SPS and LPS Dying. Please Assist.

[Frostburnt]

Hey all,

I'm going to provide a very thorough description of the issue at hand, to the best of my ability.

Couple things up front to answer some questions that will likely arise.

1. There is no evidence of corals pests.
2. There is no evidence of livestock eating corals.
3. There is no stray current, as tested with two multi meters.

System:
-DB 60g RR Cube
-Kessil a360we
-4 t5 bulbs. 2 blue plus 2 coral plus
-Tons of flow provided by two jebao pacemakers. Not so much that its tearing the tissue from the skeletons.
-75g sump
-filter cup with polyfil
-skimz sc145i
-varios 2 return pump
-2 eheim jager 200w heaters. Maintains a solid 79-80.
-reefkeeper light with temp and ph probes
-ATO using RKL and float switch.
-dosing pump using daily 2 part.
-about 50lbs of live rock
-two 8x4x4 marinepure blocks
-large fuge stuffed with chaeto running a high par grow LED
- reactor running carbon

Parameters:
SG 1.026
Temp 79
pH 8.1-8.3
Alk 7.8
Ca 400
Mag 1400
NO3 .5 ppm
Phos .08 ppm


Livestock:
-fairly standard snail CUC with a couple conch and a banded serpent star
- cleaner shrimp
- pair of black storm clowns
- blue streak sleeper goby
- single lyretail anthias
- lubbocks fairy
- ornate wrasse
- mckoskers flasher
- starry blenny
- blue/green chromis
- bubble tip anemone
- GSP
- Neon Green Nepthea
- A couple types of zoa/paly
- Tracy Morgan Gorgonian

Whew, okay, now that all that is out of the way...

This system was set up in July 2018. I have several other tanks, none of which have this problem. Up until last week there was another tank about 5 feet away from this one that was thriving until it popped a seal..

So this issue is with all stony corals. From candy canes and acans to monti caps and acros. My alk is stable. I test it every day. My temp and salinity are also stable. And tested with calibrated tools.

With acros, the slowly bleach and lose tissue until they are dead and gone. Takes 1-2 weeks.

With montis, the slowly fade to white, never to return.

With LPS, the polyps slowly recede until skeleton is showing, and eventually die.

Does anyone have a clue what could be going on?!?! Its been like this for months and I'm losing my mind.

 

[Frostburnt]

Forgot to mention PAR levels. I currently have a small frag rack sitting in the 100-150 PAR range as an acclimation area. As tested with the Seneye.

 

[Frostburnt]

 

[MRodrigues1991]

I am going through the exact same situation and my tank is not coming to almost a year old as was started in april 2018. Our set ups are not very different other than I don't run marine pure blocks and I run solely T5. I can keep zoas and softies without issue but otherwise and skeleton based corals dissolve after a week or two. Curious to see responses.

What salt are you using ?
What 2 part are you dosing?

I am considering getting rid of the refugium thinking this may be a nutrient issue.

 

[Tiffany Johnson]

Sorry to hear this..what are your parameters

 

[Frostburnt]

I am going through the exact same situation and my tank is not coming to almost a year old as was started in april 2018. Our set ups are not very different other than I don't run marine pure blocks and I run solely T5. I can keep zoas and softies without issue but otherwise and skeleton based corals dissolve after a week or two. Curious to see responses.

What salt are you using ?
What 2 part are you dosing?

I am considering getting rid of the refugium thinking this may be a nutrient issue.

I'm using red sea blue bucket. However, I use IO in all my other systems and dont have a problem.

Dosing ESV 2 part.

I also run refugiums on 3 out of 6 systems. And other than this one, they're all doing well too.

