SPS dying

[clownnut]

ok, I am at the end of my rope here. I am so close to quitting for good.
i reset my tank last September, due to dino. things were doing good, growth were good, after the reset. then out of no where, all the sps that were growing, encrusting and show very good color, start to die about a month ago.
STN from base up and tip down. everything else in the tank is doing good. from shroom to nems, trochus breeding like rabbits. i got coraline algae growing out of my ears.
alk is about 8. check weekly before issue, when issue started i did daily.( 2 salifert and Hanna)
ca 400 (salifert)
mg 1350 (aquaforest)
PO4 0.1 (Hanna)
NO3 0.5-1 (redsea pro)
pH 7.90-8.08 (apex)
ATI ICP test show everything is fine, beside iodine(31.24 µg/l), barium(1.95 µg/l), manganese(0) and zinc(0) are a little low.
RO/DI is fine.
i run carbon change out once a month.
water change once a week about 40g. total about 400g.

10 AI leds (4X 32HD, 5X26HD and 1 Prime HD)
BK skimmer
wavebox + 7 X SLW 30

no screw in the sump, during the reset i empty the entire sump and look.
change to new heating elements during the reset.

any idea what might cause this issue?

 

[drawman]

Hey Li (I think that's you) what salt are you using? Your params look great.

 

[paulgriffin971]

Your PH with Apex? I'd suggest checking to see if you're really at 7.9-8 with a PH test. Your Apex probe might need to be calibrated, and it could be showing erroneous readings.

Next up would be flow. Do you have sufficient flow going on your SPS because they can handle the max you can throw at them.

After water chemistry and flow(including salinity level), I'd say lighting. Perhaps the spectrum or intensity is off. If the lights you have are quite old, they can degrade over time. I'd check the spectrum and intensity to make sure something's not messed up there. Even the duration if over 9-10hrs can cause havoc. Or a scattered schedule is frying things or not giving them enough light.

After all that, maybe the corals around them are stinging them in the night. It only takes a couple corals to cause chemical warfare. Check to make sure they;re aren't fighting one another for space dominance.

Lastly, maybe they're not getting enough food. Try some reef roids or similar and use the smallest dose you can.

 

[Lavey29]

Hey Li (I think that's you) what salt are you using? Your params look great.

Really? He has essentially no nitrates and what is thought to be high phosphate for SPS corals?

 

[vetteguy53081]

po4 a little elevated - Recommended < .04
Wondering if carbon is upsetting them, which is rare.
Salinity- What are you using to measure salt and when was last calibration?
Any change in lighting ?

 

[clownnut]

Your PH with Apex? I'd suggest checking to see if you're really at 7.9-8 with a PH test. Your Apex probe might need to be calibrated, and it could be showing erroneous readings.

Next up would be flow. Do you have sufficient flow going on your SPS because they can handle the max you can throw at them.

After water chemistry and flow(including salinity level), I'd say lighting. Perhaps the spectrum or intensity is off. If the lights you have are quite old, they can degrade over time. I'd check the spectrum and intensity to make sure something's not messed up there. Even the duration if over 9-10hrs can cause havoc. Or a scattered schedule is frying things or not giving them enough light.

After all that, maybe the corals around them are stinging them in the night. It only takes a couple corals to cause chemical warfare. Check to make sure they;re aren't fighting one another for space dominance.

Lastly, maybe they're not getting enough food. Try some reef roids or similar and use the smallest dose you can.

Probe is calibrated every 3 months and the probe is less than 6 months old.
with 7 X SLW 30 and the wavebox. i would say yes for flow.
none of the light are over 5 years old, 32hd is stil the current gen....i think it can shift, but all at once. that's hard to believe. intensity wont be a problem. i only run about 40-50 at the most, otherwise my par will be over 600. average will be about 300 when the acclimation mode is over.

they are frags. i mean they have 8" around them without corals. lol.

i feed AB+ 3 times a week, along with reef roids. i know the no3 is bit low, but i cant keep it up even all the coral food and 6 X 1" cubes per day.

 

[drawman]

Really? He has essentially no nitrates and what is thought to be high phosphate for SPS corals?

