Tank problems....... Need quick advice plz

[Jay6363]

Tank has been having major problems.

60 gal rimless 30 gal sump. 6 bulb ati t5 with radion supplemental lighting. Bubble magus s2000 skimmer

Parameters were fine little elevated phos. Decided to give biopellets a try .... Started slow small dose. Make a long story short initially saw a boost in water quality but as time went on started seeing decline in sps, then it got serious. So I then moved sps to a friends tank. Leaving LPS polyps softies.

My ph 7.8-8
Alk 9.2
Trates went from 2-3ppm to 50 ppm during biopellet run

Phos at .08-.16
Orp 400-420
SG 1.026


Now I am seeing severe decline in LPS, I have burdened my friend with my sps and he was very kind to do so.

But I have a biocube hqi that I just set up tonight to get it going. I know what advice will probably be but does any one feel I could safely transfer some live rock down along with adding some bacteria from bottle / transferring some water down to tank to assist cycle

And housing hammers, acan , zoas frogspawn and torch corals, favia and chalices ? I'm desperate I do not want to loose.

Please offer suggestions or thoughts? My plan is to wipe old tank clean for the most part clean well, short of sending water to be analyzed I feel there is something making the water slightly toxic, as I was having problems for while with good parameters. I have been in the hobby for a long time, I have felt frustrated with this last setup mainly because I have the most tech and quality products and been having mounds Of issues where I have had great success in the past growing sps and LPS in very basic systems

Thank u

 

[Chalice addict]

Yea I would just quit running the bio pellets it sounds like everything was fine until you started running them and your oh is too low in my opinion

 

[footballdude2k3]

Never saw a point in all of these additives, take out the biopellets, do a huge water change, and you should be good to go.

 

[Jay6363]

Yea I would just quit running the bio pellets it sounds like everything was fine until you started running them and your oh is too low in my opinion

Biopellets were stopped weeks ago and I did a huge water change..... Still seems to be getting worse. Losing LPS colonies I've had for years!! Getting them out today to give to a friend.

Oh? Don't know what ur referring too.

Thank u for ur input.

 

[Jay6363]

Never saw a point in all of these additives, take out the biopellets, do a huge water change, and you should be good to go.

Agreed, I was dumb just trying to automate more of the process. I will say I'm sure it varies between products in reflection of quality and response. I chose unwisely i think

Going back to simple

Biopellets were stopped weeks ago and did a huge wTer change then. I should have said that initially

Any other suggestions??

 

[fishroomlady]

in response to the question about the biocube and cycling, I think you could put in a good amount of live rock and water from your existing tank, add in some bacteria and avoid a major cycle. You're thinking to take down the existing tank and clean really well, correct? the only thought I had was that if there is something amiss in your current system, you may transfer whatever it is through the live rock and water from the existing tank.

 

[Bluelobstor]

in response to the question about the biocube and cycling, I think you could put in a good amount of live rock and water from your existing tank, add in some bacteria and avoid a major cycle. You're thinking to take down the existing tank and clean really well, correct? the only thought I had was that if there is something amiss in your current system, you may transfer whatever it is through the live rock and water from the existing tank.

+1 It would work but I think u would just transfer ur current problems to the other tank.

 

[Bluelobstor]

Unless ur sump, skimmer, or lighting is the problem now.

 

[Bluelobstor]

I think Chalice addict was referring to a low ph not oh. Which is a little on the low side

 

[Bluelobstor]

I just now noticed you don't mention calcium levels. Do you test for magnesium and do you run carbon? You don't mention how your soft corals are doing. Have you thought of allethopy between corals. Sometimes you might not notice until corals start to grow or encroach upon other corals. Have you added any new corals when u first started seeing problems? If so you could try removing those corals that were added.

 

[jt17]

When I quit bio pellets I started seeing levels rise so I started vinegar dosing which helped.

 

[Jay6363]

in response to the question about the biocube and cycling, I think you could put in a good amount of live rock and water from your existing tank, add in some bacteria and avoid a major cycle. You're thinking to take down the existing tank and clean really well, correct? the only thought I had was that if there is something amiss in your current system, you may transfer whatever it is through the live rock and water from the existing tank.

Correct my thought which I was trying avoid but yes take down clean very well, redesign stand bc it's not the best for being able to get in there and clean. Wipe the sand bed and start fresh there

In regards to the biocube I agree that it may be transferred it I started with fresh salt water, bioactive 7 ( I may be brain farting on name) and some live rock from tank. A little skimmate as well. Then bringing a Few things over to test and then if needed water changes bc it's a smaller system I could regulate it better.

I a very fortunate that I have a friend who has taken majority of LPS and sps now. LPS is in bad shape bc initially I just got the sps out. Hoping to correct issues before seeing decline with LPS.

So only remaining corals it a torch and nice zoas ( zoas I would be upset if u lost)

 

[Jay6363]

I think Chalice addict was referring to a low ph not oh. Which is a little on the low side

Ph runs about 8-8.3 at it's peak during the day drops to 7.8-7.9 at night. I do run cheato at night to try to compensate...

 

[Jay6363]

I just now noticed you don't mention calcium levels. Do you test for magnesium and do you run carbon? You don't mention how your soft corals are doing. Have you thought of allethopy between corals. Sometimes you might not notice until corals start to grow or encroach upon other corals. Have you added any new corals when u first started seeing problems? If so you could try removing those corals that were added.

Sorry my calcium stays about 440 -460
Mag has been running a little high at 1500 ppm

I have been running carbon. As for the last question only things that were being added were sps. Soft corals were doing great and reproducing/ spitting off. Now they look horrible I got the out way to late. Started really nose diving as of the last few days. Only thing that looks ok still was a few colonies of Xenia

 

[Bluelobstor]

After you mix your saltwater have you checked it to see where the levels are. Not saying that's your problem but could explain your magnesium, especially if you use a reef salt. It definitely sounds like a water quality issue but not of the usual type. I would run heavy carbon changed frequently and large water changes till things change for the better. Soft corals usually are tough and like dirty water and that makes me think its not the usual suspects.

 

[Chalice addict]

I meant ph

 

[reif119]

I would definatly check salinity as your method of checking it could be inaccurate or if you use a refactomiter you may not have calibrated it recently. So yeah definatly check salt and check if maybe anything is corroding and could be releasing toxins into your tank?