SPS ongoing STN issues. Marine pure leaching?

[Holy_makerel]

We are remodeling our basement bathroom. We demoed out the walls down there and found that at some point one of the previous owners re-did the plumbing and used the old black iron pipes from the gas furnace that used to be used. These will be replaced in the next few weeks but this water runs through my rodi.

After reading a post by Adam(battlecorals) about going back to basics when you have issues(your water) i have replaced all filters in my water system. I'm thinking that something in those pipes may be where my issues are stemming from. It will be interesting to see what happens after the plumbing is upgraded.

Does it sound like I'm on the right track here? I'm really tired of losing coral for no reason that i can find

 

[Holy_makerel]

Here are some pics showing the horrorshow that is in the plumbing wall. Most of the pipe is either 50+yo galvanized or the black iron. There was a leak at one point that caused some mold to develop in the wall as well.

The person that did it also jerryrigged the kitchen drain with a cut in half piece of abs, gaskets and hose clamps. Pretty creative and I'm amazed it held up so well for so long.

 

[Holy_makerel]

@Randy Holmes-Farley could this ^ ^ be my issue? I hooked my rodi filter up to an outside faucet which bypasses the black iron pipes and just did a 40% WC on sunday. I don't see a difference but i didn't expect an immediate miracle. All but 2 of my acros are dead, all my favia, 3 of 4 leptoseris with the 4th not looking good. Stylophora 95% dead. It's been a horrible last 6-8 months of slow decline after having a fourishing reef for a year

 

[ReefFreak@]

Keep in mind acros might need more nutrients than LPS. No kidding. It's not really measurable nutrients as how many nutrients are moving through the system. An SPS tank with a ton of fish will always do better than the same take with less fish. In smaller tanks where fish loads are lower measurable nutrients can work better.

Tip burn is high alk and low nutrients. I have yet to see or hear about it being associated with anything else. Base recession is generally due to unstable Alk. A wasting away, thin skin, STN in multiple places, is generally due to low nutrients or some other problem with the water not related to Alk. Those are my observations but every tank is different. The key is stability. Re-adding GFO combined with carbon dosing is going to lead to acro issues every time, so the current problems may be completely unrelated to past issues. You made a change and you're paying for it. I can't stress it enough, when I neglect my tank except for the usual maintenance (empty skimmer, fill topoff, etc) all the acros thrive.

I could not of said it better. I think you really hit the nail on the head here!