SPS Coral Dieing Slowly

[delandreefer]

I am having issues keeping SPS corals alive in my tank and am running out of ideas why. I can put a frag in and depending on the frag they either look terrible in a day or week. The tissue turns white and the polyps recede. Eventually they succumb to whatever is happening to them. I will attach pictures of what they look like shortly.

Now some facts about the tank:
60g cube with Eshopps S-200 skimmer.
2 Jabao RW-4 wavemakers in the tank.
Lights 2 mars aqua 165W blackboxes turned down to minimum operating level 8 inches off the water. on a 10 hour schedule
Upflow ATS run counter cycle to the display lights

Alk 7.7 dkh as of yesterday. I have been testing everyday for the past month with a range of results between 7.7-8 dkh.
CA 400ppm MG 1200ppm
PO4 .5 NO3 5 PH 8-8.3 (All tests Salifert)
Salinity 35ppt

Ran an ICP test last month there were no heavy metals detected, did show low magnesium so i have brought that back up over the past two weeks. I have also pulled corals out and dipped them in melafix nothing comes off.

I am loosing my mind watching the corals slowly die. I am open to any ideas at this point.

 

[delandreefer]

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Your parameters all look fine. Perhaps a picture of the dying frags and a full tank shot would help. Maybe also post the actual ICP test results.

If indeed the water chemistry is fine I would turn my attention to the lights, a PAR meter goes a long way in figuring out what could be going on. From your description of "turned down to minimum operating level" you might not have enough light, although usually that would not cause issues so quickly as you are experiencing...

 

[BestMomEver]

I don’t know much about your lights but that would be where I’d start. Do you have any way to test PAR? I bet they aren’t getting enough.

 

[BranchingHammer]

Have you tried Montipora and other easier sps before this? Acropora is a hard first sps. Is your po4 0.5 or 0.05? 0.5 is highly toxic to stony corals IME.

 

[MnFish1]

I am having issues keeping SPS corals alive in my tank and am running out of ideas why. I can put a frag in and depending on the frag they either look terrible in a day or week. The tissue turns white and the polyps recede. Eventually they succumb to whatever is happening to them. I will attach pictures of what they look like shortly.

Now some facts about the tank:
60g cube with Eshopps S-200 skimmer.
2 Jabao RW-4 wavemakers in the tank.
Lights 2 mars aqua 165W blackboxes turned down to minimum operating level 8 inches off the water. on a 10 hour schedule
Upflow ATS run counter cycle to the display lights

Alk 7.7 dkh as of yesterday. I have been testing everyday for the past month with a range of results between 7.7-8 dkh.
CA 400ppm MG 1200ppm
PO4 .5 NO3 5 PH 8-8.3 (All tests Salifert)
Salinity 35ppt

Ran an ICP test last month there were no heavy metals detected, did show low magnesium so i have brought that back up over the past two weeks. I have also pulled corals out and dipped them in melafix nothing comes off.

I am loosing my mind watching the corals slowly die. I am open to any ideas at this point.

Are you matching the PAR in your tank (your lighting) with the lighting in the tank they are coming from? Could you have some kind of worm or something 'picking' on them? Where are you getting the coral from - an LFS or online or somewhere else (I had notorius results ordering coral online).

 

[acro-ed]

I don't think the light is doing it. If you have it turned all the way down you might lose color and have little growth but you wouldn't have that fuzzy tissue appearance like some of those pics. I would look at stray voltage and also verify your alk with another test kit (not a re-test but a whole new kit). If your phos is 0.5ppm that could very well be the issue (0.05 would be great, but 0.5 is quite high). Just some thoughts; hope that helps.

Thanks,
Ed

edit: Also, what is your temp? How much does it fluctuate throughout the day?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

+1 on stray voltage and clarification on your po4 measurement. You’re tank looks very new and clean. Are you using gfo? My hydras are mounted 16” above the water. They could be getting a “led hot spot” burn. I would raise them up at least 12” preferably 15” off the water. Looks like your flow is blowing sand all the place, which sps don’t like.
Sps in the wild are as far away from sand as they can be. I’m sure you’re just following what the masses say, more flow is better but it shouldn’t be so violent that it’s sand blasting your corals. My favorite flow analogy is it should remind you a pushing a swing, slow but firm and rhymical.

 

[ycnibrc]

PO4 .5 NO3 5
Is this correct? Phosphate 0.5 or 0.05. And how old is the tank been running?

 

[delandreefer]

I attached my ICP results. My temp is consistent at 79-81. The phos is 0.5ppm but it is hard to tell on the on the Salifert scale and i always record the more conservative number.

 

[delandreefer]

PO4 .5 NO3 5
Is this correct? Phosphate 0.5 or 0.05. And how old is the tank been running?

Started July 2018, Rocks cycled for 2 years with heat and flow while I was at B-school though.

 

[delandreefer]

+1 on stray voltage and clarification on your po4 measurement. You’re tank looks very new and clean. Are you using gfo? My hydras are mounted 16” above the water. They could be getting a “led hot spot” burn. I would raise them up at least 12” preferably 15” off the water. Looks like your flow is blowing sand all the place, which sps don’t like.
Sps in the wild are as far away from sand as they can be. I’m sure you’re just following what the masses say, more flow is better but it shouldn’t be so violent that it’s sand blasting your corals. My favorite flow analogy is it should remind you a pushing a swing, slow but firm and rhymical.

The sand gets pushed around away from the front but it dosn't leave the bottom if that makes sense.

 

[ycnibrc]

Po4 .5 is really high. You want po4 at 0.1 and. Po3 at 10ppm is proper level for Sps.

 

[delandreefer]

I am going to test for stray voltage this weekend, but from my research it seems that there is no clear level of acceptable voltage?

 

[ycnibrc]

Do u dose any amino or bacteria source?

 

[delandreefer]

Do u dose any amino or bacteria source?

No aminos in the past two months. In the beginning I added multiple bacteria sources. Dr tims, Bio-spira. and BIO-digest.

 

[ycnibrc]

By the look of your tank I don't see much of rock. Do u have more in your sump ? How many lbs is in your tank?

 

[delandreefer]

Are you matching the PAR in your tank (your lighting) with the lighting in the tank they are coming from? Could you have some kind of worm or something 'picking' on them? Where are you getting the coral from - an LFS or online or somewhere else (I had notorius results ordering coral online).

The corals are coming from other locals tanks. They run T-5s.

 

[delandreefer]

By the look of your tank I don't see much of rock. Do u have more in your sump ? How many lbs is in your tank?

Im not sure on the lbs of rock. There is none in the sump.

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Imo, mag is a bit low, once you bring it up you should see your other numbers change a little, and Phos is out of balance with nitrate. Dising amino acids could help with the recovery as it is a food source for the coral.