RTN

[youngtimothy]

sweet, I came home from work yesterday and my 1 year old green birds nest was starting to go, today its gone! my 3 year old pink birds nest had a few branches starting yesterday, but I think it may be safe. I was able to frag a small piece of the green before it was all gone we'll see if it makes it. gotta love them SPS! yes my parameters are good.

[EMUreef]

Originally Posted by youngtimothy

sweet, I came home from work yesterday and my 1 year old green birds nest was starting to go, today its gone! my 3 year old pink birds nest had a few branches starting yesterday, but I think it may be safe. I was able to frag a small piece of the green before it was all gone we'll see if it makes it. gotta love them SPS! yes my parameters are good.

I hate to say but what does "parameters are good" mean?

do you dose? if so whats ur alk at? calc? all those things.

[youngtimothy]

thats allright I knew it was coming!

100 gal display 20 gal's of sump/fuge
80 degrees
9 dkh
430 cal
amonia nitrate nitrite phos all undetectable
8.29 ph
I dose 3ml vodka and 1 cap microbacter7 daily
BRS alk and cal every hour via doseing pumps and RKL
ro/di water
6 t-5's for lighting

[schminksbro]

Two factors I can see there that are likely the problem. Alk at 9dkh is quite high for a pro biotic system. You are hovering on the verge of tip burn with your acros at that level. I would strongly recommend slowly dropping it down to 7-8 dkh. Second and most likely is that with your dosing regiment you have probably stripped the tank. It has been my experience that birdsnest and monti caps seem to be the canary in the coal mine. In other words they prefer a bit more nutrient than other sps. I would lower the vodka dose slightly and increase feeding. I have had the same experience a few years ago.

[youngtimothy]

I can lower the alk but when it is 7 to 8 my huge blue tunuis acro starts to die off. I also have a green slme algae growing on sand and rocks it has been driving me nuts for a year, this tells me i'm not low on nutrients (at least I think). the only way it could be lack of flow is if the corals are blocking the flow I run 2 mp40w and a 800gph return pump.

[schminksbro]

Of course all corals are not the same but the ocean is closer to 6-6.5dkh. Many times people have huge problems when the reach ULN and their alk is higher than 8dkh. I have a 100 gallon display and a 30 gallon frag tank both piped out of a 30 gallon sump. Approx 130 gallons total. I dose .5ml of vodka daily and 1 cap of MB7 weekly and I feed several time a day. The risk of running your alk at 9dkh is that growth and consumption can vary. Let's say you feed a little heavy one day and your phosphate rises slightly. The additional PO4 can inhibit calcification and slow growth slightly which in turn reduces overall consumption of carbonate. The result is your alk can creep up even higher and smoke the tips on certain corals.

Originally Posted by youngtimothy

I can lower the alk but when it is 7 to 8 my huge blue tunuis acro starts to die off. I also have a green slme algae growing on sand and rocks it has been driving me nuts for a year, this tells me i'm not low on nutrients (at least I think). the only way it could be lack of flow is if the corals are blocking the flow I run 2 mp40w and a 800gph return pump.

[youngtimothy]

I lowered the time on my alk and cal and will lower the dose of vodka and mb7. we'll see what happens.