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SPS Dying Systematically, HELP.


CallMeJus

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I’ve got a 60gal Mixed Reef, about 7-8 months old. Pretty well stocked with fish and coral. Added one Coral (Leptastrea frag) in the past month since I’ve started having issues with my SPS. I dip every new coral I get with Coral Rx.

 

So a couple weeks ago I started noticing my Acropora frags taking a downward spiral. I thought it was flatworms but now whatever the issue is, is also attacking my Millie frags. It’s really frustrating because I am extremely meticulous with my tank, and all of my SPS was already encrusting onto the rock and then all of a sudden this happens. I refuse to be disheartened because I believe this is all part of the hobby. It’s especially annoying because literally everything else in the tank is fully open, growing, and happy. I’ve got Montis, Chalice, Torch, Fragspawn, Octospawn, Cloves, Zoas, Palys, Acans, Mushrooms, Kenya Trees, Leathers, Duncans, Xenia RBTA, Rock Flower Nem, and a Derasa Clam. They are all doing GREAT.

 

I do one water change a month about 20% with Saltwater from the LFS and have a Tunze ATO that pumps RODI from the LFS so I know Salinity is good. (I also check it atleast twice a week with a calibrated refractometer)

 

I dose Reef Builder and Reef Advantage whenever the tank needs it. I also dose Acro Power once a week. My parameters pretty stable around:

 

Salinity 1.026X

Cal 420

Alk 10.2

Mag 1280

The other parameters are all pretty much undetectable on my Test Strips, although I use Salifert for the above parameters.

 

I’m running a protein skimmer, Refugium with Chaeto and Miracle Mud, and a phosphate Reactor with phosban. I feed the tank Rods Food, Reef Roids, Phyto Feast, and Oyster Feast. Im running a Macspect RZR 160Watt with upgraded lenses and haven’t changed the photoperiod. I also run filter floss and GFO carbon bags bc it fits perfect in one of my Sump chambers. I’ve got a titanium Finnix heater, and Maxspect Gyre.

 

If there’s something I left out that could help diagnose the problem let me know. Thank you in advance!

 

 

 

 

 

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7 month old tank. Softies are fine, SPS aren't. 

Water is purchased, both salt and fresh.

Dosing for Alk/Calc

Protein Skimmer/Fuge

Phosphate Reactor (Phosban)

GFO
Carbon

 

Those are you current levels, but have you tracked them? How often do you test? 

Did I get it all? 

 

If you suspected AEFW did you find any in your dips? Are you familiar with what it looks like, or spotting the eggs? Or did you just presume because it was SPS that it might be that? 

 

Pictures would help. So would alk/calc trends. Also, your tank is still young!

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Pictures of the actual corals would help. Where is the die off occurring?  STN or RTN, tips down or base up. 

Tips down.

Best pic I could get. You and see Coralline has already encrusted almost the entire part of one Acropora Skeleton, in like two weeks, if that. (Red arrow)

e58c5c45422ac08a5c00055ae76e752f.jpg


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1 minute ago, CallMeJus said:

Tips down.

Best pic I could get. You and see Coralline has already encrusted almost the entire part of one Acropora Skeleton, in like two weeks, if that. (Red arrow)

 

Sorry, I can't make heads or tails of that photo!

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Sorry, I can't make heads or tails of that photo!

abfac7dffa4e194dac3ee621b059a569.jpgf4513cdea8c237d4b91f1b787d1f9b1c.jpg7b1fd7d5e15fded3d56c1e44e7fd5bd7.jpg

Don’t think I can get much better than that. Turned the blues all the way down and used AquariCam. Also turned off flow.

I’ve removed the couple of Frags that already looked 100% dead but there wasn’t much to show there other then the white skeleton

Whit I find interesting is how quickly Coralline too over that one with the yellow arrow


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I’m guessing you have several issues going on. 

 

By the looks of it you have burnt tips from tips from high ALK and dying from the base which could be New tank syndrome, not enough flow, or a combination of both. 

 

What light are u running over the tank?

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Based on your description, you are most likely at low or ultra low nutrients.  Alk may be too high for a low nutrient system.  

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I’m guessing you have several issues going on. 
 
By the looks of it you have burnt tips from tips from high ALK and dying from the base which could be New tank syndrome, not enough flow, or a combination of both. 
 
What light are u running over the tank?

Maxspect R420R 160W w/ upgraded lenses

I haven’t changed the photoperiod that I can think of though.

1: 0800 W:0 B:1
2. 1000 W:30 B:70
3. 1100 W:60 B:80
4. 1600 W:70 B:90
5. 1900 W:40 B:100
6. 2100 W:0 B:1


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Based on your description, you are most likely at low or ultra low nutrients.  Alk may be too high for a low nutrient system.  

You think I should discontinue the reactor for now? Or go longer without water changes? at the moment I only have to clean the glass maybe every three days.


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7 months old

Reef builder

Reef advantage

Acro power

Phosban

Gfo

Carbon

Reef roid

Phyto feast

Oyster feast

One 20% percent water change a month with water from a lfs?

Do you see where this is going?

Just my opinion, this is insane. Entirely to much going on here to even begin to start the process of elimination. I definitely agree with the above statement if you have 0 po4 and no3 you could certainly be burning the tips.

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What are you testing po4 and no3 with and what are the results?

