Corals not opening for weeks

Ksturg · Oct 1, 2017

Here are the parameters 1.025 Ph 8.3 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0 Alk 12 cal 480 phos .02...That was of 1 day ago in my tank....I use tap water to top off I get the same readings straight out of the tap minus the specific gravity of course. My tank has been running for a year all the sudden 3 weeks ago one morning my corals have either been closed or barely opening. Now I have done 2 50% water changes (that’s 4 water changes total in a year)in the past 2 weeks using rodi water and also using it to top off for those 2 weeks and nothing has changed. I run carbon a skimmer and cheato I have done nothing different in that year except the rodi water changes. In that year my torch went from 1 head to 4 my frogspawn went from 1 head to 2 my acan went from 3 heads to over 40 that’s just what I can see to count my gsp has taken over 2 big rocks my Tonga maze has doubled in size my zoas are stupid and grow slow. I have been getting good growth but now all the sudden nothing. Can anyone give me some input on what might be going on?

XNavyDiver · Oct 1, 2017

Nitrate might be too low, you might be starving those corals. But what the heck do I know, my no3 is 10-12 and po4 is .07 and I can't get ANY kind of corals to stay alive, much less grow in my tank.
Hopefully someone who has a thriving tank chimes in for you!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 2, 2017

In addition to the possible nutrient concern above, it could be the tap water now has copper or other toxic metal in it. Tap water easily changes, especially with copper, which comes from your own pips and depends on how long the water has been sitting in them as well as the pH and other factors, which can change daily or with the seasons.

The problem might also be unrelated to the chemistry, and might be a pathogenic bacteria.

Ksturg · Oct 2, 2017

Wen you say nutrient concern would you be implying that I have too low nutrients? And yes I have thought about the tap water changing maybe the city adding a little more of something or like you said the copper pipes it’s definitely possible. How would I determine if there is bacteria that is causing this? That was my next plan of attack but I don’t know how to go about it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 2, 2017

There's not a good way to know it is bacterial (at least not for a hobbyist).

Yes, nutrients possibly low.

Ksturg · Oct 2, 2017

Ok I recently in the past week picked up some fuel aquavitro that I started to add and maybe I need a uv sterilizer to run for a bit. Thanks for the input I appreciate it.

Rick Mathew · Oct 2, 2017

You might want to send your water out to TRITON and see if there is something that pops up....I would send my tank water and my top off water to try and isolate where it might be coming from...just a thought

Ksturg · Oct 5, 2017

So I’ve found that my alk is steadily rising but everything else is staying the same any ideas on why it would be rising?

azreeftank · Oct 5, 2017

Ksturg said:
So I’ve found that my alk is steadily rising but everything else is staying the same any ideas on why it would be rising?

Have you changed your brand of salt or started using a new batch? Maybe the salt mix is bad or needs to be mixed up. Also I would start with not using tap water at all too much risk in that and then work backwards from there. Also are all the corals doing this or certain ones? Do you have any new fish or inverts? Not sure why alk would be rising are you dosing the tank?

Ksturg · Oct 5, 2017

I switched to distilled water recently with 0 tds have been using same salt as always...and yes all corals are doing this no new fish or corals just one new shrimp and no I am not dosing anything. I did a 30% water change last night.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 5, 2017

Ksturg said:
So I’ve found that my alk is steadily rising but everything else is staying the same any ideas on why it would be rising?

How much over what time period?

What do you use to replace evaporation?

Is nitrate declining? Consumption of 50 ppm of nitrate will boost alkalinity by 2.3 dKH.

Are you using new artificial rock? It can leach alkalinity.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 5, 2017

Ksturg said:
I switched to distilled water recently with 0 tds have been using same salt as always...and yes all corals are doing this no new fish or corals just one new shrimp and no I am not dosing anything. I did a 30% water change last night.

What salt mix and what is the tank alkalinity?

Ksturg · Oct 5, 2017

So yesterday I checked alk it was at 15 last Saturday it was at 12....I did 30% change last night with distilled water and am using distilled to top off sump. Distilled water alk I got no reading. No no nitrate at all so I don’t know how fast it’s being consumed. No new rock in the past 8 months and I’m using IO salt not the reef crystals.

Ksturg · Oct 5, 2017

Can high c02 cause high alk? Ph is 8.3 and cal is 480...can that cal drive up the alk as well?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 5, 2017

CO2 and/or calcium do not alter alkalinity, but a water change with a high alk mix can.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 5, 2017

It might also be testing error. Don't assume every measurement is perfect.

Ksturg · Oct 5, 2017

I agree and I will test again tonight when I get home and also mix up some new water and test both bags for alk...not sure why in the past few weeks it has gone up it has normally always been at 10

Ksturg · Oct 5, 2017

Probably should have mentioned this earlier but I also have a second tank and have done everything to the second just as I have my main dt and that one the corals are looking good fully opening . Maybe I should check those parameters see what they read at.

Dennis Cartier · Oct 5, 2017

In the past, when I have experienced similar observations on alkalinity, it is usually caused by corals stopping their growth and alkalinity additions then become cumulative rather than just keeping pace with the alkalinity consumption. If you are not dosing 2 part, then it may be as a result of doing water changes with high alk salt, or salt mixed at too high salinity. In my case it is usually traced back to too low of nutrients, although other things can also account for it. In my frag tank I was losing frags and they had browned out and the alk went up to 12. I expected it to be too low of nutrients again, but after a bit of investigation, I concluded that my LED was set too low intensity and the frags were browning out as a result of that, along with too low of nutrients. I added two T5 bulbs and things stabilized and I am now expecting things to start growing again.

I would start with your water and double check everything. I recently purchased a Pinpoint conductivity meter when I started noticing my Milwaukee Digital Refractormer seemed to be giving odd readings. As expected it the Milwaukee was off by a fair bit and I had been running at closer to 1.023 when my Milwaukee was showing 1.027! Here I was trying to lower my supposed high salinity, but it was actually too low already.

The LPS frags in my tank are my early warning system when nutrients are getting low. Typically they start to retract when nitrate is getting to low. Keeping SPS and LPS at the same time can be a challenge for this reason.

Dennis