Green Slimer brown and closed up

[ps2cho]

In the last month I've lost a few SPS corals.

Some are fine, some are unhappy. Birdsnest is about the only thing growing. I've had this green slimer for 3 months now, and it hasn't grown at all.

Tank has been up almost a year now. The rock in it is 2 years old, it was a direct transfer.
1.026
Alk: 7.9
Ca: 400
Mg: 1350
NO3: 1-2ppm
PO4: Undetectable

I dose 2-part in BRS dosers and parameters are kept stable. I dose KNO3 or NO3 drops to undetectable...

Other SPS look "fine", not much growth. The Acro in the top middle is STN'ing slowly from the top. Don't know why either.

Any thoughts here? Shall I try a series of 30% water changes? I'm just afraid of starving the corals with any changes here.

 

[Caseyoidae]

Id do less water changes or smaller unless there's a reason you're changing it. Changes in general are not good for sps keep alk steady. I usually move brown corals closer to the light and bleached/ white corals further from it

 

[ps2cho]

Well I don't think it a light issue since some of my SPS are losing tissue...

Any other opinions on anything I should do?

 

[zsuzsu]

potassium, try some aminos. what light are you using. it doesn't look like any green slimer i've ever seen, a very different growth pattern/type.

 

[BoomCorals]

What are you doing for nutrient export that is keeping nitrate and phosphate so low?

 

[ps2cho]

What are you doing for nutrient export that is keeping nitrate and phosphate so low?

Nothing really. Its a 40b with a 20g sump and I have a Kole Tang and 6-line Wrasse. I was doing 5g water changes biweekly, but even that was dropping my NO3 to zero and so I was dosing 5ml/week of KNO3 to keep it above zero.

 

[Reefltx]

Judging by those pics, it’s not your lighting.

 

[ps2cho]

Judging by those pics, it’s not your lighting.

I don't think so either, I have a Reefbreeders Photon 24 and 2x 36" T5's.
Edit: I have a big skimmer too, but I keep it skimming super dry, maybe I need to just feed more with aminos, reef roids until I see some nutrients?

Could my Alk be a little low? I keep it roughly 8 dkH. I've tracked and its usually 7.8 - 8.2 dkH over several weeks as I adjust my dosers based on the consumption. Would it hurt to bump the Alk to 8.5 and see what happens?

 

[BoomCorals]

Alk is fine. I'd try reef roids or coral frenzy.

 

[ps2cho]

Alk is fine. I'd try reef roids or coral frenzy.

How much and how often would you recommend?

 

[BoomCorals]

How much and how often would you recommend?

Start with once or twice a week and monitor nitrate and phosphate.

 

[ps2cho]

Start with once or twice a week and monitor nitrate and phosphate.

Any opinion on whether dosing Red Sea Reef Energy A&B would be any more advantageous than reef roids etc?

Maybe it's more of a starvation issue than anything...I guess my numbers have never increased in months now. Always been zero, so The corals must be up taking more than the fish are pooping

 

[zsuzsu]

Any opinion on whether dosing Red Sea Reef Energy A&B would be any more advantageous than reef roids etc?

Maybe it's more of a starvation issue than anything...I guess my numbers have never increased in months now. Always been zero, so The corals must be up taking more than the fish are pooping

could be, i recently converted a berlin reef to red sea program, and the only coral food im adding is red seas reef energy and aminos. and my reef really took off. i do however keep nitrate around 10 ppm, and p04 around .02. good luck n stuff... zsu

 

[Scorpius]

Your SPS look hungry. Stop doing water changes for a month or two. I know, crazy talk, but you'll be surprised how your coral will respond with dirtier water.

 

[Hans-Werner]

Dosing nitrate without any detectable phosphate is fatal to Acropora. Phosphate is more important than nitrate. Dosing nitrate makes the phosphate deficit worse and causes phosphate starvation of the corals.

 

[ps2cho]

Dosing nitrate without any detectable phosphate is fatal to Acropora. Phosphate is more important than nitrate. Dosing nitrate makes the phosphate deficit worse and causes phosphate starvation of the corals.

Interesting, first I've heard about this...

Keep feeding until it shows up or dose PO4 somehow until it's detectable?

 

[Hans-Werner]

Instead of dosing nitrate I would feed the fish and/or corals. This supplies a balanced "diet" of nitrogen and phosphate.

 

[ps2cho]

Started feeding every morning 1/2 cube of mixed frozen, 1/4tsp of Reef Roids every other day and dosing 2ml of Reef Energy A&B each day.

Started this 3 days ago, checked today and still consuming.... 0.2ppm NO3 (decline from 2ppm as I stopped dosing KNO3) and zero PO4. Should I still increase food and dosing, or give it a little more time?

I also turned down my skimmer to basically nothing weeks ago, its only 1/4 full and that is 3 weeks worth of skimming, so its super, super dry skim, so I know I am not overskimming it out.

 

[RyanCSGO]

Bumping for more input

 

[ps2cho]

Bumping for more input

Been a week and not much change other than everything has stopped STN'ing. Maybe it'll take some time before it looks happy again?

Still unsure if I should feed more or not...everything still undetectable.