Not sure whats happening..

[Bells>Waimea]

Have some zoas melting away, Montis dying, few acros that were encrusting plugs nicely STN'ing and now my jack o lantern lepto, that was previously flourishing, has some white stringy stuff coming off of it. Torch not opening fully and a goni that looked real bad for a week or so (but appears to be coming around).

ALK- 8.4
CAL- 415
MAG- 1340
NO3- 4-5
PO4- last test was .18 but ran out of re-agent a week or so ago

Been a few changes lately, and im trying to figure out what it could have been.

Tank up for 6-7 months. Dry rock. Live sand. Dr. Tims, Microbactor and Bio spira (not all at once) to boost bacteria colonies for the first few months. 20 gal all in one. Filter floss, Mini fuge growing chaeto, 9 watt UV in the back. Marine Pure balls. About 20-30 since the start.

Changes lately:

1. Slowly took out bio balls. 3 different stages as to not shock the system. 1 month ago
2. Added a skimmer to run at night (too loud during day) in place of bio balls in one section. 1 month ago
3. Started dosing acro power 2 months ago.
4. Started dosing Neo Nitro (nitrate) ~2 weeks ago
5. Ran very small amount of passive phosguard for 3 days..no real change. Then ran a slightly larger amount for 4 days. No ULR Hanna re-agent to test so I took it offline. This happened about a week or so ago.

My plan was to balance out my phosphate and nitrates. Wanted to up the nitrates closer to 5-10 range and phos closer to .05-.1

Back in the day about 12 years ago i had a tank that I wanted to switch out to barebottom. I took the sand out in sections over a couple weeks as to not disrupt the balance. It worked. However, I'm wondering if taking out the bio balls couldve disrupted the balance in this tank. I didn't see any immediate issues, but its in the back of my mind.

Could it have been the phosguard? Won't have re-agent until tomorrow to test. Hopefully i didnt strip it all out.

I did notice what looked like dinos for a day or so. Couldve been diatoms, but it had the classic bubble strings. Dosed some microbactor and kept the UV going and it was gone quickly.

Not sure what to do as things look like they are getting worse.

 

[Rijodan]

Test for ammonia/nitrite? Quick way to find out if removing the bio balls caused an issue. Also any stray voltage?

 

[Rick.45cal]

Sounds like the phosguard probably worked a little too quickly for the corals liking (in my opinion). It’s good you removed it. Did the Monti’s get bleached bare patches all over them, that’s what happens with mine when the phosphates get too low, or removed too quickly. You won’t know until you can test for PO4

 

[Bells>Waimea]

Test for ammonia/nitrite? Quick way to find out if removing the bio balls caused an issue. Also any stray voltage?

Tested Ammonia. 0. Didn't test nitrite tho.

 

[Bells>Waimea]

Sounds like the phosguard probably worked a little too quickly for the corals liking (in my opinion). It’s good you removed it. Did the Monti’s get bleached bare patches all over them, that’s what happens with mine when the phosphates get too low, or removed too quickly. You won’t know until you can test for PO4

Yes a few of them did, in fact. Really interested to see what happened with the PO4 during that time.

If thats the case, best course would be to just leave it be for a while and hope things turn around? Not much I can do when theyre ticked off and dying is there?

 

[Rick.45cal]

Yes a few of them did, in fact. Really interested to see what happened with the PO4 during that time.

If thats the case, best course would be to just leave it be for a while and hope things turn around? Not much I can do when theyre ****** off and dying is there?

You could always dose some phosphate to stop the event, but it won’t fix the damage that’s already been done. In my experience the damage is permanent and it will take the coral a long time to recover. It will likely grow around the areas that have died as opposed to growing over them. It’s not like “bleaching” where the coral expells it’s symbiotic algae, it’s tissue has died from phosphate starvation. I know this because it’s happened to me a couple of times.

