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

Doostur · Oct 14, 2020

schuby said:
I was referencing post #14 and post #17. I only brought it up because you seem very sure that phosphate didn't bottom out and cause this issue. I hope you'll keep an open mind that chronic lack of phosphate may be the root cause.

Got ya. I have never been under .03 during my testing. Now that I stopped running gfo, I'm sitting at .08-.09. However when I sent in my water sample, I tested at .07 twice using the Hanna checker. When I got my results back it said it was .02 ... found that odd.

Doostur · Oct 18, 2020

No further issues. Everything looking great. Still investigating exact cause.

ryshark · Oct 18, 2020

Doostur said:
No further issues. Everything looking great. Still investigating exact cause.

Looking good. Did those tips heal without snipping them?

Thaxxx · Oct 18, 2020

It's been 3 weeks since you first posted.
Are you thinking it may have been the GFO?

ryshark · Oct 18, 2020

Thaxxx said:
It's been 3 weeks since you first posted.
Are you thinking it may have been the GFO?

If so, how much GFO were you running in the reactor?

Doostur · Oct 18, 2020

ryshark said:
Looking good. Did those tips heal without snipping them?

I snipped the brown area tips and no further problems.

Thaxxx said:
It's been 3 weeks since you first posted.
Are you thinking it may have been the GFO?

I'm thinking GFO/Carbon. Was thinking it was my salt but no definitive evidence. My buddy went through the exact same issues. Switch salts and no further problems.

ryshark said:
If so, how much GFO were you running in the reactor?

I followed the BRS calculator for high capacity gfo. 1.56 cups. With a little extra. 1.25 cups of carbon Rox .8

Doostur · Nov 3, 2020

Just an update. The likely suspect was probably my reactor was too aggressive stripping my tank of needed nutrients. I have sent two tests out. Before each test I checked my phosphates. Confirmed .06-.07. However results from testing show .02. Not sure what to believe. So when I was running my phosphates at .03, does that mean they were really 0 or close to it? That would explain some issues.

I have had no further problems. To recap:

I switched my salt from Fritz to Aquaforest. Like I mentioned before, I had friends who dealt with the exact same thing, resolved by simply switching salts. No hard evidence. ICP test showed no major problems to indicate one way or another.

Turned off my GFO/Carbon Reactor. I use to run .03-.06 phosphates. Now I try to stay around .10 - I have never ran it that high. But my corals seem to be much happier. I'll turn on my reactor for 6 hours or so when my phosphates get to .13ish, bringing it back to around .10

I orignally lowered my lighting to 25% and slowly started ramping up. About 5% increase each week. Just raised from 45% to 50%. I plan to cap out around 60%.

All parameters are still rock solid. Nitrates 8ish, Alk 7.8ish, Calc 440ish, Mag 1350ish.