Some SPS not doing well

[kratosxxl]

Hey folks, I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s going on with my tank. It all started with the birdsnest corals—two of them started bleaching and losing tissue from the bottom up. Now I’ve noticed that my blue Acro is starting to bleach in the middle as well.

Here are my current parameters. I’m planning to run an ATI ICP test to see if it can help identify any potential issues.

Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas about what might be causing this?
Im dosing 720 ml kalk (avast stirrer) overnight in 12 doses. WCH 20 % every 2 weeks (tank is IM EXT 200)
Filtration is 2x N-Clear M roller
Deltec 1500i skimmer
Wave 2x Maxsepect xf350

Ill add some coral pics in a bit

 

[kratosxxl]

Here are some pics with troubled corals

 

[kratosxxl]

No blue light pics

 

[painter1982]

Hard to say. But stability is key. I’m not sure what your history of parameters are. I’d get an icp ms test and test the same sample with your method to see if you are accurate.

 

[kratosxxl]

Hard to say. But stability is key. I’m not sure what your history of parameters are. I’d get an icp ms test and test the same sample with your method to see if you are accurate.

But why bleaching in the middle ? Is it common with sps ? I did had some fluctuations with alk and ph.
So not sure if related but i 3d printed some frag mount with petg (reef) safe and both were glued to it so just to be safe i removed everything 3d printed.

 

[painter1982]

Hard to say. But stability is key. I’m not sure what your history of parameters are. I’d get an icp ms test and test the same sample with your method to see if you are accurate.

But why bleaching in the middle ? Is it common with sps ? I did had some fluctuations with alk and ph.
So not sure if related but i 3d printed some frag mount with petg (reef) safe and both were glued to it so just to be safe i removed everything 3d printed.

Alk and salinity fluctuations can cause the rtn you are seeing. It’s not bleaching. That’s different looking. Bleaching is the coral expelling the zooxanthellae and turning pail. It looks like you are experiencing rapid tissue narcosis (rtn). I’m no expert on this. I’ve seen it when I had fluctuating parameters. I don’t see it anymore since I achieved stability

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Agree it looks like rtn to me. Unknown exactly what causes it, but its thought to be some kind of change in parameters. For me it happened when I screwed up my alk. Time and stability will overcome it eventually. good luck

 

[Acro Junky]

How old is your tank? That rock looks pretty dry (meaning not established) you could also just have a bacterial imbalance and the bacteria is still establishing itself so the SPS are victims to it.

 

[ReneReef]

I had a look in your build thread.
Did I see 3 XR15 lamps or similar above your tank?

If so, that is waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too little light for a 200 gallon tank. Even if you run all channels at full power.

Also two gyre xf350 on such a tank is going to be tight. They will need to run 50-100% in slow moving waves.

 

[Peer.Boerner]

I can tell you from first hand experience, fast parameter swings did the same thing to me. What I don’t understand is why your other SPS is not doing the same thing… birds nest is typically robust compared to other SPS. Did your water experience a fast, substantial parameter change? In my case I was on vacation and mid way through I ran out of kalk in my reservoir. Alk went from 8.6 to 6.2 in 4 days. That caused all my sps to do what your birds nest shows. Interestingly, my pocollopora exhibited tissue loss, not as bad, and have since recovered. Hope you figure it out.

 

[kratosxxl]

How old is your tank? That rock looks pretty dry (meaning not established) you could also just have a bacterial imbalance and the bacteria is still establishing itself so the SPS are victims to it.

Tank is about 3 month old , you right that rock started dry but i do have about 75 ld of live rock as a base under it , this is just a shelf for sps

 

[kratosxxl]

I had a look in your build thread.
Did I see 3 XR15 lamps or similar above your tank?

If so, that is waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too little light for a 200 gallon tank. Even if you run all channels at full power.

Also two gyre xf350 on such a tank is going to be tight. They will need to run 50-100% in slow moving waves.

Yup . 2 xr 15 , i do have 2 quanta helix bar just not turning them of due to algae issues , just waiting for it to mature , everything at 100 % im getting 550-600 parr on top and 150-250 on a sand , so i try to ramp up the light ?

 

[kratosxxl]

I had a look in your build thread.
Did I see 3 XR15 lamps or similar above your tank?

If so, that is waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too little light for a 200 gallon tank. Even if you run all channels at full power.

Also two gyre xf350 on such a tank is going to be tight. They will need to run 50-100% in slow moving waves.

Gyre connected to Hydros LE running in SPS mode at 80-100 % , Can you by chance help me out with right wave settings ?

