Tank is acting weird

[crawlmaster18]

9 month old reef tank 120g glass tank 2 fluval 405 canister 4 bulb t5 actinic 10k single extra power head 150lbs+ lr fiah are powder blue tang 2 tomato clowns and 1 maroon clown
tank has been running flawlessly till last week, i got a terrible outbreak of hair algae everywhere then i had a small peice of plate brain die, now my star polyps wont open still nice and purple and soft just wont open, and 3 heads of nuke green polyp's are acting up, 1 head is open and wont close other 2 wont open all my other coral is fine (chalice, tons of mushrooms,open brain,bubble) nothing different . all water parameters are in check: ph 8.1,nitrate 0,nitrite 0,ammonia 0,kh 180 only thing that has changed at all is tank is colder now than summer went from 80* to about 74-75 now in the winter any ideas on what to do ?dont want my tank to completely crash:squigglemouth:

 

[Fatmike92]

I had the same problem this week. So I had someone else test my water with there kits come to find out my KH readings were completely wrong and it was at 6. And my salinity was up around .027

So see if you can have someone double check your findings. That's always a good thing to do

 

[crawlmaster18]

ya i work at the lfs ill take my water in the morning and see my salinity should be about dead on but my hydrometer broke last week havnt had the cash to get a refractometer but imma dish out for it this time

 

[spscrazy]

Maybe this is too simple but a 5 degree fluctuation could be the problem. Why not set your heater higher so the temp is more stable thru the year. I would try that if your vests come back acceptable

 

[crawlmaster18]

all readings are the same
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ammonia 0
salinity 1.024
phosphate 5
ph 8.0
i dont know what to do

 

[crawlmaster18]

the 5 degree changed over a few months

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

How old are the bulbs for your light fixture?

 

[crawlmaster18]

2.5 months

 

[scooterc268]

You may not get the readings of the nutrients is because the algae is consuming them and they are unmeasurable in the standard testing using tincture test kits. The temperature is on the low side. Algae needs two things to grow, nutrients and lights. You have both regardless since you have algae growth.

So, with that said, something may have died and caused such spikes to make the algae grow. Could have been a coral that died and released toxins in your water making the other corals stress out and die. With those deaths, nutrients entered the water column and hence, the algae outbreak.

Resolving:
1st, get yourself a heater or two and keep your tank at a steady temperature, secondly, test your alkalinity, thirdly, make some big water changes. You can't remove the lights due to other coral so you have to export the nutrients that the algae feeds on.


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[spscrazy]

A sudden outbreak of algae suggests extra nutrients. Algae will give your tests false readings because they are taking them up. Any changes in feeding. Dirty filter. Old ro cart etc?

 

[spscrazy]

Scooter was faster replying than me. Lol

 

[Zack]

Sorry to hear you have troubles...
What are you doing for water? RODI unit/lfs water etc...

 

[scooterc268]

From what I just read on some reports from several different collages, your tank temperature is on the very low side of the average coral reef. So, get yourself a heater and slowly raise it. I keep a mixed reef at 79-80*F


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[crawlmaster18]

i have 2 heaters on my tank still at 74-75. ya one peice of coral died i am using rodi water. no changes really .....and i am not a big believer in water changes i have gone 9 months with out one, just adding water for evap is all and have a extremely healthy tank til last week

 

[SamsReef]

Is your Phosphate really at 5. That will sure kill all corals. Lots of water change and then use Phosbuster to get it down and figure out why it is going that high.

 

[CMP]

You mite want to get rid of the canister filters they are more a fresh water thing and will create Phosphate and Nitrate. Water changes are one of the best thing's you can do for your tank not only for tanking bad nutrients out but adding good nutrients back. If I have a problem the first thing I do is a water change.

 

[scooterc268]

You mite want to get rid of the canister filters they are more a fresh water thing and will create Phosphate and Nitrate. Water changes are one of the best thing's you can do for your tank not only for tanking bad nutrients out but adding good nutrients back. If I have a problem the first thing I do is a water change.

X2 drill that bad boy and get yourself a sump


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[crawlmaster18]

this tank is more of a hold over i am am in the process of building my bigger 180 that drilled but i dont follow the book or what other people do really i take my own path around thing and sometimes it work sometimes it doesnt. with the canisters my water quality is 100% better than my bosses and any of my friends with sumps they are amazed how clear and clean my tank is just last week tho it acted up

 

[crawlmaster18]

and yes phosphates were at 5 i realized i had fed pytoplankton that mornign too which is pure phosphates