SPS dying and some LPS struggling

Dburr1014 · Aug 24, 2023

billyocean said:
That 2-4 nitrates and .01-.03 phosphate scares me. It's at least detectable but within range of zeroing out within testing margins. With alk that high, as you mentioned, higher nutrients make coral life easier...but at the same time your par isn't cooking them so to speak. There have been quite a few changes as mentioned so it's hard to pinpoint. My advice would.be to bump up those p04/n03 numbers a bit (maybe .05 p04 and 10 n03 at least). Personally, I would get for at least .08 and 15-20. More experienced reefers may have a better answer.

I agree, PO4 @ 0.03 should be a minimum. Coral may be hungry!
But, I will say, some don't agree with me.
Phosphorous and nitrogen (ammonium) are preferred. So as long as you have a constant supply (FEED YOUR FISH) OP should be okay.

Dburr1014 · Aug 24, 2023

Lavey29 said:
I agree, corals slowly starving to death and the instability with the alk swings over 1DKH can doom SPS too.

The alkalinity swings the OP mentioned are over the coarse of a month. IMO, that's pretty stable alk, at least compared to my system, lol.

BroccoliFarmer · Aug 24, 2023

Dburr1014 said:
My BTA has been in my system for years and I don't run any carbon. Where did you get this information from?

Anecdotally from other BTA keepers talking on this forum. I have experienced similar challenges and was raising what I heard as a possibility given my similar experiences.

RaymondNoodles · Sep 5, 2023

ATI ICP results are in. I see 2 red flags: high tin and low iodine. Looking for the best course of action. I have a couple magnet sensors in the sump that I am going to check along with the heaters for any sign of rust/corrosion. Both OctoPulse power head magnets still look brand new. All equipment is 1 year old. Should I do a series of water changes and test again? Should I pull out the return pump and UV pump to check for rust/corrosion? My acans and favia are starting to suffer. Torch looks OK. Softies are happy for the most part except for one GSP island which was closed up for a week but randomly opened back up today. SPS are all completely dead

Thanks for the help.

Dburr1014 · Sep 6, 2023

RaymondNoodles said:
ATI ICP results are in. I see 2 red flags: high tin and low iodine. Looking for the best course of action. I have a couple magnet sensors in the sump that I am going to check along with the heaters for any sign of rust/corrosion. Both OctoPulse power head magnets still look brand new. All equipment is 1 year old. Should I do a series of water changes and test again? Should I pull out the return pump and UV pump to check for rust/corrosion? My acans and favia are starting to suffer. Torch looks OK. Softies are happy for the most part except for one GSP island which was closed up for a week but randomly opened back up today. SPS are all completely dead Thanks for the help.

If my memory serves me, tin can be caused from hose and pvc pipes. It's used in making them.

RaymondNoodles · Sep 17, 2023

Been doing some larger water changes and will send in another ICP test soon. I suspect the problem is that I haven’t done much water changing as nutrients have stayed low and calcium/magnesium have stayed where they’re supposed to. Maybe with new PVC/plumbing/pumps I should have done more water changes but I was afraid of nutrients bottoming out and Dino’s taking over. Already had Dino’s in the beginning.

juarec0201 · Nov 4, 2023

RaymondNoodles said:
Been doing some larger water changes and will send in another ICP test soon. I suspect the problem is that I haven’t done much water changing as nutrients have stayed low and calcium/magnesium have stayed where they’re supposed to. Maybe with new PVC/plumbing/pumps I should have done more water changes but I was afraid of nutrients bottoming out and Dino’s taking over. Already had Dino’s in the beginning.

I’m having similar issues, did you end up pinpointing any potential problems?

RaymondNoodles · Nov 5, 2023

juarec0201 said:
I’m having similar issues, did you end up pinpointing any potential problems?

I should have posted back here earlier, but I believe the tin was from braided vinyl tubing used for the UV sterilizer. After checking all components in my system and not finding any signs of rust or corrosion I kept doing research and found stories of specific tubing leaching tin. I used braided vinyl tubing for my UV sterilizer (that I bought on Amazon - big mistake!) About a month ago I replaced it with silicone tubing and have done 2 25% water changes since. I’ll probably do 1 or 2 more water changes and then send in another ICP. I’ll be sure to report back here with the findings. Good luck!