Can't keep corals alive!
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vetteguy53081
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Here are the pictures of the corals. Hopefully you can see what I'm trying to describe.
Candy canes are not out of whack but should be more Meaty/puffy. As for red cloud- could be cyano which was blanketed then broke up. May if so point to phosphates high or too high. I think change in lighting will be beneficial.
2Wheelsonly
Valuable Member
Gotta go with a keep it simple stupid approach. Corals need water params, food and light.
I assume when you post numbers that these are the consistent averages over time? If not then spend two weeks testing and recording every day and keep track then come back. IF these are the consistent numbers of your tank we know a few things:
PH 8
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phosphate 0
Calcium 480
Kh 9
Calc/kh good, most likely your mag is also ok.
Your corals are very hungry and this is what I think the issue is
You're getting temp or salinity swings that are killing corals, you can throw money at this problem if it's the case
That leaves two other variables: outside contaminants (metals, sprays, household stuff). You can run a triton test to see what's in your water that you can't test for. A worthy $50 expense.
My guess, they are starving. How many fish in the tank? How old is the tank?
I assume when you post numbers that these are the consistent averages over time? If not then spend two weeks testing and recording every day and keep track then come back. IF these are the consistent numbers of your tank we know a few things:
PH 8
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phosphate 0
Calcium 480
Kh 9
Calc/kh good, most likely your mag is also ok.
Your corals are very hungry and this is what I think the issue is
You're getting temp or salinity swings that are killing corals, you can throw money at this problem if it's the case
That leaves two other variables: outside contaminants (metals, sprays, household stuff). You can run a triton test to see what's in your water that you can't test for. A worthy $50 expense.
My guess, they are starving. How many fish in the tank? How old is the tank?
Oberst Oswald
Active Member
I think a ATO should be your 1st priority in keeping things stable. If your "on the edge" on the low side, lets say ALK , than the 1 to 2 gallons could make a difference. Were there some days where you had to add 3, or more, gallons? Money well spent before fish, corals and other fancy gadgets.
Capitol Reef Corals
Well-Known Member
Get a Triton ICP test or any other brand. Trust me it'll go a long way especailly since we dont test for a ton of heavy metal and other parameters in the tank. Next thing i would do is compare results to another local reefer (how they test) or a LFS. Could be something in your water that you dont know about thats killing all of the corals.
SashimiTurtle
Turtle
I'd get an ATO, and a Triton or ATI test done. Knowing exactly what is in your tank is worth the $40-50.
Like my tank, everything I test is perfect, stable, no algae, coralline glowing (very slowly but growing), any SPS but a monti dies in 2 weeks. Some LPS does the same thing. Sent off a Triton test in December and high metals. Sent an ATI off two weeks ago and they are still there but reduced a good bit.
Like my tank, everything I test is perfect, stable, no algae, coralline glowing (very slowly but growing), any SPS but a monti dies in 2 weeks. Some LPS does the same thing. Sent off a Triton test in December and high metals. Sent an ATI off two weeks ago and they are still there but reduced a good bit.
Shadowspop
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I would definitely lower your salinity a bit if you are trying to maintain 1.026, but don't have an ATO, any evaporation is putting you in a very high salinity. First, I would get an ATO, they are well worth it to maintain the proper SG of your tank. What do you have as far as fish in the tank. Is it possible that you have a non reef friendly fish (file, angel, etc) that might be doing some picking?
IslandLifeReef
Valuable Member
I didn't see a reply to where you get your water from. Has that water been tested? Have you ever added water from the bag that your fish came in? There could be elements such as copper in the water if you don't know what is in the source water. LFS often put copper in their fish tank water water to help combat any diseases the fish may come in with.
I also think that your nutrient are to low and that Alk is to high for those nutrients. You cold dose nitrate and phosphate to bring those levels up slowly.
I also think that your nutrient are to low and that Alk is to high for those nutrients. You cold dose nitrate and phosphate to bring those levels up slowly.
Thefishguy
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I really appreciate all the replies and help.
Vetteguy I have tested my phosphates and both LFS have also, they read 0. I talked about the problem with my LFS and said how I think its lack of nutrients for the corals, but how if I over feed my cyano and algae really go out of control. They asked what salt I was using, reef crystal, and said they think the cyano is coming from there. I've always wanted to use red sea salt but for the price I always went with reef crystal. I decided to buy a bag of red sea, and will start using this with my water changes in hopes that it starts to control the cyano so I can really over feed. If the over feeding doesn't work I'm going to start using red sea part a and b and hope that'll give the corals what they are needing. I also changed the lighting down again after they said 60% can still be high so I dropped it to 40% intensity and I got to say its only been a day but they all seem to be enjoying that, except my zoas won't fully open now.
2wheelsonly, they are my consistent parameters. I check atleast once a week. I know temp stays consistent, but salinity could have a small swing. I am going to get an ATO, but I thought I needed other things first, I got a booster pump instead, I was having low psi so I decided to get one to raise it up. I think I may get a triton test also just to see what all is in the water, but I want to try to salt and all first so I can use that money on an ATO or something like that. There is only 7 fish in the tank and around 8 months old.
