Lps corals keep dying Skeletons showing

[Oldcoder]

I am getting very discouraged. My tank has been set up 10 months I have no problems with the fish other than maybe some obesity issues. Corals on the other hand I can not keep going most die in a short period of time. So far I can keep Acans Blastos and ricordia alive. Euphylia , Chalice, Favia, Montipora all die.
It is a 100 gallon 4 ft tank lite by 3 Kessil 360x running at 60% intensity.
Parameters are:
Salinity 34
PH 8.0
Alk 8.7
Calc 450
Mg 1500
NItrate 5
Phos .03
After two months without adding any corals I bought two chalice corals about a month ago I was excited they made it a week looking good they were actively feeding and colorful. A few days ago the skeleton started to show around the edge and now the recession it accelerating. Also a hammer I had for a long time which had not looked good suddenly got thick colorful polyps and then the heads detached.
I should add I have been fighting dinos and low nutrients for a long time. The dinos live on the sand disappear at night. They have recently turned green from brown. I vacuum them twice a week and installed a UV not as thick as they used to be but still there. Could they be releasing toxins?? Snails and cleaner shrimp are fine. I have been adding neoPhos daily enough to raise it to .07 but it is always .03 by morning. I would really like to save the Chalice corals any Ideas??

I would

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

What fish and inverts do you have? They may be munching on your LPS

 

[Oldcoder]

What fish and inverts do you have? They may be munching on your LPS

Two clowns Ocelaris yellow tang Tomini Tang and a coral beauty. Coral beauty is the only likely one and they prefer Acans which are okay I watch them all the time never seen him nip.

 

[ScottB]

Well the numbers you posted above are all fine assuming they are relatively steady. But with dinos, I am going to guess nutrients were bouncing around some weeks ago with PO4 hitting zero? Stony corals often exhibit their response to stress many day or weeks AFTER the stress event. So that is one potential explanation and probably my favorite.

I'd also suggest you send off an ICP test to rule out any nasty metals, depleted trace elements, or testing errors on your part (like a poorly calibrated refractometer).

In the interim, you could dose about 4 drops of Lugol's in the event the dinos depleted your Iodine. My dinos seem to have depleted Iodine and potassium but didn't seem to affect others this way so I dunno. My Duncan came back within hours of dosing.

At 10 months, you are almost past the noisy, ugly, soul wrenching biome maturation phase. Just 2-6 more to go. Chin up!

 

[Oldcoder]

Could the cause be to much light?

 

[Oldcoder]

Well the numbers you posted above are all fine assuming they are relatively steady. But with dinos, I am going to guess nutrients were bouncing around some weeks ago with PO4 hitting zero? Stony corals often exhibit their response to stress many day or weeks AFTER the stress event. So that is one potential explanation and probably my favorite.

I'd also suggest you send off an ICP test to rule out any nasty metals, depleted trace elements, or testing errors on your part (like a poorly calibrated refractometer).

In the interim, you could dose about 4 drops of Lugol's in the event the dinos depleted your Iodine. My dinos seem to have depleted Iodine and potassium but didn't seem to affect others this way so I dunno. My Duncan came back within hours of dosing.

At 10 months, you are almost past the noisy, ugly, soul wrenching biome maturation phase. Just 2-6 more to go. Chin up!

 

[Oldcoder]

Okay well that is in idea I had not thought of. Yes nutrients have bounced around a lot. Good idea had not thought of a ICP test can not hurt to try. I do not test for Iodine and I have cut way back on water changes due to the dino and nutrient issue,
Thanks

 

[ScottB]

Hey @Oldcoder just in case you have some Cobol code experience, there are about 50 state governments that could use some help speeding up their unemployment claims backends. New York in particular. Maybe $60 an hour in your pajamas.

 

[JoshO]

I don't want to insult any intelligence by asking, but do you have temperature swings? How are you measuring temp?

 

[mitch91175]

First deal with one issue at a time and that could help with the coral deaths. Keep your nutrients detectable and if what you have are dinos, it'll subside.

Maybe PO4 bottoming out is your real problem can starving those corals. Only time will deal with the dinos once nutrients have been available for a little while.

Know it doesn't help with the coral issue. Maybe switch to actinic mode on the lights to see if that helps them out. If it does then you might be giving them too much light as someone else suggested. It's all a guessing game at this point, but I'd start by dealing with the dinos for sure.

 

[ScottB]

Okay well that is in idea I had not thought of. Yes nutrients have bounced around a lot. Good idea had not thought of a ICP test can not hurt to try. I do not test for Iodine and I have cut way back on water changes due to the dino and nutrient issue,
Thanks

I have a Red Sea Iodine test but rarely ever use it. My duncan is the "tell" if I am running low. For some folks it is their zoas.

 

[Oldcoder]

Hey @Oldcoder just in case you have some Cobol code experience, there are about 50 state governments that could use some help speeding up their unemployment claims backends. New York in particular. Maybe $60 an hour in your pajamas.

Saw that article lots of Cobol with CICS as well that's me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Oldcoder]

I don't want to insult any intelligence by asking, but do you have temperature swings? How are you measuring temp?

Temperature controlled by Apex my screen name is a give away. Ha

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

Temperature controlled by Apex my screen name is a give away. Ha

I attribute Apex controlling my mixed reef temp to within plus or minus 0.1 F as major factor in the tank's success.

 

[Oldcoder]

Okay so I thanks for all the input. I am going to follow the suggestions and start testing Phosphate daily and dosing as needed. Also work a little harder on the dino issue. I have a UV but it is not plumbed right so I have on order an additional pump and plumbing supplies.
The Iodine issue is interesting plan on getting a test kit for that the mention of Zoas was a trigger to as the one I have is reduced to a tiny nub. Think I will adjust temperature on Apex a little tighter have it at a degree currently was concerned about the constant cycling of the Apex outlet.
Thanks again I will post results here LFS is shut down and online orders slow so it will be awhile.