SPS Bleaching

[DSlater]

Has anyone run into problems with the Tailored Aquatics DKH Plus? We switched over from using C-Balance and within a week started noticing our SPS were bleaching out from the tips and also from bottom up. It was rapidly travelling down the entire coral (every day that I dosed it got worse) All our algae issues are gone - within a week all our rock that had a covering of algae are completely bare now... our LPS is also suffering a bit though not as much - just not as plump (our candy canes & hammer head). Softies seem completely fine. We run a 220g w/ an 80g sump with a fairly large bioload. We've turned down our lights as we were slowly ramping them up from installing in mid-January. We're sitting at 35% from about 65%. Mainly it's the acropora and Monti's that are having the most issues. Nitrates - 0, Calcium - 460, DKH - 8.5, Phosphates - 0.18 (high and need to change the GFO) & Magnesium - 1450. We were thinking that it was a combination of too much light and the sudden drop of nutrients. We now dose with our homemade mixture of Baking Soda (80/20baked) but the recession is still slowly happening. I've increased my feeding to twice a day as of 2 days ago and we've been feeding Reef-Roids every couple days. We also removed the filter sock last night and had unplugged the UV sterilizer 3 weeks ago. We're only running the skimmer & Phosban right now. I can't seem to win right now. I thought I had it under control but unfortunately the recession is still occurring - we're losing a lot of SPS right now. Has anyone had this happen? Any ideas? We're completely frustrated and at a loss. If we’re losing corals should we be running carbon as well? Any input is great appreciated! Thanks.

[denny_C]

maybe im missing it but how are you keeping your nitrates at zero in a 200g softie tank with high bioload?

assuming your using " quality " test kits and have verified the readings to be true?


cheers

denny

[DSlater]

Denny

Nitrates in our tank have usually hovered in the 5 to 10 range since we added a couple large tangs, past few months. We were close to 0 before that when the load was light. We just have a cheap API test kit for nitrates but had it checked at the LFS as well, read the same so we didn't upgrade the test kit yet. When we changed over from the C-Balance to the Tailored Aquatics DKH plus(with nitrate destroyer) they are now back down to 0, and it happened very quickly.

Question now is, how do I get the nutrients in the tank back up quickly and will this just cause more problems? With corals dying off, should I be running carbon?

Trying to keep the changes slow but it's been well over a week now and things have not stopped getting worse. If the tissue loss would just stop I would know I'm on the right track.

Thanks for your response, much appreciated. It's hard to sit here and watch this happen when we don't know how to fix.

[reefwars]

Denny

Nitrates in our tank have usually hovered in the 5 to 10 range since we added a couple large tangs, past few months. We were close to 0 before that when the load was light. We just have a cheap API test kit for nitrates but had it checked at the LFS as well, read the same so we didn't upgrade the test kit yet. When we changed over from the C-Balance to the Tailored Aquatics DKH plus(with nitrate destroyer) they are now back down to 0, and it happened very quickly.

Question now is, how do I get the nutrients in the tank back up quickly and will this just cause more problems? With corals dying off, should I be running carbon?

Trying to keep the changes slow but it's been well over a week now and things have not stopped getting worse. If the tissue loss would just stop I would know I'm on the right track.

Thanks for your response, much appreciated. It's hard to sit here and watch this happen when we don't know how to fix.



Right away I would stop TA dkh plus , I would most def run carbon and run your skimmer wet.

You houldnt have to add anything to rise your nitrates just feed more , go back to a generous water change schedule.

While all this is happening you'll need to keep up on your dosing , if sps is the goal you my want to reconsider all the leathers and softies.

[reefwars]

You can still bring your po4 down just do it slowly , keep testing for your nitrates and wait till they are detectable then up the gfo Amount.


You'll really need to consider how you will keep nitrates low long term though , many choices to choose from.

Keep your parameters stable throughout all this and your system will adjust to the nutrient changes rather quickly , quick drop in nitrates usually isn't an issue so I dont think its the exact cause but sure isn't helping.