Temp swings and sps coral

I've had a big problem with maintaining my PH once the summer started and the windows closed up for the AC to run. I finally ran the skimmer line outside and now my PH improved and coral did improve. I just came back from a 4 day trip to see almost all my sps except my 3 stylo's bleaching from the tips, sides and bases. I pulled up my apex and the temp seemed to have swung a degree or two within 24 hours. Would this be the cause. I tested all my params: SG 1.026, Alk 10, Cal 410, Mag 1400, Nitrates 0, Phos 0.04ppm. Since the upgrade to this 90, it's been nothing but headache. Here's a couple screenshots of temp and PH from the apex.

 

1 degree in 24 hours is Nothing to worry about. Same with PH fluctuation. what you dont want is for it to swing 3 degrees in an hour. For the PH, id say it is the 7.8 to 8.2 in a matter of 20 minutes.

In my reefing experience, what you see on your graphs is perfectly fine. My RKE is set to 78.5° with a hystersis of .5° for the heater. Never EVER had an issue with it. even with a 2° swing in 24 hours. no issues. I would look elsewhere for your bleaching events.

my 180 fluctuated even with a garage sump and the big door open. Dont chase the PH to keep it so rock steady. this is asking for trouble. you Alk may be a little high for some folks. I like mine in the 8dKh range.

 

I discontinued the kalk in the ATO because the coral weren't taking up any alk since they are all messed up and all. I really don't know anymore what the issue can be. It's just annoying and makes you want to get out of it all.

 

man, I hate to hear it. I lost a 180 full of SPS last fall. Still havent figured it all out. I had AEFW, but killed them. corals rebounded a year later and then almost a year to the date, they started to RTN from the bottoms up. before I could control it, I lost colony after colony. could have been orm high nitrates as they got up to 20, but still, I havent put my finger on it. I ended up selling that entire system and just keeping some of the rocks that had zoas on them for my new setup. I plan to let it go without any SPS for a few months. let the various zoas I have get good and established then add in a few very select Acropora (after a test acro or two). plans are for a Zoa garden with high end Acropora.

i wish you the best of luck in your quest. sorry if I wasnt more helpful in narrowing down the culprit.

 

thanks man. yea this hobby really takes weird turns. especially when we can't test for everything. the best I can do now is just let the tank run it's course. Since I run biopellets, if I keep doing water changes my alk will definitely go up since it's not being consumed unless I buy the regular IO salt.

 

High alk msybe, limited nutrients.

 

Agreed, your temp and pH swings are minimal and should have no adverse effect. Biopellets, OTOH, can be everything from tricky to disastrous. I've read of many cases where tanks have crashed after the addition of a pellet reactor, and many more where the aquarist noticed the issues starting and pulled the plug, and the problems reversed. IIRC, member Vinnyboombatz was one who was lucky enough to save his.

 

I agree with the pellets being tricky. I had a run in with that with my previous tank but recovered it. This tank I started running the pellets and once they kicked in, the coral was thriving and growing. I actually run only half the recommended for the water volume and have a hydor 300 gal rated recirc skimmer being fed straight from the reactor. So I thought I had it all figured out by now. lol. One thing I did notice the other day in my return section of the sump is a Saran Wrap film on top of the water. Possible bacteria build up from the pellets? I stuck a powerhead in that area to keep water moving and removed as much of it I could. I also decided to ditch my filter sock on the drain.

 

Yep, bio-film from bacteria build-up and too little flow. If you can keep it in solution, your skimmer will remove it.

 

can that bio-film cause issues in the rest of the tank if it builds up?