corals going down...

Crustaceon · Jul 1, 2019

Feed more. If you start seeing algae pop up on your rocks or back glass, feed less. Not even kidding. And sps tank is like an engine, it needs water, fuel and mechanical bits to work as intended. Remove any of those and it stops.

Ask these questions:

Is my water quality good and stable?

Parameters are pretty good, but stability would be my concern, which gets into maintenance procedures.

Is there enough available aminos/lipids/whatever in the water for my coral to grab? (nitrates aren’t technically food, but are considered somewhat indicative of there being useable food in the water) This is why most successful systems are high import/high export. They feed like crazy.

Are my pumps causing the sps polyps to visibly move (extremely important)/ Is my lighting intense enough (probably yes on this one)? I would mainly be concerned with flow as IMO, lighting is really far down on the list of necessities. I’ve grown acros under cheapy finnex leds in one tank and four bulb t5ho fixtures in another, which many people would think impossible. Required PAR levels are over exaggerated

tautog83 · Jul 1, 2019

I have A gyre 250 and 2 mp40s . I get algae on the glass . I'll have to grab some reef frenzy and some amminos and go from there .

IslandLifeReef · Jul 1, 2019

Any pictures of your tank? Do you have good coraline algae growth?

Aluminum in the tank, do you use phosban? If so, do you rinse it thoroughly before adding to your sump?

I wouldn't rule out lighting. It could be hot spots, or it could be lack of light. SPS seem to do better with a blanket of light. Though PAR matters, it is how it is distributed throughout the tank that seems to be the key to success.

I don't see anything in you ICP other than the aluminum that raises any flags, and I'm not sure that the aluminum is an issue either at that low of a level.

tautog83 · Jul 1, 2019

I know the marine pure spheres are known to leach out aluminum so I figure thsts what it was. Im.starting to eliminate them since I have over 100lbs of rock and a light bioload. Coraline growth is pretty good I suppose not solid purple yet but pretty good amount on walls and sporty on rock . I lowered light to 78% to see if that will help . I believe I ran my radions at 65% over a shallow 80 gallon without diffusers so it shouldn't be that..however at this point ‍

LARedstickreefer · Jul 1, 2019

If LPS are happy with the lightning, then SPS may not be. It’s rare that both are happy at the same time. When I have my lighting up enough for good sps growth, everything else cowers away. Same issue with flow. I’d probably look into flow and light spread. PAR might be enough but spread may not be.

tautog83 · Jul 1, 2019

i guess i can tinker with it , thing is that 3 or 4 weeks i had growth in but both lps and sps . i might run my uv maybe it could be a bacteria thing..i dunnno? i just dont think flow would cause corals in all locations of a 6 foot tank to do the same thing , meaning some get more flow some less . obviously the goal is have similiar flow everywhere but with rockwork its almost impossible . i appreciate your advice , this is by far the wierdest thing

tautog83 · Jul 13, 2019

so i turned down my lights a bit , got salinity back on track and feeding more . i also started to dose some reef energy in hopes to get nutrients up to see if id see a positive reaction . i got a 2 small frags of tricolor to see how things would go and so far for a couple days things look to be ok. However i have a garf bonsai that survived all this a stylo and bop birdsnest and in about 4 or 5 weeks ive seen no growth at all . my alk has not moved more than 4 ppm in 4 days . i understand that this is a huge amount of water and uptake with just a few things is gong to minimal but im not seeing any visible growth . so weird that everything has just, stopped . i have a nickel size piece of spicy lemon favia that in 2 months hasnt grown a 1/4 " . the hammers i have are still the same size in 4 months, maybe a little bit bigger but not splitting . ive changed the ro , done the icp test, ran uv for 4 weeks, turned down the lights a little. any other advice, i ordered a hanna phosphate checker but it came broken the box looked like the ups guys played soccer with it lol

LARedstickreefer · Jul 13, 2019

tautog83 said:
so i turned down my lights a bit , got salinity back on track and feeding more . i also started to dose some reef energy in hopes to get nutrients up to see if id see a positive reaction . i got a 2 small frags of tricolor to see how things would go and so far for a couple days things look to be ok. However i have a garf bonsai that survived all this a stylo and bop birdsnest and in about 4 or 5 weeks ive seen no growth at all . my alk has not moved more than 4 ppm in 4 days . i understand that this is a huge amount of water and uptake with just a few things is gong to minimal but im not seeing any visible growth . so weird that everything has just, stopped . i have a nickel size piece of spicy lemon favia that in 2 months hasnt grown a 1/4 " . the hammers i have are still the same size in 4 months, maybe a little bit bigger but not splitting . ive changed the ro , done the icp test, ran uv for 4 weeks, turned down the lights a little. any other advice, i ordered a hanna phosphate checker but it came broken the box looked like the ups guys played soccer with it lol

