All frags dying!

[Keroppi]

They were in sealed bags (with not much water) for 20 minutes or so. Then I temp acclimated in the bags dunked in the tank for 10 minutes, then moved to a bucket with the original water, put the on a rack, then drip acclimated to approx 5:1 ratio of new water to old, which took 2.5-3 hrs

And depending on how long they were in the bag, ammonia builds up - but the lower pH makes it less toxic. So once you open the bag and start drip acclimating them any ammonia in the bag will become more toxic. I think this is more a problem with fish - and especially with longer shipping times - but just put it out there for general knowledge rather than a specific cause for this tank because I dont know how long the coral was in the bags. I've seen small frags shipped in very small amounts of water overnight - I just drop them in the tank after temp acclimating with the bag closed.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

gotcha....if you can, i would go out and get a good test kit for your main three, alk, ca, mg.....and also, buy a good test kit for nitrate and i see you have one for phosphate, and personally if it were me i would take any living thing out which doesnt seem like anything left, if it were me, id get dr tims one and only, the bottle of ammonia drops that come with it, and re cycle this tank to make sure its cycled right!!! than after cycling for sure, practice keeping your parameters stable like i mentioned earlier......if it were me thats exactly what i would do....and possibly upgrade those lights too brother

 

[Keroppi]

The reefer I got them from had a huge beautiful frag tank. I doubt anything could have been wrong from the source. By all accounts, I cannot find anything "wrong" with my parameters, save for arguably low nitrate. Consensus is I acclimated too long. It has to been a perfect storm of issues, but I cannot quite find sense of it. So far I have been told plenty of contradictions:
I'm starving them
I *couldn't* starve them to death in less than 2 days
My lights were too low
I left my lights on too long

I recognize there is a lot of knowledge here, but it is unnerving to not be able to say "look, dummy, *this* is how you killed $100 in frags"...

 

[MnFish1]

I feel like I ruled out the ammonia testing against the RODI. Obviously it says nothing for the test kit itself, I will see if I have another tester.
Seeded it with the poor damsel that is in it, the food I fed it, rocks into the sump from a friend's tank, and a big 'ol bottle of bacteria for good measure.

I meant the ammonia in the shipping bags when you drip acclimated the coral for such a long period - b ut that shouldn't be an issue if they were only in there for 20 minutes. Did you check the PAR levels of your friends tank ie where the corals came from - compared to yours?

 

[Keroppi]

I hear you, but there is no way this tank isnt cycled. I used a ton of bacteria, it's been running for months, I got my spike (read the whole ammonia>nitrite>nitrate cycle) on the same test kit I'm using (note to mention a huge algae bloom that would not have occurred if the tank wasn't cycled)
While one could argue about the API kit I am using, the alk, po4, nitrite, and ca checkers I have are hanna with fresh reagents. I have an apex on the way for proper ph. I have no intention on replacing those. I will try a better kit for nitrate, and the ammonia would just be for my own sanity.

An aside, i have TWO of these API kits. The both read the same. They could both be bad, I guess...

gotcha....if you can, i would go out and get a good test kit for your main three, alk, ca, mg.....and also, buy a good test kit for nitrate and i see you have one for phosphate, and personally if it were me i would take any living thing out which doesnt seem like anything left, if it were me, id get dr tims one and only, the bottle of ammonia drops that come with it, and re cycle this tank to make sure its cycled right!!! than after cycling for sure, practice keeping your parameters stable like i mentioned earlier......if it were me thats exactly what i would do....and possibly upgrade those lights too brother

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The reefer I got them from had a huge beautiful frag tank. I doubt anything could have been wrong from the source. By all accounts, I cannot find anything "wrong" with my parameters, save for arguably low nitrate. Consensus is I acclimated too long. It has to been a perfect storm of issues, but I cannot quite find sense of it. So far I have been told plenty of contradictions:
I'm starving them
I *couldn't* starve them to death in less than 2 days
My lights were too low
I left my lights on too long

I recognize there is a lot of knowledge here, but it is unnerving to not be able to say "look, dummy, *this* is how you killed $100 in frags"...

It was all of it. That’s how you did it.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

I hear you, but there is no way this tank isnt cycled. I used a ton of bacteria, it's been running for months, I got my spike (read the whole ammonia>nitrite>nitrate cycle) on the same test kit I'm using (note to mention a huge algae bloom that would not have occurred if the tank wasn't cycled)
While one could argue about the API kit I am using, the alk, po4, nitrite, and ca checkers I have are hanna with fresh reagents. I have an apex on the way for proper ph. I have no intention on replacing those. I will try a better kit for nitrate, and the ammonia would just be for my own sanity.

