Keoni
Community Member
Need a little help all! Can’t figure this one out.
Just picked up a nice 8†echinata (aquacultured) over the weekend. Came from a well-established tank that runs a simple setup (refugium, CA Reactor, PS, vortech, MH Lighting). Unfortunately got a case of burnt tips the next day. I thought my lighting was the culprit as that is usually the new SPS syndrome with light acclimation (I run AI Sol Blue LEDs, only running at 30% power so as not to shock new SPS) into a new tank or ALK issues. I don’t have the params of the previous owner’s tank as he didn’t have any to give me at the time.
Though I thought it was the new SPS syndrome, I noticed some burnt tips on my other SPS that have been in my tank for a while. Just lost my 3†Strawberry Shortcake I picked up 4 months ago and was doing quite well until I noticed Saturday night the tips were burnt and the next day it lost a complete branch. My other acros did not have burnt tips til this weekend.
Here is a little history on my tank as of the past couple months.
Had an unfortunate accident weeks ago. Went away for some biz and when I got back, my params were shot! My dosing pump had a major malfunction (perfect timing!) Before I left, I ran an 8.3 dkh (usually run 8-8.3 dkh normally). When I came back, I lost some prized mini colonies/frags. My ALK was over 11 in less than one week’s time. My Nitrate levels popped up a bit to between 5-10 ppm. I tested my dosing pump, sure enough it was dosing much faster than before resulting in more ALK being dispensed.
I immediately went into clean up and rehab mode. I cleaned out all equipment on one day. Throughout the rest of the week, I did back to back WC to slowly bring down the ALK and adjusted the dosing pump to dispense properly. I successfully brought down the ALK back down to my normal param just over a week.
Since then, the tank has been stabilized for over two weeks now without any major issues. Rather, my surviving SPS were slowly coloring back and PE is nice.
Now this past weekend, I have a beautiful new Echinata (a beast) in there with the rest of my clan and burnt tips is what I get!
See below my equipment and params list as well as some pics as of 11.14.11.
Equipment:
40g Cube
20g Sump (10g water – has an internal powerhead for circulation so no dead zones, 10 lbs additional rock in sump)
SWC BMK 150 PS (rated for 150g, killer skimmer)
(2) Media Reactors (BRS Rox Carbon 24/7, NPX Biopellets – started 4 months ago, going well)
JBO ATO: tied into 5g reservoir utilizing fresh RODI only with aqualifter pump (slow replenishment of water)
1/10 hp Chiller
Filter Socks changed weekly
Lighting:
AI Sol Blue: (9 hour photoperiod with steady ramp up for the dawn effect and a steady ramp down for the dusk effect)
Flow:
2700 gph (est.) - main pump returns to tank and has two outlets that are forked (mid return to middle of tank and top return which barely skims the surface. 3 powerheads in DT stationed low mid and high)
Just over 55x turnover
Dosing:
BRS 2 part (dosing pump delivers required amount during dark period over a 10 hour period to aid in stabilizing the PH)
BW Microbacter 7 (once a week)
BW Reef Biofuel (3 times a week to help keep nutrient levels low)
BW Magnesium (as needed)
BW Strontieum (as needed)
BW Restore (dosed in Coral feeding, after water change, whenever I frag)
Water Param (these params have been stable over 2 weeks):
Temp: 78-79
Salinity - 1.025 (Reef Crystals, 20% water change weekly)
ALK: 8 – 8.3dkh (Salifert & API)
CA: 440-460 (API)
Mg: 1350-1400 (Salifert)
NO3: 2ppm (Salifert)
PO4: undetectable (API)
Livestock:
Various acros, montis, acans, zoos. (1) clownfish, (1) emerald crab, acro crabs, scarlet hermit crabs, standard clean up crew)
That’s about it for tank info.
Thanks for reading this long thread. I just wanted to detail everything as all the awesome reefers on this forum will give their valuable advice once they know as much as they can about what is going on.
See the pics below. SORRY ABOUT THE CRAPPY IMAGES, ALL I HAVE IS MY IPHONE TO TAKE PICS AND EVERYTHING SEEMS TO TURN OUT BLUE!!!!!!
