Little help please! Irritated acros!

BigPhatReefer · 01/08/2018, 08:43 AM

I’ve experienced some issues with some maricultured Acropora over the last few days – tip burn and recession at base, plus a little browning out.

I think I understand the cause as my Alk is rock steady and the pieces were acclimatised to light and in different areas of the tank - all my Acro frags and other pieces seem ok (Monti’s, styro’s etc.), just my rather expensive maricultured colony’s.

It looks like my salifert nitrate kit was giving me a false reading 2.5PPM when in fact it’s closer to 7PPM, as I replaced it with a new one.

Same with my calcium which is 470 rather than 440 - i'm assuming Calc and N03 have been consistantly higher than i thought for awhile (so at least stable if not ideal)

As I seemingly had low nitrates I assumed that I had very high phosphates (tank is well fed) and may have used too much GFO to compensate for this (salifert test kit was showing zero but I know these aren’t accurate at higher levels) when I had a bit of an algae bloom on the back glass.

Does it sound likely that high nitrates have caused some browning and over using GFO has caused STN?

I have started feeding my corals more to help them repair the damage as well as up water changes to 15% per week.

Still seeing reduced polyp extension on the effected colonies..
I’ve fragged and or super glued the colonies and it seems to have stopped..
Needless to say a HANNA checker is in the post…

SAL 1.026
Alk 9.3
Calc 470 (duff test kit!)
N03 7ppm
P03 ?
620 litre

Let me know your thoughts and any advice would be appreciated.

jda · 01/08/2018, 04:09 PM

Nitrates in that range are no issue.

Driving PO4 artificially low with GFO can cause burn. They can also get burnt by bad spectrum from some diodes, so if you use LEDs, turn them down.

Water change is a good idea. I would keep them up.

01/08/2018, 08:43 AM	#1
BigPhatReefer Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Staffordshire, UK Posts: 27	Little help please! Irritated acros! I’ve experienced some issues with some maricultured Acropora over the last few days – tip burn and recession at base, plus a little browning out. I think I understand the cause as my Alk is rock steady and the pieces were acclimatised to light and in different areas of the tank - all my Acro frags and other pieces seem ok (Monti’s, styro’s etc.), just my rather expensive maricultured colony’s. It looks like my salifert nitrate kit was giving me a false reading 2.5PPM when in fact it’s closer to 7PPM, as I replaced it with a new one. Same with my calcium which is 470 rather than 440 - i'm assuming Calc and N03 have been consistantly higher than i thought for awhile (so at least stable if not ideal) As I seemingly had low nitrates I assumed that I had very high phosphates (tank is well fed) and may have used too much GFO to compensate for this (salifert test kit was showing zero but I know these aren’t accurate at higher levels) when I had a bit of an algae bloom on the back glass. Does it sound likely that high nitrates have caused some browning and over using GFO has caused STN? I have started feeding my corals more to help them repair the damage as well as up water changes to 15% per week. Still seeing reduced polyp extension on the effected colonies.. I’ve fragged and or super glued the colonies and it seems to have stopped.. Needless to say a HANNA checker is in the post… SAL 1.026 Alk 9.3 Calc 470 (duff test kit!) N03 7ppm P03 ? 620 litre Let me know your thoughts and any advice would be appreciated.

01/08/2018, 04:09 PM	#2
jda Dogmatic Dinosaur Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 6,256	Nitrates in that range are no issue. Driving PO4 artificially low with GFO can cause burn. They can also get burnt by bad spectrum from some diodes, so if you use LEDs, turn them down. Water change is a good idea. I would keep them up.