Oswald, yes I agree with the ATO and I'm not sure why I keep pushing it off. It would also help keeping my skimmer dialed in to prevent the risk of it over flowing. There have been days where I've added a few gallons, I just didn't think with a total water volume of around 200 gallons, a couple gallons would make any noticeable difference compared to a smaller system.
Stephen I think the test and ATO are next on my purchase list, and powerheads for more flow, everyone has reccomended a triton test to rule out anything else.
Robin, how do you deal with the metals in your tank? If its in the water you're adding, how do you avoid adding it with the water?
Shadow, what should I run it at until I'm able to get the ATO? I always thought a couple gallons in my system was just a drop in the bucket so I viewed an ATO as more of a luxury to avoid having to add to the sump every day or every other. Fish wise I have nothing that would nip at the corals and I've never even seen my fish go near the frags. I have a sailfin tang, foxface, clown, damsel, pajama, christmas wrasse(he's the safe one and has been the whole time), and Niger trigger he leaves all corals and even my snails alone.
Island, I make my water with my spectrapure rodi system. Comes out of the membranes at 1 TDS and after DI its 0. I've never added water from a bag, I know that's a big problem so I always avoid it. Is read sea energy part a and b a nitrate and phosphate additive or are they different things?
Vetteguy I have tested my phosphates and both LFS have also, they read 0. I talked about the problem with my LFS and said how I think its lack of nutrients for the corals, but how if I over feed my cyano and algae really go out of control. They asked what salt I was using, reef crystal, and said they think the cyano is coming from there. I've always wanted to use red sea salt but for the price I always went with reef crystal. I decided to buy a bag of red sea, and will start using this with my water changes in hopes that it starts to control the cyano so I can really over feed. If the over feeding doesn't work I'm going to start using red sea part a and b and hope that'll give the corals what they are needing. I also changed the lighting down again after they said 60% can still be high so I dropped it to 40% intensity and I got to say its only been a day but they all seem to be enjoying that, except my zoas won't fully open now.
2wheelsonly, they are my consistent parameters. I check atleast once a week. I know temp stays consistent, but salinity could have a small swing. I am going to get an ATO, but I thought I needed other things first, I got a booster pump instead, I was having low psi so I decided to get one to raise it up. I think I may get a triton test also just to see what all is in the water, but I want to try to salt and all first so I can use that money on an ATO or something like that. There is only 7 fish in the tank and around 8 months old.
Oswald, yes I agree with the ATO and I'm not sure why I keep pushing it off. It would also help keeping my skimmer dialed in to prevent the risk of it over flowing. There have been days where I've added a few gallons, I just didn't think with a total water volume of around 200 gallons, a couple gallons would make any noticeable difference compared to a smaller system.
Stephen I think the test and ATO are next on my purchase list, and powerheads for more flow, everyone has reccomended a triton test to rule out anything else.
Robin, how do you deal with the metals in your tank? If its in the water you're adding, how do you avoid adding it with the water?
Shadow, what should I run it at until I'm able to get the ATO? I always thought a couple gallons in my system was just a drop in the bucket so I viewed an ATO as more of a luxury to avoid having to add to the sump every day or every other. Fish wise I have nothing that would nip at the corals and I've never even seen my fish go near the frags. I have a sailfin tang, foxface, clown, damsel, pajama, christmas wrasse(he's the safe one and has been the whole time), and Niger trigger he leaves all corals and even my snails alone.
Island, I make my water with my spectrapure rodi system. Comes out of the membranes at 1 TDS and after DI its 0. I've never added water from a bag, I know that's a big problem so I always avoid it. Is read sea energy part a and b a nitrate and phosphate additive or are they different things?
IslandLifeReef
Valuable Member
No, the Red Sea Reef Energy is an amino acid food for corals. It probably contains some nitrate and phosphate, but who knows how much. There are products available for just nitrate dosing and phosphate dosing. I think Kent Marine makes some. If you search dosing nitrate or dosing phosphates, you can see what others are using. I would highly encourage dosing for your situation.
You could also try a Poly-Filter in your sump and see what it attracts. It changes color based on what it is pulling out. That might help you feel better about your water not having any pollutants in it that you are unaware of.
If you can't get an ATO soon, I would recommend getting in a routine of adding water twice a day to make up for evaporation. That would definitely be more stable than every few days. Water evaporation doesn't just effect salinity, it also effects trace element concentrations as well. Less water because of evaporation, more ppm of Calcium and Alk.
The big thing is, don't make too many changes at once. If you try the Poly-Filter, I would only use it for a few days before I started dosing to see if it removed any metals from the water. It will also remove organics, which you can use right now. After that, if everything looks good, I would go with the dosing and daily water top-offs for now and see how things react.
Last edited:
Shadowspop
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I would say to mix your water to 1.024, that way a little creeping will still be within a safe rang. That being said, I would check it every day to avoid any significant changes. I have a 93 gal that my ATO probably dumps about 5 gallons into every 3 days or so. The cool thing is that with the ATO, there is virtually no change in the water column.
