Frog Spawn and other corals slowly dying

[MomSaysNo]

Hello Folks,

I have a small GSP, Frog Spawn and two other corals I don't know the names of that seem to be slowly dying.

Salinity 0.026 (refractometer)
Nitrate .5ppm
Nitrite .25
Phosphate .25
Calcium 460
Alkalinity 8.2
PH 8.2
Temp 79.4 - 80 (it fluctuates a bit cause the weather is up and down here. Makes it hard to keep the house at a certain temp.)

The tank is about 4 months old, but doing very well. I even have a blue hippo tang that is thriving.
I have 6 fish
2 Clowns
1 Blue Hippo
1 Pajama Cardinal
1 Goby
1 Royal Gramma

I run a protein skimmer in a sump constantly that is also full of live rock and charcoal in the drain section. UV Sterilizer installed as well.

The tank is 170gal with a 40gal sump and I just did a 50gal water change but nothing seems to be doing any better. I am starting to wonder if the issue is my lighting.. though I've seen these same corals thrive in this lighting a month or two ago. I have a leather that is doing well and a large GSP doing well.. but the small GSP and Frog Spawn are struggling and I cannot figure out why. I've spent several hundred dollars on Hanna instruments recently to check all parameters accurately and everything is within recommended ranges.

I did have a mandarin disappear in the tank a few weeks ago that I am sure if dead. I am waiting on my ammonia instrument to arrive, but the standard color vile test was yellow. I had a large hair algae outbreak during cycling and used some H2O2 to treat, but everything seemed to come back to full health after that.

Does anyone have any idea what might be choking them out?? What am I doing wrong?

 

[A;exr54]

Ah good to know... then I'll pass for now. Since I started the hobby, this is my first time having nitrates at 0 and I am quite happy about it. LOL

What I see happening lots in this hobby is too many people trying to get instant satisfaction.
I mean it makes sense. People spend lots and lots of money to setup a tank. I mean LOTS OF MONEY
The last thing people want to do is wait months after setting everything up for it to look pretty with nice fish and corals.
Instant gratification is the last thing anyone should expect in this hobby.

I mean I’ve read tips and tricks. But for me personally I would not take any shortcuts.

Let nature run its course. After all - that’s what we’re doing here. Replicating nature as best as possible. Trying to manipulate nature always ends badly.
I am in no way saying that’s what you did. But it leads to exactly what your seeing with your tank.
Patience and stability is key.

 

[MomSaysNo]

What I see happening lots in this hobby is too many people trying to get instant satisfaction.
I mean it makes sense. People spend lots and lots of money to setup a tank. I mean LOTS OF MONEY
The last thing people want to do is wait months after setting everything up for it to look pretty with nice fish and corals.
Instant gratification is the last thing anyone should expect in this hobby.

I mean I’ve read tips and tricks. But for me personally I would not take any shortcuts.

Let nature run its course. After all - that’s what we’re doing here. Replicating nature as best as possible. Trying to manipulate nature always ends badly.
I am in no way saying that’s what you did. But it leads to exactly what your seeing with your tank.
Patience and stability is key.

Ah I think its fair to say. I upgraded from one 75gal tank to this 175gal tank and through everything in it right away cause I had to get rid of the other tank in a move. I rushed it, no doubt.

 

[brahm]

Thank you for the thorough response!

Are you suggesting more live wrong for inside the tank? The drain compartment of my sump (about 1/3 of a 40gal tank) is about 1/2 full of small pieces of live rock to catch debris in the water and hold it for the bacteria to tale care of. (Pictures below) Would you still suggest more live rock for the tank itself?

When I change water, I do use RO/DI water. I put a couple of power heads in a large container along with a few heaters and let the water mix for an hour or two. Then I check alkalinity and calcium to make sure they are in a good range. Once the temperature of the water is very close to what the tank is, I'll pour it in.

This is my first water change for this tank. The guys who helped me build the filtration system told me that it would be sufficient enough that I would only have to do it every 6 months or so. The water I changed was very clean. It had almost no color to it and didn't smell. But I am wondering if that was sound advice now or not.

The only used equipment I am using is the tank itself. All heaters, powerheads, the pump and the Skimmer were bought brand new. The sump tank was used as well, but the tanks were cleaned extensively.

I will start logging my parameters. I haven't been doing that, but it is a good idea so I can see what fluctuating. Thank you so much for your input! The truth is, I suck at being patient. There is a long learning curve to this hobby.

Sorry for the slow response.

To answer you questions and first let me say none of these are hard-fast rules, general guidelines to make things easier. I'd shoot for around 1lb of live rock per gallon, doesn't really matter where it goes.

For water changes. Depending on the salt you use you'll have different mixing times. I use IO I usually let it mix for at least 24 hours. Frequency wise, a good place to start is 10% of your total water volume every two weeks. As you have more experience and can start to get in tune with the ebb's and flows of your tank it may make sense for you to increase or decrease the frequencies/size. Personally, though, 10% every couple weeks for me keeps things humming along. I've got it down to where I can swap out 25 gallons in around 10 mins. If you read around on the subject you'll see it can be touchy for some folks. It is possible to get away with less, but I wouldn't say it's the easiest path forward and you really need to either test like crazy or have a keen eye as to when things are looking off and what they need.

Hopefully, you've seen some things turn around this past week.

 

[MomSaysNo]

Sorry for the slow response.

To answer you questions and first let me say none of these are hard-fast rules, general guidelines to make things easier. I'd shoot for around 1lb of live rock per gallon, doesn't really matter where it goes.

For water changes. Depending on the salt you use you'll have different mixing times. I use IO I usually let it mix for at least 24 hours. Frequency wise, a good place to start is 10% of your total water volume every two weeks. As you have more experience and can start to get in tune with the ebb's and flows of your tank it may make sense for you to increase or decrease the frequencies/size. Personally, though, 10% every couple weeks for me keeps things humming along. I've got it down to where I can swap out 25 gallons in around 10 mins. If you read around on the subject you'll see it can be touchy for some folks. It is possible to get away with less, but I wouldn't say it's the easiest path forward and you really need to either test like crazy or have a keen eye as to when things are looking off and what they need.

Hopefully, you've seen some things turn around this past week.

Thank you! I have noticed water change intervals is highly debated.. though 10% every couple weeks will likely be my interval as well. I did pull all the rock out of my sump, vacuum out the gunk, put some of that live rock in the tank, put filter socks on and use a baster to blow off most of my rock and corals. Its only been 24hrs and everything is looking much much better including the dinos. Pretty sure the corals are toast though. I've given up on them for now, though I'm not going to toss them till the blue light doesn't show anymore color. Just in case.

I'll definitely be getting some more live rock.