Ultralith users (or those with random STN of only expensive SPS *sigh*)

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by fencer

Certain brands of salt caused my tank to crash
weekly 10% water changes?

yep, although this week its closer to 20.

[ScubaSteve]

I share your pain. I've been getting random STN all summer and I have no idea why. I try here for answers and you get asked the basics that you've already run through a million times before deciding to post for help. Makes you want to bang your head against the tank until things work.

One comment I may make on the Ultralith system: It is a low nutrient system. Check out Fragd'it's blog about ultra-low nutrient systems. Sure it makes the corals look pretty but it also makes them more susceptable to bad things happening. Personally, I feel a little skeptical as to how "good" these systems are for your tank. I'm not criticizing or anything, just sayin' the low nutrient system itself (or the transition to it) might be the cause.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

I share your pain. I've been getting random STN all summer and I have no idea why. I try here for answers and you get asked the basics that you've already run through a million times before deciding to post for help. Makes you want to bang your head against the tank until things work.

One comment I may make on the Ultralith system: It is a low nutrient system. Check out Fragd'it's blog about ultra-low nutrient systems. Sure it makes the corals look pretty but it also makes them more susceptable to bad things happening. Personally, I feel a little skeptical as to how "good" these systems are for your tank. I'm not criticizing or anything, just sayin' the low nutrient system itself (or the transition to it) might be the cause.

I agree, any "low nutrient system" can be the cause of many problems as your system adapts, however I've used several and this one has worked for me in the past.

One thing I never even thought about though, I introduced a linear blenny a number of weeks ago, Ecsenius lineatus, which "may nip at the polyps or bases of SPS corals" according to liveaquaria.com. Never even thought about the little bugger, guess I'll have to keep an eye on him since I can see a few more spots of "STN" on various bases. Its just the lokani and aussie delicate that have taken the worst hits so far (the aussie because its a goodly portion of the colony and its spiky which makes me think its not the blenny and the lokani was a ridiculously small frag to begin with so any loss of polyps is a major blow).