CORALS NOT LOOKING GOOD

[jose hernandez]

so for the past couple of days noticing some my corals look like******** my zoas are closed up one part of the tank looks like i me getting cyano or algae bloom also had algae on the the glass i was using red sea ab+ but stopped was using the lps program on radions lights come at 12 turn off at 8 had them at 50% but lowered to 30% dont now what it is tank is 200 gallons did a 30 gallon water change yesterday these are my parameters today
alk 7.8
cal 464
mag 1500
nitatrate 0.05
phosphate 0.12
salinity 1.025

 

[jose hernandez]

Here some pics

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Nitrate is presumably 5 ppm?

 

[jose hernandez]

it’s very light pink its between 5 and 10 but closer to 5 but again I’m a little color blind when it comes to those Color chart test kits

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

it’s very light pink its between 5 and 10 but closer to 5 but again I’m a little color blind when it comes to those Color chart test kits

Was just questioning what 0.05 meant.

None of those values are a problem.

 

[jose hernandez]

Went to my lfs he said mag was 1700 I guess I was testing It wrong recommended I use esv salt but dont add mag good advice ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Maybe he is testing it wrong. If you are not dosing it, it is unlikely to be that high.

What salt mix and are you dosing magnesium?

What salinity and how measured?

 

[jose hernandez]

not dosing mag only alk salinity is 1.025 salt im using tropic marin pro reef using the hanna salinty checker to check salinity

 

[vetteguy53081]

I see lots of diatoms and Dinoflagellates that are likely upsetting them.
Start with water change and siphon as much of the brown stuff as you can.

 

[jose hernandez]

got more cleaner crew but still corals look like ***************** had diatoms and dinos b4 and they did not look they way they look now has to be more to it just dont know did a 30 gallon water change lfs store suggested testing the mag in my tropic marin salt with a 5 gallon bucket of rodi and mix with salt do i mix it up to 1.025?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

got more cleaner crew but still corals look like ***************** had diatoms and dinos b4 and they did not look they way they look now has to be more to it just dont know did a 30 gallon water change lfs store suggested testing the mag in my tropic marin salt with a 5 gallon bucket of rodi and mix with salt do i mix it up to 1.025?

I do not think the magnesium is accurate, or the problem.

 

[amazongb]

How's your source water, and how is your RODI setup?

 

[jose hernandez]

mixed a 5 gallon bucket up to 1.026 and tested all 3 alk cal mag
alk 7.5
cal 432
mag 1500
according to the parameters on the bucket
alk 7.7
cal 440
mag 1350
could this be a bad batch this is a brand new bucket just opened it and i did stir before i added it to the water yesterday and today so dont know what to do as far as getting my mag down

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Repeating myself, I doubt the magnesium is accurate, or that it is the problem even if accurate.

I would look for other problems.

 

[jose hernandez]

so what could it be? mag being high is all im seeing i dont really know what else could it be as far as other problems what do i look for

 

[Luckyduck]

Magnesium is high but as Randy said several times Magnesium won't cause issues like that. It's probably the Dinos. I would focus on getting the Dinos under control. Phosphates aren't super high but that is where I would start. They should be at 0.05ppm. How old is your tank? Not a standard test but I would wonder what your silicates are at. Where do you get your RODI water from? Silicates could be coming from there. If I were you I would buy an ICP test to get a bigger and more accurate picture of what's going on. Do you run Red/Green in your light? And what's your pH?

 

[jose hernandez]

what are silicates? as far as rodi i use a 7 stage 400 gpd unit i radions as light source running lps program on 12 off 8 30% intensity ph 8.05 during the day the night 7.8 7.9

 

[Luckyduck]

what are silicates? as far as rodi i use a 7 stage 400 gpd unit i radions as light source running lps program on 12 off 8 30% intensity ph 8.05 during the day the night 7.8 7.9

Okay, doubt its the issue but corals don't like pH swings. Could be part of the problem. I'm still willing to bet it's the Dinos. Silicates won't cause it to grow but are a major contributer to algae growth. Silicates can come from your water especially if you haven't replaced your RODI filters.

I would also change the ratios of light you are giving you tank. Less white and less green/red. Corals don't need those colors to grow however it will grow algae. Less white and especially red and green will help to keep algae under control. I run my whites at 15% max and green/red @ 3% Blues, Dark Blues and UV 90-100% at max.

It sounds like its a combination of a few little things. Again I would get an ICP test done and find out where everything is at to have a better idea. You could be missing something major or have made a testing error.

How old is your tank? I notice you don't have a sand bed. Do you have enough beneficial bacteria? May want to dose Microbacter Clean or Microbacter 7. I would also use Razor Marine and get some P04 cubes. All products from Brightwell Aquatics.

 

[Luckyduck]

And you say your lights are on 12 off 8 but thats only 20 hours, what about the other 4? Do you mean on 12 off 12? Do you run a protein skimmer? I would also consider a UV sterilizer. I run a Green Killing Machine 3W in my 20 gallon Cube. Does great at keeping water clear and clean of algae. Kills spores so they dont come back. They will not kill what's already there though.

 

[jose hernandez]

12 in the afternoon 8 at nite tank is about 7 months old already went through dino bloom and red slime for nitrates I have a marine pure 8x8 block was gonna add more but didn’t want to over do it I do have microbacter 7 on hand