SPS acros dying from tips.

Charlie’s Frags · Mar 3, 2021

Rick5 said:
Wow. That’s dedication.

I do the same thing
I research what most of the “know it all’s” post

Most of their corals look terrible, if they even have sps.
Kitty Katts look pretty good though

Rick5 · Mar 3, 2021

Charlie’s Frags said:
I do the same thing
I research what most of the “know it all’s” post

Most of their corals look terrible, if they even have sps.
Kitty Katts look pretty good though

Bud, you're the only "know it all" on this board.

We're all walking on egg shells around you. Can't run ULN, GFO, GAC or any other acronym for that matter.

Charlie’s Frags · Mar 3, 2021

Rick5 said:
Bud, you're the only "know it all" on this board.

We're all walking on egg shells around you. Can't run ULN, GFO, GAC or any other acronym for that matter.

I have never claimed any of that. There are plenty of sps keepers that use all of those and more with better results than mine (debatable though). The common philosophy that a stable big3 and no3/po4 is under x/y then all should be good is so wrong. The paranoia that everything will die if you don’t follow the formula is also wrong. I firmly believe the average sps hobbyists with a bunch of new frags they just scored during the latest live sale is more likely to kill acros chasing 1-2.5no3/0.03-0.05 po4 with all that crap than they would not worrying about them in the first place.

Rick5 · Mar 4, 2021

Charlie’s Frags said:
I have never claimed any of that. There are plenty of sps keepers that use all of those and more with better results than mine (debatable though). The common philosophy that a stable big3 and no3/po4 is under x/y then all should be good is so wrong. The paranoia that everything will die if you don’t follow the formula is also wrong. I firmly believe the average sps hobbyists with a bunch of new frags they just scored during the latest live sale is more likely to kill acros chasing 1-2.5no3/0.03-0.05 po4 with all that crap than they would not worrying about them in the first place.

I think chasing nitrate and/or phosphate can be a big problem (especially phosphate). Most tend to agree with that. I don't like big drops or big increases quickly of any nutrient/parameter. I think weakened SPS can succumb to big and quick shifts. I've seen it happen and I've seen healthy SPS walk away unscathed.

I think running a tank today is a lot easier when you have trace amounts (or more) of nutrients or, at the very least, high throughput. However, since I cannot really measure throughput all that well, it's easier to just use the numbers.

Charlie’s Frags · Mar 4, 2021

Rick5 said:
I think chasing nitrate and/or phosphate can be a big problem (especially phosphate). Most tend to agree with that. I don't like big drops or big increases quickly of any nutrient/parameter. I think weakened SPS can succumb to big and quick shifts. I've seen it happen and I've seen healthy SPS walk away unscathed.

I think running a tank today is a lot easier when you have trace amounts (or more) of nutrients or, at the very least, high throughput. However, since I cannot really measure throughput all that well, it's easier to just use the numbers.

I concur.

tundraguy1106 · Mar 9, 2021

ICP results came in. I’m still no better than I was before. If anything I’m even more confused. My levels seem to be pretty good. Iodine is a little low however I’ve never tested or dosed iodine.

Could Dinos be killing my SPS? I tried extending my peak photo period a few hours since the tank only received peak PAR for 3.5 hours. Thinking maybe the corals were not receiving enough high PAR light period. It’s now at 5 hours with a couple hours ramp up and ramp down time. I started dosing silicates to battle the Dinos. I keep trimming the dying acro branches but it’s only getting worse. I’m totally lost!

Hydrored · Mar 9, 2021

Ramping needs to take place slowly, I can assure you changing lighting too fast will only make things worse. Go back to basics, get nutrients where they need to be, put your lighting back to where it was, run some uv and a bit of Carbon to help with dinos.

once the destruction stops then you can focus on things like PAR, and what lighting adjustments need to be made over months

DMG Reef · Mar 9, 2021

The only thing I see that's concerning is that your phosphate is zero. If you are increasing PAR while there's no available PO4, things will definitely get worse.

Low iodine and manganese is common because it gets used up fast. I dose those daily.

Nothing else stands out to me. I definitely think your issue is lack of PO4.

tundraguy1106 · Mar 9, 2021

Hydrored said:
Ramping needs to take place slowly, I can assure you changing lighting too fast will only make things worse. Go back to basics, get nutrients where they need to be, put your lighting back to where it was, run some uv and a bit of Carbon to help with dinos.

