Need some help, acro not doing well..

[Veganbrian]

I got some acropora and staghorn 4 days ago. Mounted some frags and kept the big colonies. The staghorn had a little tissue damage when i got it so thats nothing new. But, my acro is not doing great. I thought it was just from the superglue but i am not thinking that anymore as its spreading and tissue seems to be falling off. I had my korillia 425 blasting on it for two days but moved the korillia so its not blasting it anymore thinking it could of been flow. I am running 4x24w t5 over a 20 gallon with a 20 gallon sump and refugium. Anyways ill let pics speak.

First heres my params:
Cal:450
Mag 1350
Alk: 9.4
Ammonia:0
Nitrate: says 0
Phos: says 0 but its a API kit so who knows
PH: is low 7.6 I dont know how to raise it.
Salinity: 1.026

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/thesnakehunter36/C41B2FC2-C72F-4848-913E-72784DBCEF16-5673-00000C17A74C830C.jpg

Yesterday acro shot:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/thesnakehunter36/_MG_5705.jpg

Today acro shot:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/thesnakehunter36/_MG_5710.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/thesnakehunter36/_MG_5711.jpg

Here they both are:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/thesnakehunter36/_MG_5706.jpg

The frags have polyp extention and color is already coming back on the bottoms:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/thesnakehunter36/_MG_5707.jpg

Dont be to harsh on me as these are my first real SPS besides monticap. Please just help contrucive criticism. Thank you!

[tmz]

Frag the acro a good half inch above the dead spots. Dip the frags in lugols or tropic marin pro coral cure. May be acro eating flatworms or just a stress reaction. It likely won't recover but you may save a frag or two. Maybe red bugs( tegastes); look at the tissue areas with a magnifying glass to see if you find little reddish dots. you can seachup redbugs and acro eating flatworms on the spsforum for pictures and treatments.

Blasting laminar flow is not a good thing. The ph is low but I don't really trust the test kit for good readings. A ph monitor is better.

To raise ph you have to reduce the CO2 in the water.Enhancing the gas exchange with the surrunding air may help if the house air isn't high in CO2. Open water surfaces to the air with surface agitation helps. If the house air is high in CO2 then opening a window or otherwise getting fresh air into the tank room helps. Slow dosing limewater in lieu of other calcium and alk supplements can help rasie it alot. A CO2 scrubber linked to the skimmer air intake works well too.

[Veganbrian]

Thank you Tom,

I will frag it up then and dip the frags. Before i put the sps in my tank i checked with a 10x eye loop to make sure they were good and dipped them, but i will do it again to make sure. I also opened the windows in my room. Thanks again!

[allsps40]

What light fixture do you have and what bulbs? What is your alk at? How are you testing SG hydrometer or refractometer? If using a refractometer when was the last time it was calibrated with 35ppt solution? With the rapid and large amount of STN It makes me think your is something off with the water in the tank. Your other sps all look pretty brown as well which also could be from something being off. Low Ph can point to low alk but not always. Check the alk of the tank water if it is low then add buffer, this will also increase the Ph if alk is the issue. Pointing a power head to agitate the surface of the water will help with gas exchange and increase O2 levels in the tank and in turn will increase the Ph. I can see the results from this in real time with my controller when I run my skimmer intake in out side for fresh air, ph will increase from 8.1ish to 8.3ish in a few hours.

[Veganbrian]

Alright, i just got all my sps 4 days ago, They were brown in the other guys tank, not mine. Brand new bulds current 4x24w t5 actinic white, super actinic , 2 454. I use a freshly calibrated refractometer. I have my return pointing right at the surface of the water blasting it and a fully planted refugium. Im getting a controller ASAP to help with my ph concerns. I will be starting to dose kalk in my ATO when it gets here also.

