Stagnant RO/DI water and corals.

[olonmv]

I’ve recently have been having issues with some anemones and corals dying and some looking extremely unhappy. All my tests have been coming in within my normal happy tank range as far as parameters have gone.

Initially I thought that since my Bali mini carpets spontaneously started to shrivel and appeared to be dying that maybe they were releasing toxins into the water so I started to add carbon to filter out the bad stuff. Eventually the minis got to the point where I had to toss them. Thinking they were the issue, I performed a wc and ran carbon hoping that things would clear up.

A couple of weeks go by and no real improvement and all of a sudden my hammer coral closes up and so does my torch. Fast forward a couple days and they’re victims of BJD.


In the last month or so I’ve lost several corals and still can’t figure out what’s going on. I’ve been keeping up with maintenance and slowly have seen coral happiness and health decline. WC’s don’t seem to improve things and I just can’t pinpoint the issue.

I did about a 40% Wc yesterday hoping that I would be on the road to recovery. Nope.

I’m at a loss but today I noticed a smell coming from my 29 gallon brute that has me thinking that maybe my water went stagnant and is the culprit. My aquarium water has a slightly similar smell to it as well. I’ve emptied the can and cleaned it and am re-filling it with water. Can stagnant RO water do these things?

 

[SlugSnorter]

RODI water cannot really go "stagnant" in a way that would cause something like this. There may be an issue with your filter

 

[olonmv]

Man, I was hoping it be an RO water issue. If by filter you mean in my RO filter system. I also changed out my DI resin and am putting out 0 TDS atm. It was 1 for about 20 gallons. I’m gonna do another 40% wc with a fresh batch of RO tomorrow and see if that helps.

 

[damsels are not mean]

What are your test results and what sort of equipment are you running (filtration and flow etc.)? Temperature?

 

[outhouse]

Can stagnant RO water do these things?

No. Period.

You have lighting issues or other water issues

 

[outhouse]

I did about a 40% Wc yesterday

When in doubt change it out! id change more if it was my tank. When mine starts to crash, I go for 70-80&

 

[homer1475]

RO/DI in a brute tends to have a cat pee smell to it. Even my brutes that are 8 years old still have that smell.

It's not your RO/DI as there is nothing in it that would make it go stagnant.

 

[Shadows Reef]

You see I remember when I first smelt that, know what I did? I threw an air stone in it and never smelt it again.

 

[olonmv]

I think that my salt levels were low for too long of a period at 1.023 sg. I was testing with a refractometer prior to purchasing the Hanna salinity checker. I’ve since brought that level to 1.026 and it seems like things are inbreeding road to recovery. I had a few stonies die and zoa colonies almost melt completely during that time. My water parameters have been stable and the rainbow monte is showing signs of growth after months without signs of happiness. I’ve also started to run a circulation pump in my brute. I also run it down to about 10 gallons worth of water before refilling with fresh RODI.
my current readings is of friday

Nitrate- .2
PO4- .03
Alk- 8.1
Cal- 436
Mag- more than I’d like but I’ve read that over 2k ppt is the time to worry.
Temp- 77-78
Salinity at 1.026
All tests are done with Hanna tests except mag, that’s a redsea kit.

Those parameters have held steady for weeks.