 

[kratosxxl]

I can tell you from first hand experience, fast parameter swings did the same thing to me. What I don’t understand is why your other SPS is not doing the same thing… birds nest is typically robust compared to other SPS. Did your water experience a fast, substantial parameter change? In my case I was on vacation and mid way through I ran out of kalk in my reservoir. Alk went from 8.6 to 6.2 in 4 days. That caused all my sps to do what your birds nest shows. Interestingly, my pocollopora exhibited tissue loss, not as bad, and have since recovered. Hope you figure it out.

no no fast changes , only change was temp went to 79 , i slowly dropped it to 78. I raised alk from 7.8 to 8.3 in 3 days, The only think is both birdsnest were glued to my 3d printed frag plug so maybe it leached some chemicals ? I just ordered ATI ICP will be here next week.I did removed every 3d printed thing i had except skimmer raiser but that i got form printed reef

 

[kratosxxl]

Guys one more thing i just released , so the blue Acro piece i have had some small mid bleaching or Tissue thing when i got it , main colony had lot of it so it s possible its just getting worst ? Still dosent explain Birds nest tbh

 

[slingfox]

The tank looks quite new. Okay to add coral but I would stay away from any expensive SPS until after you have gone through the ugly stage and the tank matures. For now ensure you have adequate lighting and flow. If algae is a problem beef up your CUC and ensure you are not over feeding.

 

[56longroof]

I recently had the same issue. The alk consumption in my tank has increased exponentially. Since I got lazy with testing I didnt catch it right away. The tank always ran between 9-10 dkh consistently and dropped to 6 dkh.

 

[kratosxxl]

I recently had the same issue. The alk consumption in my tank has increased exponentially. Since I got lazy with testing I didnt catch it right away. The tank always ran between 9-10 dkh consistently and dropped to 6 dkh.

Mine is a bit weird , i do have aquawiz testing alk every 3 hr BUT sometimes it goes up from 8 to 8.3 i 6 hr , i contacted support they said its minor fluctuation is normal, i do dose 720 ml kalk overnight mainly for ph but i dont think it adds too much alk in 200 gall

 

[fish_collector]

Your tank is much too young to support SPS corals. Wait a year and then try some stylo, poccillopora or any number of inexpensive stags to test with. The only way around this is to ditch the dry rock and use some of the real live rock that has recently been available again.

Your light is fine.

Water movement is important but just move some water, it's not critical how you move it or if it's in waves or whatever, just circulate it and it's enough.

I like to keep nitrate between 10 and 50, and phosphate between 0.1 and 0.5, anything in between is fine and will grow corals.

Add many fish and feed them until they're fat.

Keep alk about 8 and try not to let it move much, eventually you'll ignore something like an empty 2 part storage container and it'll drop, just bring it back up over a day or so it'll be fine. If you overshoot just stop dosing until it returns to normal and it'll be fine.

In my SPS system I largely use a hands off approach, I don't test too often and don't change water too often either. I feed a mix of frozen foods twice a day and some nori for the tang. I use 2 part on dosers. I use an ATO and I try to keep my product water at zero TDS but in all honesty I'm usually due for a resin change, I'd bet that right now my rodi has a final TDS output of 10 or better but I use it anyways and it doesn't seem to have any ill effects. I get STN on corals from time to time, and from talking to all of my club buddies we've determined we can't have all corals look great 100% of the time, there's always something that could be better, better color, better polyp extension, better growth etc. As the corals grow they block light and flow to corals under them or downstream and that sets off decline in them, it's a constant battle to keep them all happy all the time. I use ReefBlueprint Isol8 MT trace elements almost daily now, just a few drops, I'm not sure if it does anything but it certainly doesn't hurt, it's cheap enough to use it.

I hope this helps. But yeah your tank is too young for SPS in general.

 

[kratosxxl]

Your tank is much too young to support SPS corals. Wait a year and then try some stylo, poccillopora or any number of inexpensive stags to test with. The only way around this is to ditch the dry rock and use some of the real live rock that has recently been available again.

Your light is fine.

Water movement is important but just move some water, it's not critical how you move it or if it's in waves or whatever, just circulate it and it's enough.

I like to keep nitrate between 10 and 50, and phosphate between 0.1 and 0.5, anything in between is fine and will grow corals.

Add many fish and feed them until they're fat.

Keep alk about 8 and try not to let it move much, eventually you'll ignore something like an empty 2 part storage container and it'll drop, just bring it back up over a day or so it'll be fine. If you overshoot just stop dosing until it returns to normal and it'll be fine.

In my SPS system I largely use a hands off approach, I don't test too often and don't change water too often either. I feed a mix of frozen foods twice a day and some nori for the tang. I use 2 part on dosers. I use an ATO and I try to keep my product water at zero TDS but in all honesty I'm usually due for a resin change, I'd bet that right now my rodi has a final TDS output of 10 or better but I use it anyways and it doesn't seem to have any ill effects. I get STN on corals from time to time, and from talking to all of my club buddies we've determined we can't have all corals look great 100% of the time, there's always something that could be better, better color, better polyp extension, better growth etc. As the corals grow they block light and flow to corals under them or downstream and that sets off decline in them, it's a constant battle to keep them all happy all the time. I use ReefBlueprint Isol8 MT trace elements almost daily now, just a few drops, I'm not sure if it does anything but it certainly doesn't hurt, it's cheap enough to use it.

I hope this helps. But yeah your tank is too young for SPS in general.

I love it ,
SO i just turned on basic wave maker for amazon jacob or something but its more stronger them my 2 xf350 combined , i m thinking getting some TBS live rock live sand bundle to add it ? is it a good idea ?