Sps dying from the top down.

[JMM744]

So I am loosing colonies slowly and from the tips down. These corals have been in the system for 6/8 months or more. Not all corals are affected either. My par was checked about 5/6 weeks back at it’s around 200 to 250. I lowered the lamps to get more but have since raised them back to the original place once the tips started to go although the corals did fine with the light lowered for 3/4 weeks. Nothing has improved since raising the lights.
Flow is strong but not flesh tearing strong by any means.
Alk dropped some due to a plugged dosing line to 5.6. It’s usually around 8. It’s now back to 6.6 and slowly returning to 8.
Calc. Is high at 500, turned the dozer off till it lowers some.
Mag is over 1500 and has always been high.
Pho’s. 4
No3 is 3
I turned the skimmer off for a while trying to get nutrients up some.
Every stick starts to turn white at the tip and works right on down.
Any suggestions please?
Jim

 

[TDEcoral]

I think alkalinity might be too low for your levels of the nitrate and phosphate. Also I think your nitrate is too low for how high your phosphate is.

Did they start showing STN after the alk dropped? How long ago did it drop? How long was it at that low level?

 

[JMM744]

They showed it before the drop. The alk dropped in the last week and a half. It was at 7 to 7.2 before dropping. I am raising it to 8 to match my other system.
Thanks for replying.
Jim

 

[SeaDweller]

Po4 is 0.04 or 0.4?

 

[coralbeauties]

Ck your salinity. If your using a refractometer has it been calibrated lately? I was seeing the same thing and thought my salinity was good till I calibrated my meter. My system was down to 1.021 After getting it back up to normal all tip death stopped.
Jeff

 

[JMM744]

.04 is correct. Will check salinity.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

A pic would be helpful, otherwise everyone’s just throwing out their guesses.

 

[HotRocks]

Jim sorry to hear of your struggles, anytime I’ve ever jacked with my light height my acros did not like me at all... I do run lower nutrients and my par is 300+ at most of my acros.

I would try to stabilize alk and let it ride I do agree pictures speak 1000 words and would be helpful!

 

[JMM744]

Pictures on the way. I found this afternoon that my dosing pump was not dosing right. The tubing was either worn or leaking air. I checked alk last night and it was 7.3 and this afternoon it was back to 5.6. I fixed the tubing and dosed manually but dread the coming results....

 

[4ddiction]

The alkalinity swing probably caused the damage.

 

[JMM744]

The alkalinity swing probably caused the damage.

I am afraid it did now that I know about the doser. Tank was rock steady for many months now but ouch! I did check salinity but it was right at 34.
I expect to see more trouble down the road as I get the alk stable again.
Jim

 

[4ddiction]

Yeah I feel you, i recently had a swing from 8 to 9.4 in a few days

 

[CoralFragZ]

Chk iodine levels.

 

[Michael Gray]

will iodine cause this? im new had the same thing happen to all my first sps. found out with ICP test my salinity is 31.30PSU which is like 1.022 or something.. i finally got it at 34.3 right now and will continue to do water changes to get it to 35psu. but all acros are dead for my first time trying them. I will try them again once i get salinity to correct level. not using my Milwaukee anymore. veegee STX3 taking its place .

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I don’t think iodine is the problem. I think it is related to alkalinity and “nutrients”.

 

[CoralFragZ]

will iodine cause this? im new had the same thing happen to all my first sps. found out with ICP test my salinity is 31.30PSU which is like 1.022 or something.. i finally got it at 34.3 right now and will continue to do water changes to get it to 35psu. but all acros are dead for my first time trying them. I will try them again once i get salinity to correct level. not using my Milwaukee anymore. veegee STX3 taking its place .

Yes, it is part of the equation and likely a combination effect.

 

[JMM744]

Just to put an end to this thread, even with things stable and nutrients available the corals kept dying. Last night I took them all out and dipped and then trimmed any dead stuff off and added to my big system. I threw away some really nice colonies and large frags over the past couple months. Never figured out the cause. Even changed some of the lights out to no avail. Now let’s see if I can save some of the survivors in the display.

 

[i_am_mclovin]

Just to put an end to this thread, even with things stable and nutrients available the corals kept dying. Last night I took them all out and dipped and then trimmed any dead stuff off and added to my big system. I threw away some really nice colonies and large frags over the past couple months. Never figured out the cause. Even changed some of the lights out to no avail. Now let’s see if I can save some of the survivors in the display.

Very certain it was the alk. SPS hate alk swings.