All the corals randomly closed/melting overnight

[reefo420]

yesterday everything was perfectly happy, only 4 things that changed from yesterday
1: topped up ro directly into tank salinity is 0.23-0.24 now (need to buy some salt)
2: added 400g of GFO (which dropped phos from 0.6 to 0.4 overnight
3: skimmer cup overflowed into the sump
4: tank was empty when i got home from work since the ato reservior was empty and the return pump was bubbling the tank
nothing else has happened in the tank the tank has been running at these paramas for quite a while, gorgonians (which have never closed before) are closed,
zoas, closed only acans and trachys and chalices are left open, everything else has been closed
any idea on what I can do save the tank?
params are elevated but the tank has been at these numbers from day 1 andthe corals never minded it

would really appreciate any help all the aqarium shops are closed around me so nowhere to get more water

 

[Jason_MrFrags]

Closed or melting?
1.023 is a little on the low side for some corals.
They could be just closed due to the return pump bubbling, or lower temp if your heater is in sump so you don't get the heat from circulation.

 

[reefo420]

Closed or melting?
1.023 is a little on the low side for some corals.
They could be just closed due to the return pump bubbling, or lower temp if your heater is in sump so you don't get the heat from circulation.

Yeah i know it's low sadly no more water to top it up now but will be getting some in the morning
i'm dosing all for reef as well, and in the past 2 weeks ALK has been going higher and higher, from 8 to 10 and ill be testing it tomorrow it could be 12 or 13, return pump bubbled around 5-6 hours ago not sure for how long as i wasn't home, the only corals uneffected are the acans, chalice, andtrachys, but all the zoas, and lps corals seem closed, zoas have never looked this bad(that's why i'm saying dying), toadstool is bent for the first time ( it always molts but never bends down like that so not sure whats going it

 

[Troylee]

Yeah i know it's low sadly no more water to top it up now but will be getting some in the morning
i'm dosing all for reef as well, and in the past 2 weeks ALK has been going higher and higher, from 8 to 10 and ill be testing it tomorrow it could be 12 or 13, return pump bubbled around 5-6 hours ago not sure for how long as i wasn't home, the only corals uneffected are the acans, chalice, andtrachys, but all the zoas, and lps corals seem closed, zoas have never looked this bad(that's why i'm saying dying), toadstool is bent for the first time ( it always molts but never bends down like that so not sure whats going it

Micro bubbles would tick them off! Also if your alk is rising with all for reef you’re over dosing it! Cut back and drop your alk back down and keep it steady. The directions on the bottle is just a guide not always correct.

 

[reefo420]

Micro bubbles would tick them off! Also if your alk is rising with all for reef you’re over dosing it! Cut back and drop your alk back down and keep it steady. The directions on the bottle is just a guide not always correct.

the only reason i'm doing this much is because my mag was at 1200 (might lower dose on all for reef and dose mag seperately) , cal is at 490, i litearlly don't understand how 90% of the corals got affected this fast since i've had a fair amount of accidents and nothing has ever gotten it this bad, nirates and phos are at the level the system always runs on, also yesterday i added x2 the usual amount of the GFO so maybe phos went down to quickly, just double checked my test and dates, phos has went down from 0.74 to 0.41 in 7 days i don't know if that's too fast

 

[Troylee]

the only reason i'm doing this much is because my mag was at 1200 (might lower dose on all for reef and dose mag seperately) , cal is at 490, i litearlly don't understand how 90% of the corals got affected this fast since i've had a fair amount of accidents and nothing has ever gotten it this bad, nirates and phos are at the level the system always runs on, also yesterday i added x2 the usual amount of the GFO so maybe phos went down to quickly, just double checked my test and dates, phos has went down from 0.74 to 0.41 in 7 days i don't know if that's too fast

Never dose all for reef to meet your mag standards… while figuring out the dosing regime you test alk and that’s it! Get your alk at the number you like and that’s your dose… dose mag separately to get the numbers you like.

 

[reefo420]

Never dose all for reef to meet your mag standards… while figuring out the dosing regime you test alk and that’s it! Get your alk at the number you like and that’s your dose… dose mag separately to get the numbers you like.

Do you think alk being very high could be causing this? gonna go to the lfs tomorrow to check everything, but can't afford to lose all these corals again, just removed gfo to see if things get better tomorrow

 

[Troylee]

Do you think alk being very high could be causing this? gonna go to the lfs tomorrow to check everything, but can't afford to lose all these corals again, just removed gfo to see if things get better tomorrow

It certainly can if it’s really high.. good thing about all for reef it’s not a instant spike it’s bacteria driven so it works over time.. time released basically.. gfo could be a issue also as it can shock corals if too much is used.. I think your best bet is some water changes and run some carbon at the moment to stop coral warfare if they are declining.

 

[reefsaver]

I would do some 40% water changes over the course of maybe a week.
If it's a nutrient issue the melting is only going to exacerbate and speed up the process because it's just dumping more nutrients into the water as it melts away, inadvertently killing itself or at least assisting with it.

The death/melting might have something to do with acclimating to your salinity dropping after your ATO depleted and the Coral adapted over time and got used to a more saline environment, when you added the fresh water, you could have shocked them with the sudden environmental change and the same can happen with shifting temps.

