SPS are browning out... please help

[ecam]

my nitrates are non-detectable
my phos is .04
alk is 7.34
***running Cal RX so dont really track Calcium
but growth looks good but the rest of the frag is brown... and one of my purple nana just completey browned out in the past few days.... please help

 

[BranchingHammer]

Nitrates should always be detectable. Sps need nutrients to thrive, what nutrient control do you use? How much do you feed?

 

[Redfoxtang]

Agreed with above I would start dosing N03 and P04 until levels are detectable. Usually when nutrients bottom out bad things start to happen!!

 

[ecam]

so i run cheato and biopellets... i recently did a massive water change because phos went nuts... rodi was dirty
what do you use to dose nitrates.... i feed 2 cubes a day.....

fish are
1 yellow tang
4 small clowns
2 file fish

 

[MTBake]

Pics would help. Any lighting changes? How long have these been in the tank? Placement in tank would help as well.

 

[ecam]

Full tank

 

[ecam]

Left side. Par is 250 in thay area.

 

[ecam]

Close up of browning

 

[ecam]

See the browned out bodies but colorful new growth

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

so i run cheato and biopellets... i recently did a massive water change because phos went nuts... rodi was dirty
what do you use to dose nitrates.... i feed 2 cubes a day.....

fish are
1 yellow tang
4 small clowns
2 file fish

Ditch the bio pellets
I try to keep my no3 15-25 and po4 0.15-0.30 and I have beautiful fast growing acros.
Ultra low no3/po4 will kill acros much faster than elevated values will.

 

[ecam]

So how do you control them ?

Just water changes

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

So how do you control them ?

Just water changes

Skimmer and Chaeto for 12 hours when the lights are off. But I don’t try to control them. I actually don’t worry about them. The only struggles I’ve ever had with sps came from worrying about no3 and po4.

 

[melanotaenia]

so i run cheato and biopellets... i recently did a massive water change because phos went nuts... rodi was dirty
what do you use to dose nitrates.... i feed 2 cubes a day.....

fish are
1 yellow tang
4 small clowns
2 file fish

This is likely your issue; you did a massive water change and most likely drastically changed parameters from what they were before, and your corals are responding by browning because they are not happy with the new conditions.

 

[Punchanello]

Chaeto is so easy and effective. I don't see the point in bio-pellets or other carbon dosing methods when Chaeto is so efficient and can be tuned so easy just by adjusting the lighting period.

My noob experience has been that browning corals is some sort of response to stress like sudden parameter changes (maybe your water change?). Perhaps in this case the stress of the sudden change has caused the browning in the short term. Continued zeroing out of nutrients, though, will likely cause bleaching and even death.

 

[jda]

Check your salinity. Then, check your refractometer.

You have nitrate or else you would have no growth or algae. I would stop the biopellets, but I would not chase any nitrate unless you had a IC test that showed none. Even .1 ppm is more than enough.

Bare bottom and sterile (rockless) tanks can sometimes be hard and unpredictable. Do you have a place in the sump with some sand and rocks? They can really help to stabilize everything.

If all of this checks out, then do a light check.

FWIW - some of those corals look like A. Spatulata. If so, then these might never be colorful... they are a VERY difficult coral to color in captivity.

 

[ycnibrc]

Where is your live rock? In the sump or this is a frag tank connecting to the main tank.

 

[ecam]

Major under estimation on my part. It’s a frag tank with no connection and no major live rock.
Just a bunch of rubble in sump.

I just order some marine pure blocks.

I’m an idiot

 

[ycnibrc]

Major under estimation on my part. It’s a frag tank with no connection and no major live rock.
Just a bunch of rubble in sump.

I just order some marine pure blocks.

I’m an idiot

Do u have a main tank with live rock? If yes take some of the live rock put in your frag tank and add some more dry rock to build up bacteria. Your frag tank might need to cycle again so in the meantime You need to house your corals to friends or family. How did u start a reef tank with no live rock and full of frags?

 

[ecam]

Thanks guys. I’ve been running this tank for over a year. And never thought to check this. Fish have been in system since that time too.

Never had any ammonia issues since cycle. But rubble is not enough. I see. So will be adding a few pieces from display tank and a few marine blocks. With dr Tim’s bacteria. And cross the fingers.

Thanks for all the help guys. All great and helpful responses !!!!!!