part 2 acro tips dying

[chocswirl]

question?ive been adding 20ml alkalinity per day for over a week to keep at7.6dkh and my calcium is steady at 440 without adding any have approximately 20 sps and have been losing an unrecognizable battle with burnt tips on like 2 colonies at a time all other parameters are good and water changes dont seem to help.Any thoughts???

 

[chocswirl]

Why isnt my CA going down been checked w/2 different kits and lfs

 

[jackson6745]

First I would calibrate your refractometer with 1.026 fluid, make sure that is accurate. Have you recently increased lighting or did something to substantially clear your water?
Have you used any bottled bacteria, vodka, vinegar, methanol, zee, brightwell etc?

 

[jackson6745]

Never mind the previous questions. I just read your last thread.

#1 get a refractometer ASAP! It's a must. Hydrometers are not very accurate.

#2 Have you increased water clarity with carbon or anything else when this started?

#3 Is there any other product that you added to the tank that you failed to mention?

#4 Get a quality full tank photo on here

 

[sunny]

Burning tips is an indication of ALK swing. Which test kits are you using? Which salt do you use?

Calcium is dependent on how much the SPS is using it. How big are the SPS pieces? Are they happy? The happier they are the more Ca they will deplete. If the Ca is not going down then either a) your salt has good Ca levels and your W/C are keeping it up and/or b) your SPS are not using a lot of Ca.

 

[chocswirl]

i havent added anything and ive used 2 hydrometers for the past year both read the same.I did change the carbon but stopped 4 months into the problem to no avail .cprs salt changed to io didnt help lost about 7 colonies so far

 

[chocswirl]

seems to affect 2 colonies at a time never all at once

 

[chocswirl]

i can send phone photos to someone but puter wont take

 

[chocswirl]

Frustrating

 

[jackson6745]

Frustrating

Whenever someone posts a thread Tip burn you'll get a million responses "Alk swing" because many times this is the case. At least in a carbon dosed tanks it is the case. In the last 10 years of SPS keeping, I honestly can say that I have never experienced tip burn due to alk swings except for when I dosed vinegar for a short while. This was before it was common knowledge that high alk and carbon don't mix.
In most of my tanks I had alk swing 2-3 DKH daily as I dosed large portions of 2 part. The only times that I actually had tip burn is from not calibrating my refractometer and salinity was high, upgrade lighting, or high temp for prolonged periods.

Everyone that I know who has had tip burn within the last few years doses something..... Vodka, Vinegar, bacterial strains, Something from the KZ line , pellets, etc etc etc. Maybe there are some regular run reefs exist with tip burn??? I never saw one.

 

[jackson6745]

i havent added anything and ive used 2 hydrometers for the past year both read the same.I did change the carbon but stopped 4 months into the problem to no avail .cprs salt changed to io didnt help lost about 7 colonies so far

You have no idea how inaccurate a hydrometer or several of them can be. If you're not going to get a refractometer at least bring your water to someone with one. Just a point or two off can cause problems.

 

[greybolt03]

You have no idea how inaccurate a hydrometer or several of them can be. If you're not going to get a refractometer at least bring your water to someone with one. Just a point or two off can cause problems.

+1 the only time they are ever accurate is the first time you use it after that the swing needle will get salt & other deposits left on it that it will never really be accurate again

 

[chocswirl]

I had an old glass floating hydrometer and it reads 27, my plastic ones were reading btween 23 and 24 maybe your on to something.I am taking out 2.5 gallons of water at a time let it refill with top off to get it to 25.5 see if this reverses the burn.I did replace the carbon before all this started ,prerinsed but stopped for a while and still had new tips and different corals burning so i again turned my carbon reactor back on