Need some input on why SPS not looking great

[erk]

First, background on tank:

• Over year old, had a minor crash couple months ago due to a cracked pH probe.
• Prior to crash, all corals growing very well.
• Did several water changes after crash and removing damaged pH probe. No new pH probe.
• Water parameters (alk, calc, and mag) are well in range for low nutrient systems. I test alk weekly and adjust my two part schedule appropriately. I can post my historical data if needed.
• I carbon dose and skim heavily, and historically have undetectable or near undetectable nutrient levels.
• I don't run GFO, carbon, etc. I have a reactor with some zeolite in it.
• Lighting is from two lumia 5.2 pucks and six 24W T5 bulbs. The LED channels are; 100% blue, 50% teal, 25% white. Haven't checked par in some time.
• I feed the fish quite a bit and feed frozen with coral food a couple times a week
• Temperature has recently been maxing out at about 81F. Does not drop below 76F.
• Quite a bit of coralline algae growth.

Second, some symptoms:

• Primarily SPS look unhappy.
• Bleaching/thin tissue at the edge of the base and some bleaching/thin tissue at growth tips.
• Almost no PE during the day, and limited during the night.
• Color is dull, but not really brown. More of a lightening of the tissue.
• New and some old LPS look well and improving.
• Softies and gorgs are very happy, but a toadstool has lost some tissue due to detritus accumulation.

Lastly, some possible causes:

• Some lingering contaminants from the cracked pH probe? I ordered some CupriSorb to see if that results in improvements. I also sent in an ATI ICP test.
• Toadstool releasing toxins? The toadstool is upstream of the SPS, but I have seen no detrimental effects to the gorgs that are also in the path. Even the LPS in the path are fairing well.
• Nutrient levels too high? I can't find my diamond goby. Not sure where it went. But algae growth has slowed.
• Nutrient levels too low? Less algae growth, but I feed coral foods and keep my alk at natural ocean levels 7.5-8.5 dKH.
• Lighting too intense? Par level showed ~300 at the water level and ~250 at the top of the rocks. About 150-200 near the frag rack the SPS are on.
• RODI contaminated? Water stored in 55 gal bin. Last tested by ICP showed 0 TDS. Haven't tested recently.
• CB angel picking? I don't see any active picking by the angel. No bite marks on corals and LPS always inflated.
• Acro pests? I don't QT my corals, but I do dip. I don't see any pests. I had red bugs last year, but eradicated them. I inspect my corals closely almost everyday and see no visible pests.
• Moving corals too much? They have been sitting in the same place for over a week.

A bit long, but hopefully this answers peoples questions. Really trying to find an answer soon since it takes almost 2 weeks to get ICP results back. My current plan is to run the CupriSorb in a trial to see if there is any improvement. If there is none, I'll wait for the ICP results or hopefully get suggestions from people on what to try next. It's frustrating that everything was great before I cracked the pH probe and now I am struggling to grow corals. That would indicate possible contaminants, but I don't like to assume and make rash decisions.

 

[gig 'em]

No nutrients raises a flag to me. I keep my nitrates above 8 ppm and PO4 between 0.02-0.10 ppm. Do you have any photos of the SPS that look poor?

 

[Kyl]

I have had nothing but issues any time my nitrates have gone undetectable. I personally don't have the knowledge or dedication to run ULNS and carbon dose, that's such a fine line to be straddling every day.

 

[ZoWhat]

I say lighting.....

T5 and MH do a "color shift" when the bulb needs to be replaced.

Color shifting bulbs start emitting dangerous burning light waves that corals aren't genetically capable of handling.....nor seen in nature.

So SPS starts to brown out and eventually you get STN and it dies from the bottom up.

I'd take a hard look at replacing your T5s every 6-8mos.....waiting on that 1yr mark is too long imo. Just like WCs, light bulbs changes are just as IMPORTANT!!!

This hobby ain't cheap...keep up on light bulb changes




.

 

[mcarroll]

• Over year old, had a minor crash couple months ago due to a cracked pH probe.

• Prior to crash, all corals growing very well.

I carbon dose and skim heavily, and historically have undetectable or near undetectable nutrient levels.

This, altogether....some other items you listed were subsidiary to he crash as well.

Nutrients in the water, please.

 

[erk]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I'll increase the number of feedings. I did notice a very active feeding response last night. I'll start feeding frozen every evening to increase available nutrients. I doubt this will result in detectable NO3/PO4 levels due to how quickly organisms uptake the increased availability of nutrients. I know the fish will enjoy it though .

For the talk about the bulbs, I do need to begin my replacement schedule. I typically replace every 9-10 months. I'll have to read about the color shift and such.

The Cuprisorb was delivered today. I'll stick a bag in the sump to see if that helps any. Hopefully the ICP test comes back with good news. I'll keep this thread updated with how things go.

 

[dragon99]

Regarding bulb changes, I wouldn't stress too much about that. The spectrum shift is minimal and bulbs don't start putting out light in a spectrum that's harmful. That's just FUD.

 

[erk]

It's been 4 days since I posted my issue. I've been feeding frozen every night since last Thursday. I also add Reef Roids to every feeding. Definitely seeing an improvement. Improving PE, color, and tissue health. Very active feeding behavior when I feed. Even LPS puffing up a bit more. I have also had CupriSorb in the sump since last Friday.

Now my biggest issue is I will be gone all next week. I will have someone watching the house and plan to have them keep an eye on the tank. Everything is automated except food. I plan to install the auto feeder I have, but that only delivers pellet food to the tank. Trying to think up a way to deliver Reef Roids to the tank.

Maybe a gravity fed system with a drip line?
Directly into the display or into the return?
Or should I get a pack of frozen cyclopods or rotifers?

Let me know what you would do in this situation.

 

[cooltowncorals]

You could do a gravity line typically most corals feed a night but it won’t hurt if it runs. Half the week they should be fine for 3 or 4 days with out food I have an open line on my dosing pump I would hook up to for a week run something premixed like Phyto green ect.

 

[erk]

Wanting to update this thread so there is some conclusion. I got the ICP test back from ATI. The only thing out of whack was the PO4. It was measuring at 0.95 ppm. I'm not sure how it got that high. RODI water came back perfect, so it's not in the ATO. I doubt the salt since I've been using the salt since the first ICP test and that showed an acceptable PO4 level. I think it was a steady build up over time due to many different factors. NO3 was at a great place. Stuck at ~2 ppm. This is a good value and I don't plan to mess with it.

I have added GFO in a bag in a high flow region to pull out as much extra PO4 from the system as possible. I've increased my carbon dosing to get the bacteria to uptake more PO4. The issue I will run into now is the bacteria could exhaust my NO3 levels. I may need to briefly dose NO3 until PO4 is back at an acceptable ratio. I also plan to replace half of the zeolite in my reactor to refresh the bacteria colonization sites. This will probably help to bind some PO4 as well.

I purchased a Hanna PO4 checker to keep a better eye on my PO4 levels in the future. Hopefully I can get everything back into balance soon and be back on the path to keeping SPS.

 

[erk]

Update: After getting PO4 back in order, still was having issues. What finally solved my issues was feeding. I needed to feed more. Now I feed frozen everyday instead of every other day.