Some SPS Tips Turning Brown - Algae build Up - Lots of Info & Pictures - Updated

[Doostur]

I have taken the time to search and read other people with a similar situation. I'm kind of scratching my head here. Would love some input or experience. Below are pictures of my problem areas. Along with some of my sps doing very well with great polyp extension and growth. Sometimes i'll snip the tips, sometimes they will recover slightly, most of the time continue to die off. Sorry for dirty glass pictures!!

- Tank is 11 months old w/ plenty of coralline build up etc. Please refer to my build thread for pictures.
- Par up near the top of the rock work is around 200ish. 8 hours at max par with 2 hour ramp up and 2 hour ramp down. Running 4x XR30 G4 Pros with diffusers. I use to be at 300-325 par up top but slowly brought down intensity thinking that may be it.
- Alk = 7.8 with a max fluctuation of .1 daily.
- Calcium = 440-450 with max fluctuation of 5-10 daily.
- Mag = 1370-1390 with max fluctuation of 10 daily.
- Nitrates = 8-10. Never changes. Always been rock solid.
- Phosphates = .05-.08. I need to GFO in order to achieve these consistent numbers. I have a ton of fish. Feed twice daily. Flakes and pellets in morning and meaty foods in afternoon.
- I dose 6ml of acropower every morning within a 30 min period. Once a week I'll mix up some benepets coral food and spot feed as needed.
- PH = 8.2
- Daily water changes of 2-3%. 200g total water system.
- Salt 1.026
- Temp = 77-78
- No pests have been noticed and even gotten up in the middle of the night to look.

Additional Info. Everything is connected to an Apex. I dose Alk, Calcium, and Acropower. I verify my trident readings via secondary test equipment such as Hanna, API, Salifert. I run GFO/Carbon. I have a refugium with chaeto (Very healthy). I run a UV sterilizer every night for 9 hours. I run 2x MP40s and 2x MP60s and push as much flow as my sand bed will allow. I have a wide variety of corals. A bunch of SPS. Some growing like crazy, and encrusting nicely. A couple randomly begin to have algae build up on tips and turn brown.

I have been dealing with this for the last 6 months or so. I make my own water. Filters changed as needed when I read 1 TDS. Tested my RO water, Free Chlorine/Total Chlorine is 0.

I have been using Fritz Pro (Blue box salt). Yes I have read all the issues with Fritz. Not sure what to believe. I sent out an ICP water test back in February just for fun. Results are below. I finally gave in and decided to switch to Aquaforest salt on Thursday. Since then I have been changing 6 gallons every night (Normally do 4 gallons). I do not do large water changes. I tested my new batch of Aquaforest mix, and everything is as expected. I was hoping to do a ICP test before switching to Aquaforest to see what what my results are after using fritz for 11 months but haven't had time.

Guide me fellow reefers!

 

[WIReefer]

Personally I would take out the gfo and find another way to keep PO4 down. I’ve had great success since taking my gfo offline.

 

[Doostur]

Personally I would take out the gfo and find another way to keep PO4 down. I’ve had great success since taking my gfo offline.

This has crossed my mind.

 

[Goneaway562]

I will be following this thread as I have been experiencing the same issue. A few months back I started to use GFO and while I never measured lower than 0.02 for phosphate, I have a feeling it bottomed out and have been dealing with some die off like you have. Maybe it does dip some days you don't test it? Just a thought but I have since removed GFO and will not be worrying about phosphate unless I have crazy algae.

 

[WIReefer]

This has crossed my mind.

Also I’ve raised my PO4 up around 0.10 ran 0.03 for the longest time bumped it up and also has helped a lot.

 

[Doostur]

Well I shut down my GFO. Im curious what phosphates get up to. I always heard gfo can be aggressive and strip the tank of much needed nutrients. Never read into it. It has crossed me mind.

 

[WIReefer]

Well I shut down my GFO. Im curious what phosphates get up to. I always heard gfo can be aggressive and strip the tank of much needed nutrients. Never read into it. It has crossed me mind.

Best of luck man! Keep track of everything, let’s see what other’s say. But I think it’s a good start.

