LPS fading away showing skeleton

[saltyfilmfolks]

My guess is with high calcium and low alk the systems magnesium is low and not in balance.
Also if I see lps recede I have found it to be magnesium. Chalice where always the first to show.

Interesting.

Personally, I’m going with low nutrients and a new tank.
Oddly , Xenia seem to die last

 

[AC0DX]

Interesting.

Personally, I’m going with low nutrients and a new tank.
Oddly , Xenia seem to die last

So how do you solve the low nutrients issue?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So how do you solve the low nutrients issue?

More food. You can use some aminos like fuel too. They’re easily digested. But won’t brinf the numbers up quickly.
If the lps are opening up at night, you can spot feed them then with just a frozen food.

 

[lion king]

Your alk is dangerously low, my lps do better with alk closer to 8.5/9. I've always kept lps dominant tanks. When I first started and had a couple of nano tanks. I tried the weekly water change method and lost hundreds in lps until I found my alk at 5.5, and I was using red sea coral pro-alk at 12. Water changes alone will not keep up on the alk demands of lps. I would bring my alk up and when at your target, start doing daily alk test to get a baseline; then start dosing to keep your levels stable.

 

[AC0DX]

Your alk is dangerously low, my lps do better with alk closer to 8.5/9. I've always kept lps dominant tanks. When I first started and had a couple of nano tanks. I tried the weekly water change method and lost hundreds in lps until I found my alk at 5.5, and I was using red sea coral pro-alk at 12. Water changes alone will not keep up on the alk demands of lps. I would bring my alk up and when at your target, start doing daily alk test to get a baseline; then start dosing to keep your levels stable.

That makes sense to me. I already brought it up to 7 from 6. So do I wait 24 hours and bring it up again?

 

[lion king]

That makes sense to me. I already brought it up to 7 from 6. So do I wait 24 hours and bring it up again?

I usually try to do no more 1 in alk a day, and even that incrementally.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

My acros and sps have exploded with growth in the last two years
I use natural seawater. I started dosing in the last year.

Natural seawater has a alk of 7.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Can you post pics of the corals?

Also, what fish are in the tank?

 

[AC0DX]

Tomato clown
Eilbi Angel
Yellowtail Damsel
Royal Grama
6 Line Wrasse
Royal Urchin

 

[Dom]

I say the same thing after almost ten years.
Look at your salts. It’ll list the alk.
If it’s higer than ten , you’ll want to do much smaller changes. Going from Six and adding a salt w an alk of 13 can be bad news.

I’m assuming you are using rodi water.

Why did you change salt mix?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Why did you change salt mix?

Me? I like driving to the scripps pier more than making RODI.

 

[Dom]

My acros and sps have exploded with growth in the last two years
I use natural seawater. I started dosing in the last year.

Natural seawater has a alk of 7.

ACTUAL seawater? As in you go to the beach with a bucket??

 

[Dom]

Me? I like driving to the scripps pier more than making RODI.

My bad... not a question directed at you. They said there was a change when they started using a different salt mix. I wanted to know why they changed if there was success with what they were using?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

ACTUAL seawater? As in you go to the beach with a bucket??

How barbaric.

Scripps oceanography research facility. Only uses a sand filter.

 

[Tahoe61]

Your alk was too low at 6, then you changed salt and attempted to raise the alk. Stony corals do poorly in tanks with a shifting dKH values. Any common salt is going to replace the magnesium sufficiently in most tanks. Unless you have tons of coralline algae, large colonies of stony corals than I doubt magnesium is the issue. What test kit are you using to measure alk and ca?

 

[Dom]

How barbaric.

Scripps oceanography research facility. Only uses a sand filter.

Nice. Wish I could do the same. I'm right in NY Harbor. The water at the beach down the block is brackish and I am sure has plenty of contaminants from the shipping industry. Although, I have been toying with the idea of setting up a tank with local marine life.

 

[AC0DX]

Your alk was too low at 6, then you changed salt and attempted to raise the alk. Stony corals do poorly in tanks with a shifting dKH values. Any common salt is going to replace the magnesium sufficiently in most tanks. Unless you have tons of coralline algae, large colonies of stony corals than I doubt magnesium is the issue. What test kit are you using to measure alk and ca?

API test kits (I know not the best ones out there, but what I have right now), I also had my water tested at my LFS and the results where the same, I think they used Red Sea. I had not started dealing with the alk issue until after receiving that advice on this thread. Where I originally bought the salt went out of business and I was not able to find that brand close by, so I switched to Fritz Pro. I am going to stay with Fritz Pro from here on out. My alk had always been 6 but I did not fully understand the implications of that (my fault for not researching that earlier). I have over the course of the last 48 hours brought my alk up from 6 to 8. I will get it to 9 and then watch it for the next few weeks. My acan already looks a bit better today with the change.

 

[AC0DX]

Why did you change salt mix?

The store I bought the original salt at went under and I could not find it close by. So I switched to Fritz Pro. My alk has been 6 probably from the start and I think that was my issue from the start.

 

[MnFish1]

I have 2 plates, a torch, and an acan. All four are retracted and showing their skeletons. I have zoas, zena and a leather and they all look great. The fish look and are doing great also. Here are my test results:
Cal - 440
KH - 107.4
Ph - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
Am - .25
PH - 8

The only change I have made has I switched brands of salt because my LFS was out of what I using. I have Current Orbit ICs for lights. Any idea what is going on?

Am I confused - The OP says the PH is '0'. The ammonia is high. Etc - these tests seem completely inaccurate. The answer - IMO - is retest. because there is no way to make sense out of these numbers. Except - the high ammonia - if correct is the big problem here.

 

[AC0DX]

Am I confused - The OP says the PH is '0'. The ammonia is high. Etc - these tests seem completely inaccurate. The answer - IMO - is retest. because there is no way to make sense out of these numbers. Except - the high ammonia - if correct is the big problem here.

Phosphate = 0 PH is 8.0 . I typoed