Coral Issues/Water Parameter Problems?

[bangcamaro]

Could use some help, i have a ton of corals the last few weeks that refuse to open up fully..been trying to keep parameters in check and these have been my resulst on saliftert test kit with a hanna nitrate checker. Also i did happen to notice these stars..are these pests or trouble makers? Any suggestions on what to check?

Attached are my photos of some of my corals and them being closed up and maybe not looking nearly as good. After further review on them i also noticed my Acans are getting worse and now im starting to see some skeleton(?) Im stumped..

Ive gotten my salinity levels in check and this has been stable for the last few weeks as well...
I do have other successful corals like a hair green mushroom..some GSP,zoas and a frogspawn that seem to be doing well but the rest of them im just seeing poor growth and if anything..regression.. I'm going to get updated levels and parameter checks but i wanted to post now to start.

 

[lapin]

Harder to keep corals are sensitive to changes. Going from 25 nitrates to 1 might be why they are upset. I see a lack of P04.

 

[bangcamaro]

Harder to keep corals are sensitive to changes. Going from 25 nitrates to 1 might be why they are upset. I see a lack of P04.

appreciate your insight! any suggestions on how to get things on the up and up here with parameters like this? Again, gona get updated parameter check here in about an hour when i get home but man its making me so sad hah. I do regular water changes, keep my salinity under control way more..just struggle bussing right now..

 

[Evil1]

how big is your tank. What are you using to keep your parameters in check!?

 

[kevgib67]

Your nitrates are to low, your starving them. Shoot for 10-15, even higher is better than lower. Feed more and/or export less ( take the cup off the skimmer, less quantity and/or frequency of water changes).

 

[Evil1]

Your nitrates are to low, your starving them. Shoot for 10-15, even higher is better than lower. Feed more and/or export less ( take the cup off the skimmer, less quantity and/or frequency of water changes).

100% ^! You can go to a max of 50ppm for nitrates. If you do raise do it slowly.

 

[mcarroll]

If accurate, specific gravity of 1.035 is **really** high.

Possibly enough to kill off bacteria and other microbes. I saw very bad results the one time I let my system get to 1.030 s.g. but that was a side effect of 2-part dosing. Don't know if that makes it any better or worse for you tho.

Any side effects of poor health you're seeing probably trace back to this.

I agree nitrates are low, and letting them come up a bit would be good.

But assuming you're feeding something in the tank (eg fish) that's much less important....there are several forms of N in the tank and fish release ammonia more or less all the time – NO3 is just an indicator of a process at work as much as anything else.

I'd suggest double checking that PO4 number....I wonder if your 0.25 number is accurate? I agree with someone else who said this looks like a low-PO4 situation.

 

[Rod’sReef]

Could use some help, i have a ton of corals the last few weeks that refuse to open up fully..been trying to keep parameters in check and these have been my resulst on saliftert test kit with a hanna nitrate checker. Also i did happen to notice these stars..are these pests or trouble makers? Any suggestions on what to check?

Attached are my photos of some of my corals and them being closed up and maybe not looking nearly as good. After further review on them i also noticed my Acans are getting worse and now im starting to see some skeleton(?) Im stumped..

Ive gotten my salinity levels in check and this has been stable for the last few weeks as well...
I do have other successful corals like a hair green mushroom..some GSP,zoas and a frogspawn that seem to be doing well but the rest of them im just seeing poor growth and if anything..regression.. I'm going to get updated levels and parameter checks but i wanted to post now to start.

Biggest issue I see is your salinity jumping up to 1.029. That alone could absolutely be stressing your corals. Did you recently do a water change? If so, what was the salinity of the fresh saltwater you added? I’d verify that reading with a second calibrated refractometer or salinity checker before making any major adjustments.

 

[mcarroll]

Biggest issue I see is your salinity jumping up to 1.029.

Check out the 7/22 date's reading.

