What's wrong here?

[gdubs97]

Recently the ends of this cap has been decaying. Not the greatest shot but what could be the cause? That pulsing whatever you call it is very close to it and could be touching it. Could that be the cause?

Also this is what used to be a rainbow that I bought from Jason fox at the manhattan reefs show. It was growing like crazy but slowly lost its colors. Any advice?

Last one. It's just brown. I think it should have color. It started in my tank as a broken frag and it sat at the bottom and has grown. I would like to see some color. Thanks

Parameters are all good. Around 8 for alk 425 calcium 1440 mag and around 0.05 for phosphates.

Thanks

 

[puleski]

How old are your lights.

 

[gdubs97]

Lights are not old. I switched to radions about 5 months ago.

 

[sponger0]

That could be a reason....but what about water parameters? Visually cant speculate anything until we know if you water is proper or not

 

[gdubs97]

Which parameters?

Alk is around 8
Calcium around 420s
Mag at 1440
Phosphates around 0.05
Temps between 75 and 79
Ph goes from 7.9 to 8.2
Sg is about 1.028

Is it a general rule that corals go brown when there is not enough light?

 

[gig]

4 degre temp swing is a bit much and gs at 1.028 is a but high, would be better at 1.026

Have you calibrated you refractometer? Always good to check

 

[gig]

4 degre temp swing is a bit much and gs at 1.028 is a but high, would be better at 1.026

Have you calibrated you refractometer? Always good to check

 

[gdubs97]

I will calibrate it and I thought it was a little high. I just don't know I'd those are the reasons those corals are deteriorating. I'm doing a 35 gallon water change tomorrow (120 plus 30 sump total to 150) I will see about lowering sg slowly but I keep having to increase dosing as corals continue to grow.

 

[gdubs97]

I just checked and the sg of my tank is just about 1.030 and I calibrated it first. The 35 gallons of new salt water for my change tomorrow is at 1.025. Should I lower the new salt water to bring my sg of my tank after the change down a little more? Not sure if that's th cause of my issues of my sps posted above or not. Please somebody chime in if you know.

 

[tmb22]

I just checked and the sg of my tank is just about 1.030 and I calibrated it first. The 35 gallons of new salt water for my change tomorrow is at 1.025. Should I lower the new salt water to bring my sg of my tank after the change down a little more? Not sure if that's th cause of my issues of my sps posted above or not. Please somebody chime in if you know.

Yes. Add more RO/DI water to your mixture to bring it down to about 1.022. Of course, this depends on how large your water change is going to be. If it's half the water, do like 1.023. If it's just a 20% water change, bring your water change water down to about 1.018 to get your entire system water at about 1.026. I'm no mathematician, so watch the levels as you do your water change... But these are my guesses for SG levels.

And yes, high SG is most certainly the cause of your issues.

 

[Acronic]

Dont disregard the temp. Thats a big swing, personally i have had issues with acros in <76 degree temps

 

[sirreal63]

If the tank has always had that 4 degree temp swing, it isn't the problem, if the tank has not had a temp variation and suddenly has one, that can be a problem. I would suspect the high sg first for the damage of the cap, and the coloration problems are fairly common with a change to LED's.

 

[gdubs97]

Thanks jack. My temp swings were way worse than that when I had my t5s. I'm working on the st now. Would that soft coral touching the cap do that to the edges? It just seems like its right at that location.

Should I higher the level of a browned out sps?

 

[sirreal63]

I would raise the brown ones up a little at a time, and yes if a softie touches the cap, it can cause damage to it. GSP and mushrooms can be vicious to sps. One thing I notice, is the damage is only on the edges that appear to be towards the front of the tank, which makes me wonder if that area is getting blasted with the led, but it is hard to tell from the pic. The closer the cap is to the back of the tank, the healthier it appears to be, to me this is an indication of a light issue but of course that doesn't mean it is, but if it were a water quality issue, the damage would not be just on that edge facing the center of the tank.

 

[gig]

With all changes with reefs, I'd do it slowly. Maybe do the we with 1.025, but over the course of several days pull some water out replace with RODI until you get down to where you need it. The high SG is def an issue.

 

[gdubs97]

Hanks. What you said makes sense to me. It's hard to tell from the picture but that area is mainly where the softie rubs against it. I don't really want the softie in there anymore anyways. I'm goin to trade/sell or give it away soon regardless. Wondering I that area will recover???

I would raise the brown ones up a little at a time, and yes if a softie touches the cap, it can cause damage to it. GSP and mushrooms can be vicious to sps. One thing I notice, is the damage is only on the edges that appear to be towards the front of the tank, which makes me wonder if that area is getting blasted with the led, but it is hard to tell from the pic. The closer the cap is to the back of the tank, the healthier it appears to be, to me this is an indication of a light issue but of course that doesn't mean it is, but if it were a water quality issue, the damage would not be just on that edge facing the center of the tank.

 

[gdubs97]

Definitely! I'm working on it today. According to my math, my sg should drop to about 1.027 after today's big water change. I will monitor it and swap out water with fresh water over the next few weeks as needed. I did a lot of research online and a lot o people have color loss with sps wen having sg at high levels.

With all changes with reefs, I'd do it slowly. Maybe do the we with 1.025, but over the course of several days pull some water out replace with RODI until you get down to where you need it. The high SG is def an issue.

 

[gdubs97]

I saw your post on the brown to colorful sps thread. What did you do to get your sunset from brown to colorful? Curious what the changes were.

With all changes with reefs, I'd do it slowly. Maybe do the we with 1.025, but over the course of several days pull some water out replace with RODI until you get down to where you need it. The high SG is def an issue.

 

[gig]

I saw your post on the brown to colorful sps thread. What did you do to get your sunset from brown to colorful? Curious what the changes were.

Just consistency and stability, that piece was brown when I bought it.

 

[Acronic]

what % are the radions set to? and how high off the water are they