LPS slowly dieing through out the tank.

[Lowefx]

Tank-120g
Lights 2x150w MH 20k, 4-t5 54w

So thing started a few months ago when my wilsoni's and acans died. They quickly receded and within 2 weeks they were gone. In the last few weeks, I've had a Miami hurricane chalice wither away, my red/yellow rimmed chalice is half gone. Also just noticed 1 head of my frogspawn is starting to recede. Not sure why this is happening.
Here are my current param's and I've brought calcium back up to 400.
Daily I dose 70ml of alk. by hand. Could this be a factor?
I recently (2 weeks ago) added Cheato to help.
I also run Zeovit system. I only dose the stones, zeostart, and zeobak.
Yes my po4 and no3 at higher than normal but there is a reason for that.
All of my SPS are doing great.
Potassium is around 370, but I have to buy some more to raise back up.


Thanks for any help on what I might be missing.

 

[CodyRVA]

Definitely some chemistry issues. What SPS do you have? Your PO4 jumped quite a bit from an already high reading. Any other changes to flow or lighting? I would keep a very very close eye on your ALK, test daily.

 

[Lowefx]

I do test daily. I try to keep it between 7.5 and 8.5 until I can get the Apex controller with a doser.
I do feed daily, very heavy. (A healthy pinch of flake and 3 pinches of pellets) I'm raising po4 and no3 due to a small dino issue. A water change is due this weekend.
Lighting has not changed, maybe due for new MH bulbs. (6 mo)
As far as SPS I have an Efflo, red dragons, Millie's, birdsnest, red planet, pink lemonade. All are fine and growing.

 

[CodyRVA]

I do test daily. I try to keep it between 7.5 and 8.5 until I can get the Apex controller with a doser.
I do feed daily, very heavy. (A healthy pinch of flake and 3 pinches of pellets) I'm raising po4 and no3 due to a small dino issue. A water change is due this weekend.
Lighting has not changed, maybe due for new MH bulbs. (6 mo)
As far as SPS I have an Efflo, red dragons, Millie's, birdsnest, red planet, pink lemonade. All are fine and growing.

Alk swings from 7.5 dKH to 8.5 dKH are not ideal.

I've had dinos before, can't say i've ever heard of raising nutrients to rid of them? Is this a proven method? Just my .02 here, but I know there are other methods to handle dinos; not sure if sacrificing your tanks water quality is worth the reward? Any changes in flow, or any other equipment changes, add anything new?

 

[spiraling]

If you have that much alk swing you may also have a PH swing. Have you tried raising your alk to 8.5 - 9.5?

 

[Lowefx]

I forgot to add that I have added a ph buffer to the inlet of my skimmer 2 months ago. I do need to change it out. It was 7.8 when tested.
CodyRVA-i follow multiple threads they others have raised those levels for other algae to out compete for food. I've also seen that a UV sterilizer kills dinos off too. I will be getting one next week.
No changes in flow. I have 2x mp40's on random always.
Alk has been at 9 before, but not for long.
What else can I do?

 

[CodyRVA]

I forgot to add that I have added a ph buffer to the inlet of my skimmer 2 months ago. I do need to change it out. It was 7.8 when tested.
CodyRVA-i follow multiple threads they others have raised those levels for other algae to out compete for food. I've also seen that a UV sterilizer kills dinos off too. I will be getting one next week.
No changes in flow. I have 2x mp40's on random always.
Alk has been at 9 before, but not for long.
What else can I do?

There's no other livestock that could be affecting them?

An entirely different debate, but I beat dinos with a blackout... no nutrient raising, no UV. Water changes are beneficial to dinos, they don't help to remove them.

I would still be concerned with the high PO4 and ALK swings, but seems odd your SPS aren't affected... yet; this leads me to think its a lighting or flow issue... could be both...

 

[Lowefx]

There's no other livestock that could be affecting them?

