Coral help! Ahh

[Griff]

I've lost so many corals over the last few years. Now my Godzilla shrooms are bleaching. Not sure what the issue is. Please help.

Redsea reefer 525xl
Skimmer rated for 150 gallon system
Running phosban 150 reactor with 1 cup phosguard and 2 cups rox .8
Small fuge
I have a slight cyano issue

2 clowns
1 yellow tang
1 small hippo tang
4 anthias
1 orange spot blenny


Alk 7.5 is like it at 8.2-8.5 but struggle to keep that.
Calcium 425
Nitrates 2-4 ppm
Phosphates 0.08
Mag 1350

I do dose manually but never more than 30 ml of alkalinity which should raise my dkh.5
Learned this the hard way. Dosed 50ml once and whipped out a lot of my acros.

I also dose calcium but never more of a change than 25ppm per dose.

I test weekly or more

My euphyllia are struggling to stay healthy
Godzilla shrooms 1 very bleached to others bleaching. Currently in bottom of the tank.
Almost all acros have died. I had 50 of them huge loss.

My rainbow monti lost all its color.

Nothing seems to thrive in my tank only survive and that's when things are good. For about 4 plus years I've been on this site reading as much as I could to gain knowledge but now I'm starting to lose interest as things never seem to go well.

This is my second tank the first one did ok for the first year or two then had a major GHA outbreak when I lost a Midas blenny that was stuck in a rock. I decided to get the reefer 525xl because despite the hardship I live the hobby and was hoping the larger water volume would give me a little more margin for error. At this rate though I feel like a failure. Please help.

I even posted my whole setup with live stock for sale on the local forum but since have taken it down as I decided not to give up. Not sure how many more loses I can take though.

 

[CodyRVA]

Sorry for your troubles man, lets take a step back.

First... do you have an ATO?

Second... I wouldn't think of housing acros if I were manual dosing unless you're capable of dosing at least 6 times a day. You can get by with some SPS like birdsnest and stylos, but acros demand stability. You seem to have already invested a fair amount of money into your system, why not invest a bit more into a doser?

Third... How long has this system been up and running? Just my two cents, but the most efficient and safe way to introduce coral is to do so in stages over time starting simple and working your way up.

Fourth... What kind of lighting are you using?

Five... What are you feeding and how much?

Six... Have you considered starting over again? I wouldn't completely tear down the system, it's clearly cycled, it sounds like it just needs dialed in. Your fish are happy right? Maybe you're just not balanced in PO4 and NO3.

Seven... Have you checked for contamination, stray voltage, etc.? Is there any way that something foreign could be entering the system without your knowledge?

Ultimately, stop, take a breath, and keep it simple. Take it step by step, change only one thing at a time; otherwise you'll never know what was wrong and you'll probably never fix it or if the problem arises again, you won't know it and you'll miss it again. Can you post some pix?

 

[Griff]

ATO yes

I have an apex but have not set up the doser

About a year and a half

Lights 3 hydra 26hds

Feeding fish daily brine and some pellets they eat all that I feed. Also feed phytoplankton oyster feast and coral frenzy. One of the three rotated daily.

I have struggled keeping NO3 up above 0
I started dosing nitrate from under water creations and that has seemed stable at 2-4 ppm

I have a grounding probe and run carbon. I think I'm ok there. I have also had my light schedule reviewed here on reef2reef and have been told it's fine

Lastly thank you for responding to my post. I'm thinking of getting a Hanna checker for alkalinity as the Red Sea pro test is difficult to read. Also does anyone think I should have a triton test done.

 

[ksfulk]

I think everything that Cody has addressed gives a good starting point. I think there maybe a few more points to get at, but we'll get there in a moment.

The parameter levels you are trying to maintain seem to be well within a successful reef, and even at 7.5dKH, you shouldnt be having issues with water chemistry given your nitrate and phosphate levels. My parameters are similar and there is no issues there. I would highly suggest a dosing pump. Even something simple like a BRS 1.1 ml pump would grant you more stability than you currently have. You dont need something that talk to the Apex, but the DOS is a solid unit.

