Trying to figure out why I'm losing SPS

[jmp21677]

I've been battling keeping my sps alive. I'm not sure where to go anymore! I buy good equipment and aqaucultured coral. Most do well for a bit, start to encrust and then bomb. Tank is a reefer 170
Equipment:
2x mp10w qd
Nyos Skimmer
Radion xr30 g4 pro (ab plus at 30%
Tunze ATO
DIY Chaeto reactor

Parameters: (dosing triton)
Salinity. 026
Cal 1410
Alk 7.7
Mag 1340

Anyone have ideas?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

nitrate and phosphate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Bomb means what, exactly?

 

[LouieP]

Check all of your magnets-all pumps, frag racks, algae scrapper, seaweed clips and any other thing that has a magnet.

 

[Lonely reefer's]

nitrate and phosphate?

+1 I have the same issue on some sps,in my 75g Nox ~50ppm with salifert

I had to transfer most of sps to My set it and for got got it biocue 29g with Nox<25 and sps looks fantastic

 

[jmp21677]

By bombing... they look good and then I start to see white tips and then they just die off.

Phospahtes are .03 or less
Nitrates just barely register

 

[ndrwater]

Definitely need to know where Nitrate and Phosphate are..
Alk seems a tad low, but probably not the issue.
Also, how high off the water are the Radions? They are very powerful, and depending on acclimation of new corals, even at 30% there is thr possibility of nuking corals

 

[ndrwater]

White tips, is usually either Alk burn or excessive lighting... I would try lowering your intensity for a bit and see what happens...

 

[jmp21677]

I just turned them down to 30% this past week. Alk burn is from high ALK isn't it?

 

[jmp21677]

Phosphates .01
Nitrates barely register

Could it have something to do with dosing? I'm only around 15 ml but I'm dosing one time per day of each part. All are about one hour apart

 

[KrisReef]

Phosphates .01
Nitrates barely register

Could it have something to do with dosing? I'm only around 15 ml but I'm dosing one time per day of each part. All are about one hour apart

Maybe cut back (or remove) the chaeto reactor. It might be out competing your SPS?

 

[jmp21677]

Maybe cut back (or remove) the chaeto reactor. It might be out competing your SPS?

I didn't think about that?

 

[drawman]

1. I'm assuming you mean Calcium at 410 not 1410.

2. As others have said I would check all magnets for rusting.

3. Are you making your own RODI water? And if so are you checking your TDS and routinely changing your filters?

4. How often are you testing Alkalinity and is it fluctuating at all?

 

[jmp21677]

Yes 410
I change my RO filters regularly. TDS is at 0 using a Lab grade probe. I looked for rusting but don't see anything. I've been testing alk at least 4 times per week since I've been having issues

 

[Smarkow]

What is your alkalinity plan? IE, is it something stable like a CaRx, or 2-part on a dose, or Kalk in an ATO? This sounds like me when I first started - I was inconsistently dripping kalk weekly so levels would swing wildly... SPS did not like the inconsistency but everything else looked fine and spot testing of my parameters looked fine too

 

[JMetaxas]

I'd invest in an ICP test. For ~$50 it will tell you if you have any contaminants. Personally, I like the Triton test.

 

[jmp21677]

I just sent water out on Friday to test. My alk comes from daily dosing through Triton additives

 

[Lonely reefer's]

By bombing... they look good and then I start to see white tips and then they just die off.

Phospahtes are .03 or less
Nitrates just barely register

What brand of test kit are you using?

 

[jmp21677]

Hanna for Alk,Phos abd calc. Elos for nitrates

 

[OrthoVet05]

Following... sort of in the same boat but my dkh is around 10.

So in this case.. couldn’t you supplement for NO3 and PO4? Maybe your sps aren’t getting enough organics.