Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Roskoreef

Last one is a green Clove polyp?

No.

[Myka]

For all you guys interested in some Space Invaders Pectina...I made some frags. Stay tuned!!!

[tlhood]

[GoFish]

3rd pic Kenya tree?

[Myka]

Not a Kenya Tree.

[FishyFishy!]

I like this game!

3rd pic gorg?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

I like this game!

3rd pic gorg?

So close! Be more specific.

[FishyFishy!]

Diodogorgia Nodulifera?

Or

Corky finger

[Myka]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

Diodogorgia Nodulifera?

Or

Corky finger

Nope. It's a tricky pic because of the way it's growing.

[Myka]

Trouble in paradise...

Sept 18th:
Cal 425 ppm (S)
Alk 7.9 dKH (H)
NO3 0.25 ppm (RS)
PO4 7 ppb, 0.21 ppm (H)

The rest of September I'm focusing on NO3 and PO4 trying to get nutrients up. I have been pouring food into the tank trying to raise nutrients with no effect. I've been adding 4 spoons Coral Frenzy + 5 mL Fauna Marin Ultra Organic one day then the next I add 3 mL Pohl's Xtra + 1/4 tsp Oyster Feast + 5 mL AcroPower. Plus I've been feeding the fish 2-3 times per day as much as they will forcefully eat.

I took all those macro shots on Sept 25th (on pg 14), and during that time I noticed the fans in the ATI fixture weren't working and the fixture was auto-dimming, so I lay a room fan on it to keep it cool. Two days later many of the corals were quite bleached and I realize that the fixture must have been auto-dimming a lot for quite some time (maybe day one??). I turn off all the whites and have been running only the two blues at 80% ever since.

I noticed some burned/receding tips at the end of September and figure it was because I burned the corals with the suddenly brighter lighting, but I want to double check alkalinity so I check parameters.

Sept 29:
Cal 420
Alk 7.5
NO3 1 ppm (from NaNO3 dosing)

Oct 5th the burned tips are getting worse, so I check again and alk is 9.75, I check twice with two different kits. I stop the kalk doser. I had started adding vinegar back into the kalk (which makes it more saturated) which must be the cause of the spike, but I started the vinegar Sept 21 and the burned tips showed up around Sept 25th and the alk spike wasn't until after the 29th testing.

So I'm scratching my head here. Was it the vinegar?? Works out to about 11 mL per day I was dosing into about 80 gallons volume. I was dosing kalk+vinegar from day one, and stopped the vinegar Aug 14th, then re-started Sept 21.

Oct 7th I check alk again and it's still at 9.75 despite removing the kalk doser, so the tank had completely stopped using alk. I also note that pH is 7.4 without the kalk dosing, and I couldn't raise it by providing outside air. At this point I have about 25% of the SPS affected with burned tips.

Over Oct 7-9th I add 15 mL muriatic acid to the sump over 3 doses. This has no further affect on the pH, but does bring alk back down to 7.8. Currently, kalk doser has been offline since Oct 5th, and I haven't dosed any alk in the whole month.

All the corals showing the burned tips around the end of Sept progressed into complete loss from the tips down. I pulled out about a dozen pieces. The STN has spread to more and more corals since - I have about 80% of the SPS affected by mid-October. My clam started gaping mid-October and perished 2 days later. I was worried that I may be looking at a total loss. My rainbow Trachy, anemone, and all softies were unaffected.

October 17th and 18th I did 17-gallon water changes, put a bag of carbon in, and promptly left the city for 10 days. I came back to one more piece gone, but the rest look on the mend. Today I did another 17-gallon water change. My favorite pieces made it, but I ended up with about 50% loss all because of the perfect storm.