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.
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.
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