Not sure what's going on with my acros??!!

[Gwitness]

Some sps do fine in my tank but some continue to slowly have the tips die off and some die from the tips slowly until it's completely dead and tissue is off of it......I don't get why because my tank is pretty stable....nitrates at 5, phosphates at 0.00-0.03 and I will attach a pic of my alkalinity results over time....I do a weekly water change every week with Red Sea salt....my radions max out at 45% intensity and whites max out at 40....I also run two t5 bulbs for 5 hours (1 coral plus and 1 blue plus) here are some pics of the corals also....the weird thing is the polyps are all out and about on some of these colonies but tips are still white and look like dying....the tissue looks like it's off cause on some of the tips I can see it dangling on it still..any help would be great! Thanks!

 

[Chaz D]

I looked through some of your previous posts and your on going fight with algae. I'd recommend keeping things really simple (skimmer, small weekly water changes, alk steady around 8). Your lights are definitely not the problem. If you're currently running gfo, pellets, excessive carbon, nopox, etc...don't until things are stable. When these are used in an inconsistent manner they can be dangerous. Stop chasing nitrate/phosphate numbers and instead concentrate on keeping your cal/mag/alk as perfect as possible. Beef up your clean up crew if a little algae bothers you.

 

[Gwitness]

Okay thanks so much for the response....that definitely makes sense! ....what is it on my acros though? That's not burned tips is it? Cause my alk is pretty stable...what do you think it is? Rtn or stn?

 

[Chaz D]

It looks like burned tips, but hard to tell from the pictures. Burned tips are common with people who carbon dose and run high alk (like yours even though it's steady). There are some people who are able to run high alk and carbon dose with no problems (I was never one of them). If it were me I'd run it around 8 and kill the carbon dosing altogether.

 

[Gwitness]

I never knew that when you carbon dose u need to run lower alk....should I just take my doser offline for now and let it drop naturally? And then hook it back up?

 

[Chaz D]

which red sea salt are you using? and how much are you changing at a time?

 

[Gwitness]

My tank is 180 and I do 15 gallons every Sunday....I do 3 scoops of regular Red Sea and then 1 scoop of the Red Sea pro and that mixes me up about 16 gallons at 1.025ish

 

[Chaz D]

ok, the water changes shouldn't be causing any issues then. I'd let the alk fall naturally but slowly by reducing your daily dosage until you've reached your target level. Once you get there check it daily until you're able to get it dialed in again.

 

[Gwitness]

ok, the water changes shouldn't be causing any issues then. I'd let the alk fall naturally but slowly by reducing your daily dosage until you've reached your target level. Once you get there check it daily until you're able to get it dialed in again.

Okay I'll do that...Thanks a lot for the help! So what should my range be now? 8.0 to 9.0 the max for the alk?

 

[Chaz D]

There's no set number, many who carbon dose typically run 7-8. I choose 8 because it seems to work for me even though I no longer dose.

 

[Gwitness]

Okay awesome...never knew that you could burn tips easier with higher alk when carbon dosing....guess I should have read up more on that! Thanks so much again and I'll get on that now....appreciate it!

 

[Diesel]

What @Chaz D says........... High ALK and low PO4 isn't a great chemistry for acros.
Just keep an eye out on your ALK and PO4 for a while and cause your changing the ALK level it won't hurt to keep an eye out every other day on your CAL/MAG too.
Try to control your PO4 by more WC per week, more like a 10 gallon WC every 4 days.
Also what you feed your fish will effect your PO4.
Just don't change to much in a small time frame.
Keep us updated.

 

[Gwitness]

What @Chaz D says........... High ALK and low PO4 isn't a great chemistry for acros.
Just keep an eye out on your ALK and PO4 for a while and cause your changing the ALK level it won't hurt to keep an eye out every other day on your CAL/MAG too.
Try to control your PO4 by more WC per week, more like a 10 gallon WC every 4 days.
Also what you feed your fish will effect your PO4.
Just don't change to much in a small time frame.
Keep us updated.

Will do!! Thanks for the input also!!! Hopefully I can get this figured out finally!!! Haha