jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 Well i do not even know where to begin. It all started about a month or so ago. about a month before that i had kalk pour into my tank luckily nothing spiked and everything was fine and i siphoned out all the excess kalk and make sure to blow it off all my sps over and over again to make sure it wasnt settling on them. About a Month after that i started noticing STN on one of my monti caps that was previously growing as a weed. It began to turn white all around the edges and continued on until about 80% of it was completely white and dead. I then began to notice my SPS losing color turning brown and beginning to STN from the base up. I would frag them and glue em again even dip in iodine just to see. Still they continued to STN. I test my water at least twice a week with Salifert test kit. I always get 9 dkH for Alkalinity temp is at 77.5 steady. Calcium is at 500 Mg is at 1500 Nitrates showing 0 Phosphates show 0 Now i know both of those cant be 0 because i have hair algea growth and out of no where i had a cyano bloom. The tank has been up for over year. I run High Capacity GFO, I skim wet, do 20% water changes every 2 weeks. Have always used Kent Reef salt since the beginning of the tank and numbers have always tested the same. There are absolutel no pests in the tank myself and Decadence have looked over my SPS and everything else with a fine tooth comb and magnifying glass no Flaworms, no Red bugs, no nudibranchs nothing. Lights havent changed i run 2 D120 full spectrums. I run a 8 inch media back with Rox 8 Carbon and an 8in filter sock along with chaeto. I also vingear dose. I have tested for stray voltage i get nothing only .25v by my powerhead. I am seriously at a loss and cannot figure out what is going on. Its gotten so bad that i have Decadence holding some of my sps and they are coming back in his tank. I am about to build a stand and setup a 30gallon frag system just to house the SPS and get it out of the main display in the hopes this will help them heal why i try and figure out what is going on. Any help would be awsome as i am tapped out on ideas. everyone I have asked cannot figure it out. Decadence and I are at a loss. It sucks watching all of my once growing like crazy and crazy colorful sps waste away. Thanks guys! Justin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 What test kits are you using, how old are they? And what is your salinity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 how much and how often do you dose vinegar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epleeds February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 when i pulled carbon and gfo off my tank, the colors came back on all my sps. How much of the ROX are you using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocko918 February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 Do you run carbon all the time? Do you need to run carbon? After so many days bacteria is going to setup on the carbon and drastically effect its ability to filter what its suppose too. Why are you dosing vodka? I would borrow someones test kits. Also have someone else do a test and see if you get the same results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 Get another alkalinity test kit (possibly from a different manufacturer) and try measuring again. Your nitrates and phosphates are zero because your algae is consuming it all as it's released. Do you perform regular water changes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Author Share February 12, 2014 I am using Salifert test kits that are only a couple months old. I have also used a friends salifert test kits that came back exactly the same results as mine, they even ran the test themselves and got the same results. my salinity is 1.025 never changes. always make sure its the same when doing a water change. temp is always the same when doing water changes. i have checked my RODI water for phosphates, my top off water for phosphates and fresh salt water for phosphates and nitrates all i get 0 as a result. I run carbon just incase and i run HCGFO because i saw hair algea growing on my rocks and in my overflow. also cyano began to break out. I started dosing vinegar and adding bacteria to offset the algea growth and cyano growth. I also dose about 10 ml of vinegar a day. I fill a 8 in bag about half way full of the ROX carbon. I change it every 2 to 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Author Share February 12, 2014 between chaeto, HCGFO, and the algea i expect it to show 0. but i would think with chaeto and HCGFO I shouldnt have any phosphates at all along with 25 gallon water changes every 2 weeks. I will try and get another test kit. I had an older salifert Alk test kit that wasnt expired but i thought it could be an issue so i bought a brand new one and still have gotten the same results. Even used someone elses Salifert Alk test kit and it came back the same results. PH fluctuates between 8.1-8.3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 (edited) What are you using to test phosphates. I have a hanna ULR phosphorus meter if you want to do a double check. I'm off rt 1 and meadowridge area. Do you dose 10ml of vinegar at once or throughout the day? That will drop your PH if you do it all at once. Edited February 12, 2014 by BowieReefer84 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 Vinegar dosing for me made a lot of my corals rtn, and I lost a lot of stuff. Not sure how long you have been doing it, but I started slow and never got real high, nor did my nitrates even get near 0 and I had lots of corals rtn. What are you calibrating your refractometer with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Author Share February 12, 2014 (edited) I'm using a salifert test kit to test the phosphates. I would appreciate it if I could use it. Do you think if I needed the ultra low tester though it would be causing that much of an issue? I started dosing vinegar for about a month after the stn started to occur because I began to notice cyano. So I began to dose bacteria and vinegar to out compete the cyano for nutrients. I also dose it over the course of the day. Through a slow Drip The thing is that it is affecting monti caps and encrusting and sps. My Lps is doing better then the others no real issues with them. I feed really light also. I have used distilled water, RODI water and lately calibrating fluid just to be sure that it was correct. I calibrate it weekly. Edited February 12, 2014 by jjenkins211 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowieReefer84 February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 High phosphates would maybe cause them to brown, but def not STN/RTN I wouldn't think. Dripping the vinegar would be fine I think. I don't know. If you want to test the water shoot me a PM and we can work a time for you to stop by, but I don't think that will solve your problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 i have a real suspicion its the vinegar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Author Share February 12, 2014 It was happening long before I started dosing the vinegar. I began to see cyano after my monti cap was almost completely white, my la lakers is all brown and my sps has lost all color but brown. After the cyano started popping up after the stn and color loss It was suggested I had high phosphates and nitrates so to bacteria/carbon dose to outcompete the cyano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpallas February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 STN is a B. I'd try fragging off a piece to see how it reacts - i.e., cut off a fair amount of tissue from the base and see if the new frag STNs or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Author Share February 12, 2014 So the stn and all the problems were around 2 weeks before i started vinegar dosing. The frustrating thing is I have tested and tried everything and I can't figure it out. I have had others test and they have no idea either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Author Share February 12, 2014 I have fragged pieces and they stn just the same. I have also used super glue on healthy tissue to separate it from the dead part and it still stned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 How many fish are in the system? I believe your corals are starving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilmour01 February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 How many fish are in the system? I believe your corals are starving. This could very well be the case. I've run into this problem before. My sps seemed to STN from the top down though when the tank was too clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 12, 2014 Author Share February 12, 2014 If the tank is starving then why am I getting algea growth? I have 8 fish in the tank 2 tangs 2 clowns 1 - 6 line wrasse, mandarin goby, 2 chromis I feed daily both mysis that I was off and spectrum pellets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf February 13, 2014 Share February 13, 2014 (edited) Algae grows in the ocean as well, but there is always something there to eat it. I would take the gfo off line and slowly reduce the vinegar dosing. I have switched from gfo to bio-pellets and I'm very happy with the results Edited February 13, 2014 by surf&turf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 13, 2014 Author Share February 13, 2014 I just might try that and see. Decandence and I think we might have figured it out ima try this first and see. I'm thinking it could be chloramines coming in through my RODI so ima change my filters and see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf February 13, 2014 Share February 13, 2014 Chloramines should show up as ammonia in the system. Are you seeing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 13, 2014 Share February 13, 2014 Any changes in lighting or flow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjenkins211 February 13, 2014 Author Share February 13, 2014 I'm see no nitrates I haven't checked for nitrites but hadn't changed my filters in 8 months and I knew we get chloramines in our water. No change in light or flow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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