All my SPS is dying!

ThePriceSeliger · Mar 11, 2016

Over the past week, the tank has been in pretty rough shape. Some very slow STN, but I believed it was due to very low nutrients, at least that was what my Triton test had me believe. Woke up this morning to find pretty much every piece (50 ish) have all RTN almost entirely, some are looking very frail, but most are dead. I've done my testing, everything is on point besides my PO4 and NO3, which I know was low, but I had been literally dumping food into my tank trying to raise these numbers to no avail. So what's the next step? Can these be saved depending on their level of tissue loss? I'm hoping the LFS owner will let me place some prized pieces in a tank to help me save them, but considering throwing in the towel, at least temporarily. So much money down the drain, what a shame.

twilliard · Mar 11, 2016

Feeding heavily may increase a bacterial population that is not wanted.
Can you post your triton results?
Also your alkalinity

Anirban · Mar 11, 2016

Sorry for your loss. May I ask you what are your alkalinity, PO4 and NO3 levels ? Also which lighting you use and how much?

ThePriceSeliger · Mar 11, 2016

twilliard said:
Feeding heavily may increase a bacterial population that is not wanted.
Can you post your triton results?
Also your alkalinity

My ALK was JUST tested with a brand new bottle of replaced Hanna reagent. Came to 8.5, which is a tad high for my liking, but still obviously within range. I had been stuck at 7.8 for the entire life of this tank until about 3 weeks ago. Doesn't seem like much of a swing, though. Ca is 450, Mag is 1370(ish)(my BRS 2-part Mag mixture seems to have precipitated in my dosing container).

Anirban said:
Sorry for your loss. May I ask you what are your alkalinity, PO4 and NO3 levels ? Also which lighting you use and how much?

My lighting is a 48" ATI 6 bulb dimmable SunPower and a single BMLED Super Actinic. The LED ramps up at 10AM, the SunPower turns on at 11, and ramps up to about 68%, the LED ramps up to 100% by 2PM. Ramps down by 6PM, then a pretty dim night cycle. ATI off entirely at 8, LED stays on till 10PM.

Anirban · Mar 11, 2016

When you sent the water for testing I think you were not having any issues right? As you mentioned in the first post it started a week back. So what you did a week back or how your parameters are right now as it may not be exactly the same as your triton result? You have your strontium on almost very lower side and I think it plays a good role in reef aquarium.

ThePriceSeliger · Mar 11, 2016

Anirban said:
When you sent the water for testing I think you were not having any issues right? As you mentioned in the first post it started a week back. So what you did a week back or how your parameters are right now as it may not be exactly the same as your triton result? You have your strontium on almost very lower side and I think it plays a good role in reef aquarium.

You're right. There may be a slight deviation from the Triton results to now. I sent the test about 2 weeks ago, so ample time for change, but I haven't done anything different in my routine really, except for taking GFO and Carbon offline.

Anirban · Mar 11, 2016

ThePriceSeliger said:
You're right. There may be a slight deviation from the Triton results to now. I sent the test about 2 weeks ago, so ample time for change, but I haven't done anything different in my routine really, except for taking GFO and Carbon offline.

When you took them off?

ThePriceSeliger · Mar 11, 2016

The day I received my Triton test results, Tuesday of this week.

Anirban · Mar 11, 2016

ThePriceSeliger said:
The day I received my Triton test results, Tuesday of this week.

You saw all the bad things after that right? Why you took off the carbon?Whats your current PO4 reading and how you measure it?

ThePriceSeliger · Mar 11, 2016

Anirban said:
You saw all the bad things after that right? Why you took off the carbon?Whats your current PO4 reading and how you measure it?

There was bad before hand, but not as wide spread. It seems like everything is falling victim to the nutrient issue now. I took the carbon off because they run off the same pump and I have not had time to reconfigure the plumbing to get carbon back online, but I am going to get that settled momentarily. Current PO4 reading is 0, measured with a Hanna ULR Phosphorous.

I've been asking for a while as to how to raise my PO4 and NO3, but besides for "feed more" or "add more fish", I have not received any solid answers. I'm going to work on those trace elements starting today once the LFS opens.

Anirban · Mar 11, 2016

ThePriceSeliger said:
There was bad before hand, but not as wide spread. It seems like everything is falling victim to the nutrient issue now. I took the carbon off because they run off the same pump and I have not had time to reconfigure the plumbing to get carbon back online, but I am going to get that settled momentarily. Current PO4 reading is 0, measured with a Hanna ULR Phosphorous.

I've been asking for a while as to how to raise my PO4 and NO3, but besides for "feed more" or "add more fish", I have not received any solid answers. I'm going to work on those trace elements starting today once the LFS opens.

First to increase NO3 you can use what @twilliard suggested ie. stump remover or potassium nitrate. You can feed more obviously but you can also slow down your skimmer so it doesnt over strip your water and keep some nutrient. In case you want a easy solution just put your carbon in a media bag and dump it in your high flow area of sump, it will help.

ThePriceSeliger · Mar 11, 2016

Yeah, those were my only options. However, Potassium nitrate only doses NO3 and not PO4. I currently am not running a skimmer or filter socks for a variety of reasons, mainly space.

Anirban · Mar 11, 2016

ThePriceSeliger said:
Yeah, those were my only options. However, Potassium nitrate only doses NO3 and not PO4. I currently am not running a skimmer or filter socks for a variety of reasons, mainly space.

If you are not using skimmer and your PO4 is so low then you definitely need to feed them more they are starving. Can you measure your current phosphate level?

ThePriceSeliger · Mar 11, 2016

Just tested with the Hanna ULR. Still zero. So more coral food, potassium nitrate, etc...? I was thinking of implementing the Red Sea Color program to replenish my trace elements.

Anirban · Mar 11, 2016

ThePriceSeliger said:
Just tested with the Hanna ULR. Still zero. So more coral food, potassium nitrate, etc...? I was thinking of implementing the Red Sea Color program to replenish my trace elements.

Which salt you use? Wow 0 reading with hanna ULR????? Yes feed more, potassium nitrate and lower light intensity further will help you. I will not go into trace element dosing now but I will do weekly and biweekly 10% water changes to keep trace element up and system healthy. Feed the system more and try to bring up the NO3 and PO4.