240 gal reef tank has crashed.

ron garnett · Jun 23, 2010

I have a 240 gallon reef tank. It's been set up for one year. It's a mixed reef with LPS, SPS and softies. I'm running four 400 watt 14K metal halides; one Iwaki 1200 gph and one Gen 1200 gph pump; and a CoralLife protein skimmer.

The Problem: All of my LPS and SPS corals are bleaching white, the softies are shrinking and even the star polyps are shrinking and bleaching white. The fish are doing fine. I had my water chemistry checked (both RO and tank) and the water checked out fine. I thought that it must be my lights so I bought a new set of four Ice Cap bulbs but the color has not returned to the corals that are left and they don't look any healthier. I've lost most of my stonies and several of my leathers. I can't figure out what could be wrong. Everything was fine for a year then everything began to fade in color and shrink in size. I'm not sure what else could be wrong.

I don't want to give up the hobby, but I don't want to continue to kill corals either. Can anyone help?

gilmour01 · Jun 23, 2010

what exactly are your params? have you changed anything with your set-up lately?

revhtree · Jun 23, 2010

Did you change out your bulbs recently? Honestly bro I don't see how any of your lps could survive under 400w MH's. I have to keep mine shaded or off to the side under 250w bulbs.

J&O'sdad · Jun 23, 2010

You don't have a broken heater with copper exposed, or stray current in the water?

emerald525 · Jun 23, 2010

Agree parameters would be helpful. What is your salinity at and has there been any change with this? What about ph? I assume you have a calcium reactor? What is your mg level? Do you use an ATO and if so is it not working properly?

When I have had problems with my sps, the mg has been low or calcium. I have also noticed when the ATO filled too much (even with 3 safeguards??) and the salinity dropped slightly this affected my sps more than anything else in the tank.

revhtree · Jun 23, 2010

Sorry didnt read that it was sps too. Sounds like what happened when my heater broke!

luke33 · Jun 23, 2010

That is alot of light for softies and lps, and could even be to much light for some sps. Do you do many water changes?

Curtie44 · Jun 23, 2010

I had a similar experience where all mt water params looked good but LPS withered away and died. Turned out that my digital thermometer was about 10 degrees cold with it's reading. What I thought was 78* was actually 88*!! I was slowly cooking everything to death. Might be worth looking into....

soccerbag · Jun 23, 2010

Was thinking stray voltage as well. Do you have a grounding probe hooked up to the tank?

Troylee · Jun 23, 2010

by saying your water checked out what did that mean??? we need
calcium
alk
mag
ph
salinity
temp....
it sounds like your salinity is out of whack to me.... i just recently went threw this problem myself... i couldnt figure it out for the life of me i kept testing and testing and everything was perfect but my tank looked bad.... then i checked the salinity...1.021 "DOAH!!!!!!"

110reef · Jun 23, 2010

IMO the easiest thing to do when you don't have a good reason for the failing health of your inhabitants is to begin doing water changes. If it is a parameter that is out of wack and you don't measure it in the standard tests, then changing water will straighten it out. If nothing has changed recently, I would say do some water changes.

Water Changes = Reset button...

By the way, I have softies, LPS and SPS under 400 W 14K halides in a 240 gallon tank, no problems here.

I should also add that you should be looking for something swinging - ie temperature, alk or something that is not staying stable. More often than not, the swing gets you not the actual value of a parameter. Especially with the hot weather we have been having + metal halides, is your temp fluctuating or getting too high?

johnanddawn · Jun 23, 2010

1) i would check temp first - over 84/5 and you can start to have these sort of troubles - use at least two dif thermometers - summer time and a lot of light = temp swings
2) yes double check salinity with a recalibrated refractometer
3) yes check stray voltage - my tank looked like crap one day long ago and found out a koralia was zapping them
4) yes check heaters - i had one break in a nano a few years ago and it killed everything
5) also check all pumps for leaks - a buddy had a pump with a housing crack that killed his frag tank

Mr E Wrasse · Jun 23, 2010

definitely let everyone know the exact parameters. if the magnesium is low then the corals can't get the calcium they need. how come you went with 400watts? 4-250w would be fine for a 240g.

Triggerman77 · Jun 23, 2010

Sorry to hear this bro But i have run duel 400w one 175w 14k MH's W/ VHO's on a 220+ gallon reef for a year my current reef is only 18 in deep and i have tons of LPS 3 different Frog Spawns Torch Hammers Several diff Trumpets And Quit a few High end Chalices And They are doing Fine Under 975w of Halides so unless u changed bulbs recently lighting should be fine. Or have u added anything new to the system before this started ???? Coral fish Rock etc

luke33 · Jun 23, 2010

Also don't rule out a bad batch of salt. I've seen this quite a few times. But definately need more info.

Troylee · Jun 23, 2010

hmmmmm. where did he go??? he was viewing the thread for awhile and left without a response.... it was also his first post...i hope it wasnt some kind of joke.... sorry if that sounded rude but it was like your begging for help, we all came to the rescue and you left....with a very sad title.... maybe im tripping dunno

Acroholic · Jun 23, 2010

troylee said:
hmmmmm. where did he go??? he was viewing the thread for awhile and left without a response.... it was also his first post...i hope it wasnt some kind of joke.... sorry if that sounded rude but it was like your begging for help, we all came to the rescue and you left....with a very sad title.... maybe im tripping dunno

+1. I was thinking the same thing about the disappearance. Sound the 911 then into the wind.