- Joined
- Dec 10, 2019
- Messages
- 124
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I've finally been having some decent luck with SPS frags over the past several months. I've seen growth in my bird of paradise, purple stylophora and Hawkins echinata, as well as some encrusting in a couple of acro frags.
Unfortunately, over the past week or so, some brown stringy/filmy stuff has started to creep onto the corals, and it looks like it's choking-out some of the branches on my bird of paradise and Hawkins. I'm not sure what to do... I've tried adding GAC, skimming wetter than normal, doing water changes, and even dosing peroxide in the morning and evening. The brown stringy stuff doesn't seem bothered.
My nitrates are at about 5ppm, my phosphates are at .03ppm, salinity is 1.024, alkalinity is 8.1 and calcium/magnesium are in the ideal range. I'm not sure what the brown stuff is feeding on. I run a UV sterilizer in my sump 24/7.
My only guess is that my water has a little bit of silicates in it. The last water test that I sent off to ATI said that my RO water had 4000ppm of silicon. That was back at the beginning of March. I've since changed my RO filters and membrane, so hopefully that's helping. The tank water only had about 220ppm of silicon at the time of testing. I'd like to send another sample in soon, but I've been very busy.
Do you think the brown stuff is feeding off of silicates, or something else? What can I do to save my corals?
Unfortunately, over the past week or so, some brown stringy/filmy stuff has started to creep onto the corals, and it looks like it's choking-out some of the branches on my bird of paradise and Hawkins. I'm not sure what to do... I've tried adding GAC, skimming wetter than normal, doing water changes, and even dosing peroxide in the morning and evening. The brown stringy stuff doesn't seem bothered.
My nitrates are at about 5ppm, my phosphates are at .03ppm, salinity is 1.024, alkalinity is 8.1 and calcium/magnesium are in the ideal range. I'm not sure what the brown stuff is feeding on. I run a UV sterilizer in my sump 24/7.
My only guess is that my water has a little bit of silicates in it. The last water test that I sent off to ATI said that my RO water had 4000ppm of silicon. That was back at the beginning of March. I've since changed my RO filters and membrane, so hopefully that's helping. The tank water only had about 220ppm of silicon at the time of testing. I'd like to send another sample in soon, but I've been very busy.
Do you think the brown stuff is feeding off of silicates, or something else? What can I do to save my corals?