As the title says, SPS in my tank were doing well until they weren't. Help me understand what I did wrong... well I think I know where I went wrong, but I want confirmation.
Tank is 75 gallons with sump and refugium. Mostly SPS frags and some euphyllia. It's a bit over a year old now.
I've never had great colour with the SPS, always very pale or brown. A few weeks ago I noticed the elkhorn and forest fire were looking a bit off. I did my regular weekly 15 gal water change, had dinner, went for a walk and my pacman frag completely RTN'd. Next day a few other frags did the same.
When I tested my water my nitrates were at 0. I began dosing nitrates and got them up a too high and phosphate went to 0. Pretty sure this was where I went wrong in not paying attention to the phosphates while dosing nitrates.
I've corrected the phosphates and have been continuing my water change schedule and allowing nitrates to drop although they aren't dropping much at all.
Current params are:
Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.025
Alk: 8.5
Cal: 470
Mag: 1245
Nitrate: 25
Phosphate: 0.07
Problem is, I am still seeing tissue loss in my SPS frags, not all, but the majority have at least some tissue loss, what was green is brown and the forest fire and elkhorn haven't really recovered much at all.
I've ordered an ICP test kit so hopefully that will tell me if anything else is causing my issues.
Tank is 75 gallons with sump and refugium. Mostly SPS frags and some euphyllia. It's a bit over a year old now.
I've never had great colour with the SPS, always very pale or brown. A few weeks ago I noticed the elkhorn and forest fire were looking a bit off. I did my regular weekly 15 gal water change, had dinner, went for a walk and my pacman frag completely RTN'd. Next day a few other frags did the same.
When I tested my water my nitrates were at 0. I began dosing nitrates and got them up a too high and phosphate went to 0. Pretty sure this was where I went wrong in not paying attention to the phosphates while dosing nitrates.
I've corrected the phosphates and have been continuing my water change schedule and allowing nitrates to drop although they aren't dropping much at all.
Current params are:
Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.025
Alk: 8.5
Cal: 470
Mag: 1245
Nitrate: 25
Phosphate: 0.07
Problem is, I am still seeing tissue loss in my SPS frags, not all, but the majority have at least some tissue loss, what was green is brown and the forest fire and elkhorn haven't really recovered much at all.
I've ordered an ICP test kit so hopefully that will tell me if anything else is causing my issues.