This is not a post to claim this product is the demise of my coral. It may not have been which is why i am asking for an explanation.
I have a reefer 525xl tank for 2 years in my home. The tank started wonderfully using rock and fish from my reefer 250 i had prior. I added some additional rock and new sand and tank blossomed almost immediately. I got excited again about the hobby and started dumping some more money into the tank. Over the course of a few months I added a UV sterilizer, Algae reactor, brightwell XPORT NO3 dimpled brick, and XPORT BIO Cubes to the sump. Everything thrived for months. As of about a year ago my corals have been dying a painfully slow death. In about 2 months i lost several prized pieces but everything else seemed to just exist. Months go by and my 6 headed hammer i grew from 1 head was receding and so were my torches. Even my GSP was slowly receding. Acans were just hanging on...no growth and some loss of each colony. I haven't missed a weekly 15% water change since i have owned the tank. Nitrates ran about 5 and po4 under 0.1. Mg/Ca Apex autodosed and checked weekly. 6 months after stuff started dying i got amphidinum (confirmed with scope). I bought a bag of live sand and put in the tank and it seemed to resolve the problem... haven't seen any since. My corals continued to die at a faster rate and now i was getting desperate. I removed the algae reactor and went to NOPOX... nothing changed. I then took out the UV and stopped NOPOX. .. coral death was accelerating... Nitrates running 10 to 20 and occassionaly started GFO in filter sock for po4 control. 12 months in to this problem i discussed giving up. 20% of my coral was dead and everything else was dying. I decided to do a 30% WC and observe.. voila.. everything perked up.. even my trumpets that i thought were dead with very little tissue left. I accused my wife of poisoning my tank (unknowingly) and that didn't go ever well
. Within 24 hours things started declining again. I did another 30% WC a few days later.. same result.. things immediately looked better and then 24 hours later everything was looking bad. I was ready to sell my tank. I went down the local reef store and i told them what happened. I have nothing in my tank but the neomarine ceramics in the sump, heater, return pump, and skimmer. I did countless ICP tests which showed nothing bad. When i mentioned the neomarine cubes his eyes perked up.. he said get them out ASAP. He said he is aware of some problems but would not give me any more information.
I immediately went home and pulled the brick and cubes followed by another 30% WC. Of course things looked better but now i had to wait. 7 days later things continued to look better. Did another 30% WC... voila.. everything was opening up again including my hammers. Observed for days and tank continued to improve. I am back to doing 15% weekly WC and after more than a month i am happy to report ALL my corals are recovering and some are even growing.
So ICP showed no Aluminum or any other metals.. what could have been the issue?
things i have done
1. upgraded to 7 stage rodi (2 carbons / 2 exchange). Also brought home water from my lab to confirm my water wasn't the issue
2. added a grounding plug / replaced heater.. no sign of any issues
3. added an ammonia badge.. never any presence of ammonia
4. re-calibrated temp.. apex did drift over months. tanks was 5 to 7 degrees cooler than indicated. I had to replace apex probe.. that was 3 months ago... no change
5. replaced dosing solutions with fresh material and new di
6. went through 3 or more salt buckets of neomarine.. no difference between buckets
7.. Tried running carbon .. no change
8. tried dosing WC water with Prime to ensue no chlorine
9 No chloramines in my water sources and used lab water to confirm no change.
I have a reefer 525xl tank for 2 years in my home. The tank started wonderfully using rock and fish from my reefer 250 i had prior. I added some additional rock and new sand and tank blossomed almost immediately. I got excited again about the hobby and started dumping some more money into the tank. Over the course of a few months I added a UV sterilizer, Algae reactor, brightwell XPORT NO3 dimpled brick, and XPORT BIO Cubes to the sump. Everything thrived for months. As of about a year ago my corals have been dying a painfully slow death. In about 2 months i lost several prized pieces but everything else seemed to just exist. Months go by and my 6 headed hammer i grew from 1 head was receding and so were my torches. Even my GSP was slowly receding. Acans were just hanging on...no growth and some loss of each colony. I haven't missed a weekly 15% water change since i have owned the tank. Nitrates ran about 5 and po4 under 0.1. Mg/Ca Apex autodosed and checked weekly. 6 months after stuff started dying i got amphidinum (confirmed with scope). I bought a bag of live sand and put in the tank and it seemed to resolve the problem... haven't seen any since. My corals continued to die at a faster rate and now i was getting desperate. I removed the algae reactor and went to NOPOX... nothing changed. I then took out the UV and stopped NOPOX. .. coral death was accelerating... Nitrates running 10 to 20 and occassionaly started GFO in filter sock for po4 control. 12 months in to this problem i discussed giving up. 20% of my coral was dead and everything else was dying. I decided to do a 30% WC and observe.. voila.. everything perked up.. even my trumpets that i thought were dead with very little tissue left. I accused my wife of poisoning my tank (unknowingly) and that didn't go ever well
. Within 24 hours things started declining again. I did another 30% WC a few days later.. same result.. things immediately looked better and then 24 hours later everything was looking bad. I was ready to sell my tank. I went down the local reef store and i told them what happened. I have nothing in my tank but the neomarine ceramics in the sump, heater, return pump, and skimmer. I did countless ICP tests which showed nothing bad. When i mentioned the neomarine cubes his eyes perked up.. he said get them out ASAP. He said he is aware of some problems but would not give me any more information.I immediately went home and pulled the brick and cubes followed by another 30% WC. Of course things looked better but now i had to wait. 7 days later things continued to look better. Did another 30% WC... voila.. everything was opening up again including my hammers. Observed for days and tank continued to improve. I am back to doing 15% weekly WC and after more than a month i am happy to report ALL my corals are recovering and some are even growing.
So ICP showed no Aluminum or any other metals.. what could have been the issue?
things i have done
1. upgraded to 7 stage rodi (2 carbons / 2 exchange). Also brought home water from my lab to confirm my water wasn't the issue
2. added a grounding plug / replaced heater.. no sign of any issues
3. added an ammonia badge.. never any presence of ammonia
4. re-calibrated temp.. apex did drift over months. tanks was 5 to 7 degrees cooler than indicated. I had to replace apex probe.. that was 3 months ago... no change
5. replaced dosing solutions with fresh material and new di
6. went through 3 or more salt buckets of neomarine.. no difference between buckets
7.. Tried running carbon .. no change
8. tried dosing WC water with Prime to ensue no chlorine
9 No chloramines in my water sources and used lab water to confirm no change.
