Sps burning tips issue

[chrisevich]

Hey guys, I am desperately looking for suggestions. My tank has been running nearly four years and everything was great until this year. I couldn't keep sps alive and they always burnt tips and died from the top. The tissue on the tips looked 'dry' at the beginning and then the skeleton came out. For new sps, they did well in the first two weeks with great PE, however, after that, they started to lose tissue from the top and the edge of each polyp. This tissue loss would continue on the top area and the sps eventually stayed like half-dead (only the bottom of the colony survived). I have been excluding the potential issue for a while. and too much lighting was one of them, so I have reduced the lighting to only 6 t5 for 8 hrs per day. Parameters are stable and in normal range. The ICP test showed nothing abnormal last month. I don't dose any CA MG KH supplement as I don't have much sps at the moment. No3 is around 10 and po3 was 0.3 as I have increased feeding to avoid the tissue loss caused by starving. I am trying everything stable but my new frag start to have burning tips again, and I really hope your idea could help me out in this case.

I consider the burning tips can be 1) too much lighting 2) too low nutrition 3) raising parameters. And I have consider the following things:
1. the zeolite amount and the flow rate are correct (actually it is an old reactor pump so maybe a bit lower than the recommended rate)
2. My tank is 400L and I have cut down the active carbon to 50 grams recently with passive flow as I don't want it to absorb too much and too quick.
3. lighting is t5 (3 new generation + 1fiji purple + 2 superblue ) and 10 months old. I think it is still in the ok range. lighting time is 8 hours and my current frags are on the lower area of my tank.
4. I only use the basic 3 zeovit product at the moment, i.e. sp 4drops/day, zeobak 4drop/ every two days, and 0.8ml zeostart3. Coralsnow and Xtra (small amount) are used sometimes but not too ofter.
5. The frag still show bright colour with my current No3 and Po4. LPS seems very happy but the colour is light (not bleached, lighter than those in LFS) as well.
6. Tank is mature enough and no new rock or other filter materials in the tank. if there is any toxic element the icp will show.
7. skimmer is wet skimming but it should be the reason.
8. potassium seems a bit low like 350 but it shouldn't be the reason, and I am not buffing it at the moment.
9. I have been use the automatic element for iodine but only half amount, and it has been added into the tank before I get the new frags.
10. no direct flow towards the frag.
11. I used KZ salt, and I also attempted the Red Sea salt just in case, but there is no change.
12. Major parameters are tested this morning by salifert: CA 430, Mg, 1300, KH is around 8.0

those things are what I have checked. But seems there is something wrong in the tank or I have missed something important. Any suggestion will be extremely grateful.

Many thanks and stay safe guys.

[G.Alexander]

Difficult to say as the system was running without a problem before. Have you already checked all your pumps and equipment for rust ?. Have you replaced any kind of material like a hose some weeks before the problems started ?

Can you please additional post a picture of your sump ?

G.Alexander

[chrisevich]

Difficult to say as the system was running without a problem before. Have you already checked all your pumps and equipment for rust ?. Have you replaced any kind of material like a hose some weeks before the problems started ?

Can you please additional post a picture of your sump ?

G.Alexander

The equipment doesn’t show obvious damage. Also the icp would show the abnormal parameters right? And I haven’t replaced any materials. This problem has been in my tank for nearly half year.

I only have Heater, skimmer,zeolite reactor, and return pump there.

[chrisevich]

Difficult to say as the system was running without a problem before. Have you already checked all your pumps and equipment for rust ?. Have you replaced any kind of material like a hose some weeks before the problems started ?

Can you please additional post a picture of your sump ?

G.Alexander

also, if there exists toxic elements, my clam and lps should have also reacted to that. Also, the sps would die completely not half died (the tissue of the bottom side can stay alive for months). Many thanks

[G.Alexander]

Sorry the picture is very dark I was hoping to see anything which might cause the problem. Have you already tried to use a different heater to rule out it does leach any kind of harmful substances ?

I have seen tanks where LPS corals and clams where doing fine while SPS corals suffer with tissue lost and other problems. In most cases any kind of material was leaching harmful substances or softeners so I do not like to rule out it at the moment, even if a ICP test does show everything is alright.

