Warning: I tried to make this as concise as possible but it is a "long read", so continue only if you have a lot of patience and curiosity!
PROBLEM: For the past 15 days, every morning I wake up to find a white tip that I have to snip, usually on one frag each day. Only once was there STN from the bottom (WD). I had over 70 SPS frags, most were added 5-8 months ago. Most were from R2R Live Sales and in poor condition to start. There has been absolutely NO growth since and most have been a struggle to keep alive. (About 25 have died). I blame a lot of my early problems on the "tin issue" that I wrote about in another thread, but it seemed like I started to see improvement once I got the tin somewhat under control about 1 mo ago. But then, things got worse than ever which is when the current problem started with the sudden white tips. (I’m down to about 45 frags and the tank looks like a bunch of nubs!; photos below) Of course there are a zillion variables and possibilities but hopefully people will comment on some of my "thoughts".
SYSTEM:
-Red Sea Reefer 170 (45 gal). Set up 11 months ago with intention of making it my SPS Frag Q-Tank for my new build (when I move). Also, this tank was intended to be an “experimental” tank, for my first serious attempt with LED’s, for trying out a sand bed (after years of bare-bottom) and to learn the GHL Controller.
-Initially started with artificial rock (never again) but replaced all with 25lb Gulf Rock (month 2) and 25lb Keys rock (month 6). (Lots of “life” came on these rocks!)
-I started with 2 Radon G5 XR15’s but switched to 250w radium w/ 4 T5’s when problems arose around month #6 because of my "comfort level" with halides. (11 hr total w/ 4 to 5 hrs of halide)
-HOB Refugium: Chaeto died 3 times; Added 1 gal Miracle Mud 1 mo ago.
-Octo Regal 150 Skimmer: plumbed to outside air; CO2 Scrubber (controlled by pH)
-Tunze Wavemaker; (2) Echotech MP10’s
-Changed buffers a few times: Triton CORE 7 >>> jBRS>>>>T.M. Balling >>>>BRS w/Balling
-10-stage BRS RO/DI with booster (6 DI cylinders)
-Complicated assortment of additives (but no more than 1/8 rec dosage: many KZ additives alternated with T.M. A&K Elements and Triton individual Elements (based on ICP tests); Acropower. (But not all at same time)
-LOTS of testing with many kits: Dosed NO3 and PO4 in months 2-4 and PO4 again recently.
-Started with I.O. salt for 2 months>>>Red Sea (1 bucket)>>>>mostly T.M. Pro ; (Going back to my old favorite soon, ESV)
-Bare-bottom at first; Added 3” Carib Sea Oolyte and Special Grade around month #9
-Started dosing with ammonium hydroxide 2 days ago.
LIVESTOCK
-Lot of fish: Yellow, Kole & Hippo tangs; Melanarus; PJ and Bangaii; (2) Percs; Hector goby
-Lot of snails (incl. Sand-sifters)
-45 SPS frags; Gorgonian and 2 Rose corals from Gulf rock; 2 Favia
PARAMETERS (meticulous calibration and testing)
S.G. 1.026
Alk 7.7-8.0
Ca: 420-440
Mg: 1310-1400
NO3: 5-10 (first 8 mo) then 15-20 (months 9-10) then 20-25 (would like 2-5)
PO4 : 0.03-0.1 (mostly around 0.04-0.06)
pH: 8.20 – 8.40
FACTORS TO CONSIDER (Please give your opinons! Thanks!)
Any attempt at helping will be appreciated…….even sympathy!
These photos will show the “nubs” that are remaining. I scraped only the front glass for the photos.
Check out the RR Applejacks (by the mouth of the Kole). This coral almost died several times during the first few months but is doing amazingly well now! One of the rare ones not being affected.
This one shows my pathetic little "nubs" up close. The "hairy" one is a Cherry Bomb that is struggling to survive. It use to be red. (The red Tyree Rouge mille to the right is one of the few that have kept it's color). Middle front: remnant of Oregon tort. Most I don't even recognize any more.
