toxins?

[fatlip]

i have never used much tubing in my tanks, generally i use ridged pvc. a few months ago i built a system of 4 large tanks for frags. For the first few months they did awesome and i was so happy with it. Lately things have been looking bad and a few even died off. First to go was 2 favia, and some montis. I have lots of zoa not opening, and even some of the mushrooms are looking bad. Everything tests good, and i am good about housekeeping.
Now what i have noticed is cloudy tubes. i used lots of tubing in this setup from the hardware store, a few different kinds of clear, and braided clear. They are all meant for water, but have any of these been known to release toxins? I may just be paranoid about them and digging for an answer.
Thanks,
CC

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

The tubing I use is all food grade, some clear and some braided. Check with the supplier you bought it from and ask! If its food grade I would think its fine. I have read about Algal Turf Scrubber screens made of plastic that release plasticizer toxins into the water. This effect was due to the UV light degredation. Not sure if food grade plastics are susceptible to this UV degredation...

 

[pspfishlady]

Cal?

What are your prams?

 

[Caleb Bruyn]

I had the exact same experience with the favia's and then Monti's and have perfect parameters and did carbon, then dips, and water changes. and now I think I will slowly let whatever wants to die, die. I gave up tryiing to figure it out. I have a normal amount of pvc and clear flex tubing and never thought of toxins but how would you test for it and wouldn't water changes temperarily help the problem.

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Caleb Bruyn: NOOOOOO!!! thats not fair to your coral animals. Its your responsibility to keep them alive, don't give up. No coral wants to die! Start some threads with your info and pics, someone will be able to help you. Start by doing two to three water changes a week for a while. imo there are two ways to keep your water to natural sea conditions, good filtration or daily 100% water changes. 100% water changes might not be realistic but try man try!