Coral Troubles

[ItsAName]

Let me just say that everyone on this forum is amazing, the best community I've ever experienced on a forum. I post a question and people go out of their way to help and I usually get a response within minutes, which is amazing. I just wanted to get that out of my system, because I am truly grateful for this place!!!

I've had a tank running for about 9 months, the corals (softies and LPS) were doing great, and then all of a sudden over the last two months they've been doing really bad. Always closed up and just looking horrible, no longer growing. I've tried every piece of advice I've been given, I've done every test available, and nothing seems to be working and nothing checks out as wrong. I think I must be either missing something so basic I'm overlooking it, or it's so obscure I just don't even know what to communicate.

I think I'm left with two options at this point, otherwise I fear all my corals (about 15 frags) may perish. Maybe someone who lives in the area could look at my tank and notice something I haven't noticed, or I go give my corals to someone for a while, while my tank issues work themselves out.

Any thoughts on how to go about this, or maybe a different approach. I honestly have no idea what to do at this point.

Thanks!

 

[jeff williams]

My suggestion would be to post your test numbers and the types of corals your keeping be specific what's the names of the corals. Also anything your are dosing will help

 

[ItsAName]

75 gallon display, 25 gallon sump

Salinity 1.026 (usually ranges between 1.025 and 1.026 but has been more consistent at 1.026 since I've added an ATO)
Temp 77 (was 79, I lowered it after some advice)
PH 7.9-8.2 (depending on time of day and how many windows open, usually averages 8.0)
Nitrates 5-7 (was 0, I started dosing stump remover after it was suggested. It's been at 5-7 for about a week)
Phosphates 0 to 0.05 (as far as Hannah low range tells me)
Magnesium 1350-1450 (Currently 1350)
Calcium 430 to 450 (currently 450)
Alkalinity 8.9 to 10 (currently 9.1)
Ammonia 0

I'm 99% sure the tank is pest and pox free. Only pest i've ever spotted is an occasional bristle worm once a month.

Current fish in tank:
2 Clown
1 Royal Gramma
1 tailspot blenny
1 purple firefish
1 hoeven wrasse (Coral started to look bad couple of weeks after adding this fish, no one thinks it's related though)

CUC:
Nassarius snails
Banded Trochus Snails
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Blood Shrimp
2 Hermit Crabs
2 Emerald crabs

Corals:

Zoas:
Fire & Ice
WWC Cat's Eye
WWC Watermelon
WWC Green Monster
WWC Illumanati
Daisy Cutters
Bam Bams
WWC ???

Xenias:
Pom Pom
Silver

Others:
Plate Coral
Candy Cane
Frog Spawn
Palythoa Grandis
Pocillopora
Cyphastrea

Other facts:
Currently have a bunch of pineapple sponges in the refugium
Diatoms are present into the DT

 

[mcarroll]

I pirated these lines out of a slightly older thread of yours, so the quote links will take you over there – think we can use these to jump-start your effort.

My corals looked great, algae was minimal (rocks brown, algae on glass), fish doing good.

Brown rocks, minimal algae.....not the best sign to begin with.

Then about a month ago, everything starting to change and unexpected things started happening.

This is probably when either N or P (or both) finally hit zero.

2. Saw some asterina star fish in the tank. Removed them immediately.
3. Saw 1 big bristle worm in the tank. Removed it immediately.

No need to be hyper-sensitive....Asterina's and Bristleworms are harmless detritivores that will even eat some algae for you.

a new algae started (looks like brown strings with tiny air bubbles attached)

Dino's. Diatoms don't ususally come on later like this....being first and fastest is their specialty, generally speaking.

If you still feel like there's a question, the only real way to be sure is to look at some through a microscope.

I got a $12 toy microscope for just this purpose....highly recommended. I also got a $25 cellphone mount so I could take pictures and movies through the scope. Not a bad setup for $37!

Check out the thread here: Selecting a microscope

Nitrate: Less < 1

Phosphate: 0

This is the perfect setup for a dinoflagellate bloom.

I have carbon and gfo in a bag in my refugium sitting infront of the return pump.

Get rid of the GFO and any other nutrient reduction tools you're using. No extra bio-media, no bacterial dosing, no carbon-source dosing, etc, etc.

Your short term goal would be to correct the starvation situation going on right now.

Get some nitrogen and phosphorus supplements (Seachem, Brightwell, DIY, etc) and bring you levels up:

NO3: ≥ 5-10 ppm
PO4: ≥ 0.10 ppm

I'd predict that you'll see a nearly-immediate change in the tank and your corals....sometimes it does take longer than a day or two though.

 

[ItsAName]

Thanks for bringing those in! Super appreciated!

"Brown rocks, minimal algae.....not the best sign to begin with."

When I say minimal algae, I mean algae growth on the glass. The algae I was seeing on the rocks was just a collection of diatoms, my mistake

"Dino's. Diatoms don't ususally come on later like this....being first and fastest is their specialty, generally speaking."

