Crab's is about ready to throw in the towel.

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Crabs McJones

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Ok good. Sounds like an iodine issue to be honest. Did you get back results or did you send out ICP yet?
Icp is going out in the mail tomorrow
 

MnFish1

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Hi everyone.
I'm posting this in a last ditch effort to figure out what in the world is going on with my tank. As most of you know I tried switching salts from Fritz to Red Sea Blue Bucket and changed out all my RO/DI filters under suspicion there was contamination or the filters were past exhaustion. I've done well over 125 gallons worth of water changes and I can't seem to get any improvement.
My tri color is stn'ing from the tips, most of my montipora are dying or dead, and now my culture shock is loosing tissue at the tips. I also have cyanobacteria and hair algae taking over.
I have an ICP test coming tomorrow that i'm going to send out, but by the time the results come in everything will likely be dead.
So here's where I'm at.
Salinity is 1.026 (double and triple checked)
Alk has been stable between 8.0 and 8.5 (checked with both salifert and hannah)
Calcium has been between 420-450
Mag 1400
Nitrate is floating around 10
Phosphate is around .05
Nothing has changed in lighting, been running two Hydra 26's on the AB+ schedule with 4 t5's that are only 3 months old.
I've checked every piece of equipment for rusting. Checked stray voltage. Nothing out of the ordinary that I can see.
All RO filters, including membranes, and both DI canisters were changed out prior to the 125 gallon change out. Even before that though I was getting 0 TDS water.
I've pitched my saltwater mixing station and went back to my 6 gallon food grade buckets I used before moving.

I'm at wits end and ready to throw in the towel!
Please talk me out of it :( Otherwise the 75 is going to be turned into a nice Bearded Dragon enclosure
You asked - I'll answer - things happen - we might not know 'why' in every case - BUT - reacting and making change after change likely causes more problems than just accepting the 'death' in the beginning (sorry - thats my opinion)... And - im also not sure why you're so easy to 'give up on reefing' based on a single problem. This is what @Paul B talks about - people do just 'give up'. Hopefully you will not
 
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Crabs McJones

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You asked - I'll answer - things happen - we might not know 'why' in every case - BUT - reacting and making change after change likely causes more problems than just accepting the 'death' in the beginning (sorry - thats my opinion)... And - im also not sure why you're so easy to 'give up on reefing' based on a single problem. This is what @Paul B talks about - people do just 'give up'. Hopefully you will not
Thanks for your comment. Wasnt really needed. I'm not going to give up. The ICP test will go out tomorrow and when the results come back I'll take the appropriate course of action. Not touching the tank until then. Worse case scenario my fish go in a holding tank in the basement and the 75 upstairs gets a re-boot. I have a source to replace all my coral if need be. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does I have a source to replace what I've lost.

Thanks :)

Crabs
 

MnFish1

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Thanks for your comment. Wasnt really needed. I'm not going to give up. The ICP test will go out tomorrow and when the results come back I'll take the appropriate course of action. Not touching the tank until then. Worse case scenario my fish go in a holding tank in the basement and the 75 upstairs gets a re-boot. I have a source to replace all my coral if need be. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does I have a source to replace what I've lost.

Thanks :)

Crabs

glad to hear it....I might have misinterpreted based on the title of the thread: Crab's is about ready to throw in the towel.

PS My guess - the ICP will not tell you much - but please share the results - and sorry for what you're going through
 

MrWheelock

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Crabs man hang in there! #thereisonlyoneglitterfairy
Didnt see it asked, you dont happen to be running old marine pure blocks or balls do you? I remember in the past they had issues leaching aluminum into the water column.
Plus you cannot leave until another mayor is elected.
 

vetteguy53081

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8.5 ph is high and would indicate a possible alk swing or spike
 
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Crabs McJones

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Nope. The tank is literally as basic as it gets. I have two ice cap gyres in the display, a skimmer in the sump, then a refugium with chaeto, then carbon bags (just added, never ran carbon before) then my heater and return pump. That is literally it. All controlled by the apex, and my dos handles my automatic dosing. No reactors, no other media.
Crabs man hang in there! #thereisonlyoneglitterfairy
Didnt see it asked, you dont happen to be running old marine pure blocks or balls do you? I remember in the past they had issues leaching aluminum into the water column.
Plus you cannot leave until another mayor is elected.
 
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8.5 ph is high and would indicate a possible alk swing or spike
We leave the windows all open during the summer. You can tell whenever we shut the windows and turned on the ac, my ph drops to around 8.0. As soon as the cold weather comes through and the windows are shut itll drop again.
 

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Ok good. Sounds like an iodine issue to be honest. Did you get back results or did you send out ICP yet?
Funny you mention this. Last night, over 4 IPAs each and 5 hours, a reefing buddy of mine got to talking about situations like Rico and Crabs here, and he’s adamant about tank wipe outs like this caused by little to no iodine (iodide?) as well.
 
