Tank has been declining slowly last few weeks

[Jason Collins]

I have a 220g tank. Its been running since Christmas so about 8 months. 75% of the rock in the tank came from an established tank Ive had running for 2 years I was just upgrading. So i started the 220 with some fresh rock and I had it cycle for probably 3 months before I added all the rock from my established tank. I've lost a couple coral and here and there. I also had some doing great like my Walt Disney. But its slowing going downhill and i cant figure out why. I try to do water changes every week sometimes its every 2 weeks if I'm busy but 2 weeks is the longest I go. I do around 40 gallons each water change. Im pretty just just about all my corals besides my acans have been losing color. A few of my favorite are fading like Jason Fox Gold Rush Favia. I've had it for a year and a half now its been amazing.

The only weird thing ive noticed equipment wise lately were my heaters... They seemed to keep being off temp. I have 2 finnex titanium heaters on inkbird controllers. I think the controllers were going bad. One would say it was 1 degree hotter every day. it got all the way up to saying it was like 102 degrees which I knew it wasn't. Anyways I replaced those controllers 2 weeks ago and made sure to get the newer onces designed for saltwater with the black probes. Everything seems to be reading fine. I even bought an instant read thermometer and all 3 usually read about .2 degrees from each other. i dont know if something happened with the thermometers and it polluted my tank or not. But im currently running carbon in case of pollutants. I just cant figure out why all my corals are fading. The bigger tank was supposed to be easier to take care off. So not only are most of my corals fading in color but some are getting what looks like a brown algae growing on them!. My plain red monti is probably a foot in diameter and its now a pale pink with brown on it... I can see the brown moving in the flow. Its also over tanking my favia. My SPS for the most part are doing fine... my Disney tips have faded a little bit but polyps are always around and swaying in the the flow. Anyone have any ideas what is starting to show up on my corals that looks like brown algae? My parameters seem ok... Calcium and magnesium are on the higher end for some reason but ive stopped dosing until i can get it to come down. But I havent put Magnesium in the tank for probably 2-3 months. Normally just dose ESV 2 part. And I was only doing 24ML of A and B.

Current parameters as of Friday using my test kits.
Salinity- 1.026 Milwaukee tester
Alk: 9.3 DKH -Hanna checker
Calcium - 500 Salifert test kit
Magnesium - 1500 Salifert test kit
Nitrate : 3-5 Nyos test kit
Phosphate - .067 Hanna checker

Friday I also sent in a sample to ATI to get water tested since I can test for anything besides what I have listed. Have to wait a week or 2 for results as I watch my tank slowly decline I Also did a water change yesterday incase there is something bad in the tank. Ill do another water change in probably 2 days or so since water changes should be the best thing you can do for the tank. I make my own RODI water, which I also sent a sample to ATI so I'll find out if the water Im making fresh is actually good. Anyone have any ideas what the algae or whatever could be growing on my actual corals?

I have decent lighting and flow as well.
2 Maxaspect Gyre 350s and 2 MP40s so far for flow.
I have the 60" aquatic life T5 Hybrid with 2 AP700s currently.

Just looking for any pointers that I could look into aside from waiting for my water test results to come back. i'd post pictures but my phone really sucks at taking pictures its like 3 years old :/

 

[ScottB]

Sorry for your troubles. You did a good job of relaying the needed information. As I was reading, I was sure it was going to be a low nutrient issue but your current NO3 and PO4 are fine.

Obviously temp swings are hazardous, and remains a potential culprit of the initial slide but you seem to be on top of that now. Hopefully, that is all it was. High Ca and Mg never worry me. ALK is a different story.

I'll fish with a few more questions:
What light were these animals under before the move? Do you have new/old PAR measures if new fixture?
Was the "fresh rock" live or dead? (Hitchhikers or none?)
Have PO4 and NO3 kept near the current range through the transition?
For ALK, is 9.5ish your usual range or has it been creeping up? If so, from where?

If you think contaminants are potentially in play, throw in a poly filter in and keep running the GAC. Look for any funny colors on the filter.

Keep eyes on Sg, ALK, NO3 and PO4. At 8 months you should be pretty settled, but if the corals are yelling at you, these things can change.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Following so I can learn as well. Hope your tank recovers. How’s the other livestock like CUC and fish ?

