I doubt that salinity in a reef is 1.022. Do you successfully keep any SPS at that salinity? if so, what do you keep and for how long?

I would not keep a reef tank at 1.022 but that's me. Things grow much better and faster at 1.025 or near that.

SPS don't like "spikes"

other more resistant corals will probably be ok.

asterina star? or your salinity at 1.023 and the spikes at 1.025?

zoanthids need a lot of stability in alkalinity and salinity otherwise they will melt. So you should get your parameters stable and your zoanthids will not melt any longer. Even a very small shift in alkalinity can make a colony melt. I had this problem before I got my dosing pump but since I got my dosing pump my alkalinity stay stable as a rock and no more zoanthids have melted for the last 2 months.

actually its me were talking about here not him, lol but my tank is stable now again, and I haven't lost anything, it just appears that maybe a xenia might be the only casualty, but its still tough to tell, my ricordea is growing nicely and one ore 2 zoos have begun to split, so other then my hiccup I'm pleased with my progress thus far. P.s. guys NO HIJACKING! ;)

For reference

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream//o...g_salinity.pdf

Thanks. I'm glad I got the problem fixed. What a head ache lol.

Nice! thanks a lot!

Nanomano, sorry about this but I thought it was important to mention. As for you, I think you should get a refractometer or at least get your hydrometer checked against a good refractometer so you will know just how much it is off and you will be able to compensate.

Lowering the salinity is not too hard on living things, as long as it is the proper salinity, it is rising it that is harsh usualy on fish and must not be done more than 0.003 point per day.

No Daniella. My parameters are stable. As I mentioned... Asterina stars are taking over. Must have over a thousand and they are smothering / eating them.

If you read my post again, it might make sense.

Daniella... Yea. I keep SPS.

Sorry. I think Daniella simply midunderstood. The info was for you.

YOu wrote "Again, my tank is 1.023 with "spikes" to 1.025 if I let the sump level drop"

Those "spikes" are not good and more than enough to make zoanthids melt.

That for me is making more sense for zoanthids melting than asterina starfish. I too have tons of them, and at the end they were not responsible for the melting. After I got my alkalinity stable with dosing a little bit each hour, the melting stopped, although I still have as many asterinas and yes they do crawl on my polyps but the polyps open when the starfish is gone. When I see them on my frag I throw them away just in case. Zoanthids are so sensite, it is unbeleivable. I dosed "Kent Iron and magnaneese" a litle bit less than what is recommanded on the bottle and instantly my magicians closed. It took them 2 weeks of TLC to recover from that! They shriveled so much that I was sure they would melt. All that was left was a tiny shaft with melted tentacles. I was dosing this for my alveopora and goniopora. Next time I will dose a very small quantity and more often. Lesson learned. I know it's the product because the reaction from it was immediate and long lasting. I had to do 2 30% water change to bring them back to health.

If you have that many asterinas and you think they are doing dammage, maybe you should get an harlequin shrimp? They only eat starfish. After your asterinas are gone you would have to feed it a starfish eavery 2 weeks or sell it.

Sorry again for the hijack :)