• What 2 part are you using to dose? 30 ml of an Alk 2 part can have a harsh effect on pH and the surrounding corals if you dose into the DT.

• What test kits are you using? For my own SPS tank, I check Alk daily. Make it easy on yourself and grab a Hanna Alk checker. Check daily (at the same or close to the same time as possible) for a week or more and see where your values are at. Whats your daily Alk consumption? Those things are vital to know reliably when working with these corals. For Calcium, I use Salifert - they are super easy and daily testing takes 3 minutes tops.

• A Triton test could eliminate several water chemistry related issues such as heavy metal contaminations. Stray voltage could also be the culprit, as could rusted magnets or other metallic hardware. My suggestion if you do this is to run all your available water tests (Alk, Calcium, Mag, Nitrate, Phos, Salinity, etc) just before you collect your water sample. Then when you get the test results back, make a comparison and see if you have values that are far off the mark. If so, maybe you've been collecting data points that arent accurate.

A deep breath and finding something pleasurable about the tank will help. Its hard to be patient, especially when your livestock is suffering, but work on the basics and hopefully you can find something thats causing the issues

 

[CodyRVA]

+1 on a triton test, why not ya know. I run my ALK at 7 dKh because I carbon dose. You're not stripping your system or nutrients are you?

 

[Griff]

I have the apex dos but haven't hooked it up as I'm a little intimidated. I do think part of my issue is the low nutrients. Maybe I should be aiming for alk closer to 7.5. I need to get more salt too. Should I switch from the coral pro to the standard? I'll order the Hanna checker today as I've been contemplating that anyway.

Should I take the carbon reactor offline or remove the phosguard?

 

[CodyRVA]

Maybe the phosgaurd. If you're carbon dosing you wanna keep your ALK low. Salt doesn't matter as long as it meets your systems demands

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Holy smokes I don't have any of that stuff except a Jena I doser . I grow pretty much anything
Maybe instead of dropping more cash on junk go back to basics.

I'm looking at a tank that the skimmer only half works and I cant figure out why the acros are growing so fast. Maybe I'll test more than alk this month and try to figure it out.
No. Prob not.

A triton test will have you back here asking what it means. Sounds like money well spent eh?

Yea stop carbon dosing stop the gfo skim dry feed wise.
Use instant ocean or Red Sea standard.

More is never better.

 

[ksfulk]

I have the apex dos but haven't hooked it up as I'm a little intimidated. I do think part of my issue is the low nutrients. Maybe I should be aiming for alk closer to 7.5. I need to get more salt too. Should I switch from the coral pro to the standard? I'll order the Hanna checker today as I've been contemplating that anyway.

Should I take the carbon reactor offline or remove the phosguard?

Holy moses... if you have the DOS, hook it up! there's almost nothing to it. You just tell the DOS you want it to dose ___ mL and it does EVERYTHING else. The calibration is super simple and it will make nice even doses throughout the whole day with no effort from you. Changing the dosage is also super easy via Fusion as well. Seriously, if you have a $400 dosing pump, use the thing!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

This will be money well spent.
https://www.amazon.com/Reef-Notes-1988-Julian-Sprung/dp/1883693225

You I think what's missing is understanding you can basicly turn off everything but the powerheads and light and ato and that reef would still thrive. With manual kalk or water changes for a few stonys. Just feed the tank correctly.
Right now it's seems there's a loop of internet advice in the tank about all the stuff you need but you don't. An oversized skimmer socs gfo carbon dose pro salts and now it's complicated.

It shouldn't be complicated. You'll hate it. Now ya spent a grundle and hate it.

Take a step back and try to simplify. Yes the doser is great. Then water changes.

Run low not high. You can feed hard with low alk and high light. If you feed hard(healthy) and forget those numbers you'll also have the cushion of higher nutrints IF the alk gets high.
Prob 30ml cal and alk per day and call it done.

