Losing it all...how do we stop the madness?

[Blackice615]

My tank has been up and running for three years. Over the past three weeks, since i performed a water change of 25%, switched from Mrs. Wages pickling lime to Arm and Hammer for kalkwasser, my tank has been going downhill. Tank is 125 gallon.

Params were:
Calcium 360
Nitrates 40
Phosphates 2-3
Alk 7

Current Params
Cal 480
Nitrates 20
Phos .50
Alk 8

I've lost $500-$700 in corals and a years worth of growth in most. Last week I added a reactor with phosguard to slowly reduce the phosphates. It barely tumbles but I did see a reduction in phosphates down to .10 over a few days. I turned it off so phosphates doesn't bottom out so drastically.


I honestly believe the root of the problem is IO Reef Crystal's salt. The calcium was extremely low after performing the water change. Normally it's at 420-450 consistently.

The remaining acros are brown at the tips and losing color. There is one snail that eats the bottom of them I've been trying to find and remove. No other issues with pests

Any help and insight is appreciated. Struggling to remain hopeful.

Is it helpful to perform another water change?

Should I leave the tank alone to see what happens?

 

[Billldg]

Hate to see you going thru this, but you will get thru it. Keep your head up.

#reefsquad

 

[Blackice615]

Photos from end of March below.

 

[Blackice615]

Thanks @Billldg and tagging the squad. Doing my best

 

[dwest]

My tank has been up and running for three years. Over the past three weeks, since i performed a water change of 25%, switched from Mrs. Wages pickling lime to Arm and Hammer for kalkwasser, my tank has been going downhill. Tank is 125 gallon.

Params were:
Calcium 360
Nitrates 40
Phosphates 2-3
Alk 7

Current Params
Cal 480
Nitrates 20
Phos .50
Alk 8

I've lost $500-$700 in corals and a years worth of growth in most. Last week I added a reactor with phosguard to slowly reduce the phosphates. It barely tumbles but I did see a reduction in phosphates down to .10 over a few days. I turned it off so phosphates doesn't bottom out so drastically.


I honestly believe the root of the problem is IO Reef Crystal's salt. The calcium was extremely low after performing the water change. Normally it's at 420-450 consistently.

The remaining acros are brown at the tips and losing color. There is one snail that eats the bottom of them I've been trying to find and remove. No other issues with pests

Any help and insight is appreciated. Struggling to remain hopeful.

Hey, sorry about this. But,

Mrs wages pickling lime is calcium hydroxide. Arm and Hammer makes baking soda, sodium bicarbonate right? I think I’m missing something here.

 

[Blackice615]

Here's what I switched to. Sodium carbonate

 

[Fiesty]

Sorry to see this. I dont mean this in a bad way but just my perspective ......... go back to what u were doing when your tank was succesful in march. If your tank looked like that for 3 years then awesome and was obviously working for ya. This may be a large part of your answer of what to do now? Only thing u might think of changing when tank is stabilized is to switch to an upgraded salt such as reef crystals, etc. Im only basing this on u dosing for higher levels and that u just mention "Instant Ocean" so im assuming that meant the standard grade. The upgraded salt for water changes and dosing to maintain those levels should keep things for stable for u and better for the tank.

 

[dwest]

Here's what I switched to. Sodium carbonate

I don’t think this is the cause of your coral deaths, but it isn’t really a good replacement for kalkwasser IMO. Kalk will supply both the calcium ion and the hydroxide ion that will react with carbon dioxide in the water to supply the carbonate ion as well. The sodium carbonate will only supply the carbonate ion (alkalinity). Again, not a cause of the coral death likely but also not a direct replacement for kalkwasser.

Again sorry. Your corals were very nice!

 

[Blackice615]

Geneiuenly, thank you. I did start using Red Sea coral pro blue bucket in August 2018 to Dec 2018 but noticed no difference the switch back to IO Reef Crystal's. Seems like it would be a good idea to go back to Mrs. Wages now that you mention it.

 

[Blackice615]

Thank you as well @dwest perhaps this explains why my calcium began to drop.

Would anyone advise against performing another water change or shall I let things stabilize at this point?

 

[Dilan Patel]

Hello, I use regualr IO sea salt and I would not change. For me i don't do water changes but in order to adjust my alk and calc I dose 2 part daily which givesx me flexibility in the salt I use. I also run GFO 24/7 as well as carbon. I feed extra heavy so my nitrates don't fall to 0 as well as it gives extra food to the corals. What I recommend for you is to not switch salt brand but honestly swith to 2 part so you have better control of what is being dosed. Also to lower nitrates a little. I use a denitrator that is extreamly efficient...no waterchanges and heavy feedings is what i do lol. ALso what are you using for flow?

 

[dwest]

You might add calcium chloride to your current mix, but I’m a big proponent of kalkwasser. You had a very nice tank before. I would restart kalk and do your normal wc schedule. I honestly also believe any salt mix will work fine if you keep the wc percent at 10 or less.

 

[Blackice615]

Very nice. I use a combination of hydor koralia 850-1500 and a jebao big boy pushing 3200 gph or so. The koralias and heaters have been in the tank for 3 years as well. Started wondering if something was beginning to rust or deteriorate.

My tank also runs on the Fluval FX6 cannister filter and I clean it every two weeks. Believe that helped with success as well, even though it's not a sump/refugium combo. I perform water changes once a month and that was the sweet spot.

 

[Blackice615]

The heaters are Aqueon 300w and theres two. They're not overheating tank remains stable at 78 degrees also

 

[Blackice615]

Understood, thank you guys. I'll leave things be and give this a shot for a few weeks. I appreciate all of the feedback and insight

 

[Neoalchemist]

We're things looking bad before you lowered po4 from 2-3 to .50?

 

[Blackice615]

Yes. They weren't always that high, they crept up from overdosing on frozen food.

Normally,

Nitrates were 10, phos .10-.30, alk 8-9, cal 420-450

 

[dwest]

Very nice. I use a combination of hydor koralia 850-1500 and a jebao big boy pushing 3200 gph or so. The koralias and heaters have been in the tank for 3 years as well. Started wondering if something was beginning to rust or deteriorate.

My tank also runs on the Fluval FX6 cannister filter and I clean it every two weeks. Believe that helped with success as well, even though it's not a sump/refugium combo. I perform water changes once a month and that was the sweet spot.

You could do an ICP test through Triton to check for metal contamination. There are mixed results out there, but something to consider.

 

[Blackice615]

I've considered doing it as it's worth the investment but wonder how much worse things will be in 7 days to receive the results and a few days to begin correction

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Stop using the arm and hammer. The IO isn't the problem. Do some large water changes and run carbon.