This is an ugly shot....but I just want to show the amount of algae on the glass. I probably haven't scraped it for 6 weeks. (I'm leaving it for the tangs and snails). The Tunze wavemaker was new only 6 wks ago. Lot of coralline since:
PROBLEM: For the past 15 days, every morning I wake up to find a white tip that I have to snip, usually on one frag each day. Only once was there STN from the bottom (WD). I had over 70 SPS frags, most were added 5-8 months ago. Most were from R2R Live Sales and in poor condition to start. There has been absolutely NO growth since and most have been a struggle to keep alive. (About 25 have died). I blame a lot of my early problems on the "tin issue" that I wrote about in another thread, but it seemed like I started to see improvement once I got the tin somewhat under control about 1 mo ago. But then, things got worse than ever which is when the current problem started with the sudden white tips. (I’m down to about 45 frags and the tank looks like a bunch of nubs!; photos below) Of course there are a zillion variables and possibilities but hopefully people will comment on some of my "thoughts".
SYSTEM:
-Red Sea Reefer 170 (45 gal). Set up 11 months ago with intention of making it my SPS Frag Q-Tank for my new build (when I move). Also, this tank was intended to be an “experimental” tank, for my first serious attempt with LED’s, for trying out a sand bed (after years of bare-bottom) and to learn the GHL Controller.
-Initially started with artificial rock (never again) but replaced all with 25lb Gulf Rock (month 2) and 25lb Keys rock (month 6). (Lots of “life” came on these rocks!)
-I started with 2 Radon G5 XR15’s but switched to 250w radium w/ 4 T5’s when problems arose around month #6 because of my "comfort level" with halides. (11 hr total w/ 4 to 5 hrs of halide)
-HOB Refugium: Chaeto died 3 times; Added 1 gal Miracle Mud 1 mo ago.
-Octo Regal 150 Skimmer: plumbed to outside air; CO2 Scrubber (controlled by pH)
-Tunze Wavemaker; (2) Echotech MP10’s
-Changed buffers a few times: Triton CORE 7 >>> jBRS>>>>T.M. Balling >>>>BRS w/Balling
-10-stage BRS RO/DI with booster (6 DI cylinders)
-Complicated assortment of additives (but no more than 1/8 rec dosage: many KZ additives alternated with T.M. A&K Elements and Triton individual Elements (based on ICP tests); Acropower. (But not all at same time)
-LOTS of testing with many kits: Dosed NO3 and PO4 in months 2-4 and PO4 again recently.
-Started with I.O. salt for 2 months>>>Red Sea (1 bucket)>>>>mostly T.M. Pro ; (Going back to my old favorite soon, ESV)
-Bare-bottom at first; Added 3” Carib Sea Oolyte and Special Grade around month #9
-Started dosing with ammonium hydroxide 2 days ago.
LIVESTOCK
-Lot of fish: Yellow, Kole & Hippo tangs; Melanarus; PJ and Bangaii; (2) Percs; Hector goby
-Lot of snails (incl. Sand-sifters)
-45 SPS frags; Gorgonian and 2 Rose corals from Gulf rock; 2 Favia
PARAMETERS (meticulous calibration and testing)
S.G. 1.026
Alk 7.7-8.0
Ca: 420-440
Mg: 1310-1400
NO3: 5-10 (first 8 mo) then 15-20 (months 9-10) then 20-25 (would like 2-5)
PO4 : 0.03-0.1 (mostly around 0.04-0.06)
pH: 8.20 – 8.40
FACTORS TO CONSIDER (Please give your opinons! Thanks!)
- Many of you may have seen my thread on my “tin problem” (and are probably sick of hearing about it) so I don’t want to spend time on that. But, nobody will ever convince me that the tin did not have any effect on my frags, at least early on, especially considering these factors: new tank; small tank: new SPS frags. Let’s just keep this in the “back of our minds” for this discussion.
- Water Changes: Because of the tin, I performed tons of water changes to the point where I started to wonder: “How many changes can one do before having them create a problem?” (in particular, by diluting or flushing out bacteria in the water column). I must have gone through 1000-1200 gal of salt changes in 11 months (for 40 gal total volume tank) because of the tin issue so maybe the equivalent of 25 100% water changes?? I’m sure this was stressful. But water changes have slowed down recently.
