jaws789832
Active Member
So I am kind of at a loss here and not sure what is going on. This is an ongoing problem that I have and I have tried a lot of things to see if I can fix it to no avail. My SPS seem to start dying off at the tips, then grow a bit of algae on the dead spots.
First about my tank. Its a 120 with a 38 gallon sump. I run 2 ecotech radion G3 and supplement with 2 T5 HO coral plus. I dose Triton Core 7, 18ml per day, Have a fuge that is flourishing, run carbon in a brs reactor and have a skimz skimmer that runs 24/7 but dry. I only empty the cup about once every 10 days. I use an ecotech M1 return full blast, 2 apex WAV powerheads run at about 60% and a Tunze powerhead that is hooked up to a icecap battery backup that only runs at 20% in case of power failure. The tank is pretty much algae free (except for on the coral dead spots) and the only pests that I can tell are aptaisia (which berghias for about 3 weeks now seem to be keeping them in check but the verdict is not in yet) and those pesky vermitid (sp) snails.
Parameters as follows:
Temp: 77.5-78
PH 7.9-8.2 via apex. Just calibrated about a week ago
Salinity: 1.026 (35ppt) using tropic marin pro salt
Alk: 8.5 just tested this morning and it remains pretty stable (8.2-8.5 over the last 3 months)
Cal: 480 by my salifert test 464 by triton (1 week ago)
Mag: 1410 by my salifert test. 1249 by triton
phosphate: .01-.03 by hanna ulr phosphorous (tested this morning .03, yesterday .01 and it seems to remain in this range). .008 by triton
Nitrate: 4ppm
The only things triton said to adjust was my mag and my stronium was low. My phosphates were low as well and they said to feed the tank more.
I have 6 fish that I feed:
everyday,
4 pipettes of live blackworms
a cube (or somewhere thereabouts) of LRS frozen and some frozen LRS fish eggs
50 ml of algaebarns phyto with 2 scoops of reef chili in it
1/4 sheet of nori
every 3 days,
1tsp hatched live baby brine shrimp
I feel that I way overfeed but it seems that this is the only way I can keep my nitrates and phosphates up at all.
I have upped the lighting, lowered the lighting, changed the spectrum, all with no affect.
The affected corals don't die they just seem to get bleached tips (that the algae adheres to then have this ugly spot on them forever)
Here is some pictures. Keep in mind these were taken with the lights off and using a flash so the polyp extension isn't there but with lights on they have good polyp extension and good color except for the bleached part.
this is the oldest of the problem coral (about 1.5 years). It will go through a growth spurt then lose its color and polyps on a part I will trim it off, it will slow growth for a little bit then start again.
this is the second oldest. the whole top lost all its color and polyps. the base has slowly been growing. It has great polyp extension everywhere that is colored but the top is just an eyesore and doesn't grow at all.
third oldest. When I first put it in the tank it just exploded. it was just a 1/2 inch stick, it encrusted nicely and grew all those branches. then it stopped growing. Its polyps at the base still extend but in the upper half they are pretty weak. You can see the tips starting to bleach.
the nex 2 are my newest ones (about a month) You can see in this one it just started turning white at the top and slowly its progressing downwards (this one is definatly the fastest one to do this) the bottom still has great color and polyp extension. It did have a rough time going into the tank though as I dropped it trying to change out its frag plug and it landed right on its top so I figured it would die off a little but it seems to be receeding quickly.
this last one seems to still have the polys and color all the way up but it looks to me like the tips are starting to turn white
I have about 8 other SPS in the tank that so far are doing fantastic with no signs of bleaching at all and great color and growth.
Is there anything I can do to turn these 5 around? Any recommendations as to what could be going on. My LPS, Zoas, Mushrooms and all doing great with no issues.
First about my tank. Its a 120 with a 38 gallon sump. I run 2 ecotech radion G3 and supplement with 2 T5 HO coral plus. I dose Triton Core 7, 18ml per day, Have a fuge that is flourishing, run carbon in a brs reactor and have a skimz skimmer that runs 24/7 but dry. I only empty the cup about once every 10 days. I use an ecotech M1 return full blast, 2 apex WAV powerheads run at about 60% and a Tunze powerhead that is hooked up to a icecap battery backup that only runs at 20% in case of power failure. The tank is pretty much algae free (except for on the coral dead spots) and the only pests that I can tell are aptaisia (which berghias for about 3 weeks now seem to be keeping them in check but the verdict is not in yet) and those pesky vermitid (sp) snails.
Parameters as follows:
Temp: 77.5-78
PH 7.9-8.2 via apex. Just calibrated about a week ago
Salinity: 1.026 (35ppt) using tropic marin pro salt
Alk: 8.5 just tested this morning and it remains pretty stable (8.2-8.5 over the last 3 months)
Cal: 480 by my salifert test 464 by triton (1 week ago)
Mag: 1410 by my salifert test. 1249 by triton
phosphate: .01-.03 by hanna ulr phosphorous (tested this morning .03, yesterday .01 and it seems to remain in this range). .008 by triton
Nitrate: 4ppm
The only things triton said to adjust was my mag and my stronium was low. My phosphates were low as well and they said to feed the tank more.
I have 6 fish that I feed:
everyday,
4 pipettes of live blackworms
a cube (or somewhere thereabouts) of LRS frozen and some frozen LRS fish eggs
50 ml of algaebarns phyto with 2 scoops of reef chili in it
1/4 sheet of nori
every 3 days,
1tsp hatched live baby brine shrimp
I feel that I way overfeed but it seems that this is the only way I can keep my nitrates and phosphates up at all.
I have upped the lighting, lowered the lighting, changed the spectrum, all with no affect.
The affected corals don't die they just seem to get bleached tips (that the algae adheres to then have this ugly spot on them forever)
Here is some pictures. Keep in mind these were taken with the lights off and using a flash so the polyp extension isn't there but with lights on they have good polyp extension and good color except for the bleached part.
this is the oldest of the problem coral (about 1.5 years). It will go through a growth spurt then lose its color and polyps on a part I will trim it off, it will slow growth for a little bit then start again.
this is the second oldest. the whole top lost all its color and polyps. the base has slowly been growing. It has great polyp extension everywhere that is colored but the top is just an eyesore and doesn't grow at all.
third oldest. When I first put it in the tank it just exploded. it was just a 1/2 inch stick, it encrusted nicely and grew all those branches. then it stopped growing. Its polyps at the base still extend but in the upper half they are pretty weak. You can see the tips starting to bleach.
the nex 2 are my newest ones (about a month) You can see in this one it just started turning white at the top and slowly its progressing downwards (this one is definatly the fastest one to do this) the bottom still has great color and polyp extension. It did have a rough time going into the tank though as I dropped it trying to change out its frag plug and it landed right on its top so I figured it would die off a little but it seems to be receeding quickly.
this last one seems to still have the polys and color all the way up but it looks to me like the tips are starting to turn white
I have about 8 other SPS in the tank that so far are doing fantastic with no signs of bleaching at all and great color and growth.
Is there anything I can do to turn these 5 around? Any recommendations as to what could be going on. My LPS, Zoas, Mushrooms and all doing great with no issues.
