Corals keep dying... What am I doing wrong?

[Fish Werx]

Man, well, first off welcome!
second. I hear you on the coral thing. I used to have serious problems with Zoas for some reason? I believe mine was light and flow related? Seemed to just melt away over a period of time. Sometimes days, sometimes weeks. I upgraded to LED from T5 and now place my zoas up top on a nice platform rock and they seem to be doing much better. But, that also placed them in better water flow? So I really have no idea what made any difference.
The reason I say this is sometimes it can be a combination of things. Light intensity too strong (sounds like for the ORA birdsnest anyway) or possibly high ALK and low water flow (maybe the cause of the frogspawn slowly going?).. Have you at any time since setting up the system ran any medications? Perhaps something is in the system that is no good for corals? But I guess anything damaging to corals would be no good for your snails as well?

I am just throwing things out there in hopes something can help you. This can be a very frustrating hobby if things arent going well, but if you can figure things out, either by research or just plain experimenting, it can be extremely rewarding!
Best of luck, Im sure you will nail the issue soon!

 

[reeferfoxx]

One thing I didn't see mentioned was to be sure to calibrate your refractometer. It's cheap and easy to do. Make sure the cap is screwed back on tight or the measurement will be off. Learned that the hard way. Also I raised my nitrates by dosing spectracide stump remover my sps went from pale and dying to coloring up very nicely within about a month of dosing. Good luck

I think he's using a swing arm?

 

[Eaglei]

Hello - been running my tank for about a year and a half now:
75 gal with 40 gal refugium, Curve 5 skimmer, Zeolite, Carbon and GFO in 3 reactors, RO/DI water, 10% water change weekly, Aquaforest Bio S Pro,-NP.
Parameters:
1.025 pH 8.2 at 25.5C
Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite 0 (Seneye too)
Phosphate 0
Cal 450 Mg 1275 9 dKH

Only thing that will stay alive is Ricordia; everything else always dies either in 1 day to 1 week after drip acclimation.

What the heck am I doing wrong? Why do my corals - SPS/LPS/Zoa/Soft all die? I'm getting so frustrated.

Water is stripped of nutrients.

 

[van7271]

I agree with what others have said. I also had to decrease equipment until I found the right balance. Now all I have is a Marineland powerfilter, protein skimmer and phosphate reactor. Works great together.

 

[Ocean Lotion]

Make sure when you are drip acclimting that the water the coral is in is not getting chilled. Also may try corals from another source. Good luck.

 

[Bdog4u2]

I never drip corals just fish. I float the bag for 30 mins add a few cups of my water then pour some out into a container for dipping to check for bugs then I dip the plug in 50/50 peroxide to get rid of algae then plop it in my tank. I don't like wild corals Imo one that have been in captivity for quite awhile do soooo much better.
Try skipping the long acclimation and see how it does or I'm just a very lucky guy......who probably just jinx myself.

 

[brilovescats]

 

[brilovescats]

Fluconazole in, wish me luck.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

probably should have said this at the beginning of the thread.

 

[brilovescats]

This first though.

 

[brilovescats]

probably should have said this at the beginning of the thread.

For sure, but if wasn't like that when the melting happened, this is a recent development.

 

[Hemlawk]

Wait, your water can be too clean? Now I'm confused... Lol

 

[buckroe07]

See, your good at growing things! ;Hilarious I probably would start with not using any lights for 3 days then pull as much as you can out. Then add a nice clean up crew and add more flow.

 

[buckroe07]

The no lights first weakens their hold and will be easier to pull out.

 

[brilovescats]

See, your good at growing things! ;Hilarious I probably would start with not using any lights for 3 days then pull as much as you can out. Then add a nice clean up crew and add more flow.

Good thought for sure - we had no power for three days a few weeks back, and it didn't seem to change a thing. I've done a Fluconazole treatment last Friday, and worked diligently to pull out as much as I could.
As for CUC, definitely a good thought, but easier said than done - I have to coordinate to get them shipped here usually. I'm also leery about hermit crabs again, I had some great Turbos that my blue legged hermit assassinated one-by-one. You'd think maybe it was to steal their shell or because he was hungry, but he definitely had lots of food and never moved into their shells, he was just a jerk.
What would you guys suggest for a CUC for the tank? I've heard all kinds of numbers and variety - some that say way more than others. What do you find works best for you?

 

[brilovescats]

I've been reluctant to say anything for fear or jinxing myself, but this little guy has been living with me for almost three weeks now since you all pointed me in the right direction. We're acclimating to the light, and I'm feeding him, but he was completely white at my LFS, and now he's turning a purpley-green colour, and looks happy with good polyp extension. I'm just waiting for the algae to clear up more before I place him more permanently.

 

[buckroe07]

That's looks great! As far as CUC, I'm sorry blue legged hermits seemed to go after the snails. In my experience it's the red legged ones that are more "aggressive". It may seem like the hermits are going after the snails but it could just be that the snails were dead or dying so they ate them. Snails are very sensitive to high levels of NO3, Mag, Cu...
I actually have way more blue legs and a handful of reds. I also recommend nerite, cerith, and astraea snails. They have eating most algae in my tanks especially the common ones like hair and red cyano.
The #1 spot in the CUC goes to my foxface rabbitfish! I've never seen a fish clean my tank so well and so fast! Best addition to my tank.

 

[brilovescats]

That's looks great! As far as CUC, I'm sorry blue legged hermits seemed to go after the snails. In my experience it's the red legged ones that are more "aggressive". It may seem like the hermits are going after the snails but it could just be that the snails were dead or dying so they ate them. Snails are very sensitive to high levels of NO3, Mag, Cu...
I actually have way more blue legs and a handful of reds. I also recommend nerite, cerith, and astraea snails. They have eating most algae in my tanks especially the common ones like hair and red cyano.
The #1 spot in the CUC goes to my foxface rabbitfish! I've never seen a fish clean my tank so well and so fast! Best addition to my tank.

Awesome - good to hear. I think a ton more snails are in order. With that in mind, it's a catch 22, because I'm trying to keep my magnesium around 1300 to help with algae control, but on the other hand... lol

As for rabbitfish, I just got a one-spot fox face last week actually. I can't tell yet if he's doing anything because he hides under the rocks most of the time (although funny because he sleeps in a corner next to a window where I can see him in the morning). He seems healthy, and he's eating, he's just really shy.

My fingers are crossed for the coral though. I also got a zoanthid, but between them and mushrooms, they could probably survive the apocalypse.

 

[buckroe07]

Awesome. The foxface should graze once acclaimed to the tank. Your mag level is fine even up to 1500 so snails away

 

[VTek]

This first though.

I've spent the last hour carefully reading every post/suggestion in this thread from your first post as it all sounded fairly familiar.

I am DYING to see the Triton tests!!

I feel like I've been battling a very similar situation, using similar equipment (2x XR15 pro, carbon, GFO. No zeo tho, nor 0 NO3s or PO4s).

Tagging along to see what the tests says!