Frustrated

rugger · Jan 20, 2019

8.25dkh
420 ca
1450 mg
1-2 NO3
.075 Po4
1.026
My nitrates were undetectable and my corals we’re really pale. So I started adding sodium Nitrate. I had some green hair algae that quickly was covered in cyno. Notice the areas of missing flesh. (Is flesh the proper term?)
I don’t think my nitrates have got over 5ppm.

theatrus · Jan 20, 2019

Flow?

Flippers4pups · Jan 20, 2019

Sorry your having problems, we'll do what we can to help.

What's your lighting, height and photo period?

Charlie’s Frags · Jan 20, 2019

How old are the corals? Some look like frags and some look like colonies. What is your lighting setup? Are you running gfo or carbon dosing?

rugger · Jan 20, 2019

It’s a 4 foot 120 gallon tank. Flow 2 mp 40s on the ends and 2 small gyres I think 150s in the middle. Light is a 48” 6 lamp ATI t5. Photo - blues 12:30 to 21:00 and the rest 14:30-20:00.

rugger · Jan 20, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
How old are the corals? Some look like frags and some look like colonies. What is your lighting setup? Are you running gfo or carbon dosing?

You nailed it, a mix of mostly frags and a couple of older ones.

MTBake · Jan 20, 2019

How long has the tank been running?

rugger · Jan 20, 2019

Lps look fine at the moment

DSC reef · Jan 20, 2019

Possible chemistry swings or acropora pests?

Charlie’s Frags · Jan 20, 2019

They look starved to me. Not enough light or the water is being stripped. Are you using gfo or carbon dosing?

rugger · Jan 20, 2019

MTBake said:
How long has the tank been running?

Short answer almost a year.
Long answer I have had a reef for years. I tried setting this new to me 120 up last February using the 3 month cycle as to not introduce vermited snails. After cycle I slowly introduced my corals. Once I had them all in the new tank something similar to this happened. In an effort to save coral I threw old live rock in the new tank.

Flippers4pups · Jan 20, 2019

DSC reef said:
Possible chemistry swings or acropora pests?

This^ or pitcures can be deceiving when it comes to lighting, but they look very dim. What's the height of the fixture? Any idea on par?

Pest wise, did you dip your SPS before placing in the DT?

There are many reasons for RTN/STN with SPS, pests are one, stress can cause tissue to thin and bad bacteria can take hold and cause tissue loss.

rugger · Jan 20, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
They look starved to me. Not enough light or the water is being stripped. Are you using gfo or carbon dosing?

No GFO but big fuge.i think they were starved but got wore after I started me dosing sodium nitrate.

Flippers4pups · Jan 20, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
They look starved to me. Not enough light or the water is being stripped. Are you using gfo or carbon dosing?

With SPS:

Typically Browning is from too much nutrients or too little light/par and or spectrum.

Paling or bleaching is from water pramameter swings resulting in alkalinity sudden rise and or lack of nutrients/starving or temp increase/decrease from normal levels or too high of light intensity.

Pest damage usually results in localized tissue loss or paling. Can cause RTN/STN as bad bacteria take hold from damage. Can then spread to healthy colonies.

Bacteria damage results in localized tissue loss, white band or white spot RTN/STN. Can consume whole colonies very fast and be spread from a diseased coral to healthy corals.

rugger · Jan 20, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
With SPS:

Typically Browning is from too much nutrients or too little light/par and or spectrum.

Paling or bleaching is from water pramameter swings resulting in alkalinity sudden rise and or lack of nutrients/starving or temp increase/decrease from normal levels or too high of light intensity.

Pest damage usually results in localized tissue loss or paling. Can cause RTN/STN as bad bacteria take hold from damage. Can then spread to healthy colonies.

Bacteria damage results in localized tissue loss, white band or white spot RTN/STN. Can consume whole colonies very fast and be spread from a diseased coral to healthy corals.