buddy around the corner has a 265 full of sps and hes only got about 25x's turnover in his tank....

i agree more flow the better but i doubt his flow is the issue that would cause tips to receed like that
 
Ok maybe not required... But it is very helpful. The bigger that the corals get the more flow they seem to need.

I have witnessed in my tank, stn, where flow is blocked or nonexistent.
 
i would agree if u have realy big colonies then more flow is required to get through them all

but i kinda doubt thats his issue
 
FWIW I have a Chips and sometimes the tips recede when all other acros are doing fine. Sometimes I pinch off the dead part, othertimes I don't. Just watch it.
 
I took off the bad part, this is only about 1 1/2 frag. It seem to be doing alright. I hope I do not lose it, it is a great looking piece. I also did a 10% WC today and will do another this week.

On a side note, all my other acros are doing fine so I am unsure what is going on with it. I could understand flow concerns if it were a larger piece.
 
I would bet it was the high PAR levels from the 400W lamps. I had the same thing happen to a frag that came out of a tank with 250W lamps. I found over time the tissue grew back without clipping the tips. That frag is now my most colorful, fastest growing SPS. My rule is unless the recession is actively moving there is no reason to clip. Only do it to stop RTN/STN.
 
i know there are 4 reefers in the bayarea havethe same problem.we're found out the cause of this is oceanic salt.after stop using them and switch it to IO or reef crystal everything back to normal.it's too late for me almost cause me to quit this hobby.non of us will touch that salt here.


lapsan
 
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