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SpS tip burn but not alk swings related

john90009

NJRC Member
My tank has been up for a year now and im not a noob with parameters so this is really starting to tick me off. I have my alk locked around 9.0 to 9.6 thats the most it will ever change in a month which is when i notice it and then it slowly drops abit. Out of no where my shades of fall crayola and pearlberry had there tips burn off. My parameters are perfict only thing i dont check is the really odd things like potassium and other elements that dont burn the tips off. last time it happend i did a water change and they seem to get better- i dont do much water changes because my amonnia or nitrates or nitrites never go up or are traceable so do you think its a basic elemnt that is added during a water change that will help the coral? Im really at a loss and dont wanto lose my shades of fall that finnaly just started to explode.
 

john90009

NJRC Member
I use salifert they have been the most acuaretly avereage of the test kits- there very handy because they come with the test solutions. I dont have the digital phosphate metters but last time i checked it was around.06 with one of the digital tests.
 
So, your Alk is stable and at a good level, your pH is stable too I assume (a swing of about 0.4 per day from high to low), your nitrates are good, PO4 is good (That said, Hanna colorimeter is the only way be close to accurate. I tossed out my D-D kit after I got the Hanna for being inaccurate) ... ?

Are you dosing anything else, mag etc?
Have you changed bulbs recently?
Added a new critter?
 

john90009

NJRC Member
Um im just running a calcium reactor magnesium is 1290 calc is 420-450 alk is 9.0- 9.6 changes over the whole month but never goes above or below the levels. Im not dosing anything else- and i thought it could have been a fish but i ruled that one out after watching the tank the whole time during the night and day. No crabs are doing it and i doubt its any parasite- Does anyone know of any other chemical or element that will burn the tips off it not on the right level? It is only affecting the three corals as of right now and the corals have great polyp extension. other then the pearl-berry which has never grown at all in my tank.
 
John it's frustrating I know.
My tank is going on 3 yrs and sps did great for a yr. or so then bam bleaching out and loss of pieces. parameters good for me too. I've been told it just happens.
one thing I did do when that happens is frag the heck out of the piece before losing it completely. not suggesting this for you just saying what I did.
 
By tips burn off do you mean that they're losing their color and turning white or that flesh has rtn'd? My corals do go through different cycles of color, whether a normal occurence or not, they don't die they just lose or gain color so as long as they're not dead I wouldn't worry.
 
If water changes help i'd just do them more frequent. Could be some of the trace elements that keep them from burning? Ya never know, there are about 70 in a salt mix. sometimes i think about doing large weekly water changes and not dosing anything. Prob be cheaper for me in the long run
 

john90009

NJRC Member
yeap figured out it had to be the trace elements or something was in the water that shouldnt be there- after doing 12 gallon weekly waterchanges everything poped back but this week i couldn't do a water-change- lots of stuff happening and the tank needs to run on its own for a week- you think missing a week would cause that much of a problem?
 
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