Help can't keep hard corals.

Kennyb1 · Dec 15, 2014

If you want send me an email and I'll send you my lighting chart. For some reason it won't let me upload pictures on here.

Volkman · Dec 15, 2014

Just got your message, will do.

eagle · Dec 15, 2014

I personally have kept sps with lower light levels and they didn't die. They weren't as colorful but lived. And I'm sure it depends on different types of sps. I seem to have best luck with aquacultured frags of course over wild. The only times I've lost sps was in a overdosing event. One time my litermeter went crazy after a power outage and pumped a gallon of vinegar in. That fried several frags, but most survived it do a holy crap morning changing out all the water. I'd be inclined to think the calcium/alk swing is more the culprit. I could see the lights causing them to brown out some if too low or bleach out if too high. I know that's not full proof but it's what I've noticed.

Volkman · Dec 15, 2014

Calc, alk and lights! Think it's a combo of all three! Aye.

scardall · Dec 15, 2014

I'm willing to bet your magnesium is low.

that Reef Guy · Dec 16, 2014

Volkman said:
Randy, I use the Oceanic salt mix in the blue bucket and will
Be changing that out also as I've never liked that mix and have heard other dislike it also. Salinity is done on my refractometer right at 1.024.

What do you Calibrate the Refractometer with?

that Reef Guy · Dec 16, 2014

eagle said:
Hope it gets better. I know problems suck. Makes you go crazy. I had a stray voltage issue that drove me crazy and I would have never thought to look without someone on here asking me if I had checked. Just never thought of something like that. I was losing fish like crazy. Good to see any ideas from the board members during those times.

How do you know if you have Stray Voltage?

Does it just Kill Fish or can it affect Coral too?

eagle · Dec 16, 2014

I took a volt meter, put the ground in the ground on an outlet and the positive in the water. Then I turned on each outlet on my tank until I saw what was putting the voltage in the water. I had a heater going/gone bad. I had 60 volts in the water. So I replaced it and bought a grounding probe. Now reads 0 voltage. It's just something I had never thought of. My fish were just acting crazy it seemed. My yellow tang would dart back and forth all over the place. I have read it kills corals and fish. I couldn't keep any fish alive for a while.

Volkman · Dec 18, 2014

Here's a question for Ya guys:

Just found a stainless steel hose clamp connecting a tube to my phosban reactor, leaking a small amount, dripping off the hose clamp into my sump. Would any minerals or bad stuff be getting into the water and be a part of the issue im having?

Volkman · Dec 18, 2014

Thanks eagle, never thought to use a meter in the tank, will do so shortly and let you know if there are any strange numbers. Thanks!!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 18, 2014

Volkman said:
Here's a question for Ya guys:

Just found a stainless steel hose clamp connecting a tube to my phosban reactor, leaking a small amount, dripping off the hose clamp into my sump. Would any minerals or bad stuff be getting into the water and be a part of the issue im having?

Could be.

that Reef Guy · Dec 18, 2014

eagle said:
I took a volt meter, put the ground in the ground on an outlet and the positive in the water. Then I turned on each outlet on my tank until I saw what was putting the voltage in the water. I had a heater going/gone bad. I had 60 volts in the water. So I replaced it and bought a grounding probe. Now reads 0 voltage. It's just something I had never thought of. My fish were just acting crazy it seemed. My yellow tang would dart back and forth all over the place. I have read it kills corals and fish. I couldn't keep any fish alive for a while.

How often does Stray Voltage happen?

Is it common?

Is it a Rare Occurence?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 19, 2014

that Reef Guy said:
How often does Stray Voltage happen?

Is it common?

Is it a Rare Occurence?

It is not all that rare for our cheapo pieces of equipment to fail and expose the tank to electricity. I do not know how often it impacts tank creatures, but it is a safety risk for people that should be considered.

scardall · Dec 21, 2014

I was electricuted by a leaky power headmany years ago. so it does happen. I got a bit of a tingle, when I was not wearing shoes that day. Salt is a good conductor,but glass is a better insulator. Eletricity needs a path to ground to flow.

Volkman · Jan 12, 2015

Update:

I think a good part of the issues I was having were due to me doing my calcium tests wrong. I was using bottled water as the dilution instead of rodi water, so I was getting false, high calcium readings due to calcium being added into the bottled water. When I did the tests properly, found my calcium was fairly low. Around 300. So that, along with low Alk and magnesium and my lights not being intense enough, were causing my issues. I've continued the water changes, increased my lights intensity slightly, and bumped up my calc, mag and Alk dosing slowly. Alk is still a touch low, around 6-7, but calcium is now at 425 and Mag is about 1120. So much better levels. Lost most of my hard corals in this ordeal, but the ones that survived and doing much better along with all of my softies. So things are looking positive. Hopefully they will continue along that path.

Thank you everyone for your help and advice, much appreciated!!