Mahalo, - Keoni
Just picked up a nice 8†echinata (aquacultured) over the weekend. Came from a well-established tank that runs a simple setup (refugium, CA Reactor, PS, vortech, MH Lighting). Unfortunately got a case of burnt tips the next day. I thought my lighting was the culprit as that is usually the new SPS syndrome with light acclimation (I run AI Sol Blue LEDs, only running at 30% power so as not to shock new SPS) into a new tank or ALK issues. I don’t have the params of the previous owner’s tank as he didn’t have any to give me at the time.
Though I thought it was the new SPS syndrome, I noticed some burnt tips on my other SPS that have been in my tank for a while. Just lost my 3†Strawberry Shortcake I picked up 4 months ago and was doing quite well until I noticed Saturday night the tips were burnt and the next day it lost a complete branch. My other acros did not have burnt tips til this weekend.
Here is a little history on my tank as of the past couple months.
Had an unfortunate accident weeks ago. Went away for some biz and when I got back, my params were shot! My dosing pump had a major malfunction (perfect timing!) Before I left, I ran an 8.3 dkh (usually run 8-8.3 dkh normally). When I came back, I lost some prized mini colonies/frags. My ALK was over 11 in less than one week’s time. My Nitrate levels popped up a bit to between 5-10 ppm. I tested my dosing pump, sure enough it was dosing much faster than before resulting in more ALK being dispensed.
I immediately went into clean up and rehab mode. I cleaned out all equipment on one day. Throughout the rest of the week, I did back to back WC to slowly bring down the ALK and adjusted the dosing pump to dispense properly. I successfully brought down the ALK back down to my normal param just over a week.
Since then, the tank has been stabilized for over two weeks now without any major issues. Rather, my surviving SPS were slowly coloring back and PE is nice.
Now this past weekend, I have a beautiful new Echinata (a beast) in there with the rest of my clan and burnt tips is what I get!
See below my equipment and params list as well as some pics as of 11.14.11.
Equipment:
40g Cube
20g Sump (10g water – has an internal powerhead for circulation so no dead zones, 10 lbs additional rock in sump)
SWC BMK 150 PS (rated for 150g, killer skimmer)
(2) Media Reactors (BRS Rox Carbon 24/7, NPX Biopellets – started 4 months ago, going well)
JBO ATO: tied into 5g reservoir utilizing fresh RODI only with aqualifter pump (slow replenishment of water)
1/10 hp Chiller
Filter Socks changed weekly
Lighting:
AI Sol Blue: (9 hour photoperiod with steady ramp up for the dawn effect and a steady ramp down for the dusk effect)
Flow:
2700 gph (est.) - main pump returns to tank and has two outlets that are forked (mid return to middle of tank and top return which barely skims the surface. 3 powerheads in DT stationed low mid and high)
Just over 55x turnover
Dosing:
BRS 2 part (dosing pump delivers required amount during dark period over a 10 hour period to aid in stabilizing the PH)
BW Microbacter 7 (once a week)
BW Reef Biofuel (3 times a week to help keep nutrient levels low)
BW Magnesium (as needed)
BW Strontieum (as needed)
BW Restore (dosed in Coral feeding, after water change, whenever I frag)
Water Param (these params have been stable over 2 weeks):
Temp: 78-79
Salinity - 1.025 (Reef Crystals, 20% water change weekly)
ALK: 8 – 8.3dkh (Salifert & API)
CA: 440-460 (API)
Mg: 1350-1400 (Salifert)
NO3: 2ppm (Salifert)
PO4: undetectable (API)
Livestock:
Various acros, montis, acans, zoos. (1) clownfish, (1) emerald crab, acro crabs, scarlet hermit crabs, standard clean up crew)
That’s about it for tank info.
Thanks for reading this long thread. I just wanted to detail everything as all the awesome reefers on this forum will give their valuable advice once they know as much as they can about what is going on.
See the pics below. SORRY ABOUT THE CRAPPY IMAGES, ALL I HAVE IS MY IPHONE TO TAKE PICS AND EVERYTHING SEEMS TO TURN OUT BLUE!!!!!!
Mahalo, - Keoni
