SPS Help

[clowndude]

Hello fellow reefers, I'm hoping someone out there can help with a issue I've been trying to battle for the last couple months without any luck.

I'm getting red/brown algae on sps tips. I've been reading numerous posts online and tried everything I can think of without any results.

Salinity 1.025
Cal 380-400
Alk 7.5-8 Testing daily to make sure it isn't swinging
Temp 78-79
Mag 1300-1400
Nitrate .05
Phostphate .02 Hanna

I change the gfo every two weeks now, run ROX carbon also changed every two weeks. Only feed pellets.

Lighting comes on at 6PM two t5s MH XM 20K come on at 8PM go off at 1AM and T5s off at 2AM.

Running two MP40s with sicce 4.0 return pump.

I'm am at a loss and can't think of what else to try at this point. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[clowndude]

Just checked for stray voltage and it was 0 so it doesn't appear to be stray voltage. Also I have been doing 30 gallon changes to see if there was something in the water, but that hasn't help either.

 

[mcarroll]

Algae is always excess nutrients.

Check the filters, rocks and sand for detritus deposits. Stop over-feeding and over-stocking if that's an issue. Check your source water to make sure it's as good as you think it is. If you aren't changing at least 10-20% of your water per week on average, begin doing so now.

-Matt


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[clowndude]

Algae is always excess nutrients.

Check the filters, rocks and sand for detritus deposits. Stop over-feeding and over-stocking if that's an issue. Check your source water to make sure it's as good as you think it is. If you aren't changing at least 10-20% of your water per week on average, begin doing so now.

-Matt


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

Hi Mark, I will increase the changes to weekly 20% and see if that helps. I always clean the sand when I do the changes. I watch the TDS and when it hits 1TDS i change out the DI Resin. I will take a sample to another local reefer to see if my TDS meter is reading off by chance. I feed two pinches of pellets a day, should I switch this to every other day?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[Mrfresh]

How big is ur tank?
Why do u clean ur sand each water change?
Do u know what the par is in ur tank?
How high do u have ur lights above ur tank, what's ur tank dims...

A pic would help for what's going on with the coral...

It sounds like u might have Burt tips. I've had that and algae grew on them until they regret over them selfs...
Good luck

 

[clowndude]

How big is ur tank?
Why do u clean ur sand each water change?
Do u know what the par is in ur tank?
How high do u have ur lights above ur tank, what's ur tank dims...

A pic would help for what's going on with the coral...

It sounds like u might have Burt tips. I've had that and algae grew on them until they regret over them selfs...
Good luck

Tank is a 65 gallon 36x20x21
I clean the sand everytime in fear that it will get nasty stuff in it causing issues
I haven't test part on the tank. I'm running two 39watt t5s with two 250watt XM 20k
Lights are 7" off tank and 28 off sand bed.

Attached are a couple pics of the sps:

 

[Mrfresh]

Ok nice. Let the sand sit its ok. Good things will grow in it and let the tank become established.

So the burn tips are most likely from high alk or to strong light...
Ur alk looks more then fine so... It's most likely ur lighting.
How old are the t5 bulbs?
The MH do they have a glass protecting it from the water? Most of the time it's a glass that has uv blockers in it. Uv is really stock but also dangerous for the coral.
I used uv on my coral one time and all sps and Claire's bleached out in a day and they grew algae on them for a while until the coral grew back over the burnt tips...
I don't know if its possible or not but I could try lifting the light higher

Good luck

 

[clowndude]

Ok nice. Let the sand sit its ok. Good things will grow in it and let the tank become established.

So the burn tips are most likely from high alk or to strong light...
Ur alk looks more then fine so... It's most likely ur lighting.
How old are the t5 bulbs?
The MH do they have a glass protecting it from the water? Most of the time it's a glass that has uv blockers in it. Uv is really stock but also dangerous for the coral.
I used uv on my coral one time and all sps and Claire's bleached out in a day and they grew algae on them for a while until the coral grew back over the burnt tips...
I don't know if its possible or not but I could try lifting the light higher

Good luck

I want to say the t5s are about 6 months old. MH has the glass shield over under all the bulbs. I can try to raise the lights. You thinking like 10" above water? I will be going to a bigger tank soon, but want to fix any issues before moving over to it in case I'm doing something wrong. I'm going to try and go to LEDs. I will see if my LFS has a par meter also and get a reading on the tank.

 

[Mrfresh]

Yeah I would say about 10 inches should be good.
LEDs are great that's what I use.
I have the Vegas and it lets me control them down to the 1% so I only have to have mine 4 inches off the water... G

Good luck let us know how it goes and post pics later of the results

 

[clowndude]

Yeah I would say about 10 inches should be good.
LEDs are great that's what I use.
I have the Vegas and it lets me control them down to the 1% so I only have to have mine 4 inches off the water... G

Good luck let us know how it goes and post pics later of the results

Yup one of the reasons, I'm going to get them for my new bigger tank.

Come to think of it looking back at my tank pictures this all started when I switched lights from 400 watt radium to this maristar fixture, so burn is making sense to me. I will post back how things shape out. I moved the lights to 10" above the water surface. Thanks again for the help.

 

[mcarroll]

I agree with others that you have too much light on a pretty small tank. A single 250w by itself would be able to support this tank.

You could run that tank off a simple, effective LED rig like mine (click my R2R blog, see first post) for less than $150 (DIY) just for reference. My tank has the same dimensions as you but a few inches shorter.

Hope this helps!

-Matt

 

[clowndude]

Thanks eveybody for the help. I moved the light up to 10" above the water. I am going to monitor the sps in the coming weeks to see if there is any improvement.

 

[Frick]

Another thing you might want to do is very all your testing. Make sure the test kits are in date and your refractometer is calibrated to a 1.026 (two point calibration if possible).

I also noticed temperature was not mentioned. How's that doing? Stable?

 

[Chameleon]

Also make sure you dont have any of your vortechs aimed directly at the sps. laminar flow can cause tissue to sluff, that is why we try for random flow when possible.