Hi,
I’ve been dealing with acro tissue recession for months and can’t seem to figure out the cause. I have treated my tank with interceptor and oxolinic to no effect.
I really could use some help troubleshooting and fixing the issue. My tank is built for acropora and I lost over 95% of over 40 frags. Lps and Derasa clam have been fine throughout this entire ordeal.
My tank has seemed to recover over the past month and most of the new frags are doing well. There are two that are showing the same degenerative recession from the base that I witnessed months ago. I dragged one of the corals and am waiting to see if the other will improve. The recovery seemed to be centered around a series of large water changes. I have since backed off to one 20% water change a week and I’m starting to see the recession.
When I first started my tank I ran an Icp test a couple months in that showed a very high 250ug/l of aluminum. That level now sits around 40ug/l according to the test I ran two weeks ago. A month before that my aluminum was 25ug/l, so the level almost doubled in a month. I’ve also been managing high phosphate with a little bit of gfo, (the tank is currently a mess with algae but it is slowly working itself out) as I understand it removes aluminum so maybe the level would be higher?
I’ve taken all my power heads apart and can’t find any rust in the system. The only thing I can think of is that there may have been a few aluminum shards from drilling aluminum square bar when building a light rack. It’s possible some shards got mixed in with sand I used to cover mortar I used to construct my scape. I built the rock structure near where I drilled the bar, not my greatest moment.
I’m at a loss and could really use some guidance. I can’t go through losing another round of acros.
Here are some details:
60x24x25 tank
(2) 250 watt 14k metal halide/xho for 6 hours
(1) 250 watt 10k metal halide/xho for 2 hours
Xho’s on for about 12 hours including an hour ramp up and down.
Ro/di system that is well maintained producing 0 tds.
Dosing kalk at the moment at night via a dosing pump.
Alk/CA/Mag tested via a trident and verified via salifert.Ph: 8.0-8.2
Alk: 7.5
Calcium: 450
Mag: 1300
Nitrate: 10-12 Hanna
Phosphate: .08 (has been as high as .27) Hanna
Lots of water movement with 2 mp40’s, gyre xf280, 2 Nero 7, and a Wav.
Attached is the latest icp and a picture of the frag that is receding. The Icp shows some arsenic, which has always been 0. The only thing I have done differently in the month between two tests is start using a homemade frozen food with seafood from the grocery store: scallops, clams, and shrimp, nori, mysis, and coral frenzy.
Latest Icp
Previous Icp:
Tank is currently a mess with algae, but it is slowly improving.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the length, but thank you for reading.
I’ve been dealing with acro tissue recession for months and can’t seem to figure out the cause. I have treated my tank with interceptor and oxolinic to no effect.
I really could use some help troubleshooting and fixing the issue. My tank is built for acropora and I lost over 95% of over 40 frags. Lps and Derasa clam have been fine throughout this entire ordeal.
My tank has seemed to recover over the past month and most of the new frags are doing well. There are two that are showing the same degenerative recession from the base that I witnessed months ago. I dragged one of the corals and am waiting to see if the other will improve. The recovery seemed to be centered around a series of large water changes. I have since backed off to one 20% water change a week and I’m starting to see the recession.
When I first started my tank I ran an Icp test a couple months in that showed a very high 250ug/l of aluminum. That level now sits around 40ug/l according to the test I ran two weeks ago. A month before that my aluminum was 25ug/l, so the level almost doubled in a month. I’ve also been managing high phosphate with a little bit of gfo, (the tank is currently a mess with algae but it is slowly working itself out) as I understand it removes aluminum so maybe the level would be higher?
I’ve taken all my power heads apart and can’t find any rust in the system. The only thing I can think of is that there may have been a few aluminum shards from drilling aluminum square bar when building a light rack. It’s possible some shards got mixed in with sand I used to cover mortar I used to construct my scape. I built the rock structure near where I drilled the bar, not my greatest moment.
I’m at a loss and could really use some guidance. I can’t go through losing another round of acros.
Here are some details:
60x24x25 tank
(2) 250 watt 14k metal halide/xho for 6 hours
(1) 250 watt 10k metal halide/xho for 2 hours
Xho’s on for about 12 hours including an hour ramp up and down.
Ro/di system that is well maintained producing 0 tds.
Dosing kalk at the moment at night via a dosing pump.
Alk/CA/Mag tested via a trident and verified via salifert.Ph: 8.0-8.2
Alk: 7.5
Calcium: 450
Mag: 1300
Nitrate: 10-12 Hanna
Phosphate: .08 (has been as high as .27) Hanna
Lots of water movement with 2 mp40’s, gyre xf280, 2 Nero 7, and a Wav.
Attached is the latest icp and a picture of the frag that is receding. The Icp shows some arsenic, which has always been 0. The only thing I have done differently in the month between two tests is start using a homemade frozen food with seafood from the grocery store: scallops, clams, and shrimp, nori, mysis, and coral frenzy.
Latest Icp
Previous Icp:
Tank is currently a mess with algae, but it is slowly improving.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the length, but thank you for reading.
Last edited: