Something wrong with sps but parameters are perfect

SBB Corals · Dec 5, 2016

Hey guys all of a sudden some of my corals mostly Millis but some other have been receding from the base. All new growth has turned white. Then they start to slowly go down hill.. all the tenuis though are doing great.

See pics.

All my parameters are good and stable.. they are

Salt 35
Po4 .04
Alk 8.5
CA 425
MG 1400
N03 4.5
Ph 8.1

I use red sea and Hanna test kits..

I use Rodi water and my tds meter is always 0. It just tested 2 so I changed everything and now it's 0 again. I also calibrate my salt meter..

I dose by hand ionic ab for alk and calk

I feed small amount of reef frenzy..
Feed two tiny spoons of reef chilli daily
Feed 5 drops of phyto feast
Feed 5 drops of oyster feas
Feed red sea ab reef energy 5ml per day

System total is 40 gallons I also do 1 gallondaily water change with red sea pro salt.

I have hydra 26 led light cycle is 8am to 6pm ramp up with hour at 8pm and ramp down at 6pm for 1 hour.

Blues at 80 and whites at 40

I do not sure any gfo or carbon

If anybody has any clue what is going on please help me .. has this ever happened to you

Payson · Dec 5, 2016

What is your salt level? Do you mean 35 or was that a typo?

jsker · Dec 5, 2016

Has your Alk changed?

jsker · Dec 5, 2016

Payson said:
What is your salt level? Do you mean 35 or was that a typo?

I would say that they are going off a controller conductivity reading salinity would be 1.0264

Brew12 · Dec 5, 2016

Payson said:
What is your salt level? Do you mean 35 or was that a typo?

35 ppt would be very reasonable.

twilliard · Dec 5, 2016

We should also not overlook bacteria

Under the scope they will look like pieces of rice

SBB Corals · Dec 5, 2016

Payson said:
What is your salt level? Do you mean 35 or was that a typo?

its 1.025

SBB Corals · Dec 5, 2016

jsker said:
Has your Alk changed?

not alk has not changed.. i dose by hand same amount daily

SBB Corals · Dec 5, 2016

Brew12 said:
35 ppt would be very reasonable.

yes its 35 ppt

SBB Corals · Dec 5, 2016

twilliard said:
We should also not overlook bacteria
Under the scope they will look like pieces of rice

only thing i can think of is bacteria.. not sure what i can do about this exept just run its cycle..

some of my theory of the problem is maybe my nutrients are to high to run red sea ab energy or the daily water change of 1 gallon per day is too rough for my 40 gallon system.. i dunno

Diesel · Dec 5, 2016

If the tips are soft and flesh is slowly dying you had a alk swing.
By daily dosing you have to do a daily test as well, you can't dose if you don't know what or how much you need to keep parameters at bay.
Many hobbyist test once a week and just any amount of alk, cal and mag just it might be good.
What I suspect is that your ALK didn't got consumed at the normal rate for a day or two and you kept dosing.
You be better of if you have a lot of SPS to get a CaRx or a doser.
In that case you dose small amounts per hour and if hooked up to a PH probe on the APEX it will only get you when your parameters are asking for it.

SBB Corals · Dec 5, 2016

Diesel said:
If the tips are soft and flesh is slowly dying you had a alk swing.
By daily dosing you have to do a daily test as well, you can't dose if you don't know what or how much you need to keep parameters at bay.
Many hobbyist test once a week and just any amount of alk, cal and mag just it might be good.
What I suspect is that your ALK didn't got consumed at the normal rate for a day or two and you kept dosing.
You be better of if you have a lot of SPS to get a CaRx or a doser.
In that case you dose small amounts per hour and if hooked up to a PH probe on the APEX it will only get you when your parameters are asking for it.

Thanks for the input I actually test my alk every day.. it has been consistent as for as I can remember...

bubbaque · Dec 5, 2016

Are any of your test expired?

Diesel · Dec 5, 2016

Can I ask how you dose the ALK?

Salty1962 · Dec 5, 2016

Usually white tips is an indication of Kh or K swings.

jsker · Dec 5, 2016

Are there any trace elements being dosed

Cment · Dec 5, 2016

how bout flow? what are you using?

markalot · Dec 6, 2016

My guess would be either a KH spike or a rapid drop in PO4.

Symptoms are similar to my tank when I replaced too many rocks, disturbing the params and ending up with a rise in PO4 which slowed growth, spiked KH, and then like an idiot I replaced GFO and dropped PO4 too rapidly. Took 6 months for things to really recover.

My new technique that has turned things around for me:

Find a way to keep PO4 steady, make any moves slowly. Using PhosphateRx worked for me but you can do it multiple ways.

Aim for a natural KH level. I shoot for 7 and if I reach 7.5 I stop all automated dosing until I figure out what is going on in the tank. Havign KH drop too low will upset corals but it doesn't kill like a KH spike will.

Every tank is different and what works for you will probably be different as well.

gig 'em · Dec 6, 2016

I had a similar situation last month when my DI resin went bad. I opened up the DI canister and it smelled like the seafood section of a super market. My guess was the DI resin became saturated and no longer was doing its job/even releasing junk back into the RO water. This bothered the corals and the health of my corals is still slowly returning.

Scott.h · Dec 6, 2016

shane backer said:
its 1.025

shane backer said:
yes its 35 ppt

not to split hairs but 1025 is 33.25

What about toxins from soft corals? I believe you said you weren't using carbon so could that play a roll?
Or has light intensity changed?
For some reason I'm thinking alk issues start from the base up but that doesn't mean it can't happen. My first thought was alk also.