SPS acros dying from tips.

[tundraguy1106]

What salt do you use?

I just switched about a month ago to Tropic Marin pro-reef. Prior to that I was using Reef Crystals. I always used reef crystals without an issue. Just wanted the lower ALK levels.

 

[tundraguy1106]

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.

That’s what I’ve been hearing. Not sure if the colder temperatures affect that as well?

 

[tundraguy1106]

Here’s my 24k Mille that was encrusting for a while but just this week started to brown on the tip. Also my kamodo Island same thing. I apologize for all the pictures. I’m just lost at this point and watching my SPS crash slowly is terrible.

 

[DMG Reef]

Your numbers look good now. You asked earlier if Dino's will kill coral and they definitely will smother the corals depending on which species of Dino you have. I'd say that your nutrients bottomed out at some point which caused the dinos to take hold. That coupled with zero or very low PO4 explains your problem with SPS. But now that your parameters are good, it's still going to take time to see any improvement.

 

[tundraguy1106]

I made a thread regarding my Dinos type. Here were the picture and videos from that post. The overal consensus was large cell amphidinium. I was starting to dose silicates (spongeexcel) to cause a diatoms bloom to beat out the Dinos. Good or bad idea? I was only adding a few drops to my 120 gallon tank.

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[DMG Reef]

I made a thread regarding my Dinos type. Here were the picture and videos from that post. The overal consensus was large cell amphidinium. I was starting to dose silicates (spongeexcel) to cause a diatoms bloom to beat out the Dinos. Good or bad idea? I was only adding a few drops to my 120 gallon tank.

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The only thing that worked for me when I had dinos was a UV sterilizer. I didn't try dosing silicates but I have heard of that helping.

 

[tundraguy1106]

The only thing that worked for me when I had dinos was a UV sterilizer. I didn't try dosing silicates but I have heard of that helping.

Yeah I have an AquaUV 57 watt UV. It’s plumbed into my return line in my sump. I know everyone says to plumb it straight to and from the display tank but I was busy trying to figure out my SPS problems...

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Where’s your par map?

 

[tundraguy1106]

Where’s your par map?

Had to grab it off my ipad. One number is T5’s only and the other is T5’s with my hydras on.

 

[tundraguy1106]

The only thing that worked for me when I had dinos was a UV sterilizer. I didn't try dosing silicates but I have heard of that helping.

Is there a time frame before seeing improvements? I know the saying is “it gets worse before it gets better” but a couple of acros (my ASD rainbow Mille and my bill Murray) were looking ok until this week. Now I’m seeing the riffles starting to brown up and get algae on them. I’ve only had the phosphates up to .08/.09 since about 2/23.

 

[DMG Reef]

Is there a time frame before seeing improvements? I know the saying is “it gets worse before it gets better” but a couple of acros (my ASD rainbow Mille and my bill Murray) were looking ok until this week. Now I’m seeing the riffles starting to brown up and get algae on them. I’ve only had the phosphates up to .08/.09 since about 2/23.

I saw improvements within a week of adding the UV sterilizer. A few frags that were beat up badly still died. But my nutrients never bottomed out so I don't know how soon you'll see improvements from dosing PO4. Maybe someone who's done that will advise you.

 

[tundraguy1106]

I saw improvements within a week of adding the UV sterilizer. A few frags that were beat up badly still died. But my nutrients never bottomed out so I don't know how soon you'll see improvements from dosing PO4. Maybe someone who's done that will advise you.

Ok well I appreciate the info. Really disheartening. I had a couple frags do well so I added more and then boom they just started dying. Could have loaded my whole tank with expensive LPS corals and had a fraction of the headaches.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Your corals are starving and need more time under higher par. My acros get about 9 hours of 300-600 par from led only with 1.5 hour ramps. I think the majority of those are goners but it will take 6 months or more for them to recover if they do.

 

[tundraguy1106]

Your corals are starving and need more time under higher par. My acros get about 9 hours of 300-600 par from led only with 1.5 hour ramps. I think the majority of those are goners but it will take 6 months or more for them to recover if they do.

dang....So I’m at 4 hours of peak PAR on my tank. How much can I lengthen the photo period per week or every other week to get up to 8-9 hours?

 

[qhduong]

I had similar issues as you and I can only attribute this to dino. See my thread here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cant-keep-sps.776384/page-3#post-8330318.

Putting uv in display helped tremendously. I also added diversity from another reefer's sump filter. But now my corals are all doing good. Haven't lost anything in 3 months. I run lights 9am-9pm with 9 hours peak. 90% on 2 XR15.

 

[tundraguy1106]

I had similar issues as you and I can only attribute this to dino. See my thread here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cant-keep-sps.776384/page-3#post-8330318.

Putting uv in display helped tremendously. I also added diversity from another reefer's sump filter. But now my corals are all doing good. Haven't lost anything in 3 months. I run lights 9am-9pm with 9 hours peak. 90% on 2 XR15.

That’s exactly what I’m dealing with. The only difference is the strain of Dinos. I have large cell amphidinium. I’m dosing silicate and mb7 while mainting No3 and Po4 at 10 and .1. Sucks that some of my SPS that were looking good last week are starting to STN today. I figured upping the nutrients would stop the death but I guess the damage was done already.

 

[qhduong]

That’s exactly what I’m dealing with. The only difference is the strain of Dinos. I have large cell amphidinium. I’m dosing silicate and mb7 while mainting No3 and Po4 at 10 and .1. Sucks that some of my SPS that were looking good last week are starting to STN today. I figured upping the nutrients would stop the death but I guess the damage was done already.

Change carbon weekly and keep nutrients up is my only suggestions... Please make sure to move the UV to display ASAP.

 

[ScottB]

That’s exactly what I’m dealing with. The only difference is the strain of Dinos. I have large cell amphidinium. I’m dosing silicate and mb7 while mainting No3 and Po4 at 10 and .1. Sucks that some of my SPS that were looking good last week are starting to STN today. I figured upping the nutrients would stop the death but I guess the damage was done already.

Again, sorry you are going through this. Most all of us have at some point; some are just better at repressing those memories than others.

With acros, not only does it take them a lot of time to recover from stress, it often takes considerable time for them to SHOW a reaction from a stress event or condition. A couple weeks is not unrealistic. So the necrosis you witness today was (or may have been) caused much earlier.

LC Apmhids aren't really known to be particularly toxic -- unlike ostreopsis and others. Often our interventions are more stressful to acros than the dinos themselves. Focus on keeping elements and nutrients stable. Slow and gentle changes to lighting if any.

 

[ScottB]

As to the dinos and UV, your dinos (LC Amphids) stay embedded in the sand and therefor are not susceptible. So don't bother with moving the UV for this outbreak. If you get ostreopsis (a very popular species!) then you should move the UV and slow it down.

 

[tundraguy1106]

As to the dinos and UV, your dinos (LC Amphids) stay embedded in the sand and therefor are not susceptible. So don't bother with moving the UV for this outbreak. If you get ostreopsis (a very popular species!) then you should move the UV and slow it down.

I think my UV is running 300 gah at the moment but yeah my research a few weeks ago said UV doesn’t do anything for these. I’ve been dosing silicates and mb7. Not sure if I should be doing water changes or siphoning my sand bed?