It's also lazy too. All I do is feed. The doser is set to under dose so it won't spike ,I do water changer every other week and the fam feeds the fish at night. Bout it.

It's a pet in my house not a science project. I'm not a chemist I just like pets.

 

[KDuck]

I read somewhere that someone was having issues with her corals and she discovered a magnet had come loose and fell in her sump and was rusting. Something that simple was causing her so much anguish.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I read somewhere that someone was having issues with her corals and she discovered a magnet had come loose and fell in her sump and was rusting. Something that simple was causing her so much anguish.

+1. Check the simple stuff.

 

[Zack K]

Only Hydra 26 over a 525XL!? If it were me that's not enough light. I would bump it up to the 3 Hydra 52 and even a Hydra T5 combo if it was me. But like @saltyfilmfolks said "simple is always better"

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Only Hydra 26 over a 525XL!? If it were me that's not enough light. I would bump it up to the 3 Hydra 52 and even a Hydra T5 combo if it was me. But like @saltyfilmfolks said "simple is always better"

Id would also say a lux meter on the cheap so you know what you have and if you need more.

 

[Griff]

Only Hydra 26 over a 525XL!? If it were me that's not enough light. I would bump it up to the 3 Hydra 52 and even a Hydra T5 combo if it was me. But like @saltyfilmfolks said "simple is always better"

The reefer series with lights comes with 3 hydra 26s. My lights are over each of the rock structures. All sps are mounted high in the top part of the tank under each of the lights. I even have the acclimation set to reduce 20% as at full strength I get bleaching tips and browned out base. I would prefer to add 1 more light for coverage but I really don't feel I need the 52s

My lps get bleached if not partly shaded.

 

[Zack K]

The reefer series with lights comes with 3 hydra 26s. My lights are over each of the rock structures. All sps are mounted high in the top part of the tank under each of the lights. I even have the acclimation set to reduce 20% as at full strength I get bleaching tips and browned out base. I would prefer to add 1 more light for coverage but I really don't feel I need the 52s

My lps get bleached if not partly shaded.

My bad. I pictured the AI Prime when you said 26 for some reason. Yes those are enough light. Let me go back and check your parameters. I know SPS tend to bleach when Nitrates are too high and LPS bleaches at too low. Their is a thin line to toy with their. As for the lighting though those are perfect.

 

[Griff]

My bad. I pictured the AI Prime when you said 26 for some reason. Yes those are enough light. Let me go back and check your parameters. I know SPS tend to bleach when Nitrates are too high and LPS bleaches at too low. Their is a thin line to toy with their. As for the lighting though those are perfect.

Nitrates have never been above 5 and for a while I had a hard time keeping them above 0. I definitely saw my lps suffer. Euphyllia were receding, favia bleached, mushrooms got smaller.

 

[CodyRVA]

Maybe you should consider stripping back components from your system and diagnosing its true needs then reintroduce only what's absolutely beneficial to the system. In turn, you may very well be stripping the water column.

 

[Heliarc19]

So frustrating, I agree to strip to basics. Disconnect everything except essentials check rodi unit, weekly 25-30% wc, stop dosing and try not to complicate when re-introducing nutrients, one at a time to see if it is helping. Best of luck

 

[Griff]

So frustrating, I agree to strip to basics. Disconnect everything except essentials check rodi unit, weekly 25-30% wc, stop dosing and try not to complicate when re-introducing nutrients, one at a time to see if it is helping. Best of luck

I added the carbon and phosguard because I had cyano and major GHA issue. The GHA is gone after using vibrant the cyano is still present but not as bad as it was. I'd say it's minor now. If I don't dose my alk will drop to 7. I am concerned the redsea pro alk test kit is faulty. I'm going to buy the Hanna alk unit to verify. I have recently started turning the skimmer off during the day as well as the reactor. I do think that is helping. If I do a 30g water change weekly it drops my nutrients to low so I've been doing it every other week. Which is why I'm dosing as a bi weekly water change doesn't replace the alk fast enough.

Make since?