An entirely different debate, but I beat dinos with a blackout... no nutrient raising, no UV. Water changes are beneficial to dinos, they don't help to remove them.

I would still be concerned with the high PO4 and ALK swings, but seems odd your SPS aren't affected... yet; this leads me to think its a lighting or flow issue... could be both...

I've checked middle of the night for preditors, no factor.
You got lucky with your black out. I've tried h020, bleach, black out (6 days). It did help, but they just came back after a week. UV is my next attack. There threads that are hundreds of pages long. You should check it out.

 

[Salty1962]

Something in your elements are swinging enough to effect your LPS. I'd try stabilizing you ALK and Ph and see if that helps.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Any brown jelly? Or are they just fading away? Are they placed near other corals? Do you have a gorgonia in your tank?

 

[Lowefx]

Any brown jelly? Or are they just fading away? Are they placed near other corals? Do you have a gorgonia in your tank?

No brown jelly, just dinos. I've looked at them thru the scope to confirm.
No gorgonia, but I do have a Galaxia, and it's starting to lose heads too.

 

[Rattooth]

Fish in tank?

 

[Lowefx]

Fish in tank?

2 purple queen anthia, clown gobie, kohl tang, convict tang, 2 emerald crabs and a Mandarin

 

[DeniseAndy]

I would say lps need much less light and more nutrients than the sps in the system. So, unless they are shaded a bit and fed, it could be a difference in care needed. Lots of people keep mixed reefs, but sometimes it just does not work. Your lights are way much for lps, but for sps good. With 2 queen anthias, you have to feed a ton, so I am surprised if it is food related.

Any new adds? Could be a bacterial infection killing them off. Happened to me. You can try dipping each lps in some antibiotics for up to 4 hours and see if it helps. I saved a couple with this method.

 

[Reefs anonymous]

Are you using gfo? If so, choose between gfo OR zeovit not both. If you are using gfo, only use the recommended amount. Too much will kill corals slowly imo.

 

[Lowefx]

Not running gfo.
I've been running these lights for 5 years and have had successful growth for a mixed reef. I know how and where for placement. This is not the case.

 

[Lowefx]

My theory is just that I'm dosing 70ml a day, all at once. It might be shocking them too much. Or my nitrate is too high. Either way, I'm doing a 30% water change tomorrow. I hope it helps a little.

 

[Flippers4pups]

My theory is just that I'm dosing 70ml a day, all at once. It might be shocking them too much. Or my nitrate is too high. Either way, I'm doing a 30% water change tomorrow. I hope it helps a little.

Nope, your tanks NO3 is too low! NO3 should be at least 5-10 ppm and PO4 at trace! Most likely your starving them! They do better in "dirtier" water.

All my LPS thrives at 10-20ppm. Alkalinity at 8-9 dkh. No feeding, proper flow and lighting. I would stop the ULNS zeo stuff. This most likely is your problem.

Next question would be what is your source water? RO/DI? When was the last time you changed the carbon blocks? If so, have you tested your waste water out of it for chloramines getting past the carbon blocks?

 

[Lowefx]

Nope, your tanks NO3 is too low! NO3 should be at least 5-10 ppm and PO4 at trace! Most likely your starving them! They do better in "dirtier" water.

All my LPS thrives at 10-20ppm. Alkalinity at 8-9 dkh. No feeding, proper flow and lighting. I would stop the ULNS zeo stuff. This most likely is your problem.

Next question would be what is your source water? RO/DI? When was the last time you changed the carbon blocks? If so, have you tested your waste water out of it for chloramines getting past the carbon blocks?

264ppm in, 002ppm out.
I'm using red sea no3 po4 test. I'm over the 4ppm on no3 low range. .16ppm po4.

Should I dose no3 and po4?

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

Interesting discussion. Over the past two months, I've lost some candies, parts of a couple of duncan's and parts of some frog spawn and have no idea why. Meanwhile, anemones are all happy.