Losing some acros and others are exploding in growth?

[Reef and Dive]

For invisible things, sequencial WC and activated carbon could also be a possible help…

I’ve seen you have many softies down there, so chemical warfare such as terpenoid release could also be an issue, for example…

 

[VanDalsenReef]

For invisible things, sequencial WC and activated carbon could also be a possible help…

I’ve seen you have many softies down there, so chemical warfare such as terpenoid release could also be an issue, for example…

I guess that picture is pretty old. The sinularia is gone and some others. Mostly zoas and two gorgonians.

 

[jda]

Is your tank fairly new, like your r2r user? ...like less than 2 years? If so, then just keep everything stable and in range and just wait. You can chase your tail and spend thousands on a newer tank and not get anywhere... especially if you started with dry/dead rock.

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Is your tank fairly new, like your r2r user? ...like less than 2 years? If so, then just keep everything stable and in range and just wait. You can chase your tail and spend thousands on a newer tank and not get anywhere... especially if you started with dry/dead rock.

It's almost 10

 

[thepotoo]

What do your PAR numbers look like? I had a similar thing and I realized that my struggling acros were in 100 PAR. Softies (yours look great!) don't care too much about PAR, but acros sure do, and they'll die slowly over a couple months, often STN or RTNing up from the base.

Also, how's your flow?

 

[VanDalsenReef]

I don't know what my par is but I'd like to think its not low

 

[ScottB]

I don't know what my par is but I'd like to think its not low

I think you have the lighting covered lol.

With that fish load I am surprised you cannot keep some nitrate. I would skip or skimp on NOPOX and equivalent. It seems overly effective in your case. Simply raising your nitrate will lower PO4.

RTN is tough. Missing some trace may be something but I doubt it. The remedy there is just WCs to replace trace and replacing lost nitrates with sodium nitrate dosing.

STN leads me to look for pests. Please describe the pattern of loss best you can? From the base up? What is the pace like? Do you see the flesh coming off or just gradually going white?

 

[VanDalsenReef]

I think you have the lighting covered lol.

With that fish load I am surprised you cannot keep some nitrate. I would skip or skimp on NOPOX and equivalent. It seems overly effective in your case. Simply raising your nitrate will lower PO4.

RTN is tough. Missing some trace may be something but I doubt it. The remedy there is just WCs to replace trace and replacing lost nitrates with sodium nitrate dosing.

STN leads me to look for pests. Please describe the pattern of loss best you can? From the base up? What is the pace like? Do you see the flesh coming off or just gradually going white?

It's pretty slow. Maybe I'm thinking it's stn when it's rtn but it maybe a week to months. It always starts at the tips and works down from there. No bite marks or eggs anywhere. I like to say I'm very stingy on dipping.

 

[ScottB]

It's pretty slow. Maybe I'm thinking it's stn when it's rtn but it maybe a week to months. It always starts at the tips and works down from there. No bite marks or eggs anywhere. I like to say I'm very stingy on dipping.

Got it. Necrosis starts at the tips. Sounds relatively more like STN. Did I miss an alkalinity number? Running under 10 dkh, right?

How often do you feed the fish and what foods?

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Got it. Necrosis starts at the tips. Sounds relatively more like STN. Did I miss an alkalinity number? Running under 10 dkh, right?

How often do you feed the fish and what foods?

8.5 and 5 times pellets (afs about 8-12 pellets) and a homemade food gumbo

 

[jschultzbass]

I have the exact same thing in my frag tank. Some exploding and some STN. I haven't been able to find anything. Curious what come out of this thread.

 

[ScottB]

8.5 and 5 times pellets (afs about 8-12 pellets) and a homemade food gumbo

Those are good answers. Rules out ALK burn from low nutrients. With that kind of nutrient throughput, your low NO3 doesn't bother me. I am kinda stumped.

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Those are good answers. Rules out ALK burn from low nutrients. With that kind of nutrient throughput, your low NO3 doesn't bother me. I am kinda stumped.

New readings
Po4: 9-12 (hanna phosphorus)
No3: 0.12 (hanna ultra low range)

 

[Tamberav]

I'm only able to keep my no3 stable at almost zero. It seems to not drop my po4 as fast or evenly

That is normal when dosing something like nopox. It seems the bacteria use up Nitrate at greater ratio then phosphate. It is called the Redfield ratio. So you can technically drive your Nitrate to 0 while still having phosphate. This is ofc not a good thing and once nitrate reaches 0, po4 can rise since you can no longer lower it without the nitrate. Swings?

You could dose nitrate in order to bring it up while still trying to lower po4 with carbon dosing. Ofc this is a bit of work and testing I would never chase my butt around like this haha

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Too much light maybe? Your are discribing burnt tips. Its sounds to me like you might be light buring certain corals and they can't recover from the burn and the death just slowly spreads down. I would rent or borrow a PAR meter and gets some numbers. To me your no3 and po4 seem fine, you have some but not too much and thats good. How your husbandry, keeping up with the basics? How is the system stability? Alk, cal, mag, salinty, temp and ph in range and stable day after day?

 

[ScottB]

New readings
Po4: 9-12 (hanna phosphorus)
No3: 0.12 (hanna ultra low range)

If I did not know you were feeding 5+ times per day I would be screaming at you about low nutrient. If that phosphorus number has been declining I am going to raise my voice a bit. I don't run this lean but @jda does so maybe he can review all this and give some guidance with a little more conviction than I can.

 

[BradR]

Imho I’d get away from carbon dosing and let the alk fall to 8 over a week or two. You can always tackle elevated nitrate and phos later by cutting back on feedings and water changed. For me carbon dosing never worked as well as lots of surface area for denitrifying bacteria. Good luck!