SPS help

[Ben1]

Heres my setup:
150 gal
return by sen 700 and mag 9.5 at 6 feet head.
Tunze Steam 6080
Myreef Kalkreactor
PM bullet 3 skimmer
Unknown amount of live rock and 1-3"sand bed
One return thru seaswirl

Livestock:
A pair of A. Ocellaris
A mating pair of Pajama Cardinals
One dejardini tang
One three stripe damsel
One rusty angel
Two clams one a large Derasa and one a medium sized maxima
About a dozen SPS frag sized and a couple of larger pieces
Lots of mixed softies.
A few nice LPS.
A pair of serpent stars
a few small queen conchs
a few hermits/astrea/turbo snails
a few cukes


All top off from RO/DI and all waterchanges done every two weeks by RO/DI. I am currently dosing one teaspoon of Turbo calcium every other day to keep the CA at only 380-390. I am also running both carbon and ROWAphos in the sump. Since adding the ROWAphos the coraline algae has been growing better.

CA-380
Mag-1200
P02-0
Nitrate/trite-0

Problem:
Tips of this acro keep dieing off. I broke them off and one healed the rest a contiuning there death. At one point its base did this but that stopped. Now anohter SPS also has the tips dieing back.

What do you think about my set up and what do you think about my problem?

 

[Ben1]

here is the other one that has gotten the problem.

 

[Anonymous]

Could something be picking at it?

Angels are notorious for turning into coralivores.

What about your PH/Alk?

 

[Ben1]

PH/Alk have always been pretty stable with this etup. I dont know about the angel. My sister claimed to see him picking at my pollicipora before but all the time I spend in front all I see is him picking at is the rocks for algae.

I do have a quarter sized unknown crab running around big and fat in there. Comes out at night, he is blueish and has small red spots . He is some what smooth with a slightly hairly set of legs.
I don't know maybe my current is to stron on the top half of the tank and too weak at the bottom.

Thanks for your help

 

[DaisyPolyp]

with it only affecting the tips, I would look for mucus or similar in the water column and then getting snagged by the tips of the acro.

 

[Anonymous]

Could be the softies. Do you run carbon? Have any softies shed lately?

 

[Anonymous]

Crab+hairy legs= bad news. Keep a close eye on that guy.

 

[Ben1]

Ok I just did a Alk test and it came out to 100 ppm. I don't have a ph kit handy. I will get some buffer tomorrow if you think that will help.

 

[Ben1]

The tips do seem to have mucus on them a lot. I do run carbon but not all of the time. Should I catch the crab, would a picture help you to ID him?

 

[Anonymous]

Before you whack him post his wanted photo.

 

[Anonymous]

That mucos could be a reaction to either bad bacteria or chemical warfare by another coral.

 

[DaisyPolyp]

...could be, but if it is from some of the colonizing inverts in the tank, it will irritate the polyps and they won't be able to photosynthesize therefore killing them back.

 

[hillbilly]

I would bet something is picking at it.

 

[mark78]

What lighting is on the tank and how old are the bulbs?

 

[middletonmark]

How long have you had these corals?

How long are you running ROWA and in what method? Heard a couple people with strange such issues elsewhere ... who had just started with the ferric oxide phosphate medias.

I'd consider temporarily stopping running that ... if just to rule it out. I don't think there's anything wrong with that media at all ... but it may be affecting chemistry a lot if you're just starting on it. [gradual build-up better in these rare cases?]

 

[Ben1]

I only started ROWAphos a week or so ago. The problem was pre-exsisting. The tank is lit by 2 x 250 watt MH and 2 x 96 watt PC all new in January.

Could be some sore of bad bacteria also, there is some sort of brown slime incorporated with this problem. But is is thin and doesnt spread like RTN, really only effects the tips.

I will try to get a pic of the crab on my way to the air port tomorrow morning.

I have had all the softies years. All of the larger SPS a couple of years and the frags everywhere froma few weeks to a month or so. All the frags are doing well and encrusting over their glue bases.

Thanks