I'm not 100% sure, maybe I'll grab a microscope like you said, but I feel as if I've had diatoms for months and months and confused it with algae in the beginning, not realizing it was dust like. I'd say the diatoms have been increasing steady for months and have just started to decrease. The Dino's were definitely happening when I posted that quote, but after about a week or two they went away. I havent seen dino's since I've been dosing the nitrates. Well, let me rephrase that. There have been no dinos in the display tank since I've been dosing the nitrates, but I still see some in the refugium (maybe like 20% of what there was originally)

I should dose phosphate too?

I removed the gfo from the tank and only have carbon in there now. Should I remove the carbon too?

 

[lou dog420]

Diatoms feed off of silicates, and are usually gone within the first couple months. Maybe there is a problem with your RO/DI unit!

 

[mcarroll]

@ItsAName, what @lou dog420 said....if it's not something like that supplying then with Si, then it's dino's. In fact it could be both, even with some cyano co-culturing in there too.....that's why scope is the best answer.

(Every reef should have a scope and a lux meter. $24 worth of gear that can answer a lot of questions where aquarists routinely guess – often with not-great results.)

 

[ItsAName]

Diatoms feed off of silicates, and are usually gone within the first couple months. Maybe there is a problem with your RO/DI unit!

So this is going to make me sound so stupid, but I have two ro/di units. One was an old one I had and to ease the plumbing I installed a new one. I switch between the two via a valve. Either I stupidly moved the valve or one of my kids was playing with it but it's been going out of the old ro/di system and I didn't notice until you mentioned this and I decided to double check. Part of me is praying it's this simple and the other part of me is like "could I be this dumb!" Going to put duct tape over that valve too!

For careful sake I just finished replacing the resin and filters (since i don't know exactly when it was switched, and might as well remove a variable!), and I'm going to do a 33% water change while trying to clean the sand and blow off the rocks to help remove as much silicate as possible. Then next week maybe do a 20% water change. Fingers crossed it's not too late.

 

[XNavyDiver]

So this is going to make me sound so stupid, but I have two ro/di units. One was an old one I had and to ease the plumbing I installed a new one. I switch between the two via a valve. Either I stupidly moved the valve or one of my kids was playing with it but it's been going out of the old ro/di system and I didn't notice until you mentioned this and I decided to double check. Part of me is praying it's this simple and the other part of me is like "could I be this dumb!" Going to put duct tape over that valve too!

For careful sake I just finished replacing the resin and filters (since i don't know exactly when it was switched, and might as well remove a variable!), and I'm going to do a 33% water change while trying to clean the sand and blow off the rocks to help remove as much silicate as possible. Then next week maybe do a 20% water change. Fingers crossed it's not too late.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/dm-2ec-commercial-dual-in-line-ec-monitor-hm-digital.html
I put one of these on my rodi system. Easy to install, and best of all, no guessing when to replace filters!

 

[Jason mack]

Have you done a triton or API test on your water ??

 

[ItsAName]

I bought a triton test this week. I was thinking of sending it in after the water change with the ro/di issue fixed.

Do diatoms cause corals to close up this much?

 

[Jason mack]

I bought a triton test this week. I was thinking of sending it in after the water change with the ro/di issue fixed.

Do diatoms cause corals to close up this much?

My guess it would be dinoflagellate and not diatoms .. (I have them also) but you can only see under microscope .. take some water with some of the algae ( don't need much ) too an lFS with a microscope.. and yes do the triton test after water change ..try siphoning as much of the algae of your sand bed when you do a water change ..

 

[mcarroll]

@ItsAName and @Jason mack if you haven't already, this might be the next stop you want to make:
Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

 

[Jason mack]

Thanks @mcarroll .. yes I have read it already !!!

 

[Katrina71]

You aren't stupid at all. Stuff happens. You're human

 

[najer]

Do you have a pic of the tank, what is your flow like, what lights?

 

[spitfire1212]

Hey sorry kind of off topic but hey, the thread is called coral troubles! I have a hammer that will not open up for some reason, even though all my other corals too! Actually, two branches of it stay closed while the other is just fine! I saw people talking about flow so I redirected it away but it is still closed! Please help!

Tanks: IM Nuvo 20

 

[ItsAName]

Do you have a pic of the tank, what is your flow like, what lights?

How do you know if you have good flow? I mean, i think I do according to all the instructions, but how do you actually know.

 

[ItsAName]

Get some nitrogen and phosphorus supplements (Seachem, Brightwell, DIY, etc) and bring you levels up:

NO3: ≥ 5-10 ppm
PO4: ≥ 0.10 ppm

I'd predict that you'll see a nearly-immediate change in the tank and your corals....sometimes it does take longer than a day or two though.

I thought you always wanted Phosphate at 0, is that not true?

Is this what I want to dose?
https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-1160...=1503886590&sr=8-1&keywords=Seachem+phosphate

What do you recommend to dose for phosphate and nitrate? I rather not do a DIY. Can you send links?

 

[najer]

How do you know if you have good flow? I mean, i think I do according to all the instructions, but how do you actually know.

Good flow is where your sand just stays in place and the flow is turbulent, it is different for each tank depending on coral types and rock work.