 

[Rick.45cal]

I would wait until you can test before I made a decision though

 

[Bells>Waimea]

I would wait until you can test before I made a decision though

Looks like I def did not strip the phos from the system. In fact, it went up. .22 now. I just did a water change and tested the new water that I buy from "pure water" place down the road from me. Supposed to be .001 tds. Tested it twice and it came out .04 and .06. So my top off water is the culprit of my phos issues. Looks like I'll be hooking up a rodi.

After a few water changes I can get it down to a reasonable level and hopefully the phos issue will be gone.

Hope that was the main issue. Otherwise I'm stumped.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Looks like I def did not strip the phos from the system. In fact, it went up. .22 now. I just did a water change and tested the new water that I buy from "pure water" place down the road from me. Supposed to be .001 tds. Tested it twice and it came out .04 and .06. So my top off water is the culprit of my phos issues. Looks like I'll be hooking up a rodi.

After a few water changes I can get it down to a reasonable level and hopefully the phos issue will be gone.

Hope that was the main issue. Otherwise I'm stumped.

There might be a lot worse things in the water than phosphates that are the cause of the issue. Running your own RODI is always the best option in my experience. Hopefully it will straighten everything out for you.

 

[Uncle99]

That phosphate remover may have bottomed out your phosphate.
Test kits rarely give good comparison numbers, nor are they overly accurate.
But they all are relative.
Don’t chase numbers, rather, work towards stable and consistency in those numbers.
This tank below runs well with No3 (5-15)ppm and phosphate (.15 -.25)
I spent months trying to get PO4 down to 0.03 ish, never did better than above.
What I found out is let the tank find its level (within reason) it’s easier to keep it on target.
Seek stability in every number.

 

[Lindaanne60]

Have some zoas melting away, Montis dying, few acros that were encrusting plugs nicely STN'ing and now my jack o lantern lepto, that was previously flourishing, has some white stringy stuff coming off of it. Torch not opening fully and a goni that looked real bad for a week or so (but appears to be coming around).

ALK- 8.4
CAL- 415
MAG- 1340
NO3- 4-5
PO4- last test was .18 but ran out of re-agent a week or so ago

Been a few changes lately, and im trying to figure out what it could have been.

Tank up for 6-7 months. Dry rock. Live sand. Dr. Tims, Microbactor and Bio spira (not all at once) to boost bacteria colonies for the first few months. 20 gal all in one. Filter floss, Mini fuge growing chaeto, 9 watt UV in the back. Marine Pure balls. About 20-30 since the start.

Changes lately:

1. Slowly took out bio balls. 3 different stages as to not shock the system. 1 month ago
2. Added a skimmer to run at night (too loud during day) in place of bio balls in one section. 1 month ago
3. Started dosing acro power 2 months ago.
4. Started dosing Neo Nitro (nitrate) ~2 weeks ago
5. Ran very small amount of passive phosguard for 3 days..no real change. Then ran a slightly larger amount for 4 days. No ULR Hanna re-agent to test so I took it offline. This happened about a week or so ago.

My plan was to balance out my phosphate and nitrates. Wanted to up the nitrates closer to 5-10 range and phos closer to .05-.1

Back in the day about 12 years ago i had a tank that I wanted to switch out to barebottom. I took the sand out in sections over a couple weeks as to not disrupt the balance. It worked. However, I'm wondering if taking out the bio balls couldve disrupted the balance in this tank. I didn't see any immediate issues, but its in the back of my mind.

Could it have been the phosguard? Won't have re-agent until tomorrow to test. Hopefully i didnt strip it all out.

I did notice what looked like dinos for a day or so. Couldve been diatoms, but it had the classic bubble strings. Dosed some microbactor and kept the UV going and it was gone quickly.

Not sure what to do as things look like they are getting worse.

Sounds like similar thing I’m going through. My tank was up two months Microbactor cycle perimeters all good theN started with Dino covering sand rocks everything. Put in vibrant and my fish began dying one by one now they’re all done. I have the tank covered in black plastic now. These kind of things make you want to give up.