Dying tips on SPS

  • Thread starter Thread starter MikeyB
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users None
TCK Corals
Jump to Last
MikeyB

MikeyB

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Messages
1,120
Reaction score
135
Location
Bartlett, IL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey gang, quick question for everyone, lately i've been having issues with some of the tips of my acro's. I'll post a picture of them at the bottom but its like they're dying. I had a similar issue a while back with my tank being too clean while running pellets so i took those offline. I ended up switching to a algae scrubber and have definitely started feeding my tank a bit more.

Phos are right around .04 and nitrates are showing up 0. I've tried to do some research on this and most of it seems to be alk burn. I know its not that since my alk is right around 7.9 and its been stable there for a while. I'm really lost and thought someone who might knows more can point me in the right direction.

They arent the best photos as i just took a quick picture with my cell but you can definitely see what im talking about.


 
Deltec
Are you sure that's not just growth? IME when they are growing they start off whitish. Hard to tell from picks but looks ok to me but I am new to acro
 
I'd say that's growth. But if it starts to grow algae, I'd nip it with cutters and maybe turn your light down a hair.
 
Deltec
I cannot tell from the picture, but we can hope it is new growth!

I don't think it likely that you'd get burnt tips from a steady 7.9 dKH and the parameters you mention. Some people want it even lower in a low nutrient situation, but the phosphate isn't that low (hard to tell on nitrate).
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. Couple things I'll hit on.

My phosphates are still higher then I'd like but I'm working on lowering those to an acceptable level.

I haven't noticed algae growth on any of the spots which is good but for example the first picture is a Garf Bonsai frag. The white spots started out small and have slowly getting bigger within the last 2 weeks or so.

Am I just worrying about nothing when I should be excited about all the new growth?

Also I'll snap some better pictures tonight when I get home
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
A growing tip won't spread white down the coral. Watch carefully for that. :)
Click to expand...
That was my concern :( so it's definitely not growth as some of those spots have easily doubled in size.

Could it be my coral are being starved again? I don't think I've ever seen that with a scrubber but other than that I'm clueless.

The only other fluctuation I had was when i turned off my pellets nitrates and phos started to go up then went back down with the scrubber.
 
Last edited:
Top Shelf Aquatics
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If it grows up and increases in size, that's OK. Down is no good.

Could be nothing to do with nitrate or phosphate or alkalinity.

Everything else in the tank seems OK?
Click to expand...
It's definitely down. Tank is doing great otherwise. There's other acros which are doing great and show no signs of problems.

I've been slacking off with my water changes lately but that shouldn't affect anything
 
I've had the same thing happen and I firmly believe if lighting is acceptable and the big 3 are stable, then the corals are starving. Some of my fav sps tanks have nitrates around 5-10 and po4 over .03
 
swk said:
I've had the same thing happen and I firmly believe if lighting is acceptable and the big 3 are stable, then the corals are starving. Some of my fav sps tanks have nitrates around 5-10 and po4 over .03
Click to expand...
That's kind of what I was leaning towards but I really wasn't sure and I know there's a lot of helpful people here who could pinpoint my issue.

Should I just turn off my scrubber or find a way to feed the tank more so my coral isn't starving. I thought I was feeding pretty heavily but maybe not.
 
Tidal Gardens
MikeyB said:
That's kind of what I was leaning towards but I really wasn't sure and I know there's a lot of helpful people here who could pinpoint my issue.

Should I just turn off my scrubber or find a way to feed the tank more so my coral isn't starving. I thought I was feeding pretty heavily but maybe not.
Click to expand...

I was kinda on the fence about my nutrients, but then I got my triton results and saw that po4 was lower than my tests showed and everything else was in line. I immediately added 4 chromis and double to tripled my feeding in an effort to increase no3 and po4
 
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Dosing some amino acids seems to be useful as a way to feed SPS corals that aren't getting enough nutrients. :)
Click to expand...
Wow... I just read what you wrote and realized how stupid I am. I really can't believe I was this dumb Haha.

For the last however long it took to go through 2 and a half bottles I've been dosing a capful of acro power every night before the lights went out.

I need noticed a difference so I stopped dosing probably 2 or 3 weeks ago and just threw a bit in about once a week or so just to finish up the bottle. It was probably shortly after I stopped daily I started noticing the tips starting to recede.

I'm going to start dosing again tonight and I'll update in a couple days with what happens.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in trying to solve my issue and feel free to have a good laugh at me :)
 
Ecoscape Reef Rock
This is not Ment to be a smart Alec question but do I see a bit of nuisance algae on ur LR???
Can ur nutrients or po4 really be that low to starving ur sps when ur getting nuisance algae?
I'm having similar issue with few acros but figured with the cyano and slime I'm getting I have high po4 if anything ??
 
MattL22 said:
This is not Ment to be a smart Alec question but do I see a bit of nuisance algae on ur LR???
Can ur nutrients or po4 really be that low to starving ur sps when ur getting nuisance algae?
I'm having similar issue with few acros but figured with the cyano and slime I'm getting I have high po4 if anything ??
Click to expand...

the algae maybe robbing the nutrients.
 
Last edited:
Deltec
I agree with the last two posters. Excess algae and lots of asterina stars point to a system that may need more maturity to support SPS, despite the stability of the chemistry. Any chance to get a FTS?
 
Hey gang, sorry i never replied, for some reason my phone never updated me on these posts, or i just missed them.. either way :)

First thing, it looks like nuisance algae, but it isnt or its not that big of an issue. There might be a tiny bit of algae on that rock but by no means is there an issue with algae in the tank. :)

Leptang, thanks for that article, im going to read that here shortly, but i dont think its not a bleaching thing, its more of a tissue slowly receeding as its bright white like when you have a coral RTS on you.. we all know that bright white color, if anything im more going towards, the sps are starving.

Barbianj, i do have an asterina problem for sure, i got a LFS that will try and get a shrimp in for me to take care of them :) As for maturity, that's not a problem, the tank's been running for over 2 years and i have other acro's that are doing great.

I'll get a FTS for you guys tomorrow when the lights are back on
 
TCK Corals

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…

New Posts

Tidal Gardens
Nutramar Foods
Chewy.com
Top Shelf Aquatics
Dinkins Aquatic Gardens
Deltec
TCK Corals
World Wide Corals
New Posts
Back
Top