 

[bangcamaro]

Biggest issue I see is your salinity jumping up to 1.029. That alone could absolutely be stressing your corals. Did you recently do a water change? If so, what was the salinity of the fresh saltwater you added? I’d verify that reading with a second calibrated refractometer or salinity checker before making any major adjustments.

yeah since 7/22 ive been controlling the salinity alot closer with fresh water..been keeping it around that 1.027 mark since then..

Check out the 7/22 date's reading.

 

[bangcamaro]

how big is your tank. What are you using to keep your parameters in check!?

I have a Nuvo Fusion 30 Pro Long!
I use salifert tester kits and a hanna checker for nitrates

If accurate, specific gravity of 1.035 is **really** high.

Possibly enough to kill off bacteria and other microbes. I saw very bad results the one time I let my system get to 1.030 s.g. but that was a side effect of 2-part dosing. Don't know if that makes it any better or worse for you tho.

Any side effects of poor health you're seeing probably trace back to this.

I agree nitrates are low, and letting them come up a bit would be good.

But assuming you're feeding something in the tank (eg fish) that's much less important....there are several forms of N in the tank and fish release ammonia more or less all the time – NO3 is just an indicator of a process at work as much as anything else.

I'd suggest double checking that PO4 number....I wonder if your 0.25 number is accurate? I agree with someone else who said this looks like a low-PO4 situation.

yeah i didnt realize it got that high and then ive been controlling it with adding rodi water every day for topoff so it doesnt spike up again.
I do have 3 fish and inverts, i feed a big cube every day..im wondering if i should even increase feeding even more? I also feed reef roids to the corals every oth4er day or so as well.

Your nitrates are to low, your starving them. Shoot for 10-15, even higher is better than lower. Feed more and/or export less ( take the cup off the skimmer, less quantity and/or frequency of water changes).

Ive been checking them with saliftert nitrate checker and also the hanna checker and yeah they continue to show super low...at this point all ive been doing for the last 2ish weeks is simply topping off..trying to get some nutrient numbers up..will be posting updated parameter tests in a few minutes.

 

[bangcamaro]

here are updated numbers and parameter checks

nitrate checks were done with salifert tester showing around 10ish, hanna checker showed 15.9

 

[Evil1]

Salinity too high. Calcium too low. Every thing else ok. Are you relying on water changes to replenish your Ca, Alk & Mag? Ph is a little low too. Should be at least 8

 

[bangcamaro]

Salinity too high. Calcium too low. Every thing else ok. Are you relying on water changes to replenish your Ca, Alk & Mag? Ph is a little low too. Should be at least 8

thanks for the information. as of now im definitely relying on waterchanges to replinish parameters like that.

 

[Evil1]

thanks for the information. as of now im definitely relying on waterchanges to replinish parameters like that.

You may want to consider cutting back on water changes and start using a dosing program. I have been using All For Reef for many years with great success. I also do not do water changes regularly. But that’s just me.

 

[bangcamaro]

You may want to consider cutting back on water changes and start using a dosing program. I have been using All For Reef for many years with great success. I also do not do water changes regularly. But that’s just me.

appreciate your advice, i definitely will look into that..im trying to figure out how to get things stable more and whatnot..learning curve for sure..im hoping to be able to save my corals.. :(

 

[Evil1]

appreciate your advice, i definitely will look into that..im trying to figure out how to get things stable more and whatnot..learning curve for sure..im hoping to be able to save my corals.. :(

Oh and by the way, topping off your tank with water will not lower your salinity. Salt does not evaporate like water does. You need to take small amounts of water out of the tank and replace with RO water only until you get it down to a safe level.

 

[bangcamaro]

Oh and by the way, topping off your tank with water will not lower your salinity. Salt does not evaporate like water does. You need to take small amounts of water out of the tank and replace with RO water only until you get it down to a safe level.

wow interesting..i definitely did not think thats the case..got alot of learning to do a year or so in still lol..