RCP You Be The Judge

[Flux Capacitor]

I have been having some issues with my corals. I have inspected everything for pests, and I haven't found anything causing my acros to recede from the bottoms. I have tested all of my parameters, and all is in check:

Alk 7.5 dkh
Cal-430
Mag- 1350
Po4- 002
Nitrate- <5ppm
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0

I also picked up a Triton test from BRS, and that will ship out tomorrow. We will see what that has in store for us.

So, with all that said, I have decided to try put the BRS dosing fluids in a closet for now, and I'm gonna try out the Red Sea Coral Program, using all of their products as directed. I'm interested to see what the results are by actually feeding the corals per the program. For now I am planning on running the system using the SPS Dominant numbers. I'm considering ULNS, but haven't decided if that's the best way to go. I'll post some starting pictures tomorrow night.

 

[N4sty T4te]

How's your flow? Have you cleaned your powerheads recently??

 

[Flux Capacitor]

Flow is good. I'm running 2 MP40QD on opposite sides of a 90 gallon at around 60%. They run a combination of tidal swell, and reef crest mode in a sync configuration. I estimate my flow to be right around 5000 gph.

I clean them every other month, and they could probably use a cleaning. They are clear of any algae that would block the flow, but do have a little growing on them.

 

[N4sty T4te]

Flow is good. I'm running 2 MP40QD on opposite sides of a 90 gallon at around 60%. They run a combination of tidal swell, and reef crest mode in a sync configuration. I estimate my flow to be right around 5000 gph.

I clean them every other month, and they could probably use a cleaning. They are clear of any algae that would block the flow, but do have a little growing on them.

My only thought is flow, if it's effecting
Colonies in lower flow areas then I'd look at that being a contender.

If your using only LED's shading comes into mind As well.

 

[Flux Capacitor]

I do use Hydra 52s for my lights, but shading doesn't seem to be the issue. I'm not saying my spectrum is correct, but it seems everything gets even light. Everything was growing great, but it seems something else is going on.

 

[N4sty T4te]

Send pictures

 

[Flux Capacitor]

 

[DereksReef77]

I would pull them out and turkey baste them with tank water, see if any pests come off. Looks like signs of aefw. Alk looks low too, I run mine at 8.3-8.5.

 

[N4sty T4te]

That could really be anything honestly.

I'd start by raising your Alk to 8.5, at your nutrient levels that should be the sweet spot. Make sure parameters aren't swinging, specifically Salinity and Alkalinity. The tip recession to me is more worrisome than the base recession. This is definitely a more generalized issue IMO. Could even be bacterial.

I'd say step one would be to retest parameters somewhere else with different kits. I had a red sea Alk test for example that was 2 DKH off.

Step 2 Raise the Alk to 8.5.

Step three cut the areas that are receding off of the main colonies to stop the spread.

If you end up losing all the Acro give it a few months before reintroducing any new ones just in case its a bacterial issue or some unknown pest, just as a safe guard.

 

[Flux Capacitor]

Thanks guys. I'll raise the alk, and I'll have the local shop test the water.

I use a Red Sea test, and I also have an API and the both come out to about 7.5

I have a frag tank that I have all of the acros in except 1, which is a WD. That as of now shows no signs that any of the others are showing.

I'm gonna see if I can get some bugs to come off, and if not we will go from there.

I have a tzune ato, so I'm 99% sure the salinity isn't swinging.

Thanks for the help guys I'll post back in a little bit.

 

[N4sty T4te]

To me it doesn't look at all like AEFW. If it is a pest I'd say it's more likely red bugs causing constant irritation. If it is red bugs you'd see a big time loss in polyp extension and color before it got to this point IMO.

One final thought is to check your RO unit and make sure it's still stripping your top off water. Best of luck man!

 

[xjiang7]

Good luck, my sps has been devastated by something similar. I was suspecting of high ALK and ALK swing. Now my colonies are reduced to small frags but they have survived

 

[Flux Capacitor]

Well this might not be the only problem, but after my local store tested my sg it was 1.031.

I bought new calibration fluid for my refractometer, and have started to bring the salt level down. It's weird because I also have the apex salinity probe, and it hasn't changed at all. Looks like I need to look into that as well. Hopefully everything recovers after bringing the salt level down. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys.