Help! Corals/Coralline Won’t Survive

[Tom-nanoreef]

For the past few months, I have been trying to figure out why all the corals and coralline algae in my tank have died and my tank seems to have become uninhabitable to them. I have 3 fish and 5 hermit crabs that are doing great and do not seem to have any issues.

Around January, I made a rash decision and rapidly dosed some parameters that caused a system crash. Even after weekly water changes and attempts to fix the issue, I seem to not be able to sustain coral life, as they slowly deteriorate until death.

Different ways that I have tried to combat this are, removing carbon filters from my tank, testing water change water, increasing nitrates, and making sure it is close to aquarium water changing my heater. I know this issue is not due to lights or flow as I used to have coral that thrived under them. I only have/put soft corals in my tank (although I have tried lps).

My tank is a 16 gallon coralife nano-cube.
Last time I checked parameters they were as follows:

Alk: 7.6
Calcium: 400
Magnesium: 1460
Ph: 7.8-8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0

Thank you for any help

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

I forgot to mention that for a few months from around end of year last year I did not complete maintenance and have not been able to have coral since, I suspect the dosages in January to have caused the current deaths.

 

[Lavey29]

Nitrates at 0 means you are starving your corals. Need to be at 10. What is phosphate and salinity?

 

[Lavey29]

Also, nano tanks don't require dosing unless very heavily stocked with corals. Simple water changes suffice to keep balance.

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

I understand this, I have been trying to increase nitrates by feeding my tank more, could this explain coralline death?

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

Nitrates at 0 means you are starving your corals. Need to be at 10. What is phosphate and salinity?

My phosphates are at 0 last I checked, salinity has been very consistent at 1.025

 

[Lavey29]

I understand this, I have been trying to increase nitrates by feeding my tank more, could this explain coralline death?

Possible but probably also related to the nutrients imbalance you mentioned by overdosing.

 

[Lavey29]

My phosphates are at 0 last I checked, salinity has been very consistent at 1.025

0 phosphate is bad also. You want .05 to .1 or corals starve.

 

[Lavey29]

If you feed more pellet food your nitrates and phosphate will increase. Frozen not as much

 

[Lavey29]

If you find feeding more is not producing the right numbers you can dose neophos and neonitro to bring those areas into balance.

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

Possible but probably also related to the nutrients imbalance you mentioned by overdosing.

Is there a way to fix this? Its been a long time since then (middle of January) and I have done many water changes. I would think the problem would be gone by now.

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

If you feed more pellet food your nitrates and phosphate will increase. Frozen not as much

I didn’t know that, thank you for letting me know

 

[mehaffydr]

How long has the tank been set up?
Maybe a picture of the tank would give some clues

 

[mehaffydr]

how much water are you changing? and how often

 

[Lavey29]

Is there a way to fix this? Its been a long time since then (middle of January) and I have done many water changes. I would think the problem would be gone by now.

I would think so also since it is small volume. Nitrates and phosphate are essential for coral health so you know your deficient in those areas. You can get an ICP test done to show all your tank parameters including trace and also your RODI to see how that looks.

What do you have for filtration? Running carbon?

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

How long has the tank been set up?
Maybe a picture of the tank would give some clues

Since around April/May of last year, here are some picks of before and present (older pic, most of cyano gone)

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

how much water are you changing? and how often

10% every 2 weeks, used to be every week

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

I would think so also since it is small volume. Nitrates and phosphate are essential for coral health so you know your deficient in those areas. You can get an ICP test done to show all your tank parameters including trace and also your RODI to see how that looks.

What do you have for filtration? Running carbon?

Currently, I have bio balls in the back, chaero chamber, and a sponge.

 

[mehaffydr]

When you had the crash did you do any large water changes? If not I would try a couple of 25-50% for a kind of reset and feed more flake and or pellets to get some nitrates and phosphates showing up.

 

[Tom-nanoreef]

When you had the crash did you do any large water changes? If not I would try a couple of 25-50% for a kind of reset and feed more flake and or pellets to get some nitrates and phosphates showing up.

I did a few big water changes a while ago, I could do a reset like that but I have been a little worried about the ammonia cycle. Do I need to worry about that?