All Sps dying

[BaldyBob]

Sps started with burnt tips and now turning white. Thought it was my all but it is always 8.3 to 8.5.. I've tried testing everything I know and can't find anything out of the ordinary. I ticked the sps a couple months back when I was adding stump remover (slowly to get 1 nitrate a week) to get my nitrates off of 0 and after adding detox and multiple water small water changes things started growing and recovering. I've also checked for stray voltage and it's at 24v but there is no current. No tingling when I put my hand in tank. No signs of pests. Any and all help is appreciated.

150 gallon tank
1 Nero 5
2 current USA 2100 gph wave pumps
Reef Octopus classic 150 space saver skimmer
3 ai prime 26 HD
Phosban GFO reactor
Current USA 1900 gph return pump

Mag 1480 red sea
Ca 450 red sea
Alk 8.3 to 8.5 Hanna
Nitrates 2 red sea
Po4 .03 to .04 Hanna and red sea
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77.5 to 80F
Ph 8

I dose kalk and brightwell aminos. Feed benepets mixed with reefroids 2 times a week. Feed fish mysis, reef frenzy, nls pellets and flakes.

Triton test and pics below

https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/93733

 

[SeaDweller]

it could be likely youre having issues with no N and P and too high of alk. Lower your alk to 7.0-7.5 tops and get NO3 registering. Test your PO4 again and make sure it’s really above 0.03 ppm. Remove your gfo or cut the amount used in half if it’s lower than that. Sounds and looks like they’re nutrient deprived.

also, how clean is your source water? How old is your tank? Have you par tested your tank?

 

[Whasmack]

Hmm...
Doesn't look like a pest issue. ICP looks good, a couple elements are on the low side, but shouldn't cause STN.
Do you run carbon? Or carbon dose? What's your method of export?

1 thing you can try is if you perform water changes & it gets worse or nothing happens - they're probably nutrient-deprived. If things improve, then there's a possible element imbalance or something in the water causing it.

I've seen similar things when my nitrates get under 5 ppm. But I also have to dose aminos / vitamin mix otherwise I see this. I dose Red Sea Reef Energy A & B (aminos & vitamins / carbs). you said you dose Brightwell Aminos, I don't have experience with those to comment.

What is your fish-load? How much do you feed them?

 

[BaldyBob]

it could be likely youre having issues with no N and P and too high of alk. Lower your alk to 7.0-7.5 tops and get NO3 registering. Test your PO4 again and make sure it’s really above 0.03 ppm. Remove your gfo or cut the amount used in half if it’s lower than that. Sounds and looks like they’re nutrient deprived.

also, how clean is your source water? How old is your tank? Have you par tested your tank?

I use an rodi unit but have well water with only 5 tds going in. I have a seneye and I get 350 par where I have my sps.

 

[SeaDweller]

I use an rodi unit but have well water with only 5 tds going in. I have a seneye and I get 350 par where I have my sps.

You have 5 tds going into the tank? I’m not familiar with well water, but on city water, 1 tds isn’t something Id ever allow into the tank. You could be dealing with contaminants, not just a lack of nutrients.

 

[BaldyBob]

Hmm...
Doesn't look like a pest issue. ICP looks good, a couple elements are on the low side, but shouldn't cause STN.
Do you run carbon? Or carbon dose? What's your method of export?

1 thing you can try is if you perform water changes & it gets worse or nothing happens - they're probably nutrient-deprived. If things improve, then there's a possible element imbalance or something in the water causing it.

I've seen similar things when my nitrates get under 5 ppm. But I also have to dose aminos / vitamin mix otherwise I see this. I dose Red Sea Reef Energy A & B (aminos & vitamins / carbs). you said you dose Brightwell Aminos, I don't have experience with those to comment.

What is your fish-load? How much do you feed them?

I run carbon in my media reactor mixed with my gfo. I have 12 total fish. I used to have 0 nitrates and I had decent growth, so I'm confused as to why I'm having these issues now.