Yes. There are plenty of people with beautiful acro tanks with a PO4 of 0.1. This is also not his first rodeo having a tank full of acros.

 

[clownnut]

po4 a little elevated - Recommended < .04
Wondering if carbon is upsetting them, which is rare.
Salinity- What are you using to measure salt and when was last calibration?
Any change in lighting ?

yes, PO4 is bit high, ATI show i am at .07mg/l(PPM), but not going to cause issue like i am facing right now.
i have been using carbon since day one, water through carbon go back to filter sock box, skimmer and refugium, i clean the carbon before use. hard to believe carbon dust will make all the way up into the display and happen to land on every sps but skip the rest of the corals.
i did add a few more LEDs, but i measure the par before and with acclimation mode, it's about 70% of what they were getting before, if too much light they will bleach, i have done that with MH before.
i calibrated the refractometer every 3 months, and 2 salinity probe through out the system and ATI ICP agreed with my salt level 33PPT and ATI show 32.94.

​

 

[clownnut]

Hey Li (I think that's you) what salt are you using? Your params look great.

sup man, red sea pro, black bucket. yeah the params look great wish i can say the same about my acros. lol

 

[Lavey29]

Yes. There are plenty of people with beautiful acro tanks with a PO4 of 0.1. This is also not his first rodeo having a tank full of acros.

Well obviously something is directly affecting them and typically SPS are very picky with phosphate levels correct? Not to say we'll established SPS tanks don't flourish out of the norm also as you mentioned. Just because you been to a lot of rodeos doesn't mean you know how to ride.

 

[drawman]

sup man, red sea pro, black bucket.

Good to see you have a tank going Li. Are you using all new dry rock, any media, etc?

 

[clownnut]

Well obviously something is directly affecting them and typically SPS are very picky with phosphate levels correct? Not to say we'll established SPS tanks don't flourish out of the norm also as you mentioned. Just because you been to a lot of rodeos doesn't mean you know how to ride.

keep that in mind, they have been growing and color up nicely with PO4 at .1, just one day they change their mind and start to react?

I do agreed something is directly affecting them all at once, but i am running out of idea what might that be.
I replace what i can, check every pump/magnets for rust, wear and tear. no luck so far.
i have plan to add clarisea and replace my sump with a better layout one, but not until the weather warm up a bit in minnesota.

 

[clownnut]

Good to see you have a tank going Li. Are you using all new dry rock, any media, etc?

i never not have a tank going, i just ignore the tank when i was in school, which lead to dino and the reset. lol
same rock as before, but bleached and recured. i only use carbon, i have gfo in hand just in case it went up above .1, i havent use the gfo i bought 4 years ago. lol

 

[Lavey29]

keep that in mind, they have been growing and color up nicely with PO4 at .1, just one day they change their mind and start to react?

I do agreed something is directly affecting them all at once, but i am running out of idea what might that be.
I replace what i can, check every pump/magnets for rust, wear and tear. no luck so far.
i have plan to add clarisea and replace my sump with a better layout one, but not until the weather warm up a bit in minnesota.

Well hopefully you can identify the source of the problem and make a remedy correction.

 

[prcardinal91]

Stray voltage?

 

[stephj03]

ICP?

 

[clownnut]

Stray voltage?

i check with multimeter, it didnt detect any. i thought that might be the case, too.
if that's the case that should affect other corals near by as well.
i mean all the sps around the entire tank are dying at the same time.
i guess i can throw a grounding probe in there just to be sure.

ICP?

as i mention in my OP, i did an ATI ICP, everything is in check...

 

[Lasse]

AEF ?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[MartinM]

Have you considered lose dose antibiotic treatment, @AquaBiomics’s protocol?

 

[spsick]

The only thing jumping out at me is possibly the RODI. 1 of the times I had acros dying I had Chloramines blasting through my carbon blocks. I got one of the $80 Hach kits and figured out I had to change out carbon block #1 every 2 months or chloramine got though. This was when my tank was a 40 breeder and I was changing 5g a week! You are free to borrow the Hach kit btw.

What carbon blocks are you using and how often are they changed?