 

[Holy_makerel]

My first thought is water source. If everything else is looking good that is where I'd start. I struggled for 8 long months of slow coral decline and death until I remodeled my basement and found that the pipes my RODI was running off of was flowing through old black iron pipes originally used in the gas lines for my house(thank you DIY guy). Something from those pipes was leaching and getting through my filter(TDS always read 0). After replacing my plumbing my tank bounced right back and I now have healthy growing acros

 

[Frostburnt]

My first thought is water source. If everything else is looking good that is where I'd start. I struggled for 8 long months of slow coral decline and death until I remodeled my basement and found that the pipes my RODI was running off of was flowing through old black iron pipes originally used in the gas lines for my house(thank you DIY guy). Something from those pipes was leaching and getting through my filter(TDS always read 0). After replacing my plumbing my tank bounced right back and I now have healthy growing acros

I have one other tank is this apartment, (my other systems are in another house) and its using the same source water with no issue. But that's a good idea, as it's an old building in NYC.

 

[Flippers4pups]

What's your source water?

There have been some reports of marinepure block leaching aluminum, so ICP test may reveal a possibility of contaminants. Inspect all your equipment for rusting.

Possible as well that your water is too clean. N03 may contribute to your problem.

Not ruling out RTN at this point.

 

[robert]

Don't know...but what I generally do when I'm at a loss in these situations is - slow thing down and simplify
Lower the lights 20-30%. Drop the temps 2-3 degrees. Change the carbon...Start major water changes - 25-30% every three days or so.
And take off line anything I absolutely don't need.
Ditch the chaeto - or almost all of it. Get rid of the blocks...manage all dosing by hand for a bit...

My guess its the fuge - but lets see what others suggest...

 

[robert]

Don't know...but what I generally do when I'm at a loss in these situations is - slow thing down and simplify
Lower the lights 20-30%. Drop the temps 2-3 degrees. Change the carbon...Start major water changes - 25-30% every three days or so.
And take off line anything I absolutely don't need.
Ditch the chaeto - or almost all of it. Get rid of the blocks...manage all dosing by hand for a bit...

My guess its the fuge - but lets see what others suggest...

 

[Tiffany Johnson]

what about hinges on the doors???? are they rusted? the bolts and nuts?

 

[robert]

Sorry for the double post - yes, look at the water source too - good idea...

 

[Frostburnt]

No rust anywhere near the tank. Nor in the equipment. I've checked and checked again.

Source water is BRS 5 stage RO/DI. 0TDS readout.

ICP is my next step, I suppose. Hopefully will tell me exactly what's wrong.

 

[robert]

How about a pic of the fuge? --

 

[Frostburnt]

How about a pic of the fuge? --

Theres only chaeto and marinepure. Pic isnt great, but it should serve.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Yeah, get a water test done soon.

 

[robert]

Yea - the tank isn't that old. Did you just clean it or does it always look that clean?
I would rather be battling high nutrients at this stage than looking at low nutrient levels. Your numbers would be great if your tank was grown out already but look too dry for the establishment phase.

Your bio-load is low - and your export too high. Just my opinion.
With your load - I wouldn't expect you should have to be doing two part yet - what's eating it up? I doubt its's a disease - too slow - It could be a metal - water change - How fast is the chaeto growing?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I'd take out the marinepure block.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I know you said you tested for stray voltage, but how did you test? Did you put the ground lead in the outlet ground? Did you test AC or DC? Don't take offense, you would be surprised at how many people test for stray voltage with both leads in the tank.

 

[Frostburnt]

Yea - the tank isn't that old. Did you just clean it or does it always look that clean?
I would rather be battling high nutrients at this stage than looking at low nutrient levels. Your numbers would be great if your tank was grown out already but look too dry for the establishment phase.

Your bio-load is low - and your export too high. Just my opinion.
With your load - I wouldn't expect you should have to be doing two part yet - what's eating it up? I doubt its's a disease - too slow - It could be a metal - water change - How fast is the chaeto growing?

Everything is always clean, except for the tank glass.

I'm working on increasing the bioload, but I'm being careful not to go too fast. I've been down the GHA takeover in other systems. It's such a pain. I've drastically increased feeding and added reef Roids and reef chili thrice a week to help with po4. I have a few more fish on my list, but it takes time.

Coraline is eating up the two part. I have over 100g total water volume and I'm only using 10ml of ESV per day.

Chaeto is growing fairly slow, but steady and dense. I should probably prune it back to a small softball size. It's mostly filling about 30g of space.