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7 months old
Reef builder
Reef advantage
Acro power
Phosban
Gfo
Carbon
Reef roid
Phyto feast
Oyster feast
One 20% percent water change a month with water from a lfs?
Do you see where this is going?
Just my opinion, this is insane. Entirely to much going on here to even begin to start the process of elimination. I definitely agree with the above statement if you have 0 po4 and no3 you could certainly be burning the tips.

No, I can’t see where this is going, which is why I’m here to learn...

Everything in the tank was doing amazing, and still is minus the Acro (which was growing for a while). My other SPS is still growing.



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Just a comment, but can we please stop with the "your tank is too young for sps" for every issue that comes up? I literally put sps in my tank from month one and they are growing quite well. It COULD be a problem but not everyone has the same problem. Again, just want to make an observation from experience.

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What are you testing po4 and no3 with and what are the results?

I was using Salifert for Phosphate but I’m out and haven’t tested in about a week but the readings were almost unnoticeable after running the phosphate reactor. I use API test strips for the rest of the other parameters (aside from what I stated in the OP)

I was under the assumption that Acro and other SPS liked ULN systems, and like I said, everything else in the tanknis doing great.


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Again my opinion. I'm a firm believer in keeping things as simple as possible. I think you have way to many things going on. Coral needs food to survive. Which includes po4 and no3 imo. Not just reef roids etc. Your running phosban, gfo etc which is typically used if your having an issue with something in your tank like high po4 as an example. I think you should very slowly lower your alk to say 8 if your going to run a uln system and maybe cut back a little on using so many different things unless you genuinely have a reason to be using all of it. 

The water your using from the lfs, is it fresh made by them? Maybe increase to two water changes a month. 

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And ditch the api test kits. They are horrible. Get you some salifert or red sea for the major things. And I dont think the test strips are doing you much good either

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7 month old tank. Softies are fine, SPS aren't. 
Water is purchased, both salt and fresh.
Dosing for Alk/Calc
Protein Skimmer/Fuge
Phosphate Reactor (Phosban)
GFO
Carbon
 
Those are you current levels, but have you tracked them? How often do you test? 
Did I get it all? 
 
If you suspected AEFW did you find any in your dips? Are you familiar with what it looks like, or spotting the eggs? Or did you just presume because it was SPS that it might be that? 
 
Pictures would help. So would alk/calc trends. Also, your tank is still young!

- Just carbon, no GFO.
- I’m usually testing twice a week
- I just assumed it was flatworms from the symptoms the tank was showing, and not changing anything as far as water,temp,feeding,dosing is concerned. Although I did add more phosban to the recommended levels over time.

This is really all I’ve been tracking on a constant basis. I’ve tried not to chase numbers, just make sure everything is in the within the recommended levels.

685bf6d2f31802d9ad62bdef00ec99f0.jpg


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Burned tips due to high alkalinity. Let it drop to 8 and keep it that way. 

I was told that Alk on the higher end would help grow SPS but lower Alk would help coloration? Which is why I’ve kept it on the higher end up to this point.


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I had similar trouble with sps around the 8 month mark. I think the higher alk in a low nutrient newer system is very likely an issue. I’ve had much better luck at 7.5dkh. Also when you say dosing when needed, I assume you are dosing by hand? Find the daily required amount and dose on a daily schedule, not just “when needed”. Stability is key, and avoid alk swings.
I’d also get rid of the phosban and other aggressive nutrient reduction. I’ve had nothing but trouble with uln in a newer system (dinos, pale corals, ect). I’d just stick with Skimmer and refugium. Let the tank mature and only add more nutrient reduction when you have nutrients to reduce.
LFS water is also a potential unknown.


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12 minutes ago, littlelise1985 said:

Just a comment, but can we please stop with the "your tank is too young for sps" for every issue that comes up?

 

No.

 

14 minutes ago, littlelise1985 said:

literally put sps in my tank from month one and they are growing quite well. It COULD be a problem but not everyone has the same problem. Again, just want to make an observation from experience.

 

That's great for you. You've probably been keeping things very stable and put a lot of time and care into doing so. Maybe you started with some really great cultured live rock. Maybe you've gotten SPS that has been continually fragged and passed around the club that can take a beating. Maybe you've just been lucky. When I first started in this hobby, everybody told me I couldn't keep a RBTA because my tank was only 3 months old. The first thing I did was go out and get 5 anemones. Then I propagated them, and they were fine. I was also keeping SPS fine, but had my fair share of losses after I thought "everything is doing fine."

 

The hard and fast of it is, there is no hard and fast. Younger tanks are going to have more issues, there is no rush/cure/snake oil to mature a tank other than time. And I don't think anybody said the reason you can't grow SPS is because your tank is young.

 

13 minutes ago, CallMeJus said:

This is really all I’ve been tracking on a constant basis. I’ve tried not to chase numbers, just make sure everything is in the within the recommended levels.

Your Alk has been going through some pretty wild swings.

 

And you had a huge salinity spike. 

 

Get your alkalinity stable, the SPS will thank you. 

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Your Alk has been going through some pretty wild swings.
 
And you had a huge salinity spike. 
 
Get your alkalinity stable, the SPS will thank you. 

Fixed. I’m a dumb-dumb and fat fingered it.

Also, would you recommend discontinuing the manual dosing and adding 2-part to my ATO? I’ve always been worried about it dosing too much or too little.
2a957b70b85415a8aeb7bcbf73ad7442.jpg



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