HELP!!!!! My coral is dying HELP!!!!!

[seamus2050]

About 30% of my coral are dead or dying. At this point the casulties have been my chalices, acros and plating monti's. Some of my zoas are dull and small. My Kenya tree has went from brown to white brown. The corals that have died seem to have bleeched white and a couple of chalices browned. My hammer coral, cabage leather, yumas and some favias are doing good. Also, I have had limited growth with most of my corals.

The tank is about 4 months old. I test the water 1 time per week and keep a log. the first 2 months stuff seemed to thrive then started down hill. I tend to think the problem is lights. I have tried 3 different lght intensity combos. I am currently running at about 35% max on both white and blues. The light is on a 24 hour program, with the tank being light for about 2 hours. I am currently using reefbreeders program schedule from their site.

livestock- true clow, royal gramma

Tank info - 75g, 28g sump, 18g refug, reefbreeders photon48 led light, CAD lights skimmer, quite one return pump (960g/hr), 2 hydor 750g/hr powerheads, jaebo wp40 wavemaker, 300w true temp titanium heater.

water specs - calcium 420 ppm, alk 10 dkh, phos 0 ppm, nitrates 0ppm, water temp 79.7 and selinity 1.026. last water change was 2 weeks ago.

 

[seamus2050]

livestock- true clown, royal gramma and blenny. 200+ snails, 50+ coral frags of all type, 130 lbs live rock.

 

[NanaReefer]

Am I understanding you right, that your tank is light for only 2 hours a day?


Sent from my iPhone 4s via Tapatalk.

 

[seamus2050]

sorry typo, 12 hours. ramps up then down

 

[seamus2050]

most coral was doing good before they crashed.

 

[Squishie89]

Have you changed any equipment or cleaned anything that may have caused this? Although odd, having 0 nitrates is not necessarily the best if I remember correctly. Do you use RODI water? I don't think it is a pest, but it could be. Maybe check an hour after lights out and see if you see anything unusual.

 

[seamus2050]

have rodi with auto top off. I have not changed any equipment. I dip all coral before it enters my system. I will check for pests. Also, have seen hardly any coraline algea growth.

 

[resortez]

it sounds like a problem i had when my heater crapped out & did not turn off. it reached high temps, lost a lot of lps & the majority of softies bleached. also, whats your mag reading & just curious about ph. is there enough aeration in the tank, coral will deplete O2 levels faster than fish. could be a bacteria bloom or maybe not enough nutrients within the water column. just a few thing to consider & ask yourself. good luck with everything.

 

[seamus2050]

Just checked heater, seems to be good. Have two temp probes in tank, 1 in main, 1 in refug. Have not tested mag or ph, will order kits as I should have them anyway. The only real aeriation I get is from my overflow drop to my sump, about 950gph thru fiber filter material. No visible bacteria blooms. Did have a hair algea problem a month or so ago, blenny and snails took care of it. I feed fish daily and target feed my coral 2-3 times/ week. I was adding trace elements, iodine and magnesium about 2 months ago but stopped since I was not testing for them.

 

[dadof4]

Are the fish acting normal? Curious if it may be stray voltage...

 

[extremecoral]

If you said you're lights seem to be the problem how far away it's from the surface of water? you have to be careful with LEDs though it could burn/bleach you're coral. Did you buy your coral from a LED tank?

Secondly, you're running LEDs so there is no way your tank is 79.5 F unless you adjusted so... that could be the reason shocked the coral.

Thirdly, is your magnesium level you don't know that what I'd suggest is go to a LFS have them do your full tank parameters so you can match up if your tests are failure and let us know your Mag level.

 

[seamus2050]

fish seem to be fine. I will test the water stay for voltage in the am.

 

[seamus2050]

Leds are hanging 8" above the surface to the lenses. water temp is currently 80.4 f and set for 81.0 f. I will order mag test kit asap.

 

[Squishie89]

Temp seems to be a bit high. Most people keep their temp around 77-79 give or take (I keep mine at 78).

 

[FiveAlarmFrags]

Have you considered contaminants? Is it an open top tank where something could have gotten in there? Try running some carbon to help pull any contaminants or metals that might be in there. I have an open lid tank and run Seachem Matrix carbon in a small mesh bag in my sump 24/7 just in case something gets in there. Usually, white is a sign of too much light and brown is not enough light, but also could be due to contaminants. Your parameters look good but it would be nice to know what your mag level is at. Try a few water changes. That in conjunction with the carbon should help get any nasties out of the tank. I hope it recovers.

 

[gregr]

What are you testing the phosphates with? If it's not a colorimeter then I'd be very skeptical about that zero reading. In a new tank like that I'd suspect phosphates especially since you're not running a GFO reactor. What are you doing to maintain the alk/ca balance? Since you added a lot of coral you'll have to address that sooner or later. Alk and calcium are great at the numbers you listed but I don't think they'll stay there unless you do LOTS of water changing. So maybe it just comes down to high-ish temp, magnesium/alk/ca/pH levels. With a reactor or dosing pumps or just a two part solution you'll be back in business.

 

[Tahoe61]

Consider letting the Alk drop slowly to 8 or 7 if you're going to run the tank as a ULN system. With 2 fish in over 75 gallons of water you can probably do small water changes. I would check for stray voltage as well. Get your values double checked and get the mag checked. Dose nothing.

 

[seamus2050]

First, I ordered mag test kit, active carbon and lowered temp to 78. I dose alk and calcium as required. Have not been dosing what I can't test. I am testing with reef master test kit. I have had slight readings of phosphates in the past, usually do water 25% water change of entire system. I do agree that a zero ppm of phosphates is probably not acurate.

I have fished a couple of lady bugs out, maybe they have released toxins? As soon as my salt arrives I will do another water change and retest all levels. Also, I have to drive about 100 miles to get to my lfs, so I don't go to often.

 

[seamus2050]

Tested voltage, 1.7 VAC. from what I read this is ok, provided I measured correctly

 

[Tahoe61]

When you hear the sound of hooves think horses not zebra. It's not really complicated, your tank temp is fine at your previously posted values. Lady bugs are not going release a toxin that has that affect, kills some corals leaves other. I would stop dosing and stop messing with the tank, I would even go as far to say stop the water changes for 2 or three months or cut way back to 5-10%. The tank is 4 months old you really should not have to dose, you have two fish you do not need to do such large water changes. I would raise the fixture call it a day and keep my hands out of the tank. Adding charcoal is not going to be the answer either, you're over thinking it in my opinion.