 

[Doostur]

I went ahead and cleaned my glass and updated my pictures in the first post. I circled in red some of the areas I'm talking about. Algae build up/brown. As you can see some of my other SPS are doing very well. Good growth. Great extension. Unaffected.

 

[flampton]

Do you know why your ICP came back with such a low salinity?

 

[Doostur]

Do you know why your ICP came back with such a low salinity?

Not sure. Apex showed 35 PPT aka 1.026. Confirmed by my Milwaukee refractometer and the old school refractometer... the you have to hold up to the light.

 

[flampton]

Not sure. Apex showed 35 PPT aka 1.026. Confirmed by my Milwaukee refractometer and the old school refractometer... the you have to hold up to the light.

I'd send another in as if the salinity is down that much someone diluted your sample. And I see it was back in February so might be a good idea to get an update anyways.

 

[Doostur]

I'd send another in as if the salinity is down that much someone diluted your sample. And I see it was back in February so might be a good idea to get an update anyways.

At the time when I sent in the sample, it wasn't for any specific reason. I got it as a gift so I decided to send it off. I have been meaning to send in another. At the time, the tank was about 4 months old.

 

[Doostur]

Update: 24 hours since shutting down my GFO and carbon.... my phosphates are .05. I tested nitrates just for fun again... they are 8.

Nothing else unchanged. Still feeding twice a day, with 3% daily water change etc. Will continue like normal unless I see a rise in phosphates or nitrates in which case i can try to feed less benepets coral food (Usually once a week) and lowering my acropower dosing. I'm hoping to eventually go back to 2% water changes (4 gallons), as long as parameters remain low.

I'll snip the ends of the sps with brown algae growth and continue to monitor.

 

[Doostur]

Update: Phosphate around .07 and nitrates around 8-10.

Everything looking a lot happier. Much better extension. Coincidence? Time will tell.

 

[Greg Gdowski]

Following

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm skeptical that if phosphate was actually 0.05 to 0.08 ppm, that removing GFO will improve anything.

 

[Doostur]

Hi Randy. Can you elaborate further?

To be honest, I have never ran the tank without GFO. I always assumed that with the amount of live stock and feeding I do, I would need it. So im not sure what it would get up to if I continued like normal with my reactor off. It may may peak at .1 which may be acceptable. I always adjust my reactor so I have. 03-.05 phosphates. When it gets closer to .1 (usually after 4 to 6 weeks) i know its time to change the gfo. I have always heard horror stories on carbon and gfo. The thought crossed my mind.

Here is a picture from 2 days ago.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hi Randy. Can you elaborate further?

To be honest, I have never ran the tank without GFO. I always assumed that with the amount of live stock and feeding I do, I would need it. So im not sure what it would get up to if I continued like normal with my reactor off. It may may peak at .1 which may be acceptable. I always adjust my reactor so I have. 03-.05 phosphates. When it gets closer to .1 (usually after 4 to 6 weeks) i know its time to change the gfo. I have always heard horror stories on carbon and gfo. The thought crossed my mind.

Here is a picture from 2 days ago.

IMO, 0.05 to 0.08 ppm phosphate is enough for both coral health and protecting the tank from dinos.

I suspect the problem is something else, but experimenting with higher levels is also fine.

 

[Doostur]

IMO, 0.05 to 0.08 ppm phosphate is enough for both coral health and protecting the tank from dinos.

I suspect the problem is something else, but experimenting with higher levels is also fine.

Any suggestions? How would you go about trying to figure this out? I plan to buy an ICP test today and send it out. What on your thoughts about possibly being related to Fritz? I recently changed to Aquaforest. 6 gallons changed out every night. So far I have changed about 42 gallons over the course of 7 nights.

 

[JCOLE]

I would not chase the numbers right now. Good idea on removing the GFO. Continue testing over the next couple weeks. It will more than likely start to come down after it rises.

Do you add any beneficial bacteria? I use Microbacter7 weekly and I feel it helps with nutrient control. Also, do you have a fuge or algae Scrubber? If not, I would look at throwing one in because it can help with nutrients as well.