Sps problems. Help!

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

So as the header reads I’m having problems with my sps.
Tank is 4 months old which was a tank upgrade. All the sps I’ve had in it have thrived but a few weeks ago I’ve been getting less and less polyp extension. They also are releasing some kind of mucus looking slime. One of them has even started to stn.
What can it be?
Here are my parameters

Red Sea test kit
Phosphate in the middle of .16 and .08
Nitrate 0

Salifert test kit
Alk 8.9
Cal 420
Mag 1350

Brew12 · Feb 14, 2018

DanielCervantes said:
Nitrate 0

I'm thinking this could be a problem. The corals could be starving.

BigJim · Feb 14, 2018

If you can post some pictures, it would help to get some eyes on what they actually look like. It would also be beneficial to get more information on your tank. Things like tank size, lighting, rock used, skimmer type, dosing regimen and bio load.

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

BigJim said:
If you can post some pictures, it would help to get some eyes on what they actually look like. It would also be beneficial to get more information on your tank. Things like tank size, lighting, rock used, skimmer type, dosing regimen and bio load.

pink caddy

WD

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

The tank is 80 gallons, the rock used is 45 pounds of tonga simple from brs and 15 pounds of branch liferock
The lighting used is Radion XR30W Pros with 4 t5s. The skimmer is the your choice aquatic dc 16.
Dosing ESV Alk 28ml, cal 28ml, mag 24ml on a bubble magus doser.
I have 14 fishes

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

Other filtration would be chaeto and carbon

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

Brew12 said:
I'm thinking this could be a problem. The corals could be starving.

Should I dose nitrate to get it up to around 2?

Reef Jeff · Feb 14, 2018

Yes...get it up between 1-2. More is fine if you overshoot, but 1-2 will stop the starvation. You can also add a coral nutrient mix like aminos now to help them start to recover until you start dosing NO3. That will provide food until you get Nitrates back into detectable range. You might also consider some GFO to lower PO4 a bit but don't go to zero. Once you start climbing above 0.1 PO4 with zero nitrates it has more negative effect on them than if you are at much higher nitrate levels. Balance is the key. If one is low, both should be low with nitrate always higher than phosphate by about 10 to 12 times and alkalinity should be lower 7-8 DKh. If one is high the other should be high again at about a rate of 10 - 12 x's and then you can raise alkalinity more.

Reef Jeff · Feb 14, 2018

Don't forget the impact of light too. That is a lot of light with 0 nitrates and that compounds the problem. With that much light they can use a bunch of nutrients.

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

Reef Jeff said:
Yes...get it up between 1-2. More is fine if you overshoot, but 1-2 will stop the starvation. You can also add a coral nutrient mix like aminos now to help them start to recover until you start dosing NO3. That will provide food until you get Nitrates back into detectable range. You might also consider some GFO to lower PO4 a bit but don't go to zero. Once you start climbing above 0.1 PO4 with zero nitrates it has more negative effect on them than if you are at much higher nitrate levels. Balance is the key. If one is low, both should be low with nitrate always higher than phosphate by about 10 to 12 times and alkalinity should be lower 7-8 DKh. If one is high the other should be high again at about a rate of 10 - 12 x's and then you can raise alkalinity more.

What types of aminos would you recommend? Acropowder? Or should I just start off with stump remover to raise the nitrates?

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 14, 2018

DanielCervantes said:
pink caddy

WD

That acro is brown. I’m not sure I’d look at increasing the no3. Usually an inductor if low light. Or stress.

How high above the tank are the lights ? What the peak %. Do you have a par meter?

I’d wager the tank change is causing stress.

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
That acro is brown. I’m not sure I’d look at increasing the no3. Usually an inductor if low light. Or stress.

How high above the tank are the lights ? What the peak %. Do you have a par meter?

I’d wager the tank change is causing stress.

All lights were off when the pic was taken.
The lights sit at around 13in off the water
Yes I do. The top of the tank gets 500 par where these corals are they’re getting 430 at its peak.
Radions turn on at 10am ramp up until 11 when the t5s turn on. T5s turn off at 4 and it’s all blue lights after that which still gives them 300 par.

