I dont understand....(burnt tips/dying acros)

[Kevin Duprey]

My tank has been stable for the past 6+ months with the exception of those 3 days with the PO4 spike/drop and water change. I was dosing a small amount of Microbacter7 after the spike with the same thought process of what you stated with Prodibio. Dont think it did anything.

I only run an algae turf scrubber, filter sock and skimmer. Scrape the ATS down every week or two leaving a fair amount behind. I Haven't ran Carbon for a month, may run some today due to potential heavy metal contamination from seachems flourish/mp40 wet side. Possible but unlikely since I dosed that over 100+ gallons in water changes ago.

Again, sorry. I didn't mean to imply your not trying to keep things stable. I agree this sounds like an outlier event, but it's exactly these types of events that can upend months and years of apparent stability. Also, from a chemistry and other measurables standpoint your tank is stable, but I'd argue that from a biological standpoint it is not. In it's one year of existence, you've experienced an AEFW infestation, an SPS fallow period, the re-introduction of a quantity of SPS, and then a nutrient spike / likely bacterial bloom. All these biological events change the microfauna of your system and take time to re-stabilize, even if the outward signs (test results) indicate stability.

 

[Kevin Duprey]

I wouldnt suspect the lighting and disagree with JDA in regard to Kessils ability to grow SPS (they work fine over our tank). I do agree that a measurable amount of NO3 and PO4 is enough for them to grow, however. Ditch the filter socks for a few weeks and see if coral health improves to eliminate chlorine as a possible issue (I havent used them in about two years and have no reason to start again).

Are you sure nothing else happened around the same time as your "hot water" change and the unintended phosphate over dose? The warm water change would have very little impact to the corals and especially the overall tank volume so I'd think that to be no factor. The increase in phospates is pretty small as well so I cant help but to think something else happened during that same period (or just prior to it). I've gone from .2ppm to .03ppm PO4 over night with no observable impact to our acroporas (actually, polyp extension was a bit better at the lower levels) using GFO. It's possible the corals can deal with a decrease better than an increase so attempting to draw some parallel there may not be applicable (the delta is still minor however).

Where are the MP40s mounted? I have two MP40s on a 75g that are run at 100%; 180g is a lot of tank for four MP40s.

Lots of good advice here. I don't do socks either unless there's an event that causes a significant amount of debris to be kicked up in my tank, and then I only use them long enough to clear things up. Flow is another great point. You almost can't have too much flow for SPS. I've got 2 Gyre 230s on my RSR 525 XL running nearly 100% on opposite schedules to create both laminar and turbulent streams. When they're going full laminar, my tangs struggle to swim perpendicular to the flow...

 

[BestMomEver]

I enjoyed that story and will now spend hours tonight looking at every square inch of the tank with a flashlight. Thanks

I sure hope you figure this out. For the most part, when you hear hoof beats, you will find a common horse. Sometimes, however, you may find that elusive zebra! When all else fails, think outside the box!

 

[madweazl]

A magnetic ATO sensor bracket got me a few months back. I didnt lose anything but had quite a bit of die off from a few acroporas (this didnt just affect the tips though).

 

[OnPointCorals Verified Sponsor]

Did you ever figure this out?

 

[Johnson556]

Did you ever figure this out?

I forget, I’ll read the thread And text you

 

[Fishfinder]

Let us know. I’m curious