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ss30

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At the bottom it says "system water is constantly tested for chlorine residuals"
What does that mean?
Also why would this start just within the last month when we've been in the house since march 30th? Corals were looking absolutely beautiful over a month ago.
Thanks for any help! :)
You did say in your Fritz Salt thread that your wife said the bath/shower smelt like the local swimming pool!
I know you have changed your RO filters It will be interesting to see the ICP results.
How long ago did you switch from the RODI unit being straight from the mains without going through the water softener?
 
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vetteguy53081

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You asked - I'll answer - things happen - we might not know 'why' in every case - BUT - reacting and making change after change likely causes more problems than just accepting the 'death' in the beginning (sorry - thats my opinion)... And - im also not sure why you're so easy to 'give up on reefing' based on a single problem. This is what @Paul B talks about - people do just 'give up'. Hopefully you will not
Its’ just a rant/vent. Those who know Zach- HE’s THE LAST PERSON TO GIVE UP”
 

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Reading the last part of the thread 2 things strike me.
1. The shower smelled like a public bath. Thats a lot of chlorine. I would change the carbon prefilter for the osmosis.
2. You use soda ash in 2part method. It is a must that You split it up in several small doses to mimize pH jumps.
 

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We leave the windows all open during the summer. You can tell whenever we shut the windows and turned on the ac, my ph drops to around 8.0. As soon as the cold weather comes through and the windows are shut itll drop again.
And that makes sense. When patio doors get opened, ph goes up .4 by me. Im about to connect CO2 scrubber to skimmer in which I expect an increase.
Which ICP Did you use (triton or Ati? ) im not happy with triton. Lost my water twice. I sent in another on Monday and received email yesterday indicating they received that one. In essence, I will have gone 6 weeks before receiving any results on my tank !!l
If i were having serious issues, could have lost entire tank waiting on their analysis
 
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Reading the last part of the thread 2 things strike me.
1. The shower smelled like a public bath. Thats a lot of chlorine. I would change the carbon prefilter for the osmosis.
2. You use soda ash in 2part method. It is a must that You split it up in several small doses to mimize pH jumps.
The dos takes my amount and doses in small increments throughout the day.
 

OrionN

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It is one of the micro-nutrients, either too little or too much. I am sorry that I cannot be of any help.
Because of problem like this, I have always stick to one of the major salt, especially IO or Reef Crystal. Problem due to major level will affect all animals. It is the minor ones that affect some much more than other, which is what going on in your tank. We (I) just don't know enough to determine which one. Once the level come back, hope that you and we all learn something at your expense. Good luck. Please keep us update and keep detail information of which species are affect and which are not.
 

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Hang in there Crabs. Two months ago I had a power outage and My 225 back siphoned about 150 gallons onto my basement floor. I drilled hole in my return pipes and put air tubing back to my overflow to break the siphon, Long story short salt creep clogged tubing. In an emergency I got 2 drums of water from my spring feed at my farm instead of my well water at my house. I always keep 1- 55 gallon drum RO on hand. I thought I saved the day because 8 fish and 8 of 10 SPS corals all survived. I immediately started RO unit to replace the water from the spring. Changed another 100 gallons to be safe. Today my tank is loaded with Hair algae and cyano. I even went to just actinics on 8 hours when the assault started. SPS Tank was perfect for over a year and now it is trashed. Have a refugium with Caulerpa thriving, Skimmer gets cleaned biweekly, calcium reactor and Kalk reactor. 2 Gyres for flow. I have kept saltwater fish for 34 years and reef tanks at least 20. This game is tough. Be patient. If you can remove some corals set up smaller tank and buy water until you figure it out. Good luck my friend
 

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Hang in there Crabs. Two months ago I had a power outage and My 225 back siphoned about 150 gallons onto my basement floor. I drilled hole in my return pipes and put air tubing back to my overflow to break the siphon, Long story short salt creep clogged tubing. In an emergency I got 2 drums of water from my spring feed at my farm instead of my well water at my house. I always keep 1- 55 gallon drum RO on hand. I thought I saved the day because 8 fish and 8 of 10 SPS corals all survived. I immediately started RO unit to replace the water from the spring. Changed another 100 gallons to be safe. Today my tank is loaded with Hair algae and cyano. I even went to just actinics on 8 hours when the assault started. SPS Tank was perfect for over a year and now it is trashed. Have a refugium with Caulerpa thriving, Skimmer gets cleaned biweekly, calcium reactor and Kalk reactor. 2 Gyres for flow. I have kept saltwater fish for 34 years and reef tanks at least 20. This game is tough. Be patient. If you can remove some corals set up smaller tank and buy water until you figure it out. Good luck my friend
Liquid Vibrant will end that hair algae and cyano.
Hydrogen peroxide should work also. Dose peroxide at night. Should clear in 3 weeks.
1ml per 10gals
 

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