Confused

[Corant1171]

Here is my story, early April I noticed that my GSP was not doing so well (it is the only coral that I have in the tank). I also have no fish and one snail. The extension of the polyps went down over a few days. I tested my parameters and saw that the Nitrates were high. I went to my LFS to get some RODI water and did a total volume water change (I run a Fluval Evo 5g). I assumed that the new water would fix the problem as it was RODI water that was mixed at the store. However it did not, in fact the GSP got worse in the days after the water change. I tested the water again and noticed that the ammonia was 0.50 ppm and the Nitrates were 40ppm. Then I got online and ordered an RODI machine for myself. In the week that it took to arrive, I watched the GSP deteriorate and “melt” in a way. I do have it in a high flow area of the tank, but it is not enough to keep algae from growing on it. I have a Hydor 240 coming in the mail. I have 30 TDS coming out of my RODI machine. I have done a 50% water change and still have not seen improvement. I know that I should not expect change overnight, but I don’t know what else to do. Maybe it is just too far damaged and needs time to heal. Is there anything else I can do? Any thoughts/suggestions are welcome. I will post a before and after picture.

 

[Conor_K]

How old is the tank?
With ammonia/nitrate levels that high, I wonder if the cycle is not complete.

30 TDS out of the RO/DI unit seems very high to me.

What are the rest of your levels? Alk, Calc, Mag, Phos, salinity?
Lighting?

Need more details to help..

 

[kyleinpdx]

How old is the tank?
With ammonia/nitrate levels that high, I wonder if the cycle is not complete.

30 TDS out of the RO/DI unit seems very high to me.

What are the rest of your levels? Alk, Calc, Mag, Phos, salinity?
Lighting?

Need more details to help..

This. After flushing my RODI for a few mins before use, I get 6-10 before the DI stage and 0 out of the DI. What kind of RODI system do you have? Either you have incredibly high incoming TDS, or more than likely there is some channeling in your DI resin allowing water to pass through untreated.

Thats probably not the issue at hand, but it should be noted and looked into. With that said, your rockwork looks like its "seasoned" enough to be providing a good bio filter for what you have running.

What brand of test kits are you using?

 

[Corant1171]

The tank is just under 1 year old. The water from the tap is 440 TDS, so I thought the 30 TDS from the RO/DI machine would be acceptable. It is a 100 gallon per day Aquatic life machine. The salinity is 1.026 and I run the stock light on the tank. I cannot test for the Alk, Calc, Mag, or Phos as I do not own the kits for them. I run the lighting for 8 hours a day. And the temperature is 76 F.

 

[Corant1171]

This. After flushing my RODI for a few mins before use, I get 6-10 before the DI stage and 0 out of the DI. What kind of RODI system do you have? Either you have incredibly high incoming TDS, or more than likely there is some channeling in your DI resin allowing water to pass through untreated.

Thats probably not the issue at hand, but it should be noted and looked into. With that said, your rockwork looks like its "seasoned" enough to be providing a good bio filter for what you have running.

What brand of test kits are you using?

API Test kits, And I bought an 100 Gallon per day Aquitic life RO/DI machine.

 

[kyleinpdx]

The tank is just under 1 year old. The water from the tap is 440 TDS, so I thought the 30 TDS from the RO/DI machine would be acceptable. It is a 100 gallon per day Aquatic life machine. The salinity is 1.026 and I run the stock light on the tank. I cannot test for the Alk, Calc, Mag, or Phos as I do not own the kits for them. I run the lighting for 8 hours a day. And the temperature is 76 F.

GSP tends to be pretty hard to kill. I would suggest taking some samples to your local LFS and ask them to test for whatever you are unable to. Id wager its something to do with your ALK as CA, & Mag wont normally produce these types of issues. Its possible you have very high NO3/PO4 but I would expect other issues cropping up as well.

API is known to be unreliable, they're freshwater stuff is "good enough" but for reeftanks we need more granularity than they provide.

 

[Flippers4pups]

You have some very high TDS from you tap water!

30 TDS after the DI cartridge is very high!

I suggest adding another DI cartridge to that unit to see if you can get that TDS down to 0. Anything above 0-1 TDS isn't acceptable.

 

[LesPoissons]

Ive had gsp die off completely only to pop up again months later. Its a pretty forgiving coral but I agree, your tds is nuts and if you have a reef tank- Id invest in test kits for the tank for phos, ca, mag, alk etc. If those arent all balanced, you arent going to have luck with any coral long term. The light may also be questionable, what kind of light is it? If you have no fish and only 1 snail and your nitrates and ammonia are that high- what are you feeding and how often?

 

[Corant1171]

I rechecked my RO/DI water with the TDS meter and it is reading 11ppm TDS. Though I now know that anything above 1 is not acceptable. I will look into getting some test kits for phos, calc, mag, and alk. I run the stock (LED) tank light and will provide a link to what it looks like and a picture of the box of the tank. I feed the snail a small cut of mysis once a week just to keep it alive. I did not intend to get it though, I also have a ball of Cheato because I read that it can decrease Nitrates. The snail was inside the ball of cheato when I got it in the mail.
link: https://www.petswarehouse.com/hagen-fluval-evo-v-led-lamp-and-power-supply-a14693/