HELP! I can't keep anything longterm except Duncans??!

Tobe71 · Oct 23, 2013

OK, that isn't completely true. I have a a couple nice chalices (one pretty large) and an acro that seems to be holding on also a Lepastrea that seems to be doing nicely and a frogspawn that opens a little (may need better placement), but some chalices I've purchased and virtually all favias I've acquired (including my prized Dragon Soul Favia) all slowly lose color and mass and then slowly die?!? (and I start everything on the BOTTOM to adjust to the LEDs)

Green star polyps seems to do ok, and one colony is spreading nicely, and I have a couple small patches of Blue Sympodium that are doing ok... But leathers and (finger and toadstool) as well as xenia don't last long at all... they too slowly shrink away to nothing... Even Zoa colonies are noticeably smaller and less vivid than when acquired just a month or two ago...

Here are my water quality parameters... (I just switched from Brightwell Neomarine to Red Sea Coral Pro about a week ago - no noticeable difference so far)

(my iodine and iron were 0 - 0.02, before dosing starting this week - ascribing to the Red Sea "Colors" regiment to see if that helps)

pH 8.1
Alk 9.02 dKH
Calcium 473 ppm
Magnesium 1300 ppm
Iodine .05 ppm
Iron .12 ppm
Nitrate 3-4 ppm
Phosphate .40 ppm
Potassium 400 ppm

I have two return Eheim compact + 5000's turned all the way down oscillating on a wave maker returning water from the nanocube style internal filter (see previous tank build thread), I have a large old school Sanders Protein Skimmer running venturi style with an Eheim Compact + 2000, I have 2 Hydro Koralia 1400s and a Jebao WP-25 running on the "else" setting. (Nothing is getting blasted)....

I feed 3-4 times a week: a mixture of Brightwell Reef Snow, Frozen Cyclopeeze, and Larry's Reef Frenzy with an occasional addition of Julian's Reef Bugs and/or BRS Reef Chili....

I'm using an Acan Lighting 800-24B fixture turned down to 65% of max...

I also am running a 15 gallon Fuge...

HELP!!! Why is everything slowly losing color and dying??

(two newer duncans are slowly opening - only had them for a short while. The Larger Duncan I've had for over 5 years)

I feel like a moron. I had a JBJ 28 Gallon HQI that was rockin using tap water and whatever premixed salt water I could get at my LFS. It was great until I neglected it horribly for a few months while I was building the new tank... but even then, I had Favia, duncans, etc laying down new skeletons and holding good color. I switch over to all this schmancy new equipment and setup with RO/DI etc and I feel like a newbie!!

What am I missing??? I feel like giving up....

(here are the tank inhabitants: 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, several small hermits, cerith snails, and nassaria, 2 pom pom crabs, 1 small blue legged coral banded, 1 Mystery Wrasse, 1 Blue Spot Jawfish, 1 Yellowheaded Jawfish, 3 neon cleaner gobies and 1 starry blenny)

Reefing Madness · Oct 24, 2013

Whats the Temp?
Your phosphates are high, really high. They should only read out at .05 or lower. Thats the only thing I can see wrong.
And also, did you acclimate these corals to your LEDs? Or were they under LEDs when you bought them?

Tobe71 · Oct 25, 2013

Reefing Madness said:
Whats the Temp?
Your phosphates are high, really high. They should only read out at .05 or lower. Thats the only thing I can see wrong.
And also, did you acclimate these corals to your LEDs? Or were they under LEDs when you bought them?

I'll have to retest the Phosphates. I may have logged that wrong. That was the first time I've tested them. Starting a media reactor from BRS with GFO and Matrix Carbon tomorrow either way (just got the stuff delivered yesterday)...

The Corals came from various lighting set ups. I always started the corals at the bottom of the tank. Most never even got moved up before starting to die off...??

The temp is controlled by a 1/5 HP Arctica Chiller set at 77 degrees... wasn't aware that the chiller allows the temp to climb a whole degree before kicking in - assumed half degree increments :/

Thank you for the input! Checking the phosphates right now!

Tahoe61 · Oct 25, 2013

I would turn dim the LED's more, expect it to take weeks to see improvement.

Reefing Madness · Oct 25, 2013

Could be the lighting. If the corals weren't acclimated correctly your going to have those issues. If they are to intense then even starting them at the bottom won't help. If you have adjustable ones, then you'd be better off turning them down, and accliamting them that way. You may get better luck.

Tobe71 · Oct 27, 2013

Reefing Madness said:
Could be the lighting. If the corals weren't acclimated correctly your going to have those issues. If they are to intense then even starting them at the bottom won't help. If you have adjustable ones, then you'd be better off turning them down, and accliamting them that way. You may get better luck.

Thanks for the input!

I installed the Media Reactor filled with Matrix Carbon and GFO and good thing I did. I retested the Phosphate and it had climbed from .40 to .58! I'm guessing the increase was from the final demise of my beloved Dragon Soul Favia.... Super bummed about that...

Within 12 hours or so, the Phosphate were down to .11

The only thing I can think of that would have caused the Phosphate increase was the addition of some bulk reef rubble I purchased from Bulk Reef Supply. They made no mention of the need to cure it and as it was received dry, I assumed it was fine... I happened to have to talk to them about another issue and they said how I should definitely cure that rubble and it would most likely cause a phosphate increase. I only had used a few pounds at that point within my aquascaping to flesh out some areas and saw no reason to remove it. I didn't think 3 or 4 pounds or the 10 lbs bag I had would have THAT much of an impact. I told BRS that they should have noted that in the item description, but ultimately I should've been more aware...

Could a phosphate level that high have that much of a negative effect on Favia and Chalices and not effect my Duncans, Acro, etc?

Seems like the lighting is more likely the culprit...

Anyhow, I have adjusted my lighting again and will be more careful with lighting acclimation in the future, but this has been a VERY expensive lesson...

Thanks again for the input...