Burnt tips and stn from bases after tank move, weird alk issue.

[dans85]

I recently upgraded tanks from a 90g to a 120g to prevent a potential tank failure due to having an old tank. Transferred everything over including the sand (starting to think it was a bad move). Not thinking about it, I continued to use kalk in my ATO. About 2 weeks after the transfer I started noticing some issues with my SPS corals, mainly tissue recession from the base. I tested alkalinity and found it to be around 11.5 dkh. I stopped using all and continued to test. The next test was 4 days later due to having to leave town and alk had fallen to 7.7 dkh. I continued to test daily and alk had fallen to 7.4 the next day and 7.2 the day after. For the past week alk has held steady at 7.2 without dosing. I have noticed over the past week I am starting to get what appears to be alk burn on the tips of several pieces despite alk remaining relatively low. Other tank parameters are listed below. I have also had an algae that appears to be diatoms on the sand bed since the issue started. I will upload pics tomorrow due to lights being out for the night.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

N03- 5-10ppm (elos test kit)

P04- .045ppm (elos test kit)

Alk- 7.2 dkh (Hannah checker and nyos)

Calcium- 430ppm (elos)

Mag- 1470 ppm (nyos)

PH- 8.0 (elos)

Salinity- 1.026 35ppt

 

[Hitman]

How about ammonia? Possibly caused by reusing your sand. Could be going through a mini cycle which can throw your levels wacky and or cause percipitation maybe.

 

[dans85]

How about ammonia? Possibly caused by reusing your sand. Could be going through a mini cycle which can throw your levels wacky and or cause percipitation maybe.

My wife just brought that up actually. Something I never considered. I will get a new test kit and test it ASAP. Thanks for the recommendation

 

[dans85]

Just checked ammonia. Only test kit available local was an API kit. Tested at 0.

 

[TMB]

There's a lot that could have caused this, my guess is the stress of the changes made. Did you us the same water, and only add the difference to make up 120g? Or did you do a 100% water change? Either way, you needed to keep all the parameters the same to avoid a swing.
Was there a Temp swing during the transition?
A big change in the flow they were used to can make a difference as well. Are these large colonies, or frags? Larger they are, the more temperamental they get IMO.
What you're seeing as far as ALK makes sense to me. It fell to a level and stayed there because consumption has stopped.
I would just let it be, and let everything stabilize. Test daily to get a handle on the trends of the new system, and make SLOW adjustments if necessary.

 

[dans85]

There's a lot that could have caused this, my guess is the stress of the changes made. Did you us the same water, and only add the difference to make up 120g? Or did you do a 100% water change? Either way, you needed to keep all the parameters the same to avoid a swing.
Was there a Temp swing during the transition?
A big change in the flow they were used to can make a difference as well. Are these large colonies, or frags? Larger they are, the more temperamental they get IMO.
What you're seeing as far as ALK makes sense to me. It fell to a level and stayed there because consumption has stopped.
I would just let it be, and let everything stabilize. Test daily to get a handle on the trends of the new system, and make SLOW adjustments if necessary.

While switching everything was put into buckets and the entire process took around 4 hours or so. My house is heated to 70 degrees, so I don’t believe that the temperature swing was too drastic. All of the old water was reused and new water was mixed to compensate for the larger volume. The affected corals are a mix of colonies as well as frags, but only SPS corals seem to be affected. All LPS corals are looking normal. I don’t have any plans for any changes, just trying to figure out the cause. I just ordered an ICP test to have a thorough check done.

 

[TMB]

I figured you probably did everything you could to minimize the impact to your corals and fish. I just listed off the first things that come to mind.
However, as I think it through for the second time, everything is the same right? The water, rock, equipment, and whatever else? That makes me think the only difference is the changeover itself. That and flow. Even with he same power heads the flow could be different. That feels like a stretch to me though.

I suspect that the move, stirring up gunk, and rearranging everything upset the SPS enough to be stressed.
In my experience they have a bad habit of waiting 2 weeks to tell you their upset.

Hope things get better for you soon, It’s stressful on us (the reefkeeper) when they don’t!

 

[dans85]

I figured you probably did everything you could to minimize the impact to your corals and fish. I just listed off the first things that come to mind.
However, as I think it through for the second time, everything is the same right? The water, rock, equipment, and whatever else? That makes me think the only difference is the changeover itself. That and flow. Even with he same power heads the flow could be different. That feels like a stretch to me though.

I suspect that the move, stirring up gunk, and rearranging everything upset the SPS enough to be stressed.
In my experience they have a bad habit of waiting 2 weeks to tell you their upset.

Hope things get better for you soon, It’s stressful on us (the reefkeeper) when they don’t!

Correct. Everything is the same as far as equipment, rock, water, etc. I think I found at least part of my problem a few hours ago. I caught my long nose butterfly nipping at a couple of the pieces that are having problems, so he’s headed to a new home tomorrow. I really appreciate your help!

 

[Holy_makerel]

I'd guess that with the move your coral growth slowed down. What was your alk at in the old tank? Did it spike to 11.5? Im guessing that is where your main issue is and you're seeing the fallout now.

Reusing the old sand without rinsing may have caused a little nutrient spike as well. Did you have a detritus blizzard when adding it into the new system? Was there any smell?

Hope you get it figured out

 

[dans85]

I'd guess that with the move your coral growth slowed down. What was your alk at in the old tank? Did it spike to 11.5? Im guessing that is where your main issue is and you're seeing the fallout now.

Reusing the old sand without rinsing may have caused a little nutrient spike as well. Did you have a detritus blizzard when adding it into the new system? Was there any smell?

Hope you get it figured out

Alk in the old tank was consistently at 8-8.5. I had a ton of coraline growth, so I was using quite a bit of Kalkwasser. No real smell or detritus blizzard. I have a descent sized sand sifting crew.