I didn’t change the led map. I have my T5’s controlled by an outlet controller. I extended the off time by an hour a few days ago. There is no dimmer for my T5’s just on and off.

Hydrored · Mar 9, 2021

tundraguy1106 said:
I didn’t change the led map. I have my T5’s controlled by an outlet controller. I extended the off time by an hour a few days ago. There is no dimmer for my T5’s just on and off.

I understand that, it’s additional lighting none the less and another change, especially bad with low nutrients.Ramping can come in the form of additional on time or increasing percentages on led’s

tundraguy1106 · Mar 9, 2021

Kattkrazie said:
The only thing I see that's concerning is that your phosphate is zero. If you are increasing PAR while there's no available PO4, things will definitely get worse.

Low iodine and manganese is common because it gets used up fast. I dose those daily.

Nothing else stands out to me. I definitely think your issue is lack of PO4.

I started dosing phosphates the day I sent out that sample. On my Hanna checker I’m at .09 at the moment, however for that sample my Hanna showed .08 and ICP tested .01. Not sure if shipping changes that number. I’ve gotten mixed reviews on that

I’m currently testing the entire tank as we speak, I’ll update with my results when I’m done.

tundraguy1106 · Mar 9, 2021

Hydrored said:
I understand that, it’s additional lighting none the less and another change. Ramping can come in the form of additional on time or increasing percentages on led’s

Ahh ok, I backed it down to 4 hours. Which is up from 3.5 but not the 5 hours I originally had changed it to on Friday.

tundraguy1106 · Mar 9, 2021

Hydrored said:
I understand that, it’s additional lighting none the less and another change, especially bad with low nutrients.Ramping can come in the form of additional on time or increasing percentages on led’s

Do you think 4 peak hours isn’t long enough? My led map is on page 1. I’ll provide a picture of my PAR map when I’m done testing.

ScottB · Mar 9, 2021

tundraguy1106 said:
I started dosing phosphates the day I sent out that sample. On my Hanna checker I’m at .09 at the moment, however for that sample my Hanna showed .08 and ICP tested .01. Not sure if shipping changes that number. I’ve gotten mixed reviews on that

I’m currently testing the entire tank as we speak, I’ll update with my results when I’m done.

Trust only the Hanna for PO4. I posted a thread about that a while back and every contributor said the same thing. PO4 doesn't ship well nor do ICP tests capture well what PO4 remains in the water.

DMG Reef · Mar 9, 2021

tundraguy1106 said:
I started dosing phosphates the day I sent out that sample. On my Hanna checker I’m at .09 at the moment, however for that sample my Hanna showed .08 and ICP tested .01. Not sure if shipping changes that number. I’ve gotten mixed reviews on that

I’m currently testing the entire tank as we speak, I’ll update with my results when I’m done.

If you started dosing PO4 just a few weeks ago, you won't see results right away.

ScottB said:
Trust only the Hanna for PO4. I posted a thread about that a while back and every contributor said the same thing. PO4 doesn't ship well nor do ICP tests capture well what PO4 remains in the water.

My PO4 numbers are always very close with the ATI ICP. The test results I received this morning showed .20 and my Hanna showed .19. My Feb test showed .09 for ICP and the Hanna showed .10. Some PO4 may get consumed during transport, but it appears to be very little.

jcorndogg · Mar 9, 2021

What salt do you use?

jcorndogg · Mar 9, 2021

What salt do you use?

tundraguy1106 · Mar 9, 2021

Kattkrazie said:
If you started dosing PO4 just a few weeks ago, you won't see results right away.

My PO4 numbers are always very close with the ATI ICP. The test results I received this morning showed .20 and my Hanna showed .19. My Feb test showed .09 for ICP and the Hanna showed .10. Some PO4 may get consumed during transport, but it appears to be very little.

Here are my test results. Where should I go from here? Water changes? Yay or nay? Dosing? Lighting?

tundraguy1106 · Mar 9, 2021

Here are some tank shots. My montis are almost dead. Setosa, Kung pao, flaming Phoenix. The acros start with algae and browning of the riffles where the polyps extend from and then get worse from there.