STN base up....not KH

[Skeptic9962]

just thought idd see if anyone has some input on this one....recently everything has been doing great seems like everything is on par and all my colors are amazing...but for some reason within the last week or so about 3-4 of my sps are starting to STN just the sps that are acting up...read alot of different threads and didnt want to post since i know this is a common topic but everyones response was KH so i checked my KH 3 times a day for the last 2 days allways reads 8-9dkh by a brand new elos kit...so my only other thought was that the last 2 weeks ive done 3 large water changes along with 2 or so smaller ones trying to get my nitrates in check and possibly the water changes did fluctuate something too drastic and pissed a few of the sps off....anyone else have any common factors that pertain to sps stning?

params

salinity-1.025
ph-8.2-8.3
alk- 8-9dkh
mag-1250
calc.- 420
nitrate- 10 and less (put a new bulb on fuge and cheato went nuts so brought it down from 20 or so to under 10 now)
temp 77-78

dose with kalk to keep calc. and kh in check with my topoff water.

 

[taichimaster]

Skeptic,
I am running into something similar as you. I just lost a Ora Roscoe colony, plum crazy, and an Oregon Tort. It started slowly then one day it just completely died overnight. I will be keeping an eye on this thread to see how it goes. Good luck in treating the problem.

just thought idd see if anyone has some input on this one....recently everything has been doing great seems like everything is on par and all my colors are amazing...but for some reason within the last week or so about 3-4 of my sps are starting to STN just the sps that are acting up...read alot of different threads and didnt want to post since i know this is a common topic but everyones response was KH so i checked my KH 3 times a day for the last 2 days allways reads 8-9dkh by a brand new elos kit...so my only other thought was that the last 2 weeks ive done 3 large water changes along with 2 or so smaller ones trying to get my nitrates in check and possibly the water changes did fluctuate something too drastic and pissed a few of the sps off....anyone else have any common factors that pertain to sps stning?

params

salinity-1.025
ph-8.2-8.3
alk- 8-9dkh
mag-1250
calc.- 420
nitrate- 10 and less (put a new bulb on fuge and cheato went nuts so brought it down from 20 or so to under 10 now)
temp 77-78

dose with kalk to keep calc. and kh in check with my topoff water.

 

[OCDreefer]

Could be something as simple as not enough flow.(or good quality flow) I only toss this out because I had similar experenice and beleave this was my problem.

 

[PCFishman]

what kind of salt do you use? If u are using Seachem Reef Salt, which contains borate, your dkH reading of 8-9 is more like 7.

 

[estanoche]

It probably didn't happen in your tank, but I've had STN/RTN happen after temp spikes beginning from the base up... Just throwing it out there.

 

[returnofsid]

The first thing I would suggest is double checking your Alk with a different test kit. Even brand new Elos test kits can be wrong, at times.

Second thing I'd look at is testing your Magnesium.

Third, are any of the effected corals within close proximity of other corals that could be effecting them, chemically?

The detectable nitrates would concern me, but I don't think that would be causing STN. Most likely, nitrate levels would cause a loss of color in your corals.

 

[Bricky]

Can you describe what you have for flow and in relation to the pieces that you were having problems with?

 

[Skeptic9962]

Could be something as simple as not enough flow.(or good quality flow) I only toss this out because I had similar experenice and beleave this was my problem.

not sure...I have 3 modded tunze nanostream 6025s and have on backorder (been couple weeks) a vortech mp40w

I would think just the tunze would be enough in a 75...

 

[Skeptic9962]

what kind of salt do you use? If u are using Seachem Reef Salt, which contains borate, your dkH reading of 8-9 is more like 7.

Im using Tunze salt now was using IO but seemed to have some issued lately

 

[Skeptic9962]

Can you describe what you have for flow and in relation to the pieces that you were having problems with?

on the left side of the tank i have 2 6025s one low and one high angled towards the front/right of the tank, the corals that are stning are probably 1 foot away from the powerheads and not in direct flow but def. get decent flow.

 

[Skeptic9962]

It probably didn't happen in your tank, but I've had STN/RTN happen after temp spikes beginning from the base up... Just throwing it out there.

wish it was that easy lol i have a chiller on the tank so temp is allways 77-78

 

[Skeptic9962]

The first thing I would suggest is double checking your Alk with a different test kit. Even brand new Elos test kits can be wrong, at times.

Second thing I'd look at is testing your Magnesium.

Third, are any of the effected corals within close proximity of other corals that could be effecting them, chemically?

The detectable nitrates would concern me, but I don't think that would be causing STN. Most likely, nitrate levels would cause a loss of color in your corals.

had it tested by barrier a week or so ago after i had just tested it with mine and was the same...
ill retest my mag again and double check, i have thought it might be a toxin war between corals since i have sps, lps and a few softies....but to make sure that this was a very small margin that it would effect eachother i change my carbon out every week with atleast a 10 gal water change.

nitrates have been a large battle for me but i did some research recently and decided to replace my fuge light (6500k spiral florecent) for a 6500k 100w equivelent flood style florecent and in the last week my cheato has atleast trippled in size and nitrates down from 20 to atleast 10 so my guess is this will be 0 within a few more weeks.

 

[roscoe]

Man you are having problems after problems. I think you are just messing with the tank too much. Let nature take it's course. You are not giving your system a chance to balance itself. From the ongoing problems and post you've had this is where I think the problem lies. Seems like you are always changeing something or messing around with something instead of letting your system be.

Relax and don't do too much. Nitrate at 10-20 IMHO isn't anything to be worrying about anyhow. I havn't tested for nitartes in my system for a long long time and I'm positively sure it is at 20 or more PPM.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
STN can be one of the most challenging problems for even the most experienced reef keepers.

Im using Tunze salt now was using IO but seemed to have some issued lately

Frequent water changes with a new salt can result in STN or magnify other parameters that may be a bit off center range. I don't think your nitrate readings or your alkalinity levels are a severe problem. For SPS corals I would recommend a water flow rate 35-40 times at an alternating flow of 5-15 seconds.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[OCDreefer]

I agree with roscoe and kevin. I would say get that vortech in there and let things settle for a while.

 

[Skeptic9962]

ya...ill just leave it alone once i get that vortech (should be real soon i hope) ill toss that in and hope everything balances out, as of right now everything seems to be doing good...the STN hasnt gone any further up on the corals so my guess is few of the corals are more sensitive to the salt change and doing larger water changes kinda pissed them off....