SPS Dying Off Slowly

[Reefanatik]

I am at my wits end. Like the title says my SPS are dying off slowly. A little back ground on my tank. I upgraded from a 93 Marineland cube to a custom 48x36x24 Planet Aquarium tank in early July. My coral was doing great in my new set up for about 5 months and then everything started going down hill from there. The first time I noticed the change in my coral was after I started to feed Reefroids and Reef Chili. I started to feed my coral because although everything looked good I wanted to see if I would get better growth from feeding the reefroids and reefcihili. I'm not sure if that is what started causing my issues or if it was just a coincidence. I'm not sure what my nitrates were at that time because I never really tested before I started having issues. at that time I did 25gallon water changes every two to three weeks with Red Sea Pro salt. I have recently changed to Aquaforest Reef Salt. My water parameters are as follows:

DKH 8 Hanna
Calcium 445 Red Sea Pro Test Kit
mag 1320 Red Sea Pro Test Kit
Nitrates ~ 16 Red Sea Pro Test Kit
P04 0 Hanna
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78-79 daily swing Apex temp probe x2
Ph 7.6-7.85 daily swing

Equipment List
Circulation pumps MP40QD x3
Return Pump Ecotech Vectra L1
Skimmer LifeReef 36" In Sump with Vectra M1 Rated for 400-600Gal.
Dosing BRS 2 part dosing with 1.1 ml/min pump
Carbon BRS reactor- 1/2 of what is recommended from BRS changed monthly
GFO BRS reactor - placed online about 1 month ago for two weeks

 

[Highgrade]

What type of lighting. Your No3 is fairly high but not out of range for most SPS. No4 could be slightly higher. Everything else looks good parameter wise. When you say dying off do you mean STN,RTN or Algae consuming the SPS tissue?

 

[Reefanatik]

sorry i was using my wifes computer and she needed it so i wasn't able to post pics. I will upload a few in a minute but here is one for now.

 

[cumbeje]

I have seen this in my tank when there was a change in ALK. They would die from base up.

 

[Highgrade]

I have seen this in my tank when there was a change in ALK. They would die from base up.

+1 ALK issues usually will result in dying tips or from the base up.

 

[Reefanatik]

 

[Highgrade]

Do you have another ALK test kit besides Hanna? I'd test daily with multiple kits.

 

[Reefanatik]

yeah i am seeing it from the base up on some and on the tips on others. I first thought it might be from my alkalinity being too high. I use to run it at 9.5 and i started having these issues so i lowered it to 8 and i have kept it there but no changes for the better so far.

 

[Highgrade]

When you lowered it was it gradually or suddenly?

 

[Reefanatik]

Do you have another ALK test kit besides Hanna? I'd test daily with multiple kits.

Yes, I have a red sea kit but have recently stopped using it. It was close to the hanna readings

 

[Reefanatik]

When you lowered it was it gradually or suddenly?

Gradually. i shut down my dosing pump and it slowly came down. it took about two months. it took longer because i put my dosing pump back online maybe twice but with a reduced dosing schedule from my apex but even with the reduced dosage my alk still increased a couple of times when i was trying to drop it.



Dkh
11/14 9.2
11/15 9.4
11/18 9.6
11/20 9.2
11/25 8.7
11/26 8.4
11/28 8.1
11/29 8
12/11 8.4
12/17 7.8
12/18 7.5
12/23 8.5
12/27 8.4
12/29 8.1
12/30 7.9
1/3 8
1/4 7.9
1/6 7.7
1/7 7.8
1/13 8

 

[Reefanatik]

I will have to add that i also thought at first i might have let my salinity get too high. I wasn't checking salinity very often on my display. I would only check the new water i was adding and once i started seeing these issues i checked my salinity and it got up to 1.030. so i lowered it within a few days to 1.026. not really sure if the increased salinity would cause any issues like this though.

 

[Reefanatik]

a couple more pics

 

[msderganc]

Have you seen any AEFW?

 

[Reefanatik]

Have you seen any AEFW?

No, haven't seen any with magnifying glass

 

[Diesel]

It's hard to watch your tank going down like that my friend, as I told you this afternoon when we spoke, that sometimes you just can't explain why this is happening in this pace.
Dead corals aren't coming back from the dead and for that frag what you can frag and see if those will make it.
Dip just in case the colonies that you can remove and see if something will come off, and if it does you don't have to worry about your numbers.
Your No3 isn't that bad and t might be the results of your SPS dying and the nutrients staying in your tank due to the results as dead corals won't consume No3.
Try to find a simple balance without many changes, your equipment isn't to blame in this case but just to be sure check every piece and check your sump closely if you see something unusual.
Also do a ICP test on your water, either by Triton or others that offered.
Let me know how it goes my friend I'm just one city away from you but about 80 miles I believe ;)

 

[Reefanatik]

It's hard to watch your tank going down like that my friend, as I told you this afternoon when we spoke, that sometimes you just can't explain why this is happening in this pace.
Dead corals aren't coming back from the dead and for that frag what you can frag and see if those will make it.
Dip just in case the colonies that you can remove and see if something will come off, and if it does you don't have to worry about your numbers.
Your No3 isn't that bad and t might be the results of your SPS dying and the nutrients staying in your tank due to the results as dead corals won't consume No3.
Try to find a simple balance without many changes, your equipment isn't to blame in this case but just to be sure check every piece and check your sump closely if you see something unusual.
Also do a ICP test on your water, either by Triton or others that offered.
Let me know how it goes my friend I'm just one city away from you but about 80 miles I believe ;)

Yeah, I will dip and frag Sunday and see if I find any pest. I hope it turns around for me soon.

 

[Diesel]

Yeah, I will dip and frag Sunday and see if I find any pest. I hope it turns around for me soon.

Believe me it will, we all go to bad moments in our reef life and it doesn't matter if your name Ben or Paletta or just Henry, we all been there or will be there one day.
You pick it back up where you left off a few months ago, evaluate and calculate and you will prevail and come out even stronger.

 

[Reefanatik]

Well I just bought a new salifert NO3 test kit and I got 25-50 and then I used my RS test and got a 32. So I definitely need to reduce my NO3 levels

 

[Diesel]

Well I just bought a new salifert NO3 test kit and I got 25-50 and then I used my RS test and got a 32. So I definitely need to reduce my NO3 levels

WOW!! :eek:
That's twice and more than triple like yesterday :(