Inverts Crashing After Water Change?

chrishk · Nov 18, 2014

Hey guys I am at a loss here. I have been battling to get my nitrates down for the past two months and am finally starting to see results. Down to 40 from 200+ with weekly water changes and have been dosing with NO3-PO4X. I have been changing 30 gallons or so in my 250 Gallon tank each weekend and things were just starting to look up....

Everything looked good Saturday... water 20% change on Sunday...now all soft corals have closed up, Anenomes have moved and are tiny and my urchin is loosing spines. A few Snails have died and I am afraid it will just keep happening. I have done the same water change each week for 2 months.

I was worried maybe my salinity was off nope 32 (used RODI water from LFS)
Temperature looks to have been a constant 77.7 (regulated by apex)
PH is now at 8.2
Ammonia is at 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 40
Phosphate is around 0.3

I realize my Nitrates are high but they have been coming down, this was why I was doing the water changes. What could have changed in one day? I don't have a sea apple or any box fish or puffers.

Fish all seem to be fine. I took my water to my LFS to have them test it and they were at a loss as well... Any ideas? I am so confused :cry:

prsnlty · Nov 18, 2014

Is this a non reef tank no coral other than nems and softies? What salt are you using and do you test for magnesium and calcium? These could be off balance also. Salinity looks a little low for soft corals...

akitareefer · Nov 18, 2014

What salt are you using? are you testing rodi water and fresh mixed water (no3/po4)? you used rodi water to set your refractometer? best to use calibration fluid.... I don't know but something must be very off. I'd stop dosing anything and figure out the nitrate source

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 18, 2014

The tank response might have nothing to do with the water changes (my main thought), or the water could have been bad since you are relying on an LFS which may or may not have produced suitable water.

Many things can happen to impact reef tanks, including something unexpectedly getting into the water (like a brass part or toxic chemical) or something in the tank dying and impacting other creatures.

prsnlty · Nov 18, 2014

I agree with Randy ^^^ Years ago this happened to me. My then 4 year old dropped a few pennies into the tank. They fell where they couldn't be seen. I wound up tearing the tank down and that's when i saw them. I still randomly test for copper because of that.

abinder · Nov 18, 2014

Also be sure you are using the correct dosage of the NO3POx.

Are you using a Skimmer that's working properly?

It's also possible that the tank inhabitants are reacting to the change in water quality. Maybe the change in water quality could be almost like a shock to their 'systems'. Kinda like if someone introduces something to the tank without properly acclimating it to the tank water. Maybe try to keep the present water quality at the current conditions and then continue in a couple of days, continue with the change in water quality.
(Just a thought, especially since I'm not an expert.)

Allen

chrishk · Nov 18, 2014

Thanks for the thoughts

The nitrate problem was due to poor tank husbandry. I was paying somone to service my aquarium and they mainly just billed me. I think it might be copper, I have a test kit on the way so I will know for sure. I put more carbon in the tank and have a poly filter on the way as well. I do know that my skimmer is overflowing with extremely wet foam. Its not really able to do its job anymore as of a few days ago because if just fills up with water; could they be related?

Any other advice for removing "chemicals?" A little scared to do a big water change as it all happend the day later. I think if I have a pump leaking metals into the tank it would not have been an overnight crash. Any suggestions of things to check?