Water issues

[Reefer newbie]

Hi my name is Todd, I have had my tank for 3 years (120 gallons) so I have a powder blue that started eating my corals which we’re doing great. So I went to catch him and had all the sediment get stirred that made my nitrates go around .25 and phosphates above .15. So I did a immediate water change of about 15 percent. I then had my skimmer take a dive along with loss of my apex cloud hookup. Wasn’t a good week. Had that not going for like 3 days. Noticed none of my corals opening. So I did another test which still read high everything but not super high. So I did two separate water changes on two different days. So as to not shock them. I then read the parameters which read nitrate .08 phosphate .06 salinity 1.026 magnesium 1425 calcium 400 (a little low) alk 8.3 which has been steady anywhere from 8- 8.6 temp 77-78 and when I could finally read ph it was anywhere from 8.15 to 7.8. Thing is I’m seeing green algae growth and brown film on windows. Along with none of my corals doing good. Some are starting to die. I don’t know what else I could do. Any help would b great

 

[vetteguy53081]

Add chemipure blue or even Elite which will keep both in check at safe levels
Small investment- big benefits

 

[MnFish1]

Hi my name is Todd, I have had my tank for 3 years (120 gallons) so I have a powder blue that started eating my corals which we’re doing great. So I went to catch him and had all the sediment get stirred that made my nitrates go around .25 and phosphates above .15. So I did a immediate water change of about 15 percent. I then had my skimmer take a dive along with loss of my apex cloud hookup. Wasn’t a good week. Had that not going for like 3 days. Noticed none of my corals opening. So I did another test which still read high everything but not super high. So I did two separate water changes on two different days. So as to not shock them. I then read the parameters which read nitrate .08 phosphate .06 salinity 1.026 magnesium 1425 calcium 400 (a little low) alk 8.3 which has been steady anywhere from 8- 8.6 temp 77-78 and when I could finally read ph it was anywhere from 8.15 to 7.8. Thing is I’m seeing green algae growth and brown film on windows. Along with none of my corals doing good. Some are starting to die. I don’t know what else I could do. Any help would b great

A couple questions:

1. What type of corals? Which ones are dying?
2. When you say your numbers were 'high but not super high - how high were they?
3. Did you smell a rotten egg smell when you stirred things up (Hydrogen sulfide)?
4. Did you happen to check ammonia?

Some of your numbers do not make complete sense to me - what test kits are you using?

In any case - I would suggest that every 2-3 15 percent water changes is not that much - and would consider using this calculator to see if you may want to do more? https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/EffectOfWaterChanges.php

Second - I would consider adding carbon - in case there is any chemical released by 'dying' coral.

Third - be patient Easier said than done. Many soft corals come back nicely as do others.

Hope this helps - a picture of your tank might help also!! GOOD LUCK

 

[Reefer newbie]

I use the Hanna test kits for everything but ammonia, my ammonia I use the API test kits. As far as coral I have sps which the poylps aren’t opening until lights go down. But I haven’t messed with those settings since I got the tank. I use 2 radion gen 4 pros. As stated above the nitrates were about .25 and phosphates were like .18 to b exact. I have carbon dosed with no pox and used vibrant. I also started back up my uv. And yes I was thinking of doing more water changes. I just replaced all the filters in my Rodi system before all this.4 stage. Hope u can see the pictures I don’t have the filter to make it easier to see. All water parameters as far as cal, alk,mag were done a day after water change. I was worried mayb I stripped out the good bacteria. But I don’t know if that would cause what’s going on

 

[jda]

The numbers look fine. If I had to guess, the chemicals/Vibrant and organic carbon are probably responsible, if anything is.

If you are feeding your fish well, then the corals have enough building blocks, so don't sweat this or fall into the message board trap that somehow higher residual N and P numbers "feed" corals more - they don't. If you are sparely feeding your fish, then this could be a problem.

A few more water changes and maybe some light GAC might be good, but otherwise feed your fish and let things chill out for a while.

 

[Reefer newbie]

Thank u, I’ll do the water change and step up feedings

 

[Reefer newbie]

A couple questions:

1. What type of corals? Which ones are dying?
2. When you say your numbers were 'high but not super high - how high were they?
3. Did you smell a rotten egg smell when you stirred things up (Hydrogen sulfide)?
4. Did you happen to check ammonia?

Some of your numbers do not make complete sense to me - what test kits are you using?

In any case - I would suggest that every 2-3 15 percent water changes is not that much - and would consider using this calculator to see if you may want to do more? https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/EffectOfWaterChanges.php

Second - I would consider adding carbon - in case there is any chemical released by 'dying' coral.

Third - be patient Easier said than done. Many soft corals come back nicely as do others.

Hope this helps - a picture of your tank might help also!! GOOD LUCK

Thanks for your response, as far as smell no I haven’t had that smell. Just read the numbers after I noticed the start of some green hair algae on sides of torches, hammers. I’ve also noticed some of the less robust ones started stn, and I’ve dipped and used iodine treatment on all. The ammonia reading came out what I think looked slightly high, but the api kit isn’t real good as far as that. I’m just hoping the possible low ph for a couple days didn’t make damage irreversible. But my pocilliporas look fine, and same with montis, along with fish. Im totally at a loss.

 

[Reefer newbie]

Just going to do some more water changes and feed corals/ fish

 

[Lavey29]

I agree with the above. Your numbers are fine, maybe irritated your corals a bit with the spike but they will recover quick. I just deep cleaned my sand and saw similar spikes. Some of my corals did not open well either until I walked the numbers down a little. Do it slowly as Vetteguy mentioned chemipure works well. I used a bag that was equivalent to half my water volume so both nitrates and phosphate came back down slowly.