 

[ScottR]

This may not apply to you and it’s impossible to diagnose anything over the net like this but, I have a local reefer buddy. He sent me all his tank stats. Everything was perfect. Same lights as you in fact. I went over to his house. He had almost no flow in his tank. Everything was suffering. A good SPS tank should have some great flow with lots of agitation on the top and random flow throughout the tank. If this doesn’t apply to you, I don’t have any other ideas other than getting NO3 up by adding fish and feeding more.

 

[BaldyBob]

You have 5 tds going into the tank? I’m not familiar with well water, but on city water, 1 tds isn’t something Id ever allow into the tank. You could be dealing with contaminants, not just a lack of nutrients.

Sorry, that's going into the rodi unit. Always 0 coming out. Always make sure it's 0 before I mix.

 

[ScottB]

All your numbers look pretty good to me. With the Nero and 2X2100 gph wave makers you should have enough flow too.

Kinda scratching my head on this one, but the only variance I see to my typical params is lower nitrates than my sticks like to have (as @SeaDweller pointed out). I try to stay above 10 with PO4 around .08.

More fish poop please.

Keep us posted.

 

[Ifreitas14]

Maybe somehow chemicals got it to the tank! cleaning products?

 

[BaldyBob]

Maybe somehow chemicals got it to the tank! cleaning products?

I won't rule anything out at this point, but I make it a habit to keep stuff like that away from my tank. It weird because I have 2 birdsnest and a goni that seem unphased.

 

[BaldyBob]

I appreciate all the replys, guys. This is really driving me crazy. I will try getting my nitrates up. Other than feeding more and getting more fish, are there any products that you guys recommend to get no3 up?

 

[Ifreitas14]

Usually the birds nests are the first ones to show signs that something is wrong in my tank! I’ve been feeding my tank more lately to bring up my no3 and phos and my sps are looking better! Maybe bring up your no3 and phos and see if that helps

 

[Whasmack]

I would take the GFO offline - don't be afraid of a little P04.
How much brightwell Aminos are you dosing?
You could try adding more of those.
I recommend Red Sea Reef Energy A & B. I've used Potassium nitrate & sodium nitrate before, but found Reef Energy to be much more effective as a coral fertilizer.

 

[Ifreitas14]

I appreciate all the replys, guys. This is really driving me crazy. I will try getting my nitrates up. Other than feeding more and getting more fish, are there any products that you guys recommend to get no3 up?

You could dose no3 I buy mine from fishofhex.com good products but I’m sure there other brands out there

 

[BaldyBob]

I would take the GFO offline - don't be afraid of a little P04.
How much brightwell Aminos are you dosing?
You could try adding more of those.
I recommend Red Sea Reef Energy A & B. I've used Potassium nitrate & sodium nitrate before, but found Reef Energy to be much more effective as a coral fertilizer.

I used reef energy in the past but a guy from WWC recommend brightwell, so I was giving it a go. I do 3ml every other day.

 

[ycnibrc]

How old is the tank? Do u dose anything for trace elements or bacteria source?

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I don't know why so many folks dose no3 directly, reef energy/brightwell/acropower or any other amino bring nitrates up quickly.

 

[BaldyBob]

How old is the tank? Do u dose anything for trace elements or bacteria source?

2 going on 3 years old. I've been doing aminos for 4 months now and they have never made my nitrates go up for some reason and I've tried dosing more than it recommends for a week to see if that would help, but nothing.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

I'd take the GFO offline asap.

My corals looked very similar to this a few years ago. It was the entire tank, turns out my nutrients were always low so I felt no need to water change. I figured my calc reactor would replace trace elements. I dosed coral colors (red sea) daily and after two weeks everything looked great and ones that looked pretty much dead came back and regrew. Not saying this will help you but when I see corals that look like this it's almost always some type of nutrient issue.