acro necrosis

ahtatt · Jan 31, 2013

I am slowly getting more and more into sps corals, and my collection is starting to grow. Several pieces I have gotten, and one yesterday have gotten rapid tissue necrosis and I was wondering how come some get the necrosis but not others?

Yesterday I got a nice sized efflo frag grown in san antonios sea world. it is the third frag i have gotten, and have been super please with the other pieces.
when i woke up today, tissue from the base of the coral was sleuthing off so i had to frag the unaffected branches. hopefully it makes it.

during acclimation i float the bad for 10-15 minutes and then start adding small amounts of tank water every ten minutes. the process usually takes around 45 minutes.

Is there anything else i could do to try to prevent destroying these nice pieces of coral?

islander84 · Jan 31, 2013

Tank info will be helpful as well as your water parameters.

islander84 · Jan 31, 2013

What do you do to maintain stable params?

ahtatt · Jan 31, 2013

hmmm i have a 75g display with a 20 gallon sump. i have numerous other sps corals that have taken off and started growing like crazy.

temp 80*
nitrates 0
ammonia 0
ph 8.2
im not sure what my alk is... :/
phosphates 0
calcium hangs out around 500ppm

Im uncertain what my levels for iodine, strontium and magnesium are.
i use the bottles recommended dosing for those usually once every week.

im about to upgrade to a 125g, and i will be adding an ato unit once its up, but right now im adding usually a little over a gallon a day of ro

ahtatt · Jan 31, 2013

im using 2 led units made by a lfs owner. they use 3 watt leds with approximately 72 leds in each fixture with a white and actinic even mix. i have them suspended 12 inches above the surface.

bmarkus · Jan 31, 2013

I had the same problem some time ago my recommendation is 1/2 watt of UV per gallon of system water don't put anything in for two months or so. It worked for me I believe I had a bacteria living in my tank and the UV took care of it. Good luck and take it slow.

Reef Fever · Jan 31, 2013

Whats the TDS reading on the RO? I made the mistake of not checking (thought a had a reputable supplier) and it took me a few weeks to find out I was actually dumping water in that tested worse than my tap. After I figured out it was the bad water and did some water changes my RTN/RTD stopped

ritter6788 · Jan 31, 2013

Alk is very important especially with sps. Test as soon as possible.

Also stop dosing strontium, iodine and mag. Strontium and iodine never need to be dosed and mag only needs to be dosed as needed.

Reefltx · Jan 31, 2013

ritter6788 said:
Alk is very important especially with sps. Test as soon as possible.

Also stop dosing strontium, iodine and mag. Strontium and iodine never need to be dosed and mag only needs to be dosed as needed.

I agree, may be part of your problem right there. You can't keep sps without monitoring your alk.

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Chameleon · Feb 1, 2013

ritter6788 said:
Alk is very important especially with sps. Test as soon as possible.

Also stop dosing strontium, iodine and mag. Strontium and iodine never need to be dosed and mag only needs to be dosed as needed.

yep yep yep

ahtatt · Feb 2, 2013

awesome guys, thank all of you.
I apologize, i feel like I've had alot of dumb luck with my tank. I'm still uncertain about alot of things that would be helping me keep my reef happy. b

bmarkus: if i had bacteria wouldn't it affect the acros i already have?

Iodine and strontium are already in my salt mix and this is why i wouldnt need to add it?

lol dumbest question :: What role does alkalinity play in reefs? Annd how can i keep it in check?
I don't feel comfortable with the idea of reactors, partly because I don't know enough about them, and i feel like i would ruin what i have because i would make a mistake somewhere.

Trevor40 · Feb 3, 2013

ahtatt said:
awesome guys, thank all of you.
I apologize, i feel like I've had alot of dumb luck with my tank. I'm still uncertain about alot of things that would be helping me keep my reef happy. b

bmarkus: if i had bacteria wouldn't it affect the acros i already have?

Iodine and strontium are already in my salt mix and this is why i wouldnt need to add it?

lol dumbest question :: What role does alkalinity play in reefs? Annd how can i keep it in check?
I don't feel comfortable with the idea of reactors, partly because I don't know enough about them, and i feel like i would ruin what i have because i would make a mistake somewhere.

First find out what you Alk is testing every day for a week and see how much it changes. If it is within range and and barely changes between water changes them you may be okay to just perform regular water changes to keep STABILITY. If that isn't good enough than you can manually add it to your tank but when that gets tedious you can go the dosing pump route which is simple.

DerekFF · Feb 3, 2013

You temp is a little high. 74-78 is more the sps range. Some stuff starts dying at 80+ for sps. Also here a read on alkalinity. It's the building block for stony corals.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

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Justdrew · Feb 4, 2013

DerekFF said:
You temp is a little high. 74-78 is more the sps range. Some stuff starts dying at 80+ for sps. Also here a read on alkalinity. It's the building block for stony corals.

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

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I don't know where you inferred that info from in the article, but the author states that a range of 76 - 83 is acceptable. The author's personal aquarium is kept at 80 - 81 year round. IMO his temp is fine. Never heard of any SPS dying at 80+.

DerekFF · Feb 4, 2013

I did not pull the numbers from the article but from personal experience. I posted the article just as a quick read. In my experience some sps begin to lose color or die over 80-81. So for those without apex controllers or chillers to keep the tank temp for sure under those temps, the 74-78 range is a perfectly acceptable and safe range of temp for sps

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ahtatt · Feb 5, 2013

last night i upgraded my tank from a 75g to a 125g with a refugium, I will be adding a small t5 fixture with the lights timed opposite of the dt to help stabilize the ph, hopefully that will help the alk stay a little more stable as well.

Somewhat of an untimely upgrade, but the necrosis problem started rearing its head after the wheels already started to turn towards getting the 125 in motion. Everything finally came together for it yesterday, so i went ahead with the upgrade.

I totally forgot to get a fts before i broke down my 75g and could kick myself >:/
My next paycheck will be going towards a good test kit, and i will update with current parameters and a new fts.

Thank you guys for helping me figure out what im doing wrong