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"Tip burn" is a poorly understood problem, and we don't know what actually might be happening. Most tanks can run at 9-10 dKH without problems, but some people seem to see issues if the dKH gets much over 8 dKH or so. You could try running at that level, but there are no guarantees about what might happen. I doubt that the problem will get worse, though, as long as your test kits are reasonably accurate.
Coralline algae seems to come in various strains. I had a tank that lost all its coralline when I went to brighter lighting, for example. From what I can see, there's a fair amount of purple in the bright areas. You might need to add some other strain that will grow well in the lower light area, or some other issue might need some help.
Corals can require different conditions than coralline. SPS do seem to be more touchy. They might be more sensitive to water conditions, for example, including organics and trace metals, but we don't have the tools to be sure about that. The hair algae on the rock might indicate some sort of nutrient issue, and that could limit the growth of corals and even coralline.
Are the SPS having problems other than tip burn? I might try some GFO to work on the phosphate level a bit, although .04 ppm is fairly low.
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Jonathan Bertoni
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