Almost Everything in Tank Dying/declining

[Druinz]

I've been putting off posting my own thread for a while and just chose to read as many others as I can, but none seem to really align completely with my case.
So my tank is ~9 months old, 10g. I have ~8lb live rock and 10lb live sand. Initially I had a firefish and a young picasso clownfish, emerald crab, and two scarlet hermits.
For Coral I had a trumpet, hammer, 2 types of GSP, Duncans, and some zoas.

Initially I noticed the trumpet coral doing bad while everything else seemed fine, so I figured it was a one-off. Then everything else started to decline, which also included the death of the firefish.
For a while my parameters were checking fine, so I was baffled. I even took a sample to a local reef store to have checked and it came out good (to my best recollection: 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrate, ~400 CA, 0.025 SG, 10-11 kH, 0 phosphate)

Following this, the clownfish and one of the hermits died.
Weeks later, now, the emerald crab and one of the scarlets are alive.
The trumpet is completely dead I'm sure, and one of the heads of the hammer is dead. The two duncan heads I have haven't opened for a very long time but I believe they are still alive.
I've been doing 30-40% water changes every few weeks or so.

As of right now the parameters are:
1.025 SG
13 kH
0 ppm Ammonia
<0.05 ppm Phosphate
0 ppm Nitrate
80 f

Also I'm using the aquaknight LED with blues at 10 (max) and whites at 6.
Light: https://www.amazon.com/Macegrow-Aquarium-Light-Aqua-Lighting-Saltwater/dp/B079JTB5Q5
I'm honestly baffled and frustrated, I don't know what's going on and at this point I believe it could be either the emerald picking at corals or some sort of parasite I cannot easily see/find. Any input appreciated.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

First thing that jumps out as me is your alk is pretty high. I don’t think that would explain all your issues but I would definitely try to get it down below 9.

 

[Druinz]

How would you recommend getting Alk down? Reading other posts its recommended to naturally let it lower

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

How would you recommend getting Alk down? Reading other posts its recommended to naturally let it lower

Without many corals it may not drop naturally. What salt mix are you using? If you do some water changes with a lower alk salt mix that could drop it.

 

[Druinz]

I've been using Reef Crystals but I do have some normal Instant Ocean on hand

 

[Fudsey]

Not familiar with that light but I would also turn the whites down a couple notches too. 60% seems a bit high??

Any other ideas #reefsquad?

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

I've been using Reef Crystals but I do have some normal Instant Ocean on hand

I haven’t used IO RC before but I’m pretty sure it is rather high in alk, the regular IO should have lower alk.

 

[Brew12]

My biggest concerns are the 0ppm phosphate and nitrate. It is possible your system is starved for nutrients.

 

[Druinz]

I've got Potassium Phosphate and Potassium Nitrate that I use for dosing my freshwater planted tank, should I measure out and dose to certain levels? I didn't want to do that since it'll basically require constant dosing to maintain those levels, I'd prefer to find a balance with feeding but since I don't have any fish atm that wouldn't really be an option. But for long term that was my hope, anyway.
Thanks for the input sofar!

 

[DSC reef]

No nutrients, high alkalinity and high par can cause issues. Not familiar with that light though.

 

[Druinz]

If it's any help, here's the page for the light: https://www.amazon.com/Macegrow-Aquarium-Light-Aqua-Lighting-Saltwater/dp/B079JTB5Q5
I'll also add it to my original post.

 

[HB AL]

From your description of corals and fish dying it’s safe to assume something is seriously off with the water chemistry. As far as the corals go, an alk of 13 is really high especially considering your nitrate and phosphate are at or near zero. What test kits are you using to come up with those results? I would definitely bring your alk down. As for the fish dying maybe you have a parasite like velvet or ich present and that’s whats causing the demise of your fish. Also how long has the tank been running? A 10 gallon tank doesn’t give you much room for error and 30 to 40% water changes are pretty large for any size tank especially since the actual water volume might be only 7 gallons or so. If it were me I would aim for 7 to 8 for alk and maybe a 4 gallon water change every 2 weeks. Sounds like you don’t have much life left in the tank, if that’s the case it might be better to just tear it down and restart it.

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Hello, sorry about your troubles. See if i can help. Couple things jump out. 13kh high for softies probally should be around 8 or less. Also they like tanks a little dirty. Have you tried powdered coral foods like reefroids or chili? Usally just a pinch of that stuff triggers feeding response. Same with crab death just not enough food. If theres no algae the emerald might start on corals. Im no expert but i feed alot. Just gotta swap out filters socks and empty skimmer cup often

 

[Druinz]

Using API for everything except Phosphate. For phosphate I'm using a luval Phosphate Test kit.

 

[Druinz]

Also yes I occasionally feed Reef Roids, just broadcast it into my powerhead. I do have some diatoms and a stringy green algae that looks almost like chaeto but completely straight.

 

[Big G]

Rather than just guessing, consider getting a cheap Lux meter to help you adjust your light. @saltyfilmfolks recommended this one to me and I like it a lot. This way you can establish a "baseline" of sorts to tuning your lights to fit your particular tank.
https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00LSFR0FO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Big G]

Also yes I occasionally feed Reef Roids, just broadcast it into my powerhead. I do have some diatoms and a stringy green algae that looks almost like chaeto but completely straight.

Sounds like your tank is still going through the "new tank" syndrome.

 

[Druinz]

I phased through diatoms a while ago, around month 2-3. It came back around about a week ago after a waterchange. Also, how would I use the lux meter? I'm guessing it's not waterproof so do I have to drain the tank to check at certain levels or do I just check at the water-level?

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

From your description of corals and fish dying it’s safe to assume something is seriously off with the water chemistry. As far as the corals go, an alk of 13 is really high especially considering your nitrate and phosphate are at or near zero. What test kits are you using to come up with those results? I would definitely bring your alk down. As for the fish dying maybe you have a parasite like velvet or ich present and that’s whats causing the demise of your fish. Also how long has the tank been running? A 10 gallon tank doesn’t give you much room for error and 30 to 40% water changes are pretty large for any size tank especially since the actual water volume might be only 7 gallons or so. If it were me I would aim for 7 to 8 for alk and maybe a 4 gallon water change every 2 weeks. Sounds like you don’t have much life left in the tank, if that’s the case it might be better to just tear it down and restart it.

What he said

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Are you using RODI water?