I think I went too far... :(

[cwegescheide]

I have been going along pretty well for a while with my sps tank, no problems, corals growing and pretty good colors no neusance algae etc so I decided to keep feeding more to see if my colors would continue to improve.

Since I was feeding more I noticed I had EASILY detectable nitrates and some of my SPS started to brown a little. I added VERY small amounts of sugar for a few weeks to my tank to bring down the nitrates as well as my regular husbandry regimen.

I've noticed several of my SPS have not been responding well at all. I saw tips of some acros looking "burnt" and my prized Enchinata which was beautiful started to RTN... Its pretty much a goner now. That really sucks. Oh well i rack it up to a lesson learned. I guess I know now the threshold of feeding my tank can sustain before corals start to brown.

Whats funny is several of my corals like my Purple Humilis looks quite amazing with very rich, bright green polyps and has better coloration than it has ever had. My sunset monti polyps are getting darker green (were pretty faded) as well. I guess it stands to reason not all SPS are created equal and what one SPS likes in terms of nutrients in the water column is not what all prefer.

I think instead of using sugar (I think this could have been a catalyst for the burning of SPS) I will hook up a remote dsb/refuge to help keep nitrates in check from now on.

Chris

[NaH2Ofreak]

"burnt" tip ofter indicate an alkalinity issue. What are your current param's?

Dennis

[REEF-DADDY]

Sugar caused the same reaction in my tank. No more crazy ideas for me........

[cwegescheide]

My alk is pretty solid I think. I test it probably 3x/week and its always between 2.7 meq/litre - 3.3 meq/L

[cwegescheide]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9907729#post9907729 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by REEF-DADDY
Sugar caused the same reaction in my tank. No more crazy ideas for me........

YEP.. I hear ya REEF-DADDY..

[kkris]

How much sugar did you add?

[cwegescheide]

I've got a 90 gallon tank and I could have counted the grains of sugar I added. Not very much at all. Maybe less than 50 grains?

[deep6er]

Stop feeding for a while. I feed my 80g tank only fish food, once a week. I only have 3 fish, 2 tangs and 1 6line. the corals get their food from detrius ( poop) and al my corals are doing great.

[cwegescheide]

I'm not sure the answer is to stop feeding the fish for a while. I think its more of a "put them on a diet" for a while. We do have a responsibility to care for our fish as we would care for other pets. Especially my tank I really don't have any algae on the rocks for the tangs to eat.. They are decent sized too. They shouldn't have to suffer because I did something stupid. ;)

[deep6er]

Just to let you know my fish are NOT suffering. Feed your fish how you want. i was just giving my opinion. you did want advice right
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9909083#post9909083 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cwegescheide
I'm not sure the answer is to stop feeding the fish for a while. I think its more of a "put them on a diet" for a while. We do have a responsibility to care for our fish as we would care for other pets. Especially my tank I really don't have any algae on the rocks for the tangs to eat.. They are decent sized too. They shouldn't have to suffer because I did something stupid. ;)

[cwegescheide]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9909174#post9909174 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by deep6er
Just to let you know my fish are NOT suffering. Feed your fish how you want. i was just giving my opinion. you did want advice right


I didn't intend to sound offensive. Hense the ;) No problem. Problem is I am not around m-f so its either feed everyday (auto-feeder) or not at all (on or off)

[deep6er]

NP

Do you fed your corals too?
What and how much?

[cwegescheide]

I just feed a mixture of pellet/several types of flake/cyclopeez. I don't intentionally feed the corals.

[deep6er]

What are you nitrates at now?
How often do yo do water changes?

[PUGroyale]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9908432#post9908432 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cwegescheide
I've got a 90 gallon tank and I could have counted the grains of sugar I added.

Sugar wasn't your problem then IMO

[cwegescheide]

Well I actually didn't test nitrates last weekend but I could tell by the amount of algae on the front of the pane that its higher than normal.

I did a 20 percent change and fragged my enchinata.. Come to think about it I did change my phosban a week or so ago.. hmmm

[cwegescheide]

I run it passively in my filter sock.

[sherm71tank]

I don't think it was the sugar either. I've dosed up to 1/2 teaspoon a day with no ill effects. Then again for no reason I know of almost all my SPS's went downhill in about a weeks time but several montis and acros are still fine. I don't understand!!!! I have since stopped the sugar dosing. I think this was a fairly meaningless post. Never mind.

[fishdoc11]

Sorry to hear Chris...I hope everything else bounces back for you.

Chris

[cwegescheide]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9912056#post9912056 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishdoc11
Sorry to hear Chris...I hope everything else bounces back for you.

Chris

Oh I'm sure they will be fine given time. No biggie. If this SPS thing was easy I'd get bored. I had a feeling something might happen but I was compelled to try :) There is just two or three corals that arent looking that great. Some are looking better than ever. I've also had some pretty tremendous growth in the last several months too. So not all is bad.

[NoSchwag]

I'm willing to bet that all the pellets and flake you fed elevated your po4 super high, causing your problems.

