Getting frustrated! Water parameters

[Timrpn]

Hi again,

I am getting frustrated with my water pereamteres. I have recently done 4 Medium size water changes to bring up my salinity because my refractometer was 5ppt off. So when I thought i was mixing 35ppt, i was in fact only mixing 30ppt. No wonder corals were not happy.

Anyways... I used Aquaforest Reef Salt
Current Values:

Alk: 9.9dkh.
Ca - 520
PO4 - 0.12ppm

I have AF PhosMinus and AF Carbon in reactors.
Phosphate is not really going down, what else can I do?

I don’t dose anything because my ALK does not really fluctuate, usually stays the same or creeps up. Not sure how that happens since my salt has a lower DKH value when mixed.

I have Gen 2 Radions, using EcoTech AB+ schedule.

In the tank is fish, Live rock, some SPS Frags (not doing so hot), and mushrooms and anemone’s, other soft corals. Tank is 75 gal with about a 15 gal sump.

My plate coral is losing tissue and starting to show skeleton and just in the last day my scoly coral has lost about a 1/3 of its tissue and can see its skeleton now. I am worried that today will be the rest for the scolie if it did that in the 1 day.

 

[Timrpn]

PH - 8.07
Salinty - 34.8 ppt
Tmp 78.1
RO/DI with 0 TDS

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

How long has the tank been going?

Also, re: salinity...

Sub-optimal conditions can be stressful for coral, but changing it too quickly can cause further stress. Not saying you bumped the salinity too quickly, but if they were already having a tough time, that change can make it worse in the short-term.

This is why one of the most critical aspects of reef management is parameter management. Getting off-kilter can be bad, and fixing it doesn’t always help immediately. Stability over time = success.

Now, once things settle down and stabilize, you will probably see some of them perk back up.

 

[Timrpn]

How long has the tank been going?

Also, re: salinity...

Sub-optimal conditions can be stressful for coral, but changing it too quickly can cause further stress. Not saying you bumped the salinity too quickly, but if they were already having a tough time, that change can make it worse in the short-term.

This is why one of the most critical aspects of reef management is parameter management. Getting off-kilter can be bad, and fixing it doesn’t always help immediately. Stability over time = success.

Now, once things settle down and stabilize, you will probably see some of them perk back up.

I bought the tank of someone else, prior to me buying it it was running for 2 years, I transferred about 60% of the water with me and everything from the live rock was also transported in water. From tare down to setup again was 7 hours, I have had it running in my house for approx 6 months.

 

[Timrpn]

How long has the tank been going?

Also, re: salinity...

Sub-optimal conditions can be stressful for coral, but changing it too quickly can cause further stress. Not saying you bumped the salinity too quickly, but if they were already having a tough time, that change can make it worse in the short-term.

This is why one of the most critical aspects of reef management is parameter management. Getting off-kilter can be bad, and fixing it doesn’t always help immediately. Stability over time = success.

Now, once things settle down and stabilize, you will probably see some of them perk back up.

Only thing i changed that from what the prior owner was, is the brand of salt due to unavailability in my area.

 

[BestMomEver]

Personally, I don’t find much wrong with your parameters with the possible exception of phosphate. Are your corals bleaching from the top or bottom. If from the top, they might be burning from too much light. If from the bottom look for parasites or weird water flow patterns (havingthat issue myself). Salinity can be an issue but I have found that as long as your Salinity is close to 35ppt, then consistency is all you need. I try to keep mine about 1.026sg because I find it helps with calcium levels. Btw.... how old is your tank?

 

[rock_lobster]

going to be a wait and see situation. Hopefully the change in salinity was enough to kill them Phos .12 is fine. Keep stable parameters and hope for the best.

 

[BestMomEver]

Sorry... didn’t see your post about age of the tank till now. When you moved the tank, I guarantee there was at least a little die off. Have you checked ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite lately? I would start there. I know you said it’s been up for seven months. FWIW, I had trouble with SPS until my tank was about 10 months old. I guess it just wasn’t ready for hard-to-keep corals.