SPS frags bleacing from bottom

[nanchil]

Hello all,

I would like to thank everyone upfront for your help ... I have lost more than $ 1500.00 on these SPS frags over a period of one year ... No luck... Tried all kind of "easy" SPS. Couple of mushrooms and Zoas are doing well...

Tank is up for more than 18 months ... Red Sea 525 Xl ... AI Hydro 26 lights... 2 MP40 for flow...

Every time, the frags starts bleaching from bottom within couple of weeks on introducing. Here is my water parameters... I read that it was due to Alk swing ... So made sure that my Alk is stable around 10.00 dKh. I am testing my Alk daily for the last two months and made sure that it is stable before I introduced couple of SPS frags two weeks back... Here I am with same story... Any help is appreciated.

Adding Nopox ( 5ml) daily basis to control No3 / Po4 ... No algae issues ... Clean my glass once in 4 days or so... Run Chemipure (Blue) Here is my water parameters :

Water TDS - 0
Temp - 78 F ( Swing is +/- 1 F) - Checking with two controllers
Sg - 35 ppt ( Testing with two refractometer and calibrate the refractometer once a week)
dKh - 9.9 ~ 10.00 ( Testing daily at 8.00 PM - Red sea / Hanna meter ) - Calculated the consumption and adding the supplement equally throughout the day using dosser
Ca - ~ 450 ( Testing weekly) - Red sea kit and Salfine
Mg ~ 1300 - Red Sea
No3 - < 1.0 PPM - Salfine
Po4 - < 1 PPM - Salfine

What am i doing wrong ? Any help is appreciated !

Stay safe and healthy !

Thanks

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Nopox and gfo (chemipure) caused stn on all my Tenuis.
I also think your alk is too high
Your po4 1.00 ppm??? That’s pretty high as well if that’s accurate. I recommend the Hanna ultra low phosphate and alk checker if you want to collect acros.

What settings do you have your hydras at?

 

[RCS82]

I think there will be confusion with the 1ppm which is 1000ppb right? And whether that is Phospahte or Phosporus. In any case I would go straight to the Hanna ULR checker for easy accurate results.
How many Hydra 26s do you have and is the 525xl a 5 foot tank?
To me I'm gathering - not enough light, low building blocks and high alk. Pictures maybe and more about your system would be great

 

[nanchil]

Nopox and gfo (chemipure) caused stn on all my Tenuis.
I also think your alk is too high
Your po4 1.00 ppm??? That’s pretty high as well if that’s accurate. I recommend the Hanna ultra low phosphate and alk checker if you want to collect acros.

What settings do you have your hydras at?

Thanks ! I do use Hanna for Alk ... I read recommended Alk is around 11.5 for SPS frags .. no ?

Stay safe and healthy !

Thanks

 

[nanchil]

Regarding the AI, I run the David Saxby settings. I have 3 AI Hydros.

 

[nanchil]

High Po4 cause algae issues no ? Does it cause STN or RTN ?

 

[nanchil]

I think there will be confusion with the 1ppm which is 1000ppb right? And whether that is Phospahte or Phosporus. In any case I would go straight to the Hanna ULR checker for easy accurate results.
How many Hydra 26s do you have and is the 525xl a 5 foot tank?
To me I'm gathering - not enough light, low building blocks and high alk. Pictures maybe and more about your system would be great

Yes 5 foot... 3 AI Hydros

 

[Whasmack]

How many fish do you have? How often do you feed them?

+1 - Carbon dosing & GFO have also caused tissue necrosis in some of my SPS.

How quickly do your new frags recede? (Slow - takes a few days, or fast - basically overnight) Do you have pictures?

How much PAR are they getting hit with?

 

[nanchil]

How many fish do you have? How often do you feed them?

+1 - Carbon dosing & GFO have also caused tissue necrosis in some of my SPS.

How quickly do your new frags recede? (Slow - takes a few days, or fast - basically overnight) Do you have pictures?

How much PAR are they getting hit with?

Thanks ! It takes a week or more ... by end of the second week, all dead... Will get a picture once the light is up.

Not sure about the PAR ... But I had these frags on the bottom on the tank for the first three days and then raised to the middle of the tank...

Stay safe and healthy

Thanks

 

[drawman]

Nopox and gfo (chemipure) caused stn on all my Tenuis.
I also think your alk is too high
Your po4 1.00 ppm??? That’s pretty high as well if that’s accurate. I recommend the Hanna ultra low phosphate and alk checker if you want to collect acros.

What settings do you have your hydras at?

Agree completely with this.

Thanks ! I do use Hanna for Alk ... I read recommended Alk is around 11.5 for SPS frags .. no ?

Stay safe and healthy !

Thanks

I would say that the majority of SPS owners will keep alkalinity between 7-9.5dKH. Doesn't mean that 11.5 won't work but you better have a substantial amount of Nitrate and Phosphate to back it up. I would say it would be easier to keep Alkalinity in the 7-8dKH range as a generality but definitely consider that the higher the alkalinity, the higher the NO3/PO4 should be. I think you will struggle at that dKH with your Nitrate being so low.

