Crashing tank.

Thespammailaccount · Jul 9, 2020

NewbsReef said:
I did a water change after the sump install. Total of 15 gallons. I usually do a 10 gal water change weekly to keep nutrients in somewhat check. I took a ICP sample and got it sent out. Just waiting for the results. It wiped out all my sps. The few lps i have are fine.

An almost 50% water change with chloramine water would do it. The fact that they all rtn at the same time made me think it was the water or some kind of contaminate. You did mention that you buy your water from a LFS but the corals look ok. If you test their water you will probably find ammonia a biproduct of chloramine. The difference between your tank and theirs is their water changes are less frequent and much less volume. I have had an issue with chloramines myself and I am sorry your tank is crashing definitely hard to read

NewbsReef · Jul 9, 2020

Thespammailaccount said:
An almost 50% water change with chloramine water would do it. The fact that they all rtn at the same time made me think it was the water or some kind of contaminate. You did mention that you buy your water from a LFS but the corals look ok. If you test their water you will probably find ammonia a biproduct of chloramine. The difference between your tank and theirs is their water changes are less frequent and much less volume. I have had an issue with chloramines myself and I am sorry your tank is crashing definitely hard to read

You do have a point. Everything was fine up until then. Trust me it hurts, im not happy about it. It took forever to get the tank filled up and everyone knows sps these days aren't cheap.

NewbsReef · Jul 9, 2020

Katie M said:
One other thing I would check (and I've learned by experience twice) is your magnets. Make sure there are no scrapers that are rusted out or magnets for pumps or anything else you may have in the tank. That definitely will cause coral losses. Hope you figure things out sooner rather than later!

I clean all the pumps / wave makers every other month and i always check for rust. I dont even leave the mag float in the tank.

NewbsReef · Jul 10, 2020

Threw 4 frags away Tuesday and this evening these are getting tossed.
Jkr rainbow acro, WD, Casanova, unknown millie, bill murray, PR fruity pebbles.

Katie M · Jul 13, 2020

NewbsReef said:
I clean all the pumps / wave makers every other month and i always check for rust. I dont even leave the mag float in the tank.

So sorry, just figured I'd offer it as a suggestion. Hope you figure out what's going on!

NewbsReef · Jul 13, 2020

Katie M said:
So sorry, just figured I'd offer it as a suggestion. Hope you figure out what's going on!

Appreciate the suggestion. Hopefully ill have the ICP results today or tomorrow.

count krunk · Jul 13, 2020

NewbsReef said:
Tank has been up running for 3 years. Been in the sps game for about 2 years been reefing a total of 5 years (man time is flying lol) tank is a 40 breeder. Alk. 8-8.5 Ca 450 Mg 1290 No3 20 P04 .12. Past few days ive been doing 10 gal water changes. No reaction to coral.

I fragged a what and hoping for the best. So far all the water has been changed with no affect to coral. Ive have a sump before, just a ole 29 gal tank and swapped out for a fiji cube 24.

P04 .12 No3 20ppm dkh 8-8.5 Ca 450

Absolutely nothing everything from old sump went to the new sump and that was just the month old siporax and a marine pure 8x8x4 block. Went from a 29 gal tall diy sump to a fiji cube 24

So you removed the siporax and marine pure and didn't put these into the new sump? If so I think you removed a substantial source of biological filtration and that caused your problems.

KrisReef · Jul 13, 2020

count krunk said:
So you removed the siporax and marine pure and didn't put these into the new sump? If so I think you removed a substantial source of biological filtration and that caused your problems.

Perhaps, except that doesn't seem to explain the healthy Birdsnest frag and happy LPS?

Eager to see if the water test shows contaimination.

I've heard a few stories, and seen similar issues when the sump gets stirred up in a tank. Another unexplained observation is that it seems that the most expensive corals are always the first to go? Painful thread.

NewbsReef · Jul 13, 2020

count krunk said:
So you removed the siporax and marine pure and didn't put these into the new sump? If so I think you removed a substantial source of biological filtration and that caused your problems.

The siporax and marine pure block where transfered to the new sump. I know that would cause a mess i just trashed them.

NewbsReef · Jul 13, 2020

KrisReef said:
Perhaps, except that doesn't seem to explain the healthy Birdsnest frag and happy LPS?

Eager to see if the water test shows contaimination.

I've heard a few stories, and seen similar issues when the sump gets stirred up in a tank. Another unexplained observation is that it seems that the most expensive corals are always the first to go? Painful thread.

You'd think the birds nest frag would-be the first to go. Im going with water contamination of some sort or maybe something bacterial?

NewbsReef · Jul 14, 2020

ICP test are in. Thoughts?

JustJoan · Jul 15, 2020

I am a new reefer. I don't know much, but your chlorine is very very high!

Viking_Reefing · Jul 15, 2020

JustJoan said:
I am a new reefer. I don't know much, but your chlorine is very very high!

Yeah, that seems stupidly high. Am reading that value correctly? If so I’m surprised that anything is still alive.

Stigigemla · Jul 15, 2020

In natural sea water chlorine is supposed to be 19 400. I dont see 19 614 as anything but a small harmless salinity increase.
Impossible to see with a refractometer.

Viking_Reefing · Jul 15, 2020

MichaelE said:
Yeah, that seems stupidly high. Am reading that value correctly? If so I’m surprised that anything is still alive.

Yeah, I’m an idiot..I read that as “chloramine”. Sorry about that.

JustJoan · Jul 15, 2020

What level of chlorine is safe for fish?
Chlorine is a strong oxidant and can be lethal to most fish at level between 0.1-0.3 ppm. Although is its best to maintain levels below 0.001 to 0.003 ppm as health issues can arise in aquatic systems.

chipmunkofdoom2 · Jul 15, 2020

NewbsReef said:

This is how all of my coral mortalities happen. The tissue receeds, the skeleton is white for a day or so, then brown algae starts to grow on the skeleton, like the picture above. If you're not paying very close attention or if the coral has very light colored flesh, you can miss the part where the skeleton is bare and just think it's bleached tissue. But that's likely what's going on. Tissue recedes, leaving white skeleton that may look like it's still flesh. The bare skeleton grows algae.

Sorry for your loss. Hope things are turning around for you.

chipmunkofdoom2 · Jul 15, 2020

Stigigemla said:
In natural sea water chlorine is supposed to be 19 400. I dont see 19 614 as anything but a small harmless salinity increase.
Impossible to see with a refractometer.

This is not correct. Almost all of the chlorine (Cl) present in seawater exists as chloride (Cl-). This is an incredibly important distinction. Chloride is an important electrolyte in humans and many other mammals. Chlorine is deadly to almost all living organisms. It was weaponized and used as a chemical weapon in World War I.

SeaDweller · Jul 15, 2020

chipmunkofdoom2 said:
This is not correct. Almost all of the chlorine (Cl) present in seawater exists as chloride (Cl-). This is an incredibly important distinction. Chloride is an important electrolyte in humans and many other mammals. Chlorine is deadly to almost all living organisms. It was weaponized and used as a chemical weapon in World War I.

I think the test means chloride

nereefpat · Jul 15, 2020

On Chlorine in the ICP test:

ICP just tells you how much of each element is in the sample. It can't tell the difference between different molecules containing chlorine. Most (all?) of that is chloride from the salt. You'll notice the sodium value is sky high too.