New tank 200 Gallon Coral Problems!

[Didriksen]

Hello, my name is Trevor and I am having some BIG problems with my LPS coral.
1st of Specs
200g tank
80g wet/dry sump
6 T5HO 3 Halide 6 moons- Lights
200 lbs of live rock
250 lbs of sand

Test results.
ph 8.1
ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Phosphate 0
Cal 600
Alk 12

Tank is 2 months old and has fish

1 ocellaris clownfish
1 Hippo tang
7 Green Chromis
150 Nassariuss snail
15 Sriped crabs
6 red legged crabs

Coral
2 red candy Monti
4 head Green Candy cane
1 (dying colt)
1 (DEAD?)4 head Frogspawn (Melting over night!!)

Please HELP ME!

 

[RalphsReef]

Your calcium is way too high. Shoot for 425. Your alkalinity is at the very top of the range (8-12). Nitrates are a tad high. 5 is better as some is better than none. The tank is new, which even though it is cycled could still lead to problems initially when coral is introduced. Work on your water parameters. Also, what lighting and flow do you have the corals in?

Edit: I should add that stability plays a huge part in keeping corals content. Have you tested repeatedly to see if there is consistency in your numbers? If you are dosing anything, back off a tad in order to get your numbers in check. If you are not dosing, do some water changes to get your numbers back into a range the corals will thrive in.

 

[Didriksen]

reply

Coral
2 red candy Monti - Medium Light Meduim Flow
4 head Green Candy cane - Low Light Low Flow
1 (dying colt) - Medium Light High FLow
1 (DEAD?)4 head Frogspawn (Melting over night!!) DEAD

All the tests are repeated numbers

 

[bucksfan1976]

colts dont normally die they shrivel up but come back. Frogspawns, hammers, torches get brown jelly disease, if one head gets it and you dont catch it , it can spread overnight and kill off all the heads, you have to catch it and cut the bad head off. You do need to get your calcium and alk down a little. But it sounds like BJD. I lost 25 heads of torch in 10 hours, i was able to save 2 heads , all from brown jelly disease.

 

[Duffam3434]

Once you get this sorted out you should post some Tank Pics! We Love seeing Tanks starting out and then a year down the road to see how much everythings grown!! I hope your Calcium and Alk. are the problems.. Good Luck!

 

[Palting]

Hello Trevor. Alk and calcium are indeed on the high side, as are nitrates. 2 months is a young tank, expect some instability, especially with that bioload at this time. I would do more frequent water changes, stop any dosing. That should help bring alk, calcium, and nitrates down. What salt are you using, and what are you dosing?

You said MH for lights. What wattage, what spectrum, and are they double ended or mogul?

You mentioned a variety of flows. How are you achieving those flows? Powerheads? Add up all the GPH of all the powerheads and return pump and let us know what you come up with.

 

[miyags]

Maybe some of those 150 snails are dieing off and causing problems???

 

[Didriksen]

Thank you all for the replies.

I have taken the corals over to a friends home he is storing them till I find out whats going on with my water.I use this for lights - 72" Nova Extreme PRO T5HO 3x10k/3x460nm Actinics
As for the Flow I use 4 power head = 6400GPH I use the Aqua scape to divert the flow of the tank. I use a Mag 18 return pump trottled back, it lead to our emporor Aquatics 40 Watt UV sterilizer.
and back to the tank.
As for the snails our crabs eat them daily so if they dont burrow or climb then there food.
We are going to look in to the arsenic levels in the water supply, our city has really bad well water (we live in the Mohave desert).

Trevor


Extreme PRO T5HO 3x10k/3x460nm Actinics By Current