Sps experts please help.

[Russ265]

Unless tou can tell me this is 0. Its not 5ppm for sure. So I say between 0 anf 5

crappy kit. can give false positives and negatives.

anyway. lets see what we have.

you have detectable nitrate. alk in the 9s is not good for really low level of nitrate. however you wouldnt have what you are experiencing unless you are overdoing the lights.

while 90% of your corals may be fine... you may have that one that dislikes it.

i dont think you will lose the coral, but it seems photoinhibition is occuring somewhere.

 

[Russ265]

Guys all I know is that I already lost over 10 colonies. And no one seems to find the problem. Im confident this time we will. Lots of ideas here.
Please lets keep coming.

wow. so it isnt an isolated incident....

 

[Russ265]

are you running heavy gfo?

 

[renato120]

are you running heavy gfo?

No gfo. Over 6 months ago when this started to happen I was. Never put it back. I only use chemipure blue carbon.

 

[Russ265]

No gfo. Over 6 months ago when this started to happen I was. Never put it back. I only use chemipure blue carbon.

id get a better nitrate kit. any will do. red sea regular, salifert. anything

in the meantime. drop lights about 20% and see what happens

 

[renato120]

crappy kit. can give false positives and negatives.

anyway. lets see what we have.

you have detectable nitrate. alk in the 9s is not good for really low level of nitrate. however you wouldnt have what you are experiencing unless you are overdoing the lights.

while 90% of your corals may be fine... you may have that one that dislikes it.

i dont think you will lose the coral, but it seems photoinhibition is occuring somewhere.

I dose ca and alk every three hrs. To keep stable at 9. Should I raise to 10?

 

[McMullen]

I'm disagreeing about the lights. But it's difficult to get a clear view of the coral. There are euphillia and zoas just below the acros that appear to be expanded and "happy." Perhaps if a coral were stressed for some unknown reason failure to acclimate to "high PAR or PUR," may exacerbate but this seems unlikely with the 6mo time frame.

Alk of 9 and Nitrates……..ya got me??? Coral adapt over time so implying there is negative correlation between the two is foreign to me. Numbers gradually change is aquariums for a plethora of reasons. Targeting exact numbers is very difficult, targeting a range is more realistic.

 

[McMullen]

Not my tank but I would continue to shoot for Alk of 9. Your acros are already stressed and moving from current 7 to 10 is a large swing.

You have received lots of advice, maybe consider focusing on one single thing for a couple weeks. No one can give you a definitive answer but I can tell you changing multiple things at once usually causes more problems, at least with my experience with sps.

 

[Russ265]

I'm disagreeing about the lights. But it's difficult to get a clear view of the coral. There are euphillia and zoas just below the acros that appear to be expanded and "happy." Perhaps if a coral were stressed for some unknown reason failure to acclimate to "high PAR or PUR," may exacerbate but this seems unlikely with the 6mo time frame.

Alk of 9 and Nitrates……..ya got me??? Coral adapt over time so implying there is negative correlation between the two is foreign to me. Numbers gradually change is aquariums for a plethora of reasons. Targeting exact numbers is very difficult, targeting a range is more realistic.

agree with most of this.

however. those of ulns and high par will kill a coral over time. eg: 6 months to a year. sometimes less depending on severity.

i saw a thread here that it took 3 years for a total loss with undetectable nitrate.

dose nitrate to 10ppm.

idc what anyone says. no sps died to 10ppm nitrate.

keep everything the same

 

[D maul]

Maybe you need better test kits? Did your akalinity go from 7 to 9 ?

 

[Smite]

If it were me, I'd take the chemi-pure blue out if the system as well. I believe the blue has the added phosphate remover. Your phosphates are 0 already, so there is no need. Your refugium will keep you safe. Add some GAC for water clarity

 

[Diesel]

I agree the light will not a issue.
Many possibilities are given here by some experienced hobbyist all we need to do is pinpoint down as already mentioned.
You did a lot of research yourself.
Not sure if someone offered a Triton test but that can say a lot more even about your own testing.
I will research both threads on more time and make notes, if you do the same we can compare and see what we come up with in what area we can look.
Other are welcome to do the same as that can help a lot.

 

[Russ265]

lots of great advice here

 

[renato120]

I'm disagreeing about the lights. But it's difficult to get a clear view of the coral. There are euphillia and zoas just below the acros that appear to be expanded and "happy." Perhaps if a coral were stressed for some unknown reason failure to acclimate to "high PAR or PUR," may exacerbate but this seems unlikely with the 6mo time frame.

Alk of 9 and Nitrates……..ya got me??? Coral adapt over time so implying there is negative correlation between the two is foreign to me. Numbers gradually change is aquariums for a plethora of reasons. Targeting exact numbers is very difficult, targeting a range is more realistic.

Not my tank but I would continue to shoot for Alk of 9. Your acros are already stressed and moving from current 7 to 10 is a large swing.

You have received lots of advice, maybe consider focusing on one single thing for a couple weeks. No one can give you a definitive answer but I can tell you changing multiple things at once usually causes more problems, at least with my experience with sps.

agree with most of this.

however. those of ulns and high par will kill a coral over time. eg: 6 months to a year. sometimes less depending on severity.

i saw a thread here that it took 3 years for a total loss with undetectable nitrate.

dose nitrate to 10ppm.

idc what anyone says. no sps died to 10ppm nitrate.

keep everything the same

I will keep alk at 9 ca at 450. And leave the lights alone for now. Whatever the problem are, its only affecting sps's. I have clam, anemones over 12 different types of acans, zoanthid all over the tank. All its doing excellent. Will see next week how they will look. Hipefully not dead.

 

[Russ265]

I will keep alk at 9 ca at 450. And leave the lights alone for now. Whatever the problem are, its only affecting sps's. I have clam, anemones over 12 different types of acans, zoanthid all over the tank. All its doing excellent. Will see next week how they will look. Hipefully not dead.

lps and softies wont exibit the same signs of photoinhibition that sps do.

my only piece of advice i will give.

while your lights will be sufficient i think you should look at the at the tell-tale signs of the symbiodinium you keep with those corals.

good luck

 

[renato120]

Maybe you need better test kits? Did your akalinity go from 7 to 9 ?

Im using ellos test kits. I was using red sea but too many incorrect readings.