Corals start out good then die

[Dave1993]

Hi so my corals start out good and happy then start closing up then die just realised today i have 0 nitrates

Calc 400
Alk 7.4
ammonia 0
nitrite 0

these are only prams i can tell you

so could it be my 0 nitrates that are causing the corals to slowly decline all fish are happy and healthy and if so how can i raise my nitrates ? add more fish?

 

[chipchipbro]

I think we also need phosphates, salinity and maybe Mg

Also flow, light is something we need to know

 

[Dave1993]

salinity 1.025
cant tell you phosphates dont have a checker for it
have a mp40 and a mp10 getting another mp40 next year
red sea led 90 on 50%
tank is red sea reefer 350

the corals are out and happy for weeks/month then then retreat into themselfs (torches hammers) and dont come out

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

Yes i think corals need at least a little Nitrate to stay happy. I think around 5 ppm is good.

Alkalinity is a bit on the low side, you can bump it up with food grade Bicarbonate. Maybe a teaspoon mixed in a litre of water, then drip slowly into sump would help.

Edit: Did you calibrate your refractometer? I have a Red Sea and honestly it's off quiet often. A calibration could help too. Buy calibration solution at 35ppt. Not very expensive.

 

[MaxTremors]

salinity 1.025
cant tell you phosphates dont have a checker for it
have a mp40 and a mp10 getting another mp40 next year
red sea led 90 on 50%
tank is red sea reefer 350

the corals are out and happy for weeks/month then then retreat into themselfs (torches hammers) and dont come out

Really need to know what your phosphates are (and to a lesser extent Mag). The 0 nitrates isn’t a good thing, corals need some nitrates to survive (though too much is also bad), it can cause corals to slowly wither away if it’s a prolonged deficiency. I don’t know if I believe that having zero nutrients causes dinoflagellates (I think it may be a symptom but not the cause, but that’s a debate for a different day). My other question is are your parameters stable? Unstable Alk can cause what you’re experiencing. A couple other things to rule out: have you ever used any fish medications in the tank? Use any aerosols or chemicals/cleaning products near the tank? Burn scented candles? Really need more info to be able to point you in the right direction. I would start with getting a test kit for phosphates.

 

[MaxTremors]

Yes i think corals need at least a little Nitrate to stay happy. I think around 5 ppm is good.

Alkalinity is a bit on the low side, you can bump it up with food grade Bicarbonate. Maybe a teaspoon mixed in a litre of water, then drip slowly into sump would help.

Edit: Did you calibrate your refractometer? I have a Red Sea and honestly it's off quiet often. A calibration could help too. Buy calibration solution at 35ppt. Not very expensive.

Alk at 7.4 is completely fine if it’s stable. It’s almost exactly the same as NSW.

 

[Dave1993]

alk may be unstable stopped testing when my corals started dying (i have 1 left and its not doing good) no fish meds used no candles being burnt no deodorant or any aerosols used near tank

 

[Dave1993]

what should i do to raise nitrates more fish/feed more/stop skimmer?

 

[Dave1993]

i calibrate my refracto every month

 

[jcolliii]

Yep, try feeding more. Retest nitrates in a few days. I run between 5 and 10 for nitrate. ALK looks fine to me and with only one coral might not get used up very quickly unless you have crazy coraline growth. Do you feed your corals?

 

[LuizW13]

The first year or so of my first reef tank, I could not keep any corals longer than a few weeks. They started out great then slowly died away. The main reason for that was 0 nitrates and phosphates.

If you're going to keep corals, you're going to need to test Nitrates and Phosphates.

 

[MaxTremors]

what should i do to raise nitrates more fish/feed more/stop skimmer?

You can do any and all of those things, but I would do them one at a time, slowly. You just want them to go up to 3-5ppm (though as high as 20ppm is fine, even good if you’re mostly doing soft corals). But you really do need to find out where your phosphates are (even if can just get your water tested an lfs).

 

[Dave1993]

Put the red sea coral food in when i had a few corals but kinda stopped as they just went to crap and stopped caring about them but now i think about it i want corals ill get a phosphate hanna checker at some point thanks for the replys

 

[SillyReef]

I feed more then I would like even if algae is around. 0 nitrate is not good. I do lights out if algae gets bad.

 

[Dave1993]

i got alot of algae on the back glass

 

[elcapitan1993]

What light are you using?

 

[Dave1993]

red seea led 90

 

[jcolliii]

I think starting to target feed once a week is a good idea too. Not familiar with the RS food, but when I target feed, I mix up a pretty thick mixture and use a coral feeder (kind of like a long turkey baster) and dribble that thick mixture right into the middle of the corallite as near the mouth as I can. If they have not been fed for awhile, the feeding response the first couple of times might be rather 'meh...'. Give it a few days then try again.

 

[Dave1993]

i just add this to my tank for coral food

Red Sea Reef Energy Plus (AB+) 1000ml

An all-in-one superfood that will have your corals thanking you, delivering better growth, higher resilience, brighter colors, greater ease of use with automatic dosers, and minimal over skimming

charterhouse-aquatics.com

 

[ID-Reefer]

Save yourself money and headache. Buy a good Nitrate, Phosphate and Alkalinity test kit. I use Hanna. They are not cheap but then neither is a tank full of coral. Get a Milwaukee Digital salinity refractometer (or similar) and calibrate prior to each or every other use.

You don't need to chase numbers but you need (IMO) to have a good idea of where your perimeters are actually at and get them within acceptable range. Then do whatever you can to keep everything stable. Also be sure your temp is within range and stable (prolonged high or low temps can also kill). Test often until you can see a pattern of stability and then repeat whatever you are doing to achieve that stability then start to test less often. After a while you will get a good feel for what's going on without testing often. Then If you see corals looking "off" or if you make a change start testing more frequently. Im no expert but that's my recommendation.

Lighting and flow is also important but if your alkalinity has large swings or your P04 is really high or zero you will consistently kill whatever coral you put in your tank regardless of light/flow.