[gasman059]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9907729#post9907729 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by REEF-DADDY
Sugar caused the same reaction in my tank. No more crazy ideas for me........
Very funny but true- I've been considering AA's and so froth again but-the whole idea just worries me Lol.

[jay24k]

That stinks. I would not stop feeding the fish. Just feed foods not high in phosphates. I tried that feeding every 3 to 4 days and I had more fish casualties then feeding daily. It also depends on what fish you have as well.

[ReeferAl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9907603#post9907603 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NaH2Ofreak
"burnt" tip ofter indicate an alkalinity issue.

Do you have more about this? Is it low alkalinity (presumably) or too high that causes the problem with acro tips?

Allen

[cwegescheide]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9913830#post9913830 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gasman059
Very funny but true- I've been considering AA's and so froth again but-the whole idea just worries me Lol.

AA's????

ReeferAl - I'm pretty sure its high Alk that causes it.

[jay24k]

I've had low alk several times in the past with my co2 tank having issues. I've never seen burnt tips. I would imagine either a large shift or high alk would cause that.

[glassbox-design]

sorry to hear your loss. i'd put my money on more than just the sugar. 50 grains on a 90 wouldnt add the C levels significantly to do much (good or bad). i've never had great results with sugar and prefer vodka/vinegar.

i hope the echinata can pull through :(. one of my favs for sure.

eric

[ReeferAl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9922681#post9922681 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cwegescheide
AA's????


I think he's referring to amino acid dosing.

Allen

[Zoom]

I did change my phosban a week or so ago.. hmmm
I bet you a new one dollar coin :lol: that is your problem.

[prop-frags]

Curious...
Do many of you SPS freaks add sugar?! I think I'm going to start a new thread on additives.

[cwegescheide]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9925109#post9925109 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zoom
I bet you a new one dollar coin :lol: that is your problem.

So how many think I should yank the stuff out of my system??? Wierd thing is I've been using this stuff for a long time. Same amount etc...

[fishdoc11]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9925699#post9925699 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cwegescheide
So how many think I should yank the stuff out of my system??? Wierd thing is I've been using this stuff for a long time. Same amount etc...

I personally don't like them and don't feel Fe based P removers are necessary but that's JMO. From the polls here in the SPS forum lots of people seem to use them without any ill effects including several very successfull reefers so take that FWIW. I think it could have had something to do with your problems.

Chris

[ReeferAl]

I have been dealing with a similar problem the last few weeks which I decided is due to low phosphate. I feed my fish fairly heavily and many people have expressed the opinion that you can't have a "nutrient limited" aquarium if you have alot of fish. This is definitely not true if you are using GFO media.
A couple of weeks ago I mistakenly thought some of my corals weren't looking their best because the nutrients had gotten too high so I put some new GFO into the canister. A couple of days later the acros and montis were almost all looking bad. I took out my photometer, (a Hach multiparameter meter) which I had thought was just not measuring accurately (I have since calibrated it against standard phosphate solutions and found I can reliably detect PO4 of .02ppm). I remeasured the phosphate and it was undetectable. I immediately removed the GFO but I'm afraid the damage was done.
Coral magazine had a series in 2004-5 on "the Nutrient Limited Aquarium". Here's a quote from Part VI of that series by Jorg Kokott on the signs of phosphate limitation:

In this situation the nitrate level will remain high. Many aquarists have had the experience where excessive use of phosphate absorbers has caused stony corals to bleach overnight. This occurs in SPS corals, such as many Acropora species, which become susceptible to radiation stress in a phosphate-limited environment. This manifests itself as "burnt" growth points, where the tissue dies, leaving shreds of tissue dangling off the coral.

That is exactly what has happened to some of my acros and montis.
I have decided that it is better to have phosphate a little too high rather than to risk pushing it too low. In the future I will only add any GFO if I have measured the PO4 at over .03ppm.

Allen

[ReeferAl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9925788#post9925788 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishdoc11
From the polls here in the SPS forum lots of people seem to use them without any ill effects including several very successfull reefers so take that FWIW.
Chris

I've been using them for over a year with good results, and that's why I started getting a little too careless with the media. The thing to realize is that healthy salt water only has a small amount of phosphate in it. If your water is a little above NSW levels in regard to phosphate, the levels are still rather low. This means that a small amount of GFO can have a big impact. The lesson I've learned is don't use them unless you need them. I guess it's really just like additives: you shouldn't add anything you can't measure. You also shouldn't remove anything (phosphate via GFO) unless you can measure it and it's too high.

Allen

[Zoom]

A large skimmer, and large monthly water change and many test kits is all I need in my reef tank .I test i add what the tank needs nothing more .
Every time i use anything unnecessary in the tank it always comes back and bite me in the arse.

[cwegescheide]

So I spent this morning going over my system. As I was cleaning the coraline of my acrylic I noticed that my Tunze's didn't seem to have the flow coming out of them like they did. I checked them recently so I knew the impellers were clean so I looked at the 7095. Somehow my powerheads were turned down about to about 1/2 power. I turned them up to about 75%. Wierd thing is several of my corals started to slime when I cranked up the flow and my skimmer went nuts. Maybe the increased flow will perk them up...