Need help... Losing Corals

[Om84]

Hi everyone

I have mostly an SPS tank but am losing corals to RTN / STN over the last week.
This is a 66 gallon SCA lit by Cebu Sun 250 watt MH along with 4 T5s. It’s 11 months old. I had no problem keeping everything until now.

Major change last week was shifting most of my display rock to the sump and adding Bonsai structure from West Mariculture. This is made of reportedly epoxy and urethane material. I washed the structures and put them in my tank without cycling.

Within 2 days I Started noticing browning and stn of most frags.I have lost majority of my sps by now. Stylopora colony is retracted and now I am noticing skin peeling at The base. Birdsnest polyps are retracted. Most encrusting montipora look pale though my bubblegum digi looks ok. Acans look alright. GSP is retracted. Zoas look fine.

I have done five 10 gallon water changes since but have not seen any improvement. The only thing that has improved is my skimmer initially was going nuts but now this has stopped and skimmer is working well.

I run carbon and GFO and have continued.

Latest parameters are
Salinity 1.025
Alk 8.0
Ca 430
Phos 0.1
Nitrates 0
pH 7.9 - 8.1
Temp 77.5 - 78.5 (I run a chiller)

What is my next step?
Did the addition of the structures leech something? I washed it well and have done multiple water changes to no avail. Should I remove the structures?

Is it my water? I use RODI and output TDS is still zero. Filters are over a year old though and I just ordered new ones.

Are the corals upset from the initial insult even though parameters are now ok? Shouldn’t the stylo And birdsnest which is a tough sps improve then?

Help!

Thanks

 

[Casket_Case]

Bump

 

[tehmadreefer]

I’d say the man made structure. Never use fake materials in a reef tank, you just never know what chemicals are in them.

 

[Om84]

Point taken. My concern is this is a company making products that I’m sure other reefers have tried without Significant loss? Does anyone know anything about this product? Is it not reef safe? Would you really not trust them? The structures are solid and aesthetically look great specially when combined with reef rock. Would love for this to work but if truly this is not reef safe it should be brought to everyone’s attention.

West Mariculture

West Mariculture

westmariculture.com

 

[dank reefer]

While changing/adding rock to your tank, did by chance the sand if any get stirred up?
I lost all my acros a couple of months ago when we moved some of the rock work in the tank.

 

[Uncle99]

Essentially, you moved the frags to a “new spot”.
Maybe some are not happy anyone.

 

[Om84]

While changing/adding rock to your tank, did by chance the sand if any get stirred up?
I lost all my acros a couple of months ago when we moved some of the rock work in the tank.

this is a bare bottom tank

some frags did get moved but for example the stylopora and birdsnest stayed where they were

 

[wolfthefallen]

I have a Bonsi tree setup from West Mariculture too. I love it and have had it in my system for a few months now with no issue.

If you have sand in your tank there could be a possibility you stirred up hydrogen sulfide gas. Which is known to nuke tanks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Any changes to lighting or salt?
Did your salinity level climb?
Did rock release any toxins or hitchhikers?

 

[Om84]

Yeah who knows what happened. That’s why I’m reaching out to you guys for next steps to take. Thank you wolfthefallen for telling me about your experience with the product. I love the look of it and want it to work. I just don’t know what happened.

 

[MightyMO]

Hi everyone

I have mostly an SPS tank but am losing corals to RTN / STN over the last week.
This is a 66 gallon SCA lit by Cebu Sun 250 watt MH along with 4 T5s. It’s 11 months old. I had no problem keeping everything until now.

Major change last week was shifting most of my display rock to the sump and adding Bonsai structure from West Mariculture. This is made of reportedly epoxy and urethane material. I washed the structures and put them in my tank without cycling.

Within 2 days I Started noticing browning and stn of most frags.I have lost majority of my sps by now. Stylopora colony is retracted and now I am noticing skin peeling at The base. Birdsnest polyps are retracted. Most encrusting montipora look pale though my bubblegum digi looks ok. Acans look alright. GSP is retracted. Zoas look fine.

I have done five 10 gallon water changes since but have not seen any improvement. The only thing that has improved is my skimmer initially was going nuts but now this has stopped and skimmer is working well.

I run carbon and GFO and have continued.

Latest parameters are
Salinity 1.025
Alk 8.0
Ca 430
Phos 0.1
Nitrates 0
pH 7.9 - 8.1
Temp 77.5 - 78.5 (I run a chiller)

What is my next step?
Did the addition of the structures leech something? I washed it well and have done multiple water changes to no avail. Should I remove the structures?

Is it my water? I use RODI and output TDS is still zero. Filters are over a year old though and I just ordered new ones.

Are the corals upset from the initial insult even though parameters are now ok? Shouldn’t the stylo And birdsnest which is a tough sps improve then?

Help!

Thanks

Phos and nitrate levels are super low... And by the description of your skimmer acting crazy, the new structure may be bleeding something back into the water, may have been the straw that broke the camel's back when you moved everything around...

 

[EverythingSaltyRob]

there's no nutrients in your tank, and you're still running GFO. There's basically nothing in the water column for the corals.

 

[BighohoReef]

I agree with the comments: SPS are probably unhappy due to the move, maybe lighting change, debri from your substrate or worse chem leeching. Rinsing and cycling the new structure might have helped (were there instructions in the West Marine site about how you should introduce the structure?

At this point you might want to pull the WM rock work if it’s leeching anything into your tank. Slow on your water changes, you don’t want to take too much. Your nitrates shouldn’t be at 0 is that planned? What is magnesium at?

Part of this now might be a waiting game.

 

[Om84]

I think everything is deplete after so many water changes in the last week and a half. I’ll stop running GFO. Keep carbon?

 

[Om84]

Mag 1450

 

[SPR1968]

It could be the new structure you’ve added, but it could also quiet simply be the corals don’t like being moved from established positions.

They get used to, and grow into certain flow patterns, lighting etc., and any move can, and often will upset them, especially if it’s a sudden move.

This is my theory why I can keep any coral frags, SPS or whatever, but often established colonies don’t survive for often more than a few months. I simply can’t replicate the flow/light they've been used to

Your parameters look pretty much ok other than 0 nitrate so there isn’t much food for them in the system, but I think it’s probably the move. A good nitrate target is 5-10ppm as a general guide

I would run the carbon 24/7 anyway and change it every 4 weeks and don’t let your phosphate get any higher. A good target is 0.03ppm so very low