[plyle02]

Brian,
I would look at Alk first, and would recommend ditching the API test kits, and moving towards reliable, more accurate test kits, especially with Alk. To me, it looks as though we have some instability in the tank, as it relates to keeping sps corals. With the system being relatively small, any swing can cause a RTN or STN event to break in your tank, that normally leads to complete death. Here are a couple of things I try and do to maintain healthy sps.
1. Ensure ALK does not swing, is stable, tested frequently, understand your consumption rate, possibly automate with several small doses per day to avoid swings.
2. Test and make sure CA consumption rate is understood, possibly automate to avoid swings.
3. Test and make sure MAG is within NSW or higher values, this often overlooked by many hobbyists. Shoot for 1350 or above
4. Use quality test kits, Lamotte/Salifert/Red Sea/ELOS/etc...
5. Salinity checked often and as stable as possible, automate if you can
6. Avoid massive temp swings if you can avoid it.
7. I always try and match my desired levels for ALK/CA/MAG of my tank to a salt that mixes at same specs, this way when doing water changes you do not have to buffer your new saltwater and have less swings in parameters.
8. Make sure your top-off and new saltwater is 0.00 on TDS, SPS demand high quality water

These are some of the basics, sort of a checklist for making sure to keep sps happy. Once you grasp all of that, now it is time to learn how to color those sticks up, that is a whole other conversation :) Best of luck, hope you get those guys fragged soon, looks like RTN to me, unfortunately...

[allsps40]

^^^ yep. Only thing I will add is I personally dont match my tank to my new salt mix. Most salt mixes out there are now really high in alk and ca. I have tested 14dkh in many "reef salts". I just keep my tank stable at where it likes to settle out at. Alk at 10, ca at 450 and mg at 1350-1400 seems to be where my tank likes to be with water changes and kalk ATO.

[plyle02]

^^^ yep. Only thing I will add is I personally dont match my tank to my new salt mix. Most salt mixes out there are now really high in alk and ca. I have tested 14dkh in many "reef salts". I just keep my tank stable at where it likes to out at. Alk at 10, ca at 450 and mg at 1350-1400 seems to be where my tank likes to be with water changes and kalk ATO.

For this I use TMPR salts, I should have prefaced that I also run zeovit which demands lower alk. I test at 7.5dkh using Lamotte on new water, I take my alk automated offline 1 day, this allows my alk to drop to 7.0 where I try to keep it. Again, if you can find a salt that tests close to where you keep your parameters, you have less hassle with swings, your corals will thank you for it:)

[Veganbrian]

I use salifert test kits for alk mag and calcium. I usually get my phosphates checked at the LFS with the Hanna tester. Also I've tested all levels daily for 3 weeks and monitor dosing and consumption within the tank. I dose 6ml of cal in the morning and 5ml of alk at night to keep my levels at 9dkh with a swing of .4 at most. I match my salt and tank levels every time. Also, my Ato is coming soon so that will help keep my salinity stable. I am saving for the brs dosing pumps with a aqjr. That way nothing will really swing and I can dose smaller amounts throughout the day and night. I also just bought my own rodi unit with dual line tds meter and flush kit to ensure that my water I use is reading 0. Thanks for your help guys, I really do appreciate it. I fragged the acro into 5 frags and so far so good, but it's just a waiting game now.

[allsps40]

Are these wild corals or maricultured? What conditions did they come from?
Sometimes when you put a into a different system this just happens. This is why I like to get 3-5 sps frags at a time that way if 1 or 2 dont live I am not at a total loose. I would still be keeping a close eye out for pests.

[tmz]

Api is ok for alk testing ,ime. Salifert too.
Ph is another matter. I doubt it's really 7.6 with alk over 9.
BTW the coral referred to as a "staghorn" looks like montipora digitata of me.
There are many theories about stn/rtn causes(pest /pathogens, alk shifts particularly down, ,lighting, flow , hypoxia, excessorganics, nutreint increases or drops etc.) but little firm evidence for any of them .
Your nos. look ok except ph and I'd question the measure. .
Once stn starts it's hard to stop it, some think it involves a chemical reaction in the coral which tells polyps to die and once that starts it's irreversable except maybe by fragmentation..

[xcorallusx]

I would get a digital pH reader that has a new probe and has been calibrated. This will help you monitor any swings, also get something to monitor temp. Temp and alk swings are usually what causes this. You also need to acclimate them to your lights and make sure there is plenty of flow, large colonies need lots of flow.

[Veganbrian]

Thank you guys, im getting the ACJR in december with temp and PH probe to help with keeping it stable along with a full dosing system :) hopefully that will help me.

[Veganbrian]

O yea, and update on the frags, only one so far started RTNing again, the rest seem ok so far and ive been diligently monitoring all my levels testing multiple times a day hand dosing smaller amounts throughout the day.

[tmz]

Good luck.