I would back off on nutrient reduction methods at this point.

 

[Hemmdog]

alk 7.5-9 dKh
Cal 400-480
Mag 1320-1380
Nitrate 5-25
Phosphate 0.02-0.1 ppm

stop the Nopox and chemipure Immediately

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Regarding the AI, I run the David Saxby settings. I have 3 AI Hydros.

I would not take any advice ever again from whoever recommended 11.5 alk for sps. 7.5-9 dKh is what the pros stick to. I’m not a fan of the saxby program for the average hobbyist bc the it has so much white in it. The whites on 26 HD’s can be really harsh on sps in 20-24” depth tanks, especially if they’re mounted closer than 12” off the water. I run hydras on all my systems and mount them 15” above the water.

 

[RCS82]

I would pump the brakes on the dosing and the nopox and all that kinda stuff. I like the basics. Rock, skimmer, fuge if you got one. No need for a bunch color programs and ABCD and reactors and nopox etc.
How is your rock? Started as dry rock or live rock? No copper ever in it? Sponge growth anywhere? Coraline algae growing still? Any rusty magnets anywhere? Nori clips are great for rust.
Maybe run some poly filter for a bit and some quality carbon.
These things are impossible to pinpoint sometimes and I'm just throwing out a few things that I would look at as well.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I agree with @Chaswood79 and @Hemmdog, follow their instructions. Because the problem starts at the base and not the tips and happens in a week, I don’t think that lighting is the main issue, though it may be an issue. The only way to know is to get a PAR meter and take measurements.

 

[nanchil]

I would pump the brakes on the dosing and the nopox and all that kinda stuff. I like the basics. Rock, skimmer, fuge if you got one. No need for a bunch color programs and ABCD and reactors and nopox etc.
How is your rock? Started as dry rock or live rock? No copper ever in it? Sponge growth anywhere? Coraline algae growing still? Any rusty magnets anywhere? Nori clips are great for rust.
Maybe run some poly filter for a bit and some quality carbon.
These things are impossible to pinpoint sometimes and I'm just throwing out a few things that I would look at as well.

Thanks. I started with Marco rocks. Now it is completely covered with Coraline algae. No fuge though.. I do have a metal clamp in one of the tubes... but not rusted though ... No copper.. never ... I do have 2 tangs, 4 Chromis, 3 Anthias, 1 CBB and one clown. Feed twice a day.

Thanks

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Thanks. I started with Marco rocks. Now it is completely covered with Coraline algae. No fuge though.. I do have a metal clamp in one of the tubes... but not rusted though ... No copper.. never ... I do have 2 tangs, 4 Chromis, 3 Anthias, 1 CBB and one clown. Feed twice a day.

Thanks

You have a metal clamp in the water??

 

[RCS82]

You have a metal clamp in the water??

Like a hose clamp on a clear hose on your return pump? That wouldn't be advisable lol

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Hello all,

I would like to thank everyone upfront for your help ... I have lost more than $ 1500.00 on these SPS frags over a period of one year ... No luck... Tried all kind of "easy" SPS. Couple of mushrooms and Zoas are doing well...

Tank is up for more than 18 months ... Red Sea 525 Xl ... AI Hydro 26 lights... 2 MP40 for flow...

Every time, the frags starts bleaching from bottom within couple of weeks on introducing. Here is my water parameters... I read that it was due to Alk swing ... So made sure that my Alk is stable around 10.00 dKh. I am testing my Alk daily for the last two months and made sure that it is stable before I introduced couple of SPS frags two weeks back... Here I am with same story... Any help is appreciated.

Adding Nopox ( 5ml) daily basis to control No3 / Po4 ... No algae issues ... Clean my glass once in 4 days or so... Run Chemipure (Blue) Here is my water parameters :

Water TDS - 0
Temp - 78 F ( Swing is +/- 1 F) - Checking with two controllers
Sg - 35 ppt ( Testing with two refractometer and calibrate the refractometer once a week)
dKh - 9.9 ~ 10.00 ( Testing daily at 8.00 PM - Red sea / Hanna meter ) - Calculated the consumption and adding the supplement equally throughout the day using dosser
Ca - ~ 450 ( Testing weekly) - Red sea kit and Salfine
Mg ~ 1300 - Red Sea
No3 - < 1.0 PPM - Salfine
Po4 - < 1 PPM - Salfine

What am i doing wrong ? Any help is appreciated !

Stay safe and healthy !

Thanks

NOPOX + Chemipure seems like alot to combat this stuff. I would take the chemi offline.

What's nuisance algae look like?

 

[nanchil]

Like a hose clamp on a clear hose on your return pump? That wouldn't be advisable lol

Yep... it is not rusted at all... I change that every month... I will take that off line

Thanks

Stay safe and healthy !

 

[nanchil]

NOPOX + Chemipure seems like alot to combat this stuff. I would take the chemi offline.

What's nuisance algae look like?

Thanks ! As of now, no i don't have nuisance algae... I clean my glass once in 4~5 days ... basically no algae issues ...

Thanks,

Stay safe and healthy !