Corals - dead on arrival

[shred5]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!.

I'd also recommend you get a new tank and rock and sand and start over with the goal of having a reef tank when you are done. Start a build thread and read some of the articles and threads on here about starting a new reef. There are many ways to do it and where you are at now you should keep your current tank running as a fish QT and start a new tank fresh without copper to worry about. Also starting new would allow you to get your tank parameters ready and stable for coral including a new lighting system, and maybe a skimmer and other stuff for keeping alk & calc parameters stable. Your mg is also a bit low, but the fish don't care about that too much. Keep your fish system and set up a new coral tank. Best way to move forward if you must have corals. Otherwise, just buy dead corals to avoid killing more by adding them into your fish tank. I have some dead coral I can send you if you pay to ship. So I think I know how to do this if you want to keep going forward. New tank! Time for an upgrade. You'll thank me later.

Agreed. The rock and sand are no good. As far as tank is it has always been said they can never be used for inverts again once copper is used.. The glue is supposed to slowly leach copper back in.

 

[Don Smith]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!.

I'd also recommend you get a new tank and rock and sand and start over with the goal of having a reef tank when you are done. Start a build thread and read some of the articles and threads on here about starting a new reef. There are many ways to do it and where you are at now you should keep your current tank running as a fish QT and start a new tank fresh without copper to worry about. Also starting new would allow you to get your tank parameters ready and stable for coral including a new lighting system, and maybe a skimmer and other stuff for keeping alk & calc parameters stable. Your mg is also a bit low, but the fish don't care about that too much. Keep your fish system and set up a new coral tank. Best way to move forward if you must have corals. Otherwise, just buy dead corals to avoid killing more by adding them into your fish tank. I have some dead coral I can send you if you pay to ship. So I think I know how to do this if you want to keep going forward. New tank! Time for an upgrade. You'll thank me later.

I agree .. I will start fresh for corals..
Is it possible to have coral reef tank on an extreme budget and being very frugal???

 

[Don Smith]

Having a coral reef tank looks like a full time and very expensive job and I am feeling very overwhelmed.. as if the whole world is against me...
;Vomit;Drool;Drowning;Punch;Shy;Sorry

 

[Don Smith]

But all this won’t matter if you have residual copper in your system

Starting today, I increased my settings to max, similar to yours.. but highest it can go is 40W.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Starting today, I increased my settings to max, similar to yours.. but highest it can go is 40W.

That’s why you need more fixtures

 

[scchase]

I am sorry but I disagree about throwing out the rock, sand, and tank due to copper, all can be salvaged without too much work. This is IMO the biggest myth there is in the reef hobby. Just about every tank I won has had copper in it at some point and half my rock as well. I don't have troubles keeping corals well other than Red Dragon I seem to be good at killing that one.
Please see the following thread
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-remove-copper-from-dt.326316/#post-4049527

Your Alk is the most likely problem.

 

[Don Smith]

I am sorry but I disagree about throwing out the rock, sand, and tank due to copper, all can be salvaged without too much work. This is IMO the biggest myth there is in the reef hobby. Just about every tank I won has had copper in it at some point and half my rock as well. I don't have troubles keeping corals well other than Red Dragon I seem to be good at killing that one.
Please see the following thread
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-remove-copper-from-dt.326316/#post-4049527

Your Alk is the most likely problem.

From what I understand.. water changes are the only way to bring down the alkalinity

 

[jordan10]

From what I understand.. water changes are the only way to bring down the alkalinity

Turns alk in to cal. Had problem with high alk.

 

[jordan10]

Turns alk to cal. Had problem with alk bout year ago worked good

 

[Ike]

Back in sept 2018, I dosed the tank with copper to cure some disease. Since then I have had water changes at least every 2 weeks.
I just dozed my tank over the weekend with alkalinity so that is why my alkalinity is so high.
I really do NOT want to restart the tank but based on advice I am getting here .. I may have to restart.
The LFS only checks for salinity .. they do not check for copper.
I recaliberated my hydrometer based on fresh drinking water and based on that my reading is 1.027.

Get an API alkalinity test kit, it's a good kit, easy to use and accurate as any. How did you calibrate a hydrometer? Also, fresh water should not be used to calibrate a refractometer if that's what you meant. Using the same rocks and sand after having dosed copper is a potentially big issue and may be the main reason things aren't going well, though I suspect there are several issues, some that have already been pointed out by me and others in the thread.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Are we talking about this product?

Yep

 

[Don Smith]

Yep

Would polyfilter change color for copper being leaked in a very small amount from rock(s) and/or sand?

 

[Don Smith]

Would polyfilter change color for copper being leaked in a very small amount from rock(s) and/or sand?

Would polyfilter change color for copper being leaked in a very small amount from rock(s) and/or sand even after 9 months of frequent water changes after the copper dose?

 

[Don Smith]

Are these snails destroying my already fragile corals

https://imgur.com/gallery/druoLdk

 

[Backreefing]

Don’t worry to much about copper. Everybody freaks out about it. Change water correct alkalinity run some activated carbon.
Then get something cheep , the one thing that tells me you’re fine is the snails are alive ? Right

 

[mattzang]

I am sorry but I disagree about throwing out the rock, sand, and tank due to copper, all can be salvaged without too much work. This is IMO the biggest myth there is in the reef hobby. Just about every tank I won has had copper in it at some point and half my rock as well. I don't have troubles keeping corals well other than Red Dragon I seem to be good at killing that one.
Please see the following thread
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-remove-copper-from-dt.326316/#post-4049527

Your Alk is the most likely problem.

you said you ran the rock through detox, what exactly is that and what'd you do?

 

[Don Smith]

Don’t worry to much about copper. Everybody freaks out about it. Change water correct alkalinity run some activated carbon.
Then get something cheep , the one thing that tells me you’re fine is the snails are alive ? Right

Right...

 

[Don Smith]

Are these snails destroying my already fragile corals

https://imgur.com/gallery/druoLdk

 

[Backreefing]

Are these snails destroying my already fragile corals

https://imgur.com/gallery/druoLdk

Short answer is no.
They are probably eating algae at the base and on the plug. They are known to push things over .

 

[ihavecrabs]

Would polyfilter change color for copper being leaked in a very small amount from rock(s) and/or sand?

Yes, you should see a color change if copper is still in your system.

After reading through the rest of the thread, I too think that alkalinity might be a significant contributor to your problem.

You also mentioned you had snails in the system which makes me less concerned about copper concentrations. I think someone else mentioned that too so +1 to them.