SPS Help!! They’re Dying

[nickenayat]

Tank: Red Sea REEFER 250
Tank Started: August 2018
Parameters (3/12/2019): Alk - 9.7, Calc - 415, Mag - 1350, nitrate - 4ppm, salinity - 1.026, temp - 79.8
Livestock: yellow tang, (2) Wyoming white clowns, melanarus wrasse, lawnmower blenny, green mandarin Toby, purple psuedochromis, cleaner shrimp, porcelain crab,

My SPS keep dying. I first thought it was the parameters but have checked them regularly and they have been in check and stabilized for the past 3 months. This is my second tank and had great success with SPS in my 20 gallon nano for over two years.

Then thought it was some nudibranchs. I dip every coral before it enters the tank but thought it may be the problem. I removed all the sps and had an intensive dip and closely looked at all the coral frags didn’t see anything.

The sps seem to start dying from the base then the tips and in about a week the whole frag is dead. Lost maybe close to 20 frags in the past two months.

All my LPS, soft corals and fish are thriving so it’s specific to the sps and I can’t seem to figure out what it may be. Maybe the tank is just not mature enough yet but I don’t have any idea what else it could be or what the problem is.

Any advice or help to what it may be. Thank you

Pictures:

 

[Rcollick]

I’m no expert but people will want to know a few more things. What is your light schedule, what is your flow like, what is your p04, are you running carbon or gfo? I’m sure others will have more questions but those are some pretty common ones.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I’m no expert but people will want to know a few more things. What is your light schedule, what is your flow like, what is your p04, are you running carbon or gfo? I’m sure others will have more questions but those are some pretty common ones.

That’s exactly what I was going to ask. I went through the same tissue reactions when I was chasing low nutrients with nopox, gfo, skimmer, and chaeto. I had stable “ideal” numbers and dead sps. I got rid of everything except the chaeto and now the only things I worry about are alk and where to put new acros because I’m running out of space from the fast growth.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Try letting the alk come down naturally. To around 8. Your water seems good based on what you said. Let’s check for stray voltage, copper from equipment, and rust from a Bad magnet. Are there any air fresheners or essential oils being used? The tank is still young, but is looking nice. Have you checked your ro/di unit? If all this checks out it may be time for an ATI water test.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I keep my alk around 8. Are you doing anything different on this tank that you didn’t do on the successful 20 gallon?

 

[RandyC]

If alk/can/mg/no3/po4 have been stable for a few months, it's probably time to start looking for other oddities. Pests (aefw, red/black bugs) would be at the top of my list, but since you've checked for that, the next thing I'd probably check is your source for RO/DI. Try Testing for ammonia and chloramine. How old are your filters? Heavy metals would be my next stop as suggested above by trying an ICP test, but honestly, it's gotta be pretty high to cause a problem.

 

[Trevor40]

It would bet that you have some dinoflagellates that are hurting the corals. The rocks look really dirty with them. Keep your PO4 above .1 and your tank naturally will correct itself.

Also, run carbon to take any toxins from the tank from dying dinos.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

When is the last time you did a water change? I was having problems keeping acros happy and wasn't doing water changes. Everything I tested for was fine, so I didn't see what the point was. Someone convinced me to just try doing a water change and the tank completely 180ed itself. Everything looks better, acros are growing and all my parameters are exactly the same as before when I wasn't doing water changes.

Sometimes, it's something you cannot test for that's killing your SPS and a simple water change will fix it.

 

[Scdell]

Hard to tell from the pics. Do you have black sand mixed in there?

 

[MrObscura]

Is that cyano all over the rocks? If so I'd say you have a serious lack of flow.

 

[nickenayat]

Try letting the alk come down naturally. To around 8. Your water seems good based on what you said. Let’s check for stray voltage, copper from equipment, and rust from a Bad magnet. Are there any air fresheners or essential oils being used? The tank is still young, but is looking nice. Have you checked your ro/di unit? If all this checks out it may be time for an ATI water test.

Using two XR 15 with the AB+ schedule at 70%. I got an ATI water test a couple weeks ago and there was no heavy metals and the RODI unit is still putting out 0 changed that resin about 3 months ago. My tank is also grounded what the heck a grounding wire running in the sump. PO4 was almost undetectable when I tested it about a month ago. The flow is with 2 mp40s running about 35% with random flow and I have two tiny jebao pumps in the back running 100% on random.

 

[nickenayat]

I keep my alk around 8. Are you doing anything different on this tank that you didn’t do on the successful 20 gallon?

Nothing different. Using a chemi pure blue and purigen in the sump. Only difference is I’m using bulk reef supply for the dosing chemical so I can make more in bulk for cheaper. Was using Red Sea chemicals before

 

[nickenayat]

When is the last time you did a water change? I was having problems keeping acros happy and wasn't doing water changes. Everything I tested for was fine, so I didn't see what the point was. Someone convinced me to just try doing a water change and the tank completely 180ed itself. Everything looks better, acros are growing and all my parameters are exactly the same as before when I wasn't doing water changes.

Sometimes, it's something you cannot test for that's killing your SPS and a simple water change will fix it.

The tank is 55 gallons and I do a 5-10 gallon water change weekly.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Undetectable phosphates in the presence of nitrates results in coral death, bare spots and polyp bail out.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Your alkalinity is too high to have low nutrients too, it’s a bad combo.

 

[nickenayat]

Is that cyano all over the rocks? If so I'd say you have a serious lack of flow.

It’s A dark red coralline not cyano

 

[nickenayat]

Your alkalinity is too high to have low nutrients too, it’s a bad combo.

So either lower my alk or raise my nitrates and phosphate?

 

[Rick.45cal]

You need to raise your PO4, lowering your alk won’t work since you have undetectable phosphates and nitrates present. The high alkalinity is just compounding the problem. If you add phosphates, the alkalinity won’t be an issue anymore. You kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Rick.45cal]

What are you using for nutrient export in this system?

 

[RandyC]

Using two XR 15 with the AB+ schedule at 70%. I got an ATI water test a couple weeks ago and there was no heavy metals and the RODI unit is still putting out 0 changed that resin about 3 months ago. My tank is also grounded what the heck a grounding wire running in the sump. PO4 was almost undetectable when I tested it about a month ago. The flow is with 2 mp40s running about 35% with random flow and I have two tiny jebao pumps in the back running 100% on random.

Ammonia and chloramine will not show up on a TDS meter. You'll need a different test kit for ammonia and chloramines. While it may not be your issue, eliminating it as one would be helpful.