Puzzled with this

So I almost posted this in the ASAP forum, but wanted to drop it here. I posted on another board but want to hear what you guys have.

So I am having a fight with my tank. I just got a bunch of new frags and I am having an issue getting them to take off. some are even showing recession at the tips!!!! my pocilipora's wont open. I have two in the tank. added at different times and they wont open at all.

im running 250wt Halides with 1 month old bulbs. sg is 1.024, 8.6kh, 8.19PH (pinpoint), ca is 400 temp is 78. tests read zero nitrates and phosphates per salifert on all above tests. Hanna Checker tested at 11 PPBillion the other day.

I have been running ecobak since christmas. I know I had a good deal of phosphates in there, and have been running GFO to strip them out. I have a good deal of HA that is receding at this time.

I am at a complete LOSS on this. getting very frustrated.

no bugs or worms noticed at all. all were dipped in coral rx pro before addition.
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Now, at this point I am turning off the GFO thinking it has stripped too much out of the water and the phosphates that I have had in there are gone. the HA is receeding and we are working our way across the tank to get it off the rocks. this weekend we plan a major in tank scrubbing that will hopefully wipe it out completely. new filter socks are to be made so we can catch as much of the debris as possible. I may even kick up the sump return during this process.

biggest thing is. was the GFO my culprit in teh burnt tips???

 

Have you tested for stray voltage?

 

you konw.. I havent yet. I have a ground probe in the sump.

 

Would it be possible to reduce the amount of GFO rather than take it completely off line ?

What are you using to maintain the alk level?

 

One thought that occurs to me Pickupman

is that Ecobak is a solid carbon dosing form
and from my research into carbon dosing I have noted that burnt tips on SPS
can be an issue due to DKH, with many carbon dosers suggesting a DKH between 7 and 8 as being ideal to prevent this occurance

having never experienced any issues with SPS due to GFO I cannot comment on that issue
although I have experienced issues with LPS bleaching which I attributed to adding to much GFO and changing parameters to quickly


Steve

 

ALK is maintained thru the a CA reactor at this time. its been very steady. I know high alk can burn them with the pellets in the ULNS but didnt think that 8.5 was too high. I know I had that spike before when I had a not so good test kit, but these were all introduced since it returned to the lower levels.

 

8.5 does not seem high to me Pickupman
Im carbon dosing and running at 8.3 presently with no ill effects
but your 8.5 seems unbalanced with the 400 ppm calcium
with that level a DKH less than 6 would be balanced
and with a DKH of 8.5 a calcium level of 420 would be more balanced

I dont know, so I hope Inwall can contribute again
but I suspect that the inbalance between Ca and DKH may be causing the excess Alkalinity ions to be negatively affecting your corals and causing the burnt tips in the ULNS your establishing

Steve

 

IM working to raise the CA levels now with some two part (only dosing the CA part now).

 

Hopefully the corals make a full recovery for you pickupman

one suggestion - Brightwell Aquatics - Restor
is an amino enhanced phyto that I have used to combat burnt tips in SPS coral
( dripped directly onto a Monti Digittata before I fine tuned my dosing set up)
coral made a full recovery thankfully and Restor is a product designed to aid healing in corals after propogation etc, and corals that have experienced other damage

Steve