A little over a week ago 2 of my candy canes colonies stopped inflating during the day and began to show their skeletons. I have 5 different candy cane colonies and eventually all 5 have started showing the same symptoms. For about a month now I've gone from once a month water changes to weekly changes. After my weekly water change last week they did not get any better. In fact, they may have gotten a little worse. Other corals showing signs of unhappiness are all 3 of my Acan Echinatas (also tissue recession) and 2 colonies of bird of paradise birdnests (no polyp extension). The birdnests may have been the first coral to show signs of trouble actually. All of my other corals look and seem fantastic. 5 Euphyllia colonies, BTA, Flower nems, all the zoas, chalice, 3 acro colonies, digitata, etc all seem fine.
I am going to lead the witness a little. Are my nitrates too low? I did 3 separate nitrate tests tonight.
Red Sea: ~0.5 ppm
Nyos: <1 ppm
Hanna Checker: 1.9 ppm
When I started keeping corals again back in March I also added an algae scrubber. It took it a month for it to start growing algae. I tested phosphates and nitrates for a month after that and my nitrates were always around 25 ppm (nyos) so I stopped testing nitrates but continued testing phosphates. At that time all of my corals did not seem to mind the nitrates being at 25 ppm. At that point I declared that I have a high nutrient system and adjusted my lighting accordingly. Never did I dream that my nitrates would drop this much. I guess algae scrubbers REALLY do reduce nitrates!!
For completeness sake my other parameters are as tested tonight:
Alk: 8.8 dKH (Hanna Checker) Note: I adjusted Alk up to 9.3 with 2 part soda ash tonight after testing
Calcium: 460 ppm (Red Sea)
Magnesium: 1440 ppm (Red Sea)
Phosphate: 0.75 ppm (Hanna Checker)
Salinity: 1.026
Temp Range: 78.3 - 80.5 deg F
pH Range: 8.1 - 8.3 (also see attached plot)
RODI TDS: 1 ppm
I have not made any changes to my lighting and the T5 and halide bulbs were new as of March 2020.
Has anyone had similar issues with certain LPS colonies being sensitive to low nitrates by exhibiting tissue recession? Water changes do not seem to help this issue. Any other thoughts or experiences with why my Candy Cane corals are doing this? Is there some other trace element that has been reduced with the water changes? Seems like the water changes should replenish trace elements and not reduce them. I've also been dosing Brightwell's KoralColor every 4 to 5 days per instructions.
What should be my next step? Dose nitrates? I don't have any experience with that so I definitely would need some guidance.
What about my algae scrubber? For tonight I have turned off the light for it. It has a load of algae ready to be harvested though. Do I leave the algae in there for now but leave the scrubber lights off for a few days?
I'm definitely hoping others have had similar issues with certain LPS coral and can tell me how to fix this. Thanks in advance!!
I am going to lead the witness a little. Are my nitrates too low? I did 3 separate nitrate tests tonight.
Red Sea: ~0.5 ppm
Nyos: <1 ppm
Hanna Checker: 1.9 ppm
When I started keeping corals again back in March I also added an algae scrubber. It took it a month for it to start growing algae. I tested phosphates and nitrates for a month after that and my nitrates were always around 25 ppm (nyos) so I stopped testing nitrates but continued testing phosphates. At that time all of my corals did not seem to mind the nitrates being at 25 ppm. At that point I declared that I have a high nutrient system and adjusted my lighting accordingly. Never did I dream that my nitrates would drop this much. I guess algae scrubbers REALLY do reduce nitrates!!
For completeness sake my other parameters are as tested tonight:
Alk: 8.8 dKH (Hanna Checker) Note: I adjusted Alk up to 9.3 with 2 part soda ash tonight after testing
Calcium: 460 ppm (Red Sea)
Magnesium: 1440 ppm (Red Sea)
Phosphate: 0.75 ppm (Hanna Checker)
Salinity: 1.026
Temp Range: 78.3 - 80.5 deg F
pH Range: 8.1 - 8.3 (also see attached plot)
RODI TDS: 1 ppm
I have not made any changes to my lighting and the T5 and halide bulbs were new as of March 2020.
Has anyone had similar issues with certain LPS colonies being sensitive to low nitrates by exhibiting tissue recession? Water changes do not seem to help this issue. Any other thoughts or experiences with why my Candy Cane corals are doing this? Is there some other trace element that has been reduced with the water changes? Seems like the water changes should replenish trace elements and not reduce them. I've also been dosing Brightwell's KoralColor every 4 to 5 days per instructions.
What should be my next step? Dose nitrates? I don't have any experience with that so I definitely would need some guidance.
What about my algae scrubber? For tonight I have turned off the light for it. It has a load of algae ready to be harvested though. Do I leave the algae in there for now but leave the scrubber lights off for a few days?
I'm definitely hoping others have had similar issues with certain LPS coral and can tell me how to fix this. Thanks in advance!!
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