An aside, i have TWO of these API kits. The both read the same. They could both be bad, I guess...

do you have any fish left in the tank right now at all? and im guessing you have matrix rocks or what do you have for your bacteria to colonize?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

and im just asking question to understand not criticize i promise bro

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

if you are absolutely sure that tank is cycled, i would for sure get you a nice accurate test kit and practice on keeping stable parameters.......the one thing i know for a fact that corals hate are when parameters swing back and forth......id def focus on that and upgrade your lighting man for sure, and in no time you will be keeping and growing corals

 

[Keroppi]

It was all of it. That’s how you did it.

Can you elaborate on what you mean?

do you have any fish left in the tank right now at all? and im guessing you have matrix rocks or what do you have for your bacteria to colonize?

I have the same 2 happy healthy fish that have been in there for months. Other than already bacterianated rocks, I have a couple bags of siporax in the sump.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

what does your salinity stay at?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Can you elaborate on what you mean?

I have the same 2 happy healthy fish that have been in there for months. Other than already bacterianated rocks, I have a couple bags of siporax in the sump.

good to hear man!!

 

[Keroppi]

Salinity is at 1.025. I have no interest in replacing the light. It is adequate for this tank, even if the problem was what I had it set on.

if you are absolutely sure that tank is cycled, i would for sure get you a nice accurate test kit and practice on keeping stable parameters.......the one thing i know for a fact that corals hate are when parameters swing back and forth......id def focus on that and upgrade your lighting man for sure, and in no time you will be keeping and growing corals

 

[wesman42]

We can rank them for you, if you'd like!

1. Leaving the lights on for so long. 2. The lighting was improperly set for the type of coral you were attempting to grow. Are the two biggest. Acclimating for so long probably wasn't great either.

Youll want to do a ton of research starting on the lighting you have an whether or not it's sufficient *when set properly*. The key to success is stability, not just throwing a bunch of corals into a tank that you don't know much about.

Sorry to be blunt, but I did HUNDREDS of hours of searching this forum and scanning through other sources. On top of both full time school and part time work.

You need a goal, like 'I want to know how to take care of coral' and focus on certain types 1 at a time. Maybe try a frag of this one thing, and get the conditions right for that one piece. Add another piece, and see if requirements are being met for both.

It's not rocket science but it takes a ton of time commitment and a methodical approach.

Don't give up, but remember, do LOTS of research!

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Salinity is at 1.025. I have no interest in replacing the light. It is adequate for this tank, even if the problem was what I had it set on.

just trying to save you some headache and possibly heartache down the road with your lighting man....thats all...but hey if you say so man

 

[Keroppi]

Thanks for the reply. I guess my biggest issue is the contradiction with 1 and 2. To me, its 1 have them too much light and 2 have them not enough...I mean, I would get it and understand if someone said it was down to the exposure based on a time cycle, and "if a coral if used to getting 8 hrs on then 16 off and you break that cycle and give it a day and a half straight it can kill it" but that makes even less sense if it wasn't enough light to begin with. I just want that part to make sense. 3. Acclimating time is a lesson learned that everyone seems to agree with. I laughed at the YouTube acclimation "instructional video" where the guy just dunked it straight in the tank, but it's less funny now.

The light us definitely fine for at least everything but maybe some SPS *when set properly* ...plenty of user with this fixture, height, and water depth are easily growing many different corals.

We can rank them for you, if you'd like!

1. Leaving the lights on for so long. 2. The lighting was improperly set for the type of coral you were attempting to grow. Are the two biggest. Acclimating for so long probably wasn't great either.

Youll want to do a ton of research starting on the lighting you have an whether or not it's sufficient *when set properly*. The key to success is stability, not just throwing a bunch of corals into a tank that you don't know much about.

Sorry to be blunt, but I did HUNDREDS of hours of searching this forum and scanning through other sources. On top of both full time school and part time work.

You need a goal, like 'I want to know how to take care of coral' and focus on certain types 1 at a time. Maybe try a frag of this one thing, and get the conditions right for that one piece. Add another piece, and see if requirements are being met for both.

It's not rocket science but it takes a ton of time commitment and a methodical approach.

Don't give up, but remember, do LOTS of research!

 

[wesman42]

They aren't mutually exclusive, that's where you're wrong. You could have the lights ON for too long but at the correct INTENSITY of light. Or you could have both wrong, like you had.

 

[Reefinmike]

Do yourself a favor and throw out those api kits asap. getting back into the hobby again I bought api kits to start out because that is what I used many years ago. Every single kit has been wildly inaccurate when compared to two other quality kits. The only exception being the alkalinity test but 1dkh graduations is fairly useless for the average reefer. I had two calcium kits purchased 6 months apart and from different vendors. Both read 440 but my tank was actually at 560. I also had two PH tests both reading about 8.0 as yours was. actual PH was more like 7.6 when measured with two quality, freshly calibrated probes. corals were doing poorly because of the way out of whack parameters and excess co2 in the water.

 

[JMetaxas]

ICP test.................

 

[Keroppi]

ICP test.................

Huh?