About to Quit

Apollo7235

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TLDR (07/04/21):

After a full spectrum of troubleshooting, I sent in an ATI ICP test. Results can be found in post #366, but the short story is I have heavy metal contamination (copper, aluminum, tin, zinc, and manganese if I remember correctly) in my water stemming from an unknown source. I suspect it could have been the MarinePure cubes I had in my sump, or possibly some contaminated rocks or sand. The MarinePure cubes have since been removed and I have been running Poly-Filters and CupriSorb in the sump since. I will be sending out a second ICP test next weekend (2 weeks post-corrective measures), and if all turns out clear, I will be ordering some Garf Grunge+ so I can increase the biodiversity in my tank and hopefully move my corals in from my QT so I can stop hassling with 2 tanks for a while. If things don’t show clear, I am rip cleaning the tank and replacing all of the rock and sand with 100% live rock and live sand from the Gulf.

Thank you for following along and all advice is appreciated!

TLDR (05/13/21) for the comments:
It has been established and agreed upon that my tank is way too clean for a 3-month old tank. Water change schedule has been modified to a max of 10-20% only on the weekends.

The cause of my corals dying in my DT despite thriving in my QT has still yet to be determined.

Points to consider:

- I added 6lbs of live rock to the tank before I made this post

- There is now a variety of algae sprinkled across the rocks since adding the live rock.

- ALL of my corals thrive in my QT and die in my DT even though my QT is less than half the age of my DT.

- Water parameters have checked out fine VIA Hanna and Salifert testing.

-There are two fish, one pistol shrimp, and ~7 snails doing great in my DT.

Well guys, I am sorry to say, I’m really considering quitting this hobby. I am so far beyond frustrated with this stupid tank that I literally don’t even know what to say. I have 7 corals that are all slowly dying in my DT while they were thriving in my QT, for now the second time. I don’t get it. I don’t know what to do. My tank is a 38-gallon that is a few months old. Tests show nothing wrong with the water, both pistol shrimp and my gobies are doing great, I use the same RODI water in both tanks with the same salt mix and keep them at the same temperature and salinity.

I added 6 pounds of cured live rock to my display to try and help things along and I’ve added bottled bacteria more times than I can count. I turned down my lights to 15% when I added the corals and they are still dying.

It just makes no sense. I have done water change after water change and it makes no difference. I’m at the end of my rope. If I pull all of my corals out again and put them back in quarantine, what the heck is even the point of having a display?

I don’t know. Somebody please pull me off the edge before I jump and tear it all down.
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Apollo7235

Apollo7235

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@Cell: Looks really clean for a 3 month old tank. Need full parameters. Maybe low nutrient issue.

It’s hard to see in the picture, but I have some kind of super dark colored algae and a green algae growing on the shelf rock, maybe coralline and hair? I don’t know. I have quite a bit of coralline in my QT and I moved over some media that had it on it a few days ago.


I will post parameters once I have an opportunity to take them again. These Hanna Checkers seriously take forever.
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Apollo7235

Apollo7235

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Don't jump.... You can figure this out. It's just very frustrating and heartbreaking sometimes but if you break it down now, you will just want to restart it in a year. Are you using different lighting in DT vs QT ?
Yeah, I have a little cheap Coralife light in my DT and two AI Prime 16HD's in my display. I turned them down to 15% when I added the corals and put them on acclimation for 30 days to try and keep them from burning.
 
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Apollo7235

Apollo7235

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Time. 3 months old tank is nothing. Even though nothing show on the tests, there are all kinds of bacteria's fighting for dominance in your water, its not a stable environment. We all want that beautiful reef, but it just doesn't happen in 3 months.
It's hard to sit and watch your corals wither and die in a display that you've worked so hard to prepare after they did so well in a little 10-gallon QT that runs with a HOB filter, cheapy light, and is only a month and a half old.
 

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Yeah, I have a little cheap Coralife light in my DT and two AI Prime 16HD's in my display. I turned them down to 15% when I added the corals and put them on acclimation for 30 days to try and keep them from burning.

Coralife in QT and AI Prime's in your DT?
 

Jekyl

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Parameters and lighting intensity/schedule?
 

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It's hard to sit and watch your corals wither and die in a display that you've worked so hard to prepare after they did so well in a little 10-gallon QT that runs with a HOB filter, cheapy light, and is only a month and a half old.

How long were they in your QT for? They might have been headed towards a decline already and the tank swap had nothing to do with it.

When you swap them back, do they recover? Or maybe you haven't tried this yet.
 

BostonReefer300

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Sorry for your difficulties. I've been doing this for ten years and I still threaten to quit at least twice a year. I agree that a full parameter description is needed for us to help more. I just noticed your great build thread and haven't had time to read through it, but I'll do so this evening. After all the effort and thought you've put into this project, you're not going to quit! We'll help you figure it out!
 

Jekyl

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Also see your tank is only a couple months old. I had a hard time actually growing coral until my tank matured. Early on they just kind of survived.
 
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Apollo7235

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Parameters and lighting intensity/schedule?
My parameters as of Thursday were:

Ammonia: 0 - Salifert
pH: 7.95 - Hanna
Alkalinity: 7.4 - Hanna
Phosphate: 0.07 - Hanna
Nitrate: 6.80 - Hanna

Since then, I have done an 80% water change and then another 30% yesterday. I will have to post parameters as soon as I can take them later today when my husband is home to watch our 6-month old.

My lighting schedule is currently on acclimation:

IMG_0377.PNG IMG_0378.PNG
 

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