SPS Dying Off Slowly

[Reefanatik]

Yeah I know. Dennis said it was between 10-20 and I was getting 16 consistently. But I was using the 10ml syringe and could have easily not been doing the test correctly. I used the 2ml syringe from salifert for my Red Sea test and maybe got a more accurate. Test. Not really sure. The thing I don't understand is why my Chaeto stopped growing and my skimmer has slowed down. I am going to do a couple of big water changes and I already started feeding less so I will see what happens. Also thinking about vodka dosing but I have allot of research to do first. I'm thinking about vodka because I like to feed my fish (x19) and keep them fat..... but it seems it has been at the expense of my coral.

 

[Diesel]

Your Po4 is still 0.0?

 

[Reefanatik]

Your Po4 is still 0.0?

Yes sir 0.0. Verified with Hanna twice.

 

[Diesel]

Reduce the flow of your vectra on your lifereef with two lights.
You will skim less and will bring up the Po4.

 

[Reefanatik]

Reduce the flow of your vectra on your lifereef with two lights.
You will skim less and will bring up the Po4.

Are u saying to reduce it by two more lights or reduce it 2 lights under 100%. I currently have it at two lights under 100%.

 

[Diesel]

Bring it down a bit more that it stops skimming, you will start skimming again when your nutrients getting to high but in this case you don't overskim.

 

[Reefanatik]

Ok sounds good. One thing I have noticed the past few weeks is my skimmer has drastically skimmed less and it's darker

 

[Reefanatik]

I was using gfo but stopped about a week ago

 

[Diesel]

Great, you're on your way to a great re-start

 

[eschulist]

Yep. I'd say your nitrates and phosphates were out of balance. Phosphates of absolute zero can be very damaging to corals when other things are elevated. Stopping the Gfo will help in the long run.

 

[Reefanatik]

Well I tested some saltwaterwater I had at the bottom of my rodi container and the nitrates were 2.5. I'm going to clean my containers today and make some more water and see what I get. My tds meter is showing 0 so not sure how I have nitrates in there.

 

[Therapy]

Just going to throw this in here. I am no expert.

I had big problems with my Salifert No3 reading too high. ALOT! Could not get it below 25 even after major 50% water changes. I purchased another kit, same results. I purchased a different brand kit. (API) and showed 4ppm. I see this API kit fluctuate. My Salifert never moved off of 25. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Reefanatik]

I've been double checking with Red Sea and I was getting high nitrates also, comparable numbers

 

[laxman05]

Take this into consideration if it has not been said already. There is a good possibility that the GFO caused the issue along with the fluctuation of the ALK. I lost a jam packed SPS tank holding a steady ALK at above 10.5. My Hanna checker was reading low when I got it, and I did not test it with another kit. I decided to bump up the ALK to 8.2 and kept it steady not realizing my tank was running over 10.5 DKH!! I was using GFO in conjunction with the High DKH which I believe caused my STN. I have a 29 biocube SPS dominant that was also on the decline, however the IM GFO reactor had been clumped and not working properly. Once I pulled the GFO STN stopped. I noticed re-growth within a week. I think GFO with high ALK caused the problems in my tank based on the experience. I have not lost 1 sps ever since I pulled my GFO. Another thing to keep in mind is the Red Sea Coral Pro salt has a really high DKH of something like 11-12 or so depending on your salinity. So those water changes may have cause the fluctuations too.

 

[kin_itsu]

I have the similar situation.All parameter is correct except the po4 is zero.My frag gets a little PE, and one night it bleached.Now I am trying to stop the skimmer and feed twice.Some of the frags seem much better.