SPS been going downhill lately….

[Matt Bravo]

Hey reefers, my stony corals have been going downhill lately and I’m thinking it might be because I let my mag drop to 1120 and calc drop to 380.

That wasn’t noticed until I tested today when I realized one of my acros didn’t look to hot, it looked like there was some sort of algae on it so I lightly blasted it with a syringe and some flesh came off

Tank is 10 months old

Parms
Nitrates 7
Phos .03
Alk 12
Calc 380 (I dosed to get back up to 450)
Mag 1120 (I dosed to get back up to 1280)

 

[Lavey29]

Your alk is way to high for your current nutrients levels.

 

[LOVEROCK]

What salt you using ?

 

[Matt Bravo]

Your alk is way to high for your current nutrients levels.

I’ve been lowering it, I overdosed (before the acros were introduced) and had an all spike, usually it’s at 8

 

[Matt Bravo]

What salt you using ?

Red Sea salt

 

[ptrusk]

Phosphate. Raise it.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Just for craps and giggles could you tell us a little about lighting, flow, ph any recent treatments for anything at all, possible coral nippers or pests? Is it happening to all corals? Depending on how the tank was started, ten months can be a little young and still trying to find its balance. Hopefully someone can help you figure this out

 

[Dburr1014]

I’ve been lowering it, I overdosed (before the acros were introduced) and had an all spike, usually it’s at 8

Up your po4 temporarily until alk is down.
How are you lowering alk? Just stop dosing it.

 

[Sabellafella]

I’ve been lowering it, I overdosed (before the acros were introduced) and had an all spike, usually it’s at 8

If your Magnesium are calcium that low. Your 100 percent likely to have an insanely low salinity.

You'll need to triple check that for sure. Mag and calcium are so abundant that they nearly makeup the entire salt content, along with sodium chloride.

 

[LOVEROCK]

Red Sea salt

The pro or the blue bucket , you have to find out why your alk is so sky high

 

[Matt Bravo]

Just for craps and giggles could you tell us a little about lighting, flow, ph any recent treatments for anything at all, possible coral nippers or pests? Is it happening to all corals? Depending on how the tank was started, ten months can be a little young and still trying to find its balance. Hopefully someone can help you figure this out

ph stays at 8, I try raising it but don’t see any effect that last over 3 days, lighting is an AI prime 16, the corals themselves are in the higher middle part of the system but are sitting straight under where the light is. When it comes to flow they are in the highest flow area of my tank. It’s not happening to all corals just this one from what I can see. Technically there might be something pecking at it, I just got an emerald crab but I’ve come multiple times when lights go out and it really does look like it would rather eat algae then corals, it’s left all my softies and lps alone

 

[Matt Bravo]

Up your po4 temporarily until alk is down.
How are you lowering alk? Just stop dosing it.

Phosphate. Raise it.

Thank you for your advice, I don’t mean this to come off as rude but how does increasing phosphates help them? I thought they needed lower phosphate and I was in the good range?

Lowering alk with water changes,

 

[Matt Bravo]

If your Magnesium are calcium that low. Your 100 percent likely to have an insanely low salinity.

You'll need to triple check that for sure. Mag and calcium are so abundant that they nearly makeup the entire salt content, along with sodium chloride.

They only get low because I have a lot of lps corals in the tank constantly growing.
My torch,hammer,candy cane,blasto and Duncan are all currently growing new heads

 

[Matt Bravo]

The pro or the blue bucket , you have to find out why your alk is so sky high

Blue bucket
My alk got so high because I accidentally overdosed it while trying to get it back up to 8

Lesson learned though….

 

[Makara23]

I'm no expert on SPS, but based on nutrients alone, I would up the phosphates a tad just to have a little more buffer. If you're using the Hanna colorimeter to test phosphates, it's accuracy is ±0.02 ppm, which means you could be at 0.01ppm. This is a very low margin to bottoming out. I also noticed in mine that once the powder is dumped in, I need to wait at least 5 minutes for everything to dissolve and microbubbles to dissipate before the reading is accurate, which is decreases the reading even more.

I would do a water change to decrease the alk rather than waiting for it to be slowly used up.

 

[Makara23]

My alk got so high because I accidentally overdosed it while trying to get it back up to 8

Regarding this part, alk less than 8 jumping to 12 is a huge swing. It's not just the high alk, but a rapid change. Corals won't like this, even LPS.

 

[Dburr1014]

Thank you for your advice, I don’t mean this to come off as rude but how does increasing phosphates help them? I thought they needed lower phosphate and I was in the good range?

Lowering alk with water changes,

Not rude, let me explain.
High alk is like a jolt of energy. Coral is expending lots of energy to build structure, skeleton. It needs food to do this. PO4 at 0.03 is the bare minimum you should be keeping but now you're coral is hungry for food using all this energy. And you are giving them crumbs to eat. Give them a meal, up your PO4.

 

[Drewe]

They only get low because I have a lot of lps corals in the tank constantly growing.
My torch,hammer,candy cane,blasto and Duncan are all currently growing new heads

That's almost definitely not it btw. LPS don't drop mg and CA that much. They're too abundant in seawater. Unless you haven't dosed or done a water change in ages.

 

[ronnie]

There is a pest possibility that could be causing issues as well. AEFW - with only one picture provided that is a bit blurry it’s hard to say, but I would take a Turkey baster and blow off acros and see if you can see any flatworms come off. Usually more at the base.

 

[Matt Bravo]

Regarding this part, alk less than 8 jumping to 12 is a huge swing. It's not just the high alk, but a rapid change. Corals won't like this, even LPS.

Yeah one of my hammers is still recovering from the huge swing….