Seems like you are meticulous and this happens ...wish you the best

 

[Jason Collins]

I dont have many fish yet. I do the full QT of fish so it takes awhile. In that tank I did have a Blenny disappear like 4 weeks ago.... Possibly the start of all this. Which is why I also figure the carbon and the water changes should help. As far as clean up crew I just have the normal snails, hermit crabs and and I think 2 white crabs. Snails never seem to live all that long. My hermits are always running around. Wouldnt be surprised if some have eaten my snails.

The only fish I have right now in the tank is a yellow tang, hippo tang and 2 blue green chromis. I have 2 clowns with the anemone they host and a melanarus wrasse in my other tank that im getting rid of. I went Bare bottom with new tank so I dont want to take the melanarus since it sleeps in sand. The clowns are just jerks so I dont want them anymore. They always attacked everything I put in my 93g cube tank. I know I need more fish to help feed the corals with fish poop. But I do the full 3 month QT on fish so it takes awhile! I also dont have the QT setup until I get rid of the cube tank that is housing my wrasse and clowns until I get rid of them. Then my QT tank will go there and I will start getting fish again. Really not sure when happened to my Blenny though he was in there for a few months and one of my favorite fish to watch swimming around. He was just there one evening and never saw it again. Couldnt find anything behind the tank or in my over flows for sump. So I figure the clean up crew ate him up.

 

[ZaneTer]

Have you done an ICP test yet?

Your setup and parameters are what I would consider very good.

 

[LesPoissons]

My 1st guess would be temp and lighting. Idk what shape your 220 is but you probably added some depth when you moved your corals in so they may not be getting the same quality and par lighting as before. The temp change could also def result in algae growth and coral decline. Now that you are on top of that, it will just take them time to bounce back if that was the main problem. Your ALK is high to me, is that the goal or is that new? That could be a cause as well. Lastly, are you sure you have enough flow? Brown algae growing on the corals- maybe it needs to be increased? Enough surface turbulence?

Also, since your parameters seem fine, why are you doing 20% water changes every week? Possibly backing off on that and giving the tank a chance to settle may be more beneficial than changing everything weekly?

 

[Jason Collins]

My temp is set at 78. I think when my old controllers were messsed up it dropped to about 75... nothing too crazy. But now it sits between 77 and 78. My alk used to be lower about 8. It made its way up to almost 10 then i basically stopped dosing and its coming back down. So I did have an alk swing but it took a couple months to get that high. it wasn't just all of a sudden at 10. I'm not 100% sure the flow is high enough.. But it is 2 of the new Gyre 350s and 2 MP40s. The tank is the standard size for a 210. 6 ft long x 2 ft x 28tall.

This tank does have different lights than my other one but the tank was fine for months. Then within the last few weeks just started to fall apart. It isnt just corals at the bottom of the tank doing bad. The monti is at the top and its got brown growing on it.

I sent out a water test to ATI Friday so im waiting for those results yet. As far as the 20% water change that is just kind of what ive been used to always doing and always been told water changes are the best thing you can do for a tank. I do have a mixing station and bring the water up to temp before i do the change so i'm not adding 20% water at a super low temp that would shock the tank. Currently also going to completely empty my water change containers and clean them in case something in there might be causing the problem.

The earlier question about the "fresh rock" it was dry rock from BRS that i used to cycle my tank. Then after it ran for about 3 months I added live rock and corals from my 2 year old tank. i didnt add anymore dry rock after the initial cycle trying to prevent a second cycle from happening.

 

[Jason Collins]

Getting real close to giving up. Nothing good has been happening in my tank.. Still everything slowly dieing off.... Some brown Algae film crap growing over everything in the tank. Still waiting for water results but no idea what is wrong with this thing. All my favorite corals have died or are in the process. I guess I shouldnt have upgraded to a bigger tank... Spent a crap load of money and this tank is taking a huge crap on me and I have no idea why.... I cannot get coralline to grow, only a film of brown looking algae. water changes arent helping, Carbon isnt helping, GFO isnt helping if I lose everything in the tank I dont really see a Reason to completely start over from scratch when some of these corals are 3 years old. Tank looked great a month ago I guess one thing i changed a few months ago with my tank was went from Reef crystals to Fritz.... Thats the only change. I dont want to blame it on the fritz salt but that really is the only change in the last 2 months and within the last month my tank is just going to crap.

 

[Jason Collins]

These were all growing for months. Then the brown film/algae started to just take over and make everything start to fade and die off. Top pic mystic monti, middle Jason Fox Gold rush favia (my favorite coral for the past year and a half), bottom red monti cap. now they are all bleached and brown crap growing on them.

 

[ZaneTer]

Are you sure you don’t have Dino’s?