Have you increase the potassium level or the KH to quick in the last couple of weeks or do you use any kind of PO4 absorbers ? Please also cross check your KH test kit to make sure it does give you a correct reading, please also cross check salinity with a different, accurate instrument.

G.Alexander

[chrisevich]

Sorry the picture is very dark I was hoping to see anything which might cause the problem. Have you already tried to use a different heater to rule out it does leach any kind of harmful substances ?

I have seen tanks where LPS corals and clams where doing fine while SPS corals suffer with tissue lost and other problems. In most cases any kind of material was leaching harmful substances or softeners so I do not like to rule out it at the moment, even if a ICP test does show everything is alright.

Have you increase the potassium level or the KH to quick in the last couple of weeks or do you use any kind of PO4 absorbers ? Please also cross check your KH test kit to make sure it does give you a correct reading, please also cross check salinity with a different, accurate instrument.

G.Alexander

the heater is from eheim and it is only three months I guess it won’t cause issues. I did added potassium but only like 5ppm, which shouldn’t be a major issue I guess? Cause not all sps burnt after the dosing. A new and very pale (nearly bleached) one didn’t show any damage. I don’t use any absorber or adding any KH supplement. I noted a strange thing as well. One millepora burnt the tips a bit in the first week, but recovered in the second week. And it is lossing tissue again.

and I will do a double check about kh and salinity. Many thanks

[G.Alexander]

Do the corals get extreme light tissue before they begin to loose tissue ?

G.Alexander

[chrisevich]

Do the corals get extreme light tissue before they begin to loose tissue ?

G.Alexander

sry for the late reply. It was a bleached frag I got from LFS. It’s recovering the normal colour now. It doesn’t show any burning tissue when I added potassium. However the PE hasn’t recovered yet.

Also i note no growth of all my frag on the base. I’m trying to rule out any potential reason.

[G.Alexander]

So does this mean things are looking better now ? If possible please post some corals pictures.

G.Alexander

[chrisevich]

So does this mean things are looking better now ? If possible please post some corals pictures.

G.Alexander

sry for the late reply. Have a busy week.

here are some pic of my left sps. A new pink Mille is burning today. And the colour is fading out. I have further reduced the lighting time from 9 hrs to 8. Feeling so desperate at this point.😂 btw there is another thing maybe relevant. My nutrition is not that low, but my LPS shows very light colour. The chaos Zoa is nearly orange and pale. Don’t know if it means something

I will further do another icp test.

[G.Alexander]

Sorry to hear, I am still sure there is something in your system leaching anything which does cause those issues. Might there be any kind of screw has fallen in the system ? You can try to move the magnet of your algae panel cleaner through the sand to see if there are any metal particles attached.

Another idea is that any kind of your equipment has a corrupt cable which does bring electricity to your system, have you already tried to use a instrument to measure if that is a possibility ? Which kid of skimmer do you use ?

G.Alexander

[chrisevich]

Sorry to hear, I am still sure there is something in your system leaching anything which does cause those issues. Might there be any kind of screw has fallen in the system ? You can try to move the magnet of your algae panel cleaner through the sand to see if there are any metal particles attached.

Another idea is that any kind of your equipment has a corrupt cable which does bring electricity to your system, have you already tried to use a instrument to measure if that is a possibility ? Which kid of skimmer do you use ?

G.Alexander

I use KZ skimmer, and I will follow your suggestion to check the tank today.

many thanks

[chrisevich]

This is what I get from the sand bed. They definitely contained Metal but I wonder this small amount can cause that massive problems?

[G.Alexander]

The little piece is really small but there might be more at areas which you can not reach with the magnet ?

If you have a volt meter check if there is electricity spreading to the water.

G.Alexander

[chrisevich]

The little piece is really small but there might be more at areas which you can not reach with the magnet ?

If you have a volt meter check if there is electricity spreading to the water.

G.Alexander

that is what I concern. But I use KZ sand, so they won't be too many. I will do a few water change in the next couple days and sift the sand. then I will check if there is more metal in the same. I guess they are just a small amount of metal, otherwise the ICP test would have shown ?