Water: The first place I ever got Salt Water for my tank was the ocean. The information on whether or not you should is pretty sporadic, but as long as you're not picking up any seaweed or too much organics, and you're using it right away instead of storing it for any life/hitchhikers in it to break down. I think there's nothing better. Adds some diversity from the source, potentially increasing the diversity of your tanks biofiltration. You could use a bilge pump, filter sock and a car battery to pump the water into a reservoir of your choice to make it much easier and cleaner. The further out into open water you go, the less polluted or undiluted the sea water you're in will be.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Closed or melting?
1.023 is a little on the low side for some corals.
They could be just closed due to the return pump bubbling, or lower temp if your heater is in sump so you don't get the heat from circulation.

I'd say 1.023 is in the lower end of the ideal range, none of my LPS seem to complain with those levels

 

[jda]

If you have some GAC, put that on the tank. Otherwise, not much that you can do.

That is a lot happening at once.

Moving forward, always empty your skimmer cup before you change anything. Dose elements individually - everything in one is not usually good long term, IMO.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

4: tank was empty when i got home from work since the ato reservior was empty and the return pump was bubbling the tank
nothing else has happened in the tank the tank has been running at these paramas for quite a while, gorgonians (which have never closed before) are closed,

What does that mean? What tank was empty?

 

[reefo420]

What does that mean? What tank was empty?

sorry, as an the ATO was empty so the return pump's chamber was empty
also LFS testing machine is broken, but i tested my own phos with hanna and it's nothing out of the ordinary, i have nothing to test KH with so i'll have them test that, but it's day 2 now it's and they're looking bad just like yesterday, i'm also buying carbon maybe the toadstool's released something, really need help figuring out what i can do next

 

[reefo420]

If you have some GAC, put that on the tank. Otherwise, not much that you can do.

That is a lot happening at once.

Moving forward, always empty your skimmer cup before you change anything. Dose elements individually - everything in one is not usually good long term, IMO.

yea just thought it'd be easier, but i've made hundreds of mistakes and nothing's ever caused all the corals to close, really have no idea and 9 months ago when i used copper to save all the fish i lost 1500$ in corals and i don't want to have to start over again it's very discouraging

 

[reefo420]

large urchin hasn't moved for the past 2 days, this hasn't happened before, sending off an icp test today, i've done a 30% water change, anything else i can do?

 

[SimbaAnto]

What is your tank volume? 400g of GFO is a lot. That might be the culprit. Dont Chase Phosphate. It's ok to be at .6 . It might have dropped your phosphate by huge margin which is causing meltdown. Remove it and just feed so phosphate is back

 

[MERKEY]

Everything takes time in a reef tank,...how old is your tank?

I'm not trying to be hard, just honest.

What you are seeing is the outcome of all of the swings happening in your tank.

With so many different things happening at once, it's going to be hard for you to try and pinpoint which 1 exactly caused this...as it's all of them over time.

For example if your alk swings from 8 to 12 last week, just that alone is enough to cause damage to some coral in certain tanks over the next week period.

Then you add the phos swings and you have more stress and add to that time-line.

Then you add the salinity swings and you add more stress and add to that time-line.

Then you add dosing incorrectly, and that adds to the time-line.

Then you add the coral releasing toxins, especially the toadstool and that adds to this time-line.

Your tank is in a state of confusion and instability right now.

Can you add a picture of your tank as it is today?

As advised I'd stop dosing and stop the GFO until you got your salinity and alk under control.

Depending on how bad everything is in the tank death wise, you may want to pull some dead stuff.

Pics worth a 1000 words.

Sorry this is happening to you.

 

[reefo420]

Everything takes time in a reef tank,...how old is your tank?

I'm not trying to be hard, just honest.

What you are seeing is the outcome of all of the swings happening in your tank.

With so many different things happening at once, it's going to be hard for you to try and pinpoint which 1 exactly caused this...as it's all of them over time.

For example if your alk swings from 8 to 12 last week, just that alone is enough to cause damage to some coral in certain tanks over the next week period.

Then you add the phos swings and you have more stress and add to that time-line.

Then you add the salinity swings and you add more stress and add to that time-line.

Then you add dosing incorrectly, and that adds to the time-line.

Then you add the coral releasing toxins, especially the toadstool and that adds to this time-line.

Your tank is in a state of confusion and instability right now.

Can you add a picture of your tank as it is today?

As advised I'd stop dosing and stop the GFO until you got your salinity and alk under control.

Depending on how bad everything is in the tank death wise, you may want to pull some dead stuff.

Pics worth a 1000 words.

Sorry this is happening to you.

GFO is out, carbon is in, tank is 1.2 years old no deaths yet, will post a pic in a bit

 

[reefo420]

some things are looking better today after the carbon, things that like "dirtier water" seem to be the ones affected the most, my gorgonians, some of the zoas, and toadstool, urchin hasn't been upset before and this is how he looks as well:
as for salinity swings, never seen a single coral retract even with swings they're used to quite the change, the only thing that's out of the ordinary is the GFO i usually use half that amount, also stopped dosing and added carbon

 

[reefo420]

I have 2 urchins, the large one seems to be dying/dead? it's not attached to anything and it's got half it's usual tentacles, should i get it out?