Help! Corals may be dying.

[bartizzle]

Updates: Zoas and hammer may be even more retracted today. Looked like the Duncan was out a little more than it had been the few days prior.

I have a good bit more of what I believe to be film algae, I cleaned the glass yesterday afternoon. You can also see some of the harder green (algae?) on the rocks, it doesn't really come off even with a toothbrush. The bubbles and cloudiness are due to pulling the media basket apart and swapping carbon. I notice a bit of brown on the rocks too.

I refreshed the Matrix Carbon today and tested for anything that I have tests. Only phosphate test that I have at the moment is a Salifert and my reagent seems damp, so I doubt it.

Date	Temp F	SG	pH	dKH	(NO3) ppm	(PO4) ppm	(Ca) ppm	(Mg) ppm	(NH3) ppm	(NO2) ppm	Notes
10/4/2020​	78​	1.025​	8​	9.9​	7​	0.03​	400​	1215​	0​	0.05​
10/5/2020​	78​										Dipped Zoas and Duncans in CoralRx Pro.
10/7/2020​	78​										Pulled Chemi-Pure Blue and Poly-Pad
10/8/2020​	78​	1.024​	8​	9.8​	10​	.1 - .25	400​	1200​	0​	0.05​	Refreshed Matrix Carbon (calibrated salinity meter)

d

 

[fishguy242]

i'm sorry to say this,i hope others chime in also,in my opinion the hammer is to far gone,kinda large coral,time to cut losses ,pull out blast with hose clean out all remaining deep tissue,dip swish in lil saltwater, put back in tank as live rock
ps:did not see ammonia on test list,also my opinion hammer was on way out when you got it,do not think your faulthappy reefing

 

[bartizzle]

i'm sorry to say this,i hope others chime in also,in my opinion the hammer is to far gone,kinda large coral,time to cut losses ,pull out blast with hose clean out all remaining deep tissue,dip swish in lil saltwater, put back in tank as live rock
ps:did not see ammonia on test list,also my opinion hammer was on way out when you got it,do not think your faulthappy reefing

The hammer was out about 30% of the max I've seen earlier until the crabs walked all over it. No brown jelly looking stuff or anything. The Zoas were out a little bit last night and earlier but totally closed up now, again could be crabs there but it normally bounces back quickly from that.

I know that I need to get a better test on phosphate (sadly no local stores carry tests) but other than that my parameters look close to charts I've seen online and on the bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro salt etc.

Could this be a toxin or pollutant from something in the tank that wasn't happy? If so, are you guys confident that I'm better off to ride the water out and not to a larger water change, clean the sand, or anything like that? I'm concerned because I've never seen the entire tank this unhappy.

I'm not doubting anyone here, I'm just concerned that I may end up loosing even more.

Also, I occasionally test but ammonia still at 0 and confirmed with multiple tests.

Thanks!

 

[fishguy242]

lets call the experts #reefsquad @Jay Hemdal

 

[bartizzle]

For what it's worth, Hanna ULR Phosphate checker arrived. 0.22ppm... which was close to my 0.25ppm reading yesterday.

 

[bartizzle]

I cleaned the hammer out pretty well, I think it is probably just live rock and quite a few fan worms on its skeleton. I also donated 75% of my crabs, they seemed to be harassing all the coral.

I did nearly a 50% WC on 10/10.

I noticed some coral starting to perk up. I dipped the Zoas, Duncan, and hammer in CoralRX and later MediCoral. Loaded it up with a good bit of carbon.

My phosphates now up to 0.3ppm per my Hanna ULR and 0.25 per Salifert. What should I be targeting now? I just checked all the levels, I'm headed out of town for the weekend.

Thanks!

Date	Temp F	SG	pH	dKH	(NO3) ppm	(PO4) ppm	(Ca) ppm	(Mg) ppm	(NH3) ppm	(NO2) ppm	Notes
10/8/2020​	78​	1.024​	8​	9.8​	10​	0.1- 0.25	400​	1200​	0​	0.05​	Refreshed Matrix Carbon
10/9/2020​	78​					0.22​					New Hanna PO4 checker
10/10/2020​	78​	1.024​	8​	8.4​	5​	0.12​	370​	1170​	0​	0​	50% WC, added more carbon, dipped wall hammer and duncan in MediCoral
10/14/2020​											Donated 6 crabs, Dipped Zoas, Duncan, and Hammer in CoralRx Pro and MediCoral.
10/16/2020​	78​	1.024​	8​	8.8​	5​	0.3​	370​	1140​	0​	0​

 

[bartizzle]

ICP results are back: https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/publicAnalysis/92910
ICP results for my RODI: https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/publicAnalysis/94103

Any advice? I have always thought my salt mix (Brightwell NeoMarine) had a high sulfur smell during mixing.

Thanks!

 

[ScottB]

Salinity is far too low. Your refractometer is not calibrated properly. You get 1.024 and ATI shows something drastically lower.

Your Mg is a little low as well. I don't know about Brightwell salt mix.

 

[spiraling]

+1 get your salinity correct first. It changes the other readings.

The silicon is from your RODI water. You need to change the DI resin.
You need to get iodine up. Corals and macroalgae need it. There are supplements you can buy.

The sulphur is strange and I assume from your water? You might want to look at changing your salt mix though, the other parameters that are off are probably from it.

 

[bartizzle]

Salinity is far too low. Your refractometer is not calibrated properly. You get 1.024 and ATI shows something drastically lower.

Your Mg is a little low as well. I don't know about Brightwell salt mix.

My refractometer was off my .001 when I calibrated it after that. It seems to align with my reference solutions now and I've been slowly trying to get back to 1.025-1.026 over evaporations.

The only Mg test that I have at the moment is Salifert, the ICP test showed mid 1200s I believe, isn't that about ideal or what do you recommend?

I think my RODI ICP was clean was it not? The Brightwell mix is definitely strong on the sulfur smell. I have Tropic Marin Reef Pro out for delivery today. I decided to switch, I'll probably let my AWC slowly switch it.

 

[bartizzle]

+1 get your salinity correct first. It changes the other readings.

The silicon is from your RODI water. You need to change the DI resin.
You need to get iodine up. Corals and macroalgae need it. There are supplements you can buy.

The sulphur is strange and I assume from your water? You might want to look at changing your salt mix though, the other parameters that are off are probably from it.

I'm confused about silicon in my RODI, the ICP test of RODI is linked there too. Am I reading it incorrectly? I thought it was clean there. Also my Spectrapure unit has only made probably 200 gallons max, how long should I expect the filter to survive on city water source? (I know every supply is different.)

Do you have an iodine supplement you prefer?

Thanks!