I used to try everything except up my PAR. Went through $1000 corals and then tested PAR. It was low PAR so I maxed out the leds and then my corals started growing.

tautog83 · Jul 13, 2019

The thing is I had it 85% with diffusers , did get some growth and then it literally just stopped . I never really thought it was a light issue but I was trying anything

tautog83 · Jul 13, 2019

Bumppp

BobbyOtto · Jul 14, 2019

If the new pieces are doing fine just be patient. If you are expecting growth within a few weeks you should slow down. Even with your LPS - it is not uncommon to have little to zero growth if you are constantly changing things or adjusting parameters. Sometimes things happen with SPS that we cannot explain and then we tend to overreact and start changing things that cause further reactions. I dont know what happened at first to cause the death / no growth / algae on the tips but it seems like the problem has worked itself out (assuming the new pieces still have color and PE) but I do know that if you if you keep changing things and sticking your hands in the tank you wont get any growth.

tautog83 · Jul 14, 2019

I agree I was a believer of that from the start . Keep it as simple as possible , I guess we will see what the next 2 weeks bring .hopefully whatever was the issue has worked itself out

tautog83 · Jul 19, 2019

So its almost been 2 weeks , and im.noticing the tricolors tips turning white . Not white like bleaching but like that crumble effect I was experiencing before . The rest of the coral seems fine just the tips going . You know when the lights go out and you look at your corals and at the tips have the biggest "feeding" polyps , im losing them right away . I'm guessing the whole coral dying is what is next . This is super frustrating . Not knowing the cause is what's really getting to me .I've attached a couple pics , but it's pretty blurry .

tautog83 · Jul 19, 2019

tautog83 · Jul 20, 2019

any other suggestions?

Mrtakeoff53 · Jul 20, 2019

I am literally going through your exact nightmare right now. LPS...good/great. SPS...melting away. It started with my Montipora going gray. Then my birds nest lost its tips/got algae on them and it is shedding flesh right now. All my Stylophora have STN and no PE. My parameters are SOLID. Its a 6 month old tank. Most of the SPS have been in there 4 months and suddenly they are falling to pieces. I feel your frustrations. I’m living through them now. I’ve upped feedings, upped light/reduced light. I thing worked. I’m just trying to maintain stability, break off the dead tissue and see what survives. It makes me want to just do a LPS/Softie tank and leave SPS alone...I’ll be sharing this nightmare with ya buddy...good luck!

LARedstickreefer · Jul 20, 2019

tautog83 said:
any other suggestions?

You need to check your par. BRS rents out par meters now. I’d jump on that and map out your tank really well.

tautog83 · Jul 21, 2019

Mrtakeoff53 said:
I am literally going through your exact nightmare right now. LPS...good/great. SPS...melting away. It started with my Montipora going gray. Then my birds nest lost its tips/got algae on them and it is shedding flesh right now. All my Stylophora have STN and no PE. My parameters are SOLID. Its a 6 month old tank. Most of the SPS have been in there 4 months and suddenly they are falling to pieces. I feel your frustrations. I’m living through them now. I’ve upped feedings, upped light/reduced light. I thing worked. I’m just trying to maintain stability, break off the dead tissue and see what survives. It makes me want to just do a LPS/Softie tank and leave SPS alone...I’ll be sharing this nightmare with ya buddy...good luck!

Part of me wishes I'd find something rusty in the tank at this point ..lol it's weird I dont get bleaching or flesh loss it's just turns whitish gray and falls apart . My bonsai is holding on but you can tell it's not happy . What salt mix are you using ? .. at this point im.trying to ride it out as well. As far as light issues I had 2 months of growth in the same exact spots so I dont think that's it . Come to think of it I think coraline has slowed as well . Hopefully one of us starts to see light at the end of the tunnel

Mrtakeoff53 · Jul 21, 2019

I’m using Live Aquaria salt. It mixes so clear! I’ve been impressed. I’m about to switch to Instant Ocean though. I found it for $36 for the 200 gal and bought 2. It’s what I usually use. My coraline has actually exploded recently. It’s growing all over the place. More than it ever has. I leave a few spots on the glass to watch it grow for fun and it’s going crazy! I hope things settle out and you don’t have any further losses.