What's with the STN?

[mmotown]

Guys I wanted to ask a question about this SPS delima I am having. I have noticed that some of my corals are STN'ing from the base. I am at work so I can't post my parameters but they are all fine. CA 410, Mag 1350, Alk 7 etc. I am running ROWA and I do water changes weekly and change my carbon weekly as well. Just don't know what the problem could be. This is happening to some stags of mine but my Soli, efflos etc are thriving well. I am also about to change out my MH. It's been about a year now since I last changed them. Any opinions on what may be happening?

[Lagger]

My guess is alk swings. 7-8 stable is fine, but say it drops to 6 & your new make-up water has really high alk, like 12 dkh, it's enough to pi$$'em off real good & start stn. This is my experience anyways....dont think it's your lights.

[mmotown]

Originally posted by Lagger
My guess is alk swings. 7-8 stable is fine, but say it drops to 6 & your new make-up water has really high alk, like 12 dkh, it's enough to pi$$'em off real good & start stn. This is my experience anyways....dont think it's your lights.

So you're saying I need to test my aquairum water and then my make up water and nake sure th emakeup water is where I want my Alk to be?

[Lagger]

Yes, ideally they should match.

[fishdoc11]

Have you checked for pests....specifically AEFW?

How large of a water change?

FWIW I've never done water changes with water that had the same alk. Not that that isn't a good idea and alk swings are indeed a cause of STN along with alk that is too high or low. I just wouldn't suspect the water changes as the cause witout ruling out a few other things first

Chris

[RichConley]

Originally posted by Lagger
My guess is alk swings. 7-8 stable is fine, but say it drops to 6 & your new make-up water has really high alk, like 12 dkh, it's enough to pi$$'em off real good & start stn. This is my experience anyways....dont think it's your lights.

I've never seen STN from alk swings. RTN, yes, but not recession.

My guess is that your alk isnt 7, its 5 or 6.


Using a salifert kit maybe? What salt?

[jackson6745]

IME mass recession from the base is from too much phosphate.

[mesquite]

I am also haveing the same problem. The stn is only affecting a few of my SPS.Lighting is good , water par. are good

[fishdoc11]

STN and RTN are caused by stress....STN often leads to RTN. Stress of course can be caused by many things. STN is most often attributed to low or high alk, insufficient flow and recently it's been realized parasites were responsible for many of these episodes. Hope that clears things up a bit
Chris

[mcliffy2]

I was having some problems, and I think it was a flow issue...I added 2 modded nanostreams and it seems to have stopped the STN. Flow makes sense to me...the polyps at the base arent getting much light, so flow is what keeps them alive...

[kev apsley]

Any Pictures? that would be helpful


STN=Sucks Bad!

fishdoc hit the nail on the head!

Mcliffy makes a great point of stating low flow causes some episodes of STN. These corals, especially wild and maricultured ones come from very turbulent waters, when we put them in our tanks we don't always provide that water movement that they are accustomed to, which in turn leads to stress=STN or RTN

[mmotown]

I am using Salifert kits and I use RedSea Coral Pro salt. Also treated my tank a few months back for red bugs. I also do not have any AEFW. However I did recently change my media back to Rowa. I was using Phosar. Since I changed back to Rowa my blue corals have become more blue. I was using the Salifert PO4 test kit but now I hear it's crap. Perhaps I did have a PO4 problem.

[jackson6745]

Salifert Po4 testkits should be taken off the market, they are garbage!