- Added Sand (Month 9): I am mentioning this because it seemed that shortly after this is when the nitrates started to creep up. In the past 2 months I’ve added Matrix and XPort-NO3 and Microbacter 7; and, I started Ammonium hydroxide at 1/3 Randy’s recommended dosage just 2 days ago.
- Carbon Dosing: I started using BioFuel (Brightwell) 6-8? mo ago when NO3 started to creep up. I can’t say I saw any benefit, but it is hard to know with no control. About 1 month ago, I switched to KZ START and KZ FOOD but recently stopped that. I’m wondering if the carbon dosing is increasing the bacterial population to the point that the bacteria is stealing nutrients away from the corals (which is part of the reason for my recent ammonium dosing). But, I also lowered the height of the skimmer column so there is less skimmate being collected (in case I am removing too much of the bacteria, which probably conflicts with the previous statement! This was recently discussed in a current thread but any additional comments may be helpful! I'm still on the fence as to which way to think about this subject, which brings me to one of my biggest questions: Am I removing too much bacteria (from over-skimming and too many water changes) or am I creating too much bacteria (with carbon dosing) that is competing for ammonia?.
- PO4 Dosing: It is interesting that I suddenly had to start dosing PO4 again, and this seems to correspond to this 15 day period of “white tips.” (But I’ve been dosing PO4 and have been meticulous with testing and keeping a “good” level (0.04-0.06).
- Algae: I haven’t had to scrape the glass for over a month! There is some algae but this is definitely a change I’ve noticed. Also, I mentioned that I have been having a problem with growing Chaeto. I’m not sure if it is because of the design of the HOB (flow and light). (One of the many disadvantages of a small than! i.e. need to use a HOB). I drained and removed the refugium today thinking there may be some rotting stuff and to my surprise, some algae was growing! The chaeto was almost completely gone (for the 3d time) but some ulva and gracilaria that I picked up off a beach in NJ (1 mo ago) and a Gulf “fern-like” caulerpa was growing OK. (I added Miracle Mud a month ago and changed refugium lights 5 days ago). (An urchin and emerald crab that had been banished to the refugium were doing fine). Coralline algae is growing well. Before seeing that the algae may not be as bad as I thought, I was thinking that “if macro algae can’t grow than maybe zooxanthellae can’t grow”. The lack of algae on the glass may support this idea.
- Burnt Tips: Usually one thinks of too much light, Alk swings, low nutrients, or low nutrients in relation to Alk. I doubt it is too much light. 250W halide is on for only 4 hours. (I grew SPS under 400W halides for 25 years at much longer photoperiods). I’m proving that it is hard to keep anything stable in a small tank. (This is my smallest tank since my first 30 gal tank over 50 years ago!) I’ve had my share of fluctuations (of Alk, PO4 and NO3), some being caused by “learning mishaps” with the GHL Controller.
- ICP Tests: I have run 11 tests since last May on this tank. Other than persistent elevated tin (18, 22, 45.8, 18, 114, 122, 87.3, 14, 50, 4.5, 44.5) there have been no alarming abnormalities (suggesting that my complex trace element dosing is probably not at fault)
- Many will say that a problem noticed “today” is caused by something that happened a long time ago. I don’t completely “buy” this theory. Although it may be possible, I believe that recent events are just as likely to cause a problem as an event in the past. What is strange here is that I feel like I finally got over the “hump” (with the tin problem) and now I’m having an even bigger problem! (I may be wrong about solving the tin problem and will send out another ICP soon).
Any attempt at helping will be appreciated…….even sympathy!
These photos will show the “nubs” that are remaining. I scraped only the front glass for the photos.
Check out the RR Applejacks (by the mouth of the Kole). This coral almost died several times during the first few months but is doing amazingly well now! One of the rare ones not being affected.
This one shows my pathetic little "nubs" up close. The "hairy" one is a Cherry Bomb that is struggling to survive. It use to be red. (The red Tyree Rouge mille to the right is one of the few that have kept it's color). Middle front: remnant of Oregon tort. Most I don't even recognize any more.
This is an ugly shot....but I just want to show the amount of algae on the glass. I probably haven't scraped it for 6 weeks. (I'm leaving it for the tangs and snails). The Tunze wavemaker was new only 6 wks ago. Lot of coralline since:
