I thought I figured it out, guess not. HELP!!

So I thought I got it resolved. I thought the cause to my stn was ph. Well this morning one of my tri color started to stn from the base. As well as my red planet. I also got 2 part dosed and im not using kalk anymore. What's the deal

Alk 8.8
Ca 420
Mg high 1440
0 n/p
I have a thin film on my rocks. Could it possibly be my bio pellets ? I did not rinse them when I moved. It was in the reactor for about 3 hours. I did discard the water that was in it.

I also inspected and I have no bugs. Possible virus ? Should I do 100% water change?

 

do you have any other corals near them? do you run carbon for possible chemical warfare? sometimes it is hard to figure out. a couple of weeks ago i had a red cap die on me even though other red caps in the same tank (all from the same original) are doing fine. One of the others is only an inch from the one that died and has shown no ill effects. it can be frustrating.

 

when you moved? is the biopellets new to this tank? If so did you dose with half the amount at first? Running a skimmer?

Dont do a 100% water change. a too massive of water change will cause problems also.

You havent listed your kH. What is that at. SPS does not do well when you have low Kh. I keep mine around 9-13......if it gets below 8 i start to see STN (or even RTN)

 

I believe he listed his alk as 8.8.

That is interesting. My old tank would use so much alk, that many times I noticed it below 6. My SPS was fine, surprisingly.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. If your NO3 and PO4 are zero, then I cannot see any problems from the info you provided. Red bugs will not cause STN. I know this from personal experience. They will slowly suck the life out of your acros, it is a slow death if untreated. They will lose color, and their polyps not be extended. They can survive for weeks, if not months, with red bugs.

You are going to have to tell us more. Anything you have done to the tank recently (or anything you have not done), other parameters (nitrite, ammonia, etc). What is your pH btw? Is it stable? How is your alk and pH at the beginning of the day compared to the end? Also, how is it on a day to day basis? Do you use any supplements? If so what kind/brand? Any medications? What kind of test kits? Lighting? Flow? Ok I could ask an infinite number of questions here lol.

Btw, I would NOT do a 100% WC. Maybe like 25% every other day until you diagnose the problem..

 

Biopellets is not new. i was using it before. what i didnt do is soak it in R/O water after the move. it was sitting in saltwater for about 4 hoours

i had a pH problem after the move. my pH was flucuating from 7.7 to 8.4, i solved the problem, i switched controllers from RKL to APEXJR, and switched from KALK to 2 part dose. i am using 2 BRS dosers now.
my tank isnt going through a mini cycle, amm. nitrite is at 0 (LFS confirmed it as well as I) my pH is stable NOW that i have it in check, morning is at 8.3 and before lights go out its at 8.42. my apexjr has a graph. and it does not jump around.
i do not use any supplements no medications
i use REEF FOUNDATION for all my test kits,
Lighting i use 6bulb combo, 2coral +, 3 blue +, 1 purple +
flow is 2 vortechs on 90% reef crest

im thinking about turning my biopellets offline. is this a good/bad idea?

 

also my temp is at 78 and when it hits 80.5 chillers turns on and brings it down to 78.5 twice a day,

i noticed all my corals rtn one after another, it doesnt happen all at once. strange. but this is the first time 2 corals started to stn

 

I don't want to malign biopellets, because I'm still very hopeful. That said, I recently almost lost all my SPS. I lost one to RTN and everything else withdrew badly and is only now, 6 weeks later, slowly recovering.

I went with massive water changes and getting rid of the biopellets. There is something unsettlingly unpredictable about the relationship between the pellets and alkalinity. I don't know that the pellets were the problem, and I keep wanting to restart them, but something about my tank seems more stable somehow with them gone.

 

i just removed my biopellets, im going to get some GAC or some chemipure and add to my filtration so my phosphate or nitrates dont go up

 

a bit of a update, the base on my strawberry shortcake started to STN. fragged it and glued it on a rock.. i just put in some fresh chemipure elite.

with this much stn i dont even know where to start? it cant be param. issue, stray voltage? maybe? i put my volt meter on. AC and tested it. it reads 24.5V and as i turn things off it goes higher. is this a problem? can someone please tell me how to actually test stray voltage? i dont get any shocks when i put my hands in btw..

 

I'm have a hard time believing stray voltage is the problem.. My guess is that the STN is a result of something relating to water quality..

Lets see. You have an 18g tank with an MP10 correct? Thats about 87X. Ok flow is fine.

What type of test kit do you use for PO4? If it is a liquid test kit, then it is useless. The best way to measure PO4 is with a digital tester. The second effective, but less accurate way to measure PO4 is by visually looking at algae growth. More PO4 = More algae. Do you have any algae issues?

I am also wondering about alk swings. Is your alk stable? AKA measure it in the morning and night for three days in a row. Does it stay between +/- 1 dKH?

Do you use RO/DI?

What type of salt do you use? Do you use a refractometer to measure salinity? Or a hydrometer? Though I use a hydrometer, I know they are not an accurate measurement. I have read numerous threads where the hydrometer was found to be the source of problems.

How established is your tank? Do you have a sandbed? If so, how deep is it? Have you disturbed it?

Have you tested for substances like copper?

Also, I am not sure that GAC is an effective preventative treatment for nitrate and phosphate (though I may be wrong here). GFO is one of the most commonly used phosphate media. It has worked wonders for me. I am a fan of the other natural filtration methods such as skimmers and a refugium filled with LR and macroalgae. These methods do not use chemicals. Do you use a skimmer? What is in your sump?