Corals not looking good

[Pcreefer]

i have a red chalice that keeps reciting and showing a lot of skeleton now I have some Lobos, open brain and scoly not dieying but not looking to good there's definitely something wrong with my water just can't figure it out temp 78-80 alk 8.3 cal 430 mag 1400 salt 1.026 ph 8.2 nitrate 0 phosphate 1.53 I know it on the high side but it been like that for a while all corals been in tank for long time didn't change anything test kit is Red Sea check with salifert phos Hanna checker I'm in a losing battle here any advice

 

[Bugger]

Do you have a two little fishes algae magnet or anthing else that has a magnet that could have corroded in the tank

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How are you making the salt water and top off water?

The phosphate is high enough to maybe the problem even if it took a while to see.

 

[Pcreefer]

Ro/di machine. reef crystals new di resin I have 3 di 2 carbon filters 1 pre filter 3 membranes reading 0 tds with new inline meters

 

[Bugger]

How old and what kind of carbon filters are you using. What is your water like does your city use cholomines

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

How did you decide it was the water? And not food and lack thereof or overskiming or as above a foreign object or dying animal toxin.
I would assume an easy fix and test is salt water from another source for several weeks. With a slow but massive water change. 5gal every 3 days for a week or two etc.
It would rule out your RODI it would lower any toxins present or reduce whatever buildup you may be having.
I had two issues separately this year. Bad RODI and a sponge colony die in my sump.
RO was from a Lfs too.

 

[Reefboy1]

I have found when it comes to my red chalices that I have to spot feed them or they will do the same. Ever since I started feeding them they have not just been surviving but getting fat and growing. I have multiple reds and it is the same for all of them. My green and multiple color ones don't need to be fed but like it anyways.

 

[Sabellafella]

Chalices usually peel when theres a drop in alk

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Did you check your test results with another test kit or lfs to make sure they are not incorrect

 

[Pcreefer]

I've heard that you can't over skim the skimmer just won't work proper cause there's nothing to skim but I do have a atb 1860 skimmer on a 300 gallon but wich is rated 3 times my tank the red chalices been peeling back maybe 3 months now the other corals lps been closed about a week now Lobos and open brains just bought brand new Red Sea test kit old one was also Red Sea wich don't expire 2017 crossed checked with salifert cal and alk only carbon on the rodi is about 4 months old is made to take out chlorine not all corals look bad just Lobos open brain chalice (have a lot more lps that look great some sps also

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If there's nothing left to skim Theres nothing left to eat.
I use skimming and filtration to control the nutrient levels in my tank to support the corals and fish I have.
If I were doing SPS it would be low nutrient. Skim the crap out of it. But she Xenia usuall die.
In my softie dragonet tank I leave more in the water with an tunze reared exactly for the tank and skim kinda dry. But my SPS brown or rtn.
Corals feed all day some at night too. Once daily feeding is not enough for most softies so I leave food in the water. Once daily is too much for SPS.

Po no readings are indicative of the amount of food in the water. You don't want zeros when you have gorgonians. So consider adjusting the levels to your type of corals. I've heard's can be not good. R H Farley Planette Shimek and others if that status have written a lot on the subject and I recommend learning from them first.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm also learning to see the nutrient in the tank just based on my algae growth on the back glass.

It was visual algal growth increase not indicated on the tests that led me to rebalance my refugium recently by bolstering my macro population.

 

[Pcreefer]

I'm trying to get my phosphates down from 1.53 to 0.03 my corals looked good until about 2 weeks ago I got a bigger skimmer trying to get my phosphates down nitrates been always at 0

 

[Pcreefer]

Another coral

 

[Pcreefer]

Same but better pic

 

[Pcreefer]

Scolly

 

[Pcreefer]

Also I have some birds nest dying from bottom up

 

[Oceansize]

Carbon is an oft-overlooked parameter since we can't really test for it that I'm aware of.

As I understand it, nitrates and phosphates are not necessarily toxic to coral at the levels most of us keep them. They are a nutrient to coral. The problem is they are also a nutrient to algae. We try to limit nitrate and phosphate not because they are toxic to coral necessarily, but because we are trying to limit algae, which compete with coral.

The same applies to carbon. It is not necessarily toxic, but it helps algae out-compete coral.

So while phosphates are officially high, I don't know that knocking them down is all you will need to do if you're not also limiting/exporting carbon in some fashion.

How to limit/export carbon? Algae grazers, GAC, UV, & aggressive detritus removal via mechanical filtration & water changes. I also can't recommend sulphur denitrators highly enough; I'm amazed they aren't more popular.

Some people feel that mechanical filtration & reef tanks don't go together because of the prevalence of filter feeders in these tanks. I used to share that opinion ("mechanical filtration is a nitrate factory!"), but not any more. Now that I understand that nitrates are not necessarily the boogieman they are made out to be, along with a greater appreciation for the negative effects of short-chain carbons in the water column, I feel that the benefits of capturing detritus via sand-stirring & mechanical filtration outweigh the negatives of the possible excess nitrates caused by a mechanical filter. ESPECIALLY when combined with a sulphur denitrator.

FWIW, I broadcast feed zooplankton and phytoplankton and oyster tissue twice a week, so my filter feeders are getting what they need despite the mechanical filtration.