Tank Help! IDK whats going on??

[Chickenfrog]

Back story...
A month or so ago I had went to my lfs and asked for some help about my frogspawn not having near the color it had when I bought it. I told them my parameters and they noted the issue was my alkalinty level and lack or nutrients 0 NO3 and 0 PO4. Then I was using quantum lps salt that is 10.5 dkh and my tank was 7.8. I was told my tank's alk should be the same as the salt.

Their advice in which I took was to dose quantum aragonite A(cal) and B(alk) for a stable level of 8.6 dkh and then to buy the quantum mixed reef salt that has 8.0 dog and to use this salt for my weekly water changes. Along with increasing my NO3 amd PO4 some how for 5 NO3 and detectable PO4. So I bought FishogHex NO3 and PO4 and followed the instructions on the bottles.

For the first few weeks everything was great and had full polyp extension.

And then... this last week everything has went down hill. My sps have lost there color. First it was the montipora cap and now my slimer, Walt Disney and organ tort and now they have hardly any polyp extension and their tissue is slowly receding. So I decided to check my alk and I noticed it went up to 9.1dkh. So I stopped dosing alk and cal to get it to drop and I cant get it to come down. Currently it's not going up and even after a 5 and a 10 gal water change it still stays the same.

Sps all seem to be barely holding on if not completely gone already.

Lps are starting to show signs. They are
not extending polyps as much.

Mushrooms and zoas seemed to be fine.

Midas blenny/malnuras wrasse and inverts seem fine.

I'm so confused of what's going on and my corals health are declining fast... could you guys help me out? I'm really clueless right now.

Tank information
40b with 34"SB reef ultra leds
Salinty 1.025 Refrac/I use calibration fluid
Temp 78.5 to 8.5 Amazon cheap thermo
Alk 8.9 Salifert
Cal 445 Salifert
NO3 5 Salifert
PO4 0 Salifert
Mag 1395 Salifert
Ph 7.8-8.3 API

Dosing
Quantum aragonite A calcium buffer
Quantum aragonite B carbonate buffer
Quantum Bio Enhance
FishofHex NO3
FishofHex PO4

Started using Quantum Mixed Reef Salt Mar 1. I do 5 gallon water changes a week. And I included a 10 gallon water change 2 days after my weekly water change this week.

 

[Chickenfrog]

Pics I just took after writing the paragraph about my issues.

 

[Chickenfrog]

Before

 

[Chickenfrog]

Before

 

[Chickenfrog]

BEFORE

 

[Albertan22]

This might not be all that helpful but it sounds like a lot of changes to your water chemistry all at once to me. I don’t really know what to recommend.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Pics show possible alk burn from high alk or high salinity. I understand you tested already and calibrated. I would suggest a second opinion from outside source taking a water sample to a trusted LFS and have them check salinity/ph/alk and calcium for you to compare with Your results and verify the salinity.
Also temperature range you mention is concerning. . . which is which. You can get a class thermometer from Walmart and see what that one says.
WHAT IS YOUR WATER FLOW LIKE WHICH TOO CAN BE A FACTOR IN TISSUE LOSS.

 

[Chickenfrog]

I'll see what I can do as far as comparing tests. I have an alk and PO4 hanna checker that I just got so I'll test them and see what they read. For flow I have the 1k gyre and a jebao sow-4.

 

[Chickenfrog]

Should I stop dosing everything and do more water changes? Bc I'm still maintaining NO3 and trying to get PO4 detectable.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Sorry this is happening.

Some questions, so bare with me.

1) Source water?

2) Test kits within expiration dates?

3) Do you dip your corals?

4) Do you use a calculator when dosing?

Some points, Looks like your water maybe too clean from your numbers.

I see some STN happening.

Let's take one step at a time.

Discontinue dosing alkalinity and calcium for now.

When your corals are stressed, reduce your light intensity till you can get a understanding of what's going on.

In your case, in my opinion your alkalinity isn't bad. Bad would be 11, 12, 13+ dkh with little nutrients as you have.

I would stop doing water changes for a little while, maybe every two weeks, maybe more till you can get you nutrients up a little more. 5 ppm N03 is okay, but you have a good size coral load and they may need more. Same can be said for P04.

STN/RTN is a different animal. Stress can induce this. Once it starts, it's hard to reverse. If it continues, you may have to frag some pieces and discard the dead or dieing tissue.

 

[Chickenfrog]

1) Source water? I have a 5 stage rodi unit. Filters are around 1 year old. I let someone use my TDS meter a while back and they never returned it so idk what it is reading.

2) Test kits within expiration dates?
Salifert Cal 2023
Salifert Kh 2023
Salifert NO3 2022
Salifert PO4 2022
Salifert Mag 2021
Hanna PO4 2022
Hanna dKH 2021

3) Do you dip your corals? Yes I've always dipped using Coral RX and by there reccomended instructions.

4) Do you use a calculator when dosing? Yes, for the Quantum product line they have a calculator. But at one point and I know is some cases it is a big deal I wasnt doing a 1:1 ratio. The way I understood it for this product I needed it to get to a certain value and keep it stable. Also, when I was dosing my cal got up to 495 and I stopped using the product.

Btw I just tested my water
Salifert NO3. 2.5-5.0
Salifert KH. 8.6 dkh
Hanna dkh. 8.5
Hanna PO4 0.07
Salifert Cal. 425
Salinity. 1.025
Temp. 79.6

 

[Chickenfrog]

Also, when I started dosing the Hex NO3 and PO4 is when I noticed a large jump in alk. I'm not saying that it is something that can affect the alk but it is just something I had noticed. When dosing these products I used the instructions on the bottle btw. One thing I forgot to mention is that a few days ago my electric shut off while I was at work. I believe it was off for a max of 4 hours, but I'm not entirely sure of that and the temp dropped by 4 degrees.

 

[Chickenfrog]

My current led intensity is 27,54% (White, Blue)

 

[Chickenfrog]

Thanks for the help

 

[Redfoxtang]

I would definitely stop water changes and get nutrients up more. You can dose NeoNitro and Neophos to help or feed more frozen foods. I believe what your seeing is alk burn like mentioned above from no nutrients. If you have a skimmer I would also turn that off for now until you see improvement.

 

[Chickenfrog]

Okay, thank you

 

[Chickenfrog]

Flipper4pups
"When your corals are stressed, reduce your light intensity till you can get a understanding of what's going on."

How much should I drop my light intensity?

 

[Chickenfrog]

This stuff growing in my sandbed keeps getting worse by the day I feel. Idk if its bc I'm dosing NO3 and PO4 or bc coral are starting to die. I feel like my tank is now a lost cause.

 

[Chickenfrog]

I turned my whites down to 15.

 

[VJC]

I agree it definitely looks like STN to me as well. Sometimes it's hard to stop STN once it gets started but things may recover if you keep your parameters stable. Sudden changes in tank parameters may bring on STN, in particular alkalinity. A nitrate level of 2.5 to 5 and phosphate of 0.07, if accurate, are perfectly fine. For low nutrient tanks, it is suggested that dkh should be on the lower side, probably less than around 8. At this point, I would keep everything as stable as possible and gradually reduce your dkh to below 8 where you had it before.