Burnt tips what to do?

[SteelerMike]

I'm looking for some direction on how to handle burnt tips on a few of my acros. I'm quite perplexed as to what is causing it as I have had these 2 corals for well over a year and they have been thriving.
Here is one of my stags that I have had for 2 years that I grew from a small frag


and here is my Red planet I have had well over a year also grown from a small frag

Two questions:
1: do I snip the ends off or will that cause more harm? In the past when I have attempted to frag sps that were failing it just killed them but they were in much worse shape.

2: Could this be a result of lighting? The reason I ask is I have a frag tank plumbed into the same system and the frags down there are thriving. In fact I recently got some high end frags (recently posted about and they are also doing awesome in the frag tank)
Here is my red planet in the frag tank:

My main display is a 125g tank that has ReefBreeder full spectrum leds with a 2 bulbs T5 supplement and the frag tank has just a 4 bulb T5 fixture.

Here are my current water parameters:
Alk: 7.2
Calcium:390
Mg: 1180 (I realize this is a bit low)
Nitrate .5
Phosphate 0
Sg 1.025
temp 77-78

Any help would be appreciated! TIA

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Looks like some good growth to me.

 

[ritter6788]

I just went through the same issue. Alk was fine but I had burnt tips. The issue was my source water. My TDS meter was bad and was reading 0 TDS but was actually higher.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

I just went through the same issue. Alk was fine but I had burnt tips. The issue was my source water. My TDS meter was bad and was reading 0 TDS but was actually higher.

Do you make your own RODI? Curious on where your source was?

 

[twilliard]

What are you using to test ALK?

 

[ritter6788]

Do you make your own RODI? Curious on where your source was?

Yes. I keep a log on when I usually change my filters and membrane too. Turns out I entered the dates wrong and was about 6 months late on changing carbon blocks! Once the carbon blocks went I'm sure it ate up my membrane. I lagged on doing anything since my inline TDS meter was still reading 0. I used my handheld meter and got a reading of 10. My tap water uses chloramines so I'm sure that was part of my issue. I had burnt tips that looked just like alk burn but my alk was always around 8 dkh. Re-did all my RO/DI filters and added a second DI and the corals started healing after the first water change.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Yes. I keep a log on when I usually change my filters and membrane too. Turns out I entered the dates wrong and was about 6 months late on changing carbon blocks! Once the carbon blocks went I'm sure it ate up my membrane. I lagged on doing anything since my inline TDS meter was still reading 0. I used my handheld meter and got a reading of 10. My tap water uses chloramines so I'm sure that was part of my issue. I had burnt tips that looked just like alk burn but my alk was always around 8 dkh. Re-did all my RO/DI filters and added a second DI and the corals started healing after the first water change.

Oh man. Glad you found the issue.

I had my own little issue yesterday. I heard my doser on for a good minute or two. I quickly ran and took out the line out of my sump. Turns out, somehow my doser went from dosing 24 times per day to once per day.

Nearly had a heart attack but my dkh only dropped from 10-9. Good thing I keep my alk a little high for issues like this.

 

[SteelerMike]

I have a Hannah alk checker. My dkh has been between 7.2 to 7.8 for months...I test every 3 or 4 days. I will check the tds...last time I did it was zero...about a month ago. The reason I ask about lighting is I have had several corals get random white spots and have it slowly spread but they were typically newer frags and I chalked it up to poor acclimation or not being too healthy to begin with but these corals gave always done well and I have had no issues in the frag tank. Now that these corals have it I almost wonder if the corals are not getting what they need from the leds

 

[rovster]

Check your alk with another test kit to rule that out. Hanna has had some questionable reagents lately. I would look there first. Looks like alk burn. Have you increased your dosing in the last month?

 

[TUSI]

Make sure that's it's burned tips cause from your pics it looks new growth. If it's burned tips they will get algae growing on them

 

[rovster]

Those are definitely burnt tips

 

[PeterErc]

I don't know much about burnt tips, but I would believe if they were burned the polyp in the axial coralite would be dead? Yours look alive and well

 

[Diesel]

No burn on tips here IMO.
I think your water is just to clean if you ask me, you run any activated carbon?
Did you increased the intensity of your LED's?

 

[SteelerMike]

I have not touched the led intensity in well over a year but I now noticed a spot on a coral in the frag tank so I am no longer leaning towards lighting issues. (the more I thought about that I figured it wasn't that since those 2 corals grew so well under leds up to this point). It seems to be a water issue, I just don't know what it is. I am bringing water to my dad's tonight and am going to use his tests. I agree that my water may be too clean but I can't seem to raise my nitrates no matter what I do. I did try dosing nitrate at one point and still couldn't get it above .5 ( admittedly I was not adding as much as I needed as I wanted to go slowly). There are 2 recent events that I have been thinking about as possible causes. I changed the DI cartridge in my RODI about a month ago and wondering if something went wrong there. Also, I do run carbon but had it off for about a month or so and changed it. I typically make the cartridge up and have it on hand ready for a change and the last time I did that I think I may have grabbed an old one that I taken out and not emptied. I can't be sure but I thought about it a few days later and took it off just to be sure. Would that cause a big issue? If anything I thought it may create a nitrate spike but I tested and it hadn't. Should I start to run carbon again? I'm really sick to my stomach over this as I see it slowly spreading and I'm not sure what to do. Thanks so much for all of your replies. I'm going to order the triton test just to see if I can get a good picture of what's in the tank and was also thinking of trying to get a poly filter as well.

 

[evolved]

I see burnt tips, and I suspect your Hanna Alk checker is lying to you. I'll put my chips on your Alk being upwards of 12.

 

[rovster]

I see burnt tips, and I suspect your Hanna Alk checker is lying to you. I'll put my chips on your Alk being upwards of 12.

This, although I put your all at 9ish......

 

[SteelerMike]

So, I tested my water at my Dad's house and came back with ALK of 7.7 DKH but phosphate of .18! Yikes! I retested with my Salifert and still showing 0. I'm assuming this is the culprit no? Here is a picture of a different stag and you can see it is affecting it more in the middle of the coral:

 

[SteelerMike]

So....If it is indeed the elevated phosphate levels what is the best way to attack this? I have some Purigen I can put in with my carbon or do several large water changes. If I bring it down too fast is that just as bad?

 

[Diesel]

High Po4 will brown out your corals, I don't think your PO4 level isn't that high to do so.
If your ALK isn't that bad either but can be higher as your Po4 is high too.
I would invest in a Hanna checker for Po4 and ALK.
Test you new saltwater before you do WC to see where you are on that.

 

[evolved]

High Po4 will brown out your corals, I don't think your PO4 level isn't that high to do so.

Agree; high PO4 shouldn't cause this.