 

[DHak]

You mentioned a blenny going missing at the start of this. Could it have been an ammonia spike?

 

[Jason Collins]

No, I'm not sure its not Dinos. All I ever find online about dinos is pictures of it looking like snot with bubbles. This doesnt have bubbles that I can see. But its killing everything in my tank. I feel like its going to wipe my whole tank out and I dont know if I'm going to be able to take a complete dead tank and throw 1000's to redo this tank. I'm still waiting for my water results. If the results dont come back with something crazy then I really dont know what to do. I did have a blenny disappear. I wouldnt think I'd get a big ammonia spike, The system is about 250 gallons. I never saw the blenny so I'm thinking clean up crew took care of it pretty fast.

I still have a few corals that seem unaffected so far. My oregon tort, Walt Disney colony, ricordia mushroom. green torch and zoanthids. Zoanthids have some of the brown fuzz or whatever on some of the plug but they are still opened up. I can blow it off... And then its just back the next day. I dont have a microscope or honestly even know how to try and identify what it is. its just really frustrating putting all this money into a bigger better system and its just taking a dump on me.

It seems like its wiping out all my encrusting corals first.... and plating Monti. Now my chalice ive had almost 3 years is starting to fade away. If it was ammonia I'd think with the water changes ive done it would have helped.

 

[Bleigh]

So, this probably isn't your issue, but I've been having some issues with my Monti's all of a sudden. My alk is ridiculously low and everyone kept saying it didn't make sense. Turned out my refractometer needed calibrating and I was mixing my salt way to low of a concentration. Have you calibrated your instruments lately just to make sure they're giving you accurate numbers?

 

[Bleigh]

Also, you may want to test your mixed water before you put it in the tank. That's how I caught my issue. My salinity was "perfect" but my kH wasn't mixing where the instructions told me it should.

 

[Katrina71]

Can you possibly take some FTS under white lights?

 

[ScottB]

Sorry this hasn't leveled off yet,

Just to confirm, your ALK, NO3 and PO4 are all recent test results, correct? That is a big system with relatively few fish. That is why I ask.

SPS bleach/fades in my tanks all happen when my nutrients fall. Gradually. And then not so gradually. Hard for me to pick up on it sometimes. Gotten to the point where I dose NO3 and PO4 on my "cleanish" system to stay on the safe side, and test every 5-6 days.

 

[Flippers4pups]

This purely anecdotal, but I tried Friz blue box because of the unavailability of the salt I use, IO, and had poor results. Very similar to yours, but maybe not as bad. I finally got my hands on a box of IO and did a series of large water changes of 30 gallons a day for three days.

That was two weeks ago and my tank is recovering. Not bashing Fritz, I'm sure it's a good quality salt mix. My tank just didn't like it.

I'm certain that a large swing in temperature had a great deal to do with your problems. I would go back to the way you were doing things before all of this happened. Salt and all.

 

[MTBake]

Some more pics under white light could be helpful.

Have you checked all your equipment? For rusty hardware or leaching electricity?

Are you sure you don't have pests that target montis? I had a nudibranch issue years ago that decimated all my montis. Didn't find the problem till they ran out food and were crawling all over my glass.

 

[Jason Collins]

I actually was using Instant Ocean before. But my mixing station had the build up of crusty crap in it so I figured Id try some fritz because I've heard good things... I wanted to pull the trigger and go Tropic marin but didnt want to spend the money if fritz was good. All the equipment in the tank seems ok... Everything was new when i startted this tank on Christmas. I checked my MP40 wetsides and they seem ok, since I know people have had issues with them rusting. Gyres clean every few weeks. All my powerheads and glass seem to get covered in algae pretty fast. Thats why I was really thinking its my water.

Every water change I do there is always a few gallons of water left in my holding tank. I keep it covered with a lid. I starting thinking maybe that little bit of saltwater sitting in the bottom was getting full of crap. So i just tore it town and washed it with vinegar water. Currently in the process of making more water so I can have a nice clean fresh water for my next water change. Im waiting for my water results. I was hoping it could lead me in the right direction. I can give a quick full tank shot... I dont really have an All white but I can take a picture of it while my T5s are still on before it drops down to just Kessil blues.

 

[Jason Collins]

Bottom picture you can see how the whole bottom is coated in the brown stuff. I slide that little square plug to the left and you can see the clean square spot it was sitting on. I dont really have any all white pictures... I guess I could mess with my Kessil settings and try to get it on white for the pictures if you think it will really help. I just dont like trying to mess with the settings alot.