The corals were doing fine, coloring up nice and then just started going down hill recently

BigJim · Feb 14, 2018

I agree with Reef Jeff and I would try to get phosphate below .05 and very slowly get alk down to between 7.5 and 8. I agree with saltyfilmfolks that a starved coral would be pale. These appear to be browned out. The nitrate reading seems odd with 14 fish in an 80 gallon tank. I might try another test kit to double check it before trying to increase it.

Reef Jeff · Feb 14, 2018

Verifying the NO3 test first is good advice. If it is in fact zero, then getting the nitrates detectable is first priority regardless of brown appearance. Your alkalinity is good where it is. A lot of things happen to coral tissue when they have high light and unbalanced nutrients. High PO4 with no nitrates can cause browning just as much as high levels of both, although your PO4 isn't too bad. Not to mention that a very colorful coral can look brown in certain light. In this case no light. A flash bulb or warm light can make a pink coral look brown.

Anyhow, I have never used stump remover. I buy lab grade NaNO3 for the same price. Not saying you can't use it...lots of guys do. I don't because I don't know that it is pure enough. As for Aminos, I use Red Sea Energy A and B. That stuff works as good as the old Thiel Aqua Tech Liquid Gold from back in the day. I can't speak to other brands, but I think any good brand will work.

CoralWealth · Feb 14, 2018

those used to look really nice.

Have you changed anything recently? What was the TDS the last time you checked?

Ever check for bugs, like red or black bugs? I had my coral dying back like the first picture you showed and when I looked at night with a flashlight and magnify glass, I saw some really small black bugs (luckily the ones that are similar to red bugs)

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

BigJim said:
I agree with Reef Jeff and I would try to get phosphate below .05 and very slowly get alk down to between 7.5 and 8. I agree with saltyfilmfolks that a starved coral would be pale. These appear to be browned out. The nitrate reading seems odd with 14 fish in an 80 gallon tank. I might try another test kit to double check it before trying to increase it.

I usually keep my Alk around 8.3 but I raised my doser a few mls and it raised too much but I lowered the doser again to try to get it back to 8.3
I don’t know why 14 fishes won’t cause some kind of nitrates in my system. I don’t really want to add more to raise it.

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

Reef Jeff said:
Verifying the NO3 test first is good advice. If it is in fact zero, then getting the nitrates detectable is first priority regardless of brown appearance. Your alkalinity is good where it is. A lot of things happen to coral tissue when they have high light and unbalanced nutrients. High PO4 with no nitrates can cause browning just as much as high levels of both, although your PO4 isn't too bad. Not to mention that a very colorful coral can look brown in certain light. In this case no light. A flash bulb or warm light can make a pink coral look brown.

Anyhow, I have never used stump remover. I buy lab grade NaNO3 for the same price. Not saying you can't use it...lots of guys do. I don't because I don't know that it is pure enough. As for Aminos, I use Red Sea Energy A and B. That stuff works as good as the old Thiel Aqua Tech Liquid Gold from back in the day. I can't speak to other brands, but I think any good brand will work.

I usually keep Alk at 8.3
Where do you get your lab grade stuff from? Can anyone order it? I’ll get some stump remover today and start dosing it how it’s recommended. Should I also get some aminos as well?

DanielCervantes · Feb 14, 2018

codydemmel4 said:
those used to look really nice.

Have you changed anything recently? What was the TDS the last time you checked?

Ever check for bugs, like red or black bugs? I had my coral dying back like the first picture you showed and when I looked at night with a flashlight and magnify glass, I saw some really small black bugs (luckily the ones that are similar to red bugs)

Only thing that has changed is the addition of new corals.
I dip everything in either Bayer or revive. I have checked for bugs and haven’t seen anything but pods
I buy my water from a reputable shop that’s know to have good water. He uses the same water for his water changes so I don’t think that could be the problem.