I am losing most of my corals

lost66

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Hey all
I am losing my entire SPS collection. I have 240g tank which I started a year ago and from that point I have constant issues with my reef. Whatever SPS I add it eventually bleaches or covers brown dust/thing and dies. My tank looks like a graveyard. All of my corals I have from local hobbyists and I always dip them in Revive .
I am struggling with Dino for more than 6 months and my strain has been identified as that one which there is no simple solution to kill and as for now:
* I stopped changing water
* adding phyto from algae barn daily
* dosing silica to introduce diatom to overgrown dino
* dosing mb7 weekly
* reduced light to mostly blue
* was dosing phospate to keep 0.10 since dino is consuming phosphate

My params are mostly stable and in a good range. I have phosphate spike from time to time like from .10 to .20 but beside that all looks good from parameters point of view.
alk 8.5
ph 7.7-8.0
temp 79.5-80 (summer)
phosphate .015
nitrate 15
calcium 420
mg 1250

My other soft/lps/anemones are thriving, only sps die.
Please advice what can be the reason and what I can do to block that.

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lost66

lost66

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If you have dino problems for that long it can effect a lot. Have you done a blackout period with UV? Do you know the strain of dinos? There's a website that talks about coral RTN and it's relation to protozoan organisms - https://coralrtn.com/
I tried, lost some fish after that. I have 2 uv running 24/7 if temperature is below 80. My dino is amphidinium.
 

ZoWhat

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You might want to consider what I did several years ago...

After losing acro after acro, year after year... one day I just swore off all acros altogether.

Today,, I wouldnt put one in my tank If someone gave me one for free. I'm serious

The world of LPS is so much easier and so much more forgiving. I'm a happier reefer now thst I've sworn off all acros

Just saying

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davidcalgary29

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Can you start a frag/hospital tank and move your SPS into that? I think that I will be much easier to keep parameters exactly at the level that you want, treat any obvious medical issues, and give your DT some time to mature further. You can then reintroduce your SPS back into the display at a pace with which you are comfortable and that you can monitor closely.
 

dvgyfresh

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Sorry about the Dino’s but amph aren’t toxic and would just be unsightly, possibly there is something else at play causing the issues? #reefsquad
 
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lost66

lost66

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I don't think dino is killing my corals. I mentioned that because because of dino I stopped changing water and I am dosing silica from time to time.

I am leaning towards STN/RTN. I don't have an option to setup QT tank. https://coralrtn.com/ seems to be an answer but they are OOS and I cannot find their product anywhere on the Internet.

The world of LPS is so much easier and so much more forgiving. I'm a happier reefer now thst I've sworn off all acros
I love my LPS, soft and anemones. The reason I put some SPS is because I have high spots which I don't know if any LPS will like.
I am the point I consider lettting my sps die completely and colonize my tank with more lps on the bottom and anemones on the top. I have 12 clowns in total (2 different species) but unfortunately my 10 ocellaris clowns don't like my bubble tip anemones.
 

Uncle99

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Based on your parameters post, nitrate is a bit high for SPS at 15ppm and phosphate low at .015ppm. I would have expected more like 2-5ppm nitrate and 0.5-.1ppm phosphate.

Even more important to know is what consistency do you have in your chemistry, for SPS, swings in Alk, Temp, Salinty and either excessive or non existent nutrients leads to SPS blowing out.
 

LuizW13

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I think the main issue is the phosphate level, .01 is really low. That was the driving factor in killing my SPS when I first started it.
 

ScottR

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At this point, I’d send in an ICP test. I’d run carbon if you’re not. Dinos do produce some toxicity which can kill corals. Even if you don’t see them killing them. From the pics, it does appear to be STN but it’s really hard to tell just off of pictures.
 

Screwgunner

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I am running a Algae Turff Scrubber my phosphates stay near seawater levels..005 softys grow slow but are in good shape montiporas also growing slow. Birdsnest 1 inch a month. Zoas new head every month or so. If my snails leave them alone. Phasphates have not been above .01 since my Scrubber kicked in. And I will not ever run with out charcoal. Change about 10 tablespoons for 120 gallon system every two weeks, In a reactor. Keep your alkalinity the same close as possible any way . Add trace once a week . Then my goal is to keep my peramiters as close to seawater as possible. No water changes. Just top off. Alittle salt mix if my salinity drops. Feed feed feed corals one or 3 times a week fish 2 times a day. Get home 3 frozen cubes around 6 o'clock 1 big pinch of flake food. Add pods when I find them at the lfs. No unnecessary additives nb7 why are you running a pellet reactor. Just remember we are keeping water, not fish and coral they are just along for the ride. And cross your fingers and hope you don't get any dissise or nasty little critters. The odds are against us but we proval. God bless.
 

Uncle99

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Oh, it is always a problem with phosphates. It is 0.15, not 0.015. little bit elevated from what I read about. But this is on purpose, to fight dino.
I did ICP test, nothing wrong with chemistry.
Yup .15ppm is fine, I’ve run systems in the .3ppm range but they were many years mature.

My corals starve at anything less than say .1ppm in terms of phosphate and your right, too low and the pests start.

Again, if you are keeping those values stable and unchanging, day in, day out, then you can rule out water.
 
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lost66

lost66

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I decided to do nothing :) My current tank maintenance, tech level and my knowledge won't be better. I put too much time, money and energy to be where I am today. Some corals were dying days after I put them in the tank, some of them were growing 6 months and in a week they are gone.
Even if I find what was causing the holocaust in my tank it may appear in the future or something else happens and I lose $$$ again. This is not for me. I clean my graveyard and convert my tank to LPS/soft with bunch of anemones.

Thank you all for your input. Unfortunately nothing solid came from this conversation :/
 

Idech

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Even if I find what was causing the holocaust in my tank it may appear in the future or something else happens and I lose $$$ again. This is not for me. I clean my graveyard and convert my tank to LPS/soft with bunch of anemones.

I don’t have any advice because I’m a beginner in saltwater. But if I were you, I would take a break for a while, let the tank mature, and then add only 1 cheap SPS and see how it does. If it survives for a length of time you find acceptable, 6-12 months, then I would try another one and so forth.

I wish you the best.
 

Screwgunner

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There was a old man who always had trouble with his saltwater tanks .he had 5 tanks in his basement one day he took a tote and put a large algae turff scubber in it and plumbed it to 3 of his tanks . He has them all hooked up to it now . You now why? I will tell you . He has not lost a coral since. He swears by it now. This is my 3rd attempt at a reef tank the other two I always had problems with you name it I had it. This time started with algae turf scubber . So far so good . 6 month in montiporas ,birdsnest, zoas,mushrooms leathers,all doing well. We will see how things go. Couple more months will try some sticks. This is a true story I found it on you tube